THE MISSING BRIDE

I had a dream a couple years ago, that really left a deep impact on me, and launched me on a path that has turned my religious upbringing and ideals on it's ear! I pray it has an impact on you and your life as well!




***In this dream I was sitting in the sanctuary of a church on the front row. A Pastor was up on the stage, but his back was to the seats as it looked as if he was busy preparing for a service. I noticed there were only two or three others sitting in the whole sanctuary with me. It wasn't a large church, maybe seating for about 150 to 200 people.

A man walked in and sat next to me. I did not recognize him, but in my dream I did know him. I knew him very well and I loved him very deeply. We had a very strong relationship. We chatted a bit, He told me he was glad to see me there. After a few minutes he started looking at his watch nervously, then looking back at the doors that led into the sanctuary. Over and over he checked his watch and then the doors, each time getting more and more distraught. I asked him what was wrong and he said, "My bride. . . I am waiting for my bride to get here." I told him I was sure she would arrive soon. He said, "You don't understand, if she doesn't show up it will be too late.  Why does she not come to me?" I put my arm around him and tried to speak words of comfort, but nothing was easing his pain.

He was wringing his hands and burying his head in his hands, always turning toward the door as if expecting her to walk in at any moment. The longer we waited the more distraught he became to the point that he was weeping. When he began weeping I knew it was too late. We stood together and walked to the back of the sanctuary arm in arm. I was still doing my best to comfort him. it was time for him to leave, and I was leaving with him. As the doors of the sanctuary opened up and we walked into the foyer there was a flurry of activity, everyone busy, cleaning, working, doing all sorts of tasks. We walked right through the middle of them, and no one seemed to notice, but walked right past in their rush to get their tasks done. He was weeping as we walked out, yet no one stopped or even looked our way.***



I guess it is obvious by now Who He was.  And obvious, I hope, the lesson in this dream.  Are you so busy DOING that you have forgotten to just BE with Him?  Are you so occupied with "performance", that you have lost sight of entering into and staying in His REST?  Are you so concerned with being accepted and "earning your place", that you have forgotten that you ALREADY ARE accepted, and that HE earned that place for you long ago?  Are you so caught up with people pleasing and being noticed by so-called "leadership", that you have replaced Him as first in your heart with the desire for promotion, the praise of men, and "stardom" in your little church "community"?  I've been all these things.  I was all these things when God gave me this dream.  This dream launched a journey in my life that I could never have predicted or foreseen.  Because my "religious" mindset would never have accepted some of the areas this journey has taken me. . . . THANK GOD He broke through all that garbage and reached ME.  Not every journey will look the same, because the paths our lives have taken to this point all look different, there is a different work to be done in each individual heart.  But if we are willing to let go of all the WE deem as important, and take God out of our pretty little boxes, trust me, He is more than ready to blow our minds and reveal His true character to us, and He will!!

Like Water Off A Duck's Back!

Have you ever heard this phrase used? Usually it's when someone has said something to hurt your feelings or offend you. Wouldn't it be a beautiful world if we didn't have to worry about being verbally attacked or ridiculed by others? Unfortunately, that is not the world we live in, so we have to learn to deal with these offenses and come out of it better and not bitter.


I had someone today tell me, "Let it roll off your back, like water off a duck." I thought about that and decided to do some research and find our just why water rolls off the back of a duck. And what I found is, for the Christ Follower, an awesome set of facts that we can look at and compare to our own lives, and what works to keep us "waterproof".

The reason water rolls off a duck's back is because oil and water don’t mix. When a duck is swimming or out in the rain, the bird secretes an oil from glands near its tail. With its bill, the duck rubs the oil over its body. This is called preening. The oil keeps the water from soaking through the duck’s feathers, making the bird “waterproof.” (WOOO! Think about that!) The oil in our lives is the presence of Holy Spirit! And how much He is involved in our lives is directly up to us. How much we allow Him to be. He is a gentleman and He will not enter in areas that we do not allow Him access. So, it is best for us, as Christ Followers to allow Holy Spirit to completely fill us (remember, the oil comes from a gland in the duck) and cover us.

Have you ever sat at a lake or pond and just watched the ducks. This preening they do is constant. They don't go too far before they are preening again. They remind me of my cats, how they are continuously cleaning themselves. We need to be continuous in our "being filled", and covering ourselves in His presence and power through reading the Word and intimate communion with Him. Then when someone "splashes" you with unkind words or judgements against you, they will roll right off of your back and not affect you. Why? Because you know who, and Whose you are! When that is established in your heart there is nothing anyone can say or do to you that will be able to penetrate that shield. And instead of being injured and becoming angry and possibly bitter, you can walk with your head high as a child of the King of Kings, and you can walk in Matthew 5:44 where Jesus commands us to " Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." And you can do it with a motive of pure LOVE! I don't know about you, but that excites me!!

Did you know that baby ducks need their mother to preen them, they are not born waterproof? Now just think about this for a minute. . . . . How much more do we need to be covering and "grooming" new Christ Followers? It is when we don't protect and groom and watch over them (in other words DISCIPLESHIP), that they fall prey to the schemes of the enemy and get waterlogged and sick and sometimes even drown.

So keep preening yourselves! Stay in the Word, stay in prayer, and the Holy Spirit will cover you from head to toe and make you waterproof!! No weapon formed against you will prosper! (Isaiah 54:17)

A question from a Centralist

I am one who really hates politics. . .not actually politics themselves, because our government is important. . . I guess I hate all the arguing and bashing and closed mindedness that comes in every conversation. So I shy away from any type of political conversation really. And I am not even coming here to take sides, or speak my mind on any issues or politician. See, I took a couple of tests to see where I land in the political compass as far as where I stand on issues in government, Authoritarian, Left, Right, or Libertarian. And what I discovered is that I am a Centralist. That is someone who falls in the middle of the 4 extremes. Not only an I am centralist. . . I couldn't be more dead center on the compass!! If you were looking at a dart board. . .I am that little, teeny red dot smack dab in the middle!

So seeing as I am not leaning left or right or any other direction, I figured I hold a pretty safe spot to speak out about what I see in people from all sides. We seriously need to grow up! Now I am not talking about everyone, I am talking about those who for some reason feel the need to continue the smear campaigns long after the election is over. ANY election! I've seen enough. I'm talking about those who slander and smear, and post negative videos about a political person, group or issue. Simply because it is not one you agree with. You assume your intelligence level is so much higher than "those guys" and you piously look down your nose at your fellow Americans like they are idiots. Don't you get sick enough of the politicians themselves with their smear campaigns? And the same folks who are "smearing' when one President is in office and making fun of him, talking bad about him. . . .are the ones calling a halt to the 'smearing' when someone you like gets elected. Then when things turn around the other way and you don't like it anymore. . . well, all that preaching you did to everyone about not being hateful, just flies out the window when things don't go your way. Really??

I am not saying we all have to agree. Of course not! Diversity in all aspects of life is what makes this country so wonderful! But all the hatred and pious smearing and sneering. . . can't we grow up and stop that? Can't we find positive ways, constructive ways to contribute to society instead of fanning the flames of hatred and intolerance? Yes, I said intolerance. . .be careful what you soapbox at people in one area, if you practice it in another area of your life. When people do not like the way things are going in the country it motivates us to get out and vote to make a difference. If things don't go our way, then we must assume that we are in the minority, that the majority has spoken, and move on to finding ways to impact the issues and our communities in a positive way, instead of crying 'foul', claiming an election was rigged, bought, whatever! If you don't believe in our country's electoral system, why vote?? If you do, then get out and vote, and when the results go your way, celebrate! When they don't, don't start crying foul and slandering people. Make a POSITIVE difference!! Get out there and help work for the issues that are important to you!

We are all still Americans, a brotherhood! Remember 9/11? Remember when suddenly we were not black or white, republican or democrat, right or left?? We were a Nation of people who found a common thread and held on to it tight in unity! Did we change our political beliefs? No. Did we change who we backed in Washington? No. But we saw a bigger picture and became ONE Nation! For a few short, glorious months we stopped the bickering and smearing, and we chanted at baseball games and football games and anywhere else people assembled, "USA! USA! USA!" How quickly we forget, and how sad that we have.

I guess my question is, when are we going to stop the blaming, the hatred the accusations, and find ways to use that energy to start in our own little corner of the world and make a difference?? This has been brewing in me since the Presidential election 2 years ago, and now with the latest elections and resurgence of hate mongering. . .I had to speak out. It's just my opinion, and you have the right to post anything you want. . . I'm just trying to motivate us to use all that energy for good! It really does feel better to not be angry all the time! :-)

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ARE YOUR SEEDS SOWN?

Last week my husband and I were cleaning a house of one of our clients that we happen to know fairly well.  He is a very nice man, but has questioned our decision to be Christ Followers, and let us know that "No-one believes that stuff any more, it's just a waste of time."  We continue to love on him and be examples to him of Christ's love. 

As we were cleaning, my husband was doing an extra good job dusting some shelves and he was pulling books and things out and dusting behind them, when he pulled out a Bible.  He called me in the room to show it to me, since we both know this man's opinion of "such things".   I said, "Wow!  I never expected to see one of those here."  My husband opened it and a church bulletin fell out that was dated February 1994. "That was a while ago!" he said to me.  Then he flipped to the back of the Bible and there was a pack of tomato seeds sitting between some pages.  I thought to myself, "Now that's weird!"  

As I went back to work God began speaking to me about that pack of seeds.  They have been, as far as we could tell, sitting in that Bible for the past 15+ years.  Then He said to me, "As long as those seeds remain un-planted, they will never produce the fruit they are created to produce.  But the minute they are set in soil, and watered, they will sprout and grow and produce many, many more tomatoes, and many more seeds as well."  

You see, as long as the seed remains unplanted, it will remain dormant and unproductive.  Much like that Bible that sat on the back of that dusty shelf.  The seeds in that packet had the ability to produce a crop of tomatoes and seeds, which would produce even more tomatoes and seeds, and so on!  The Word of God is a seed!  Jesus explained that to us in Matthew 13.  But unless it is planted and watered, it will not produce what it is created to produce.  Not in your life, and not in my life.  The Word needs to be read, meditated on and studied.  That is the planting and watering process.  When we do that, we will begin to see an abundance of fruit produced in our lives, not only for our own benefit, but also to feed others.  We can own as many Bibles as we want, in as many translations as we want.  We can lay them all over our house, in our car, on our desk at work, and look like we have it all going on.  But in reality, if we are not IN the Word, and allowing it to take root in the soil of our hearts, what we have is like that packet of tomato seeds sitting in that Bible for 15 years.  Just a packet full of seeds not producing anything. 

In all this that God was showing me about the seeds, He also showed me that some of those seeds are carefully handed to us.  Placed right in the palm of our hands by our Pastors and teachers week in and week out.  What do we do with those seeds that are handed to us?  We can hold it in our hand and admire it.  We can tell all of our friends what a great seed it is.  But untill we allow that seed to be planted in our heart, and watered by meditating on it and studying it out further,  it will not produce anything in our lives, and thus we won't have the seeds to hand to others when they need a seed from us.  Instead, we stick the seed in our pocket, and a few weeks later we are in our Pastor's office getting counsel over an issue in our life that would be resolved already if we would have sown the seed that was handed to us and watered it.

I want to issue a challenge today.  SOW THE SEEDS!  Get them deep into the soil of your heart, and water them daily.  I guarantee we will look more like the Church God meant for us to look like, and when someone comes along with a need for a particular seed in their life, you will have produced more than enough to meet their need! 

DUNAMIS!

I was reading in 2 Timothy 3 today and decided to do some digging and dissecting, and I am amazed at all I found in just the first 5 verses! Check this out:


2 Timothy 3:1-5 (New American Standard Bible)
1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,
4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.


That's a pretty long and ugly list. But the verse that caught my attention was verse 5: "holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power." Now I have heard this "power" described in a lot of ways and I am sure many of them have truth in them, but I decided to dig a little. The word "power" here is "dunamis", which means 'miraculous power, might and strength. Not just a human form of power, or human might, or human strength. . .MIRACULOUS! Something that is undeniably WAY bigger than our own abilities as human beings. It carries the "awe-factor". It is super-natural!

The word denotes miracles! Miracle working power!! When was the last time you saw a bona-fide miracle? Something that could not be explained by any human reasoning other than Divine intervention? For me I would have to say a few weeks ago when I witnessed a woman raised from the dead. Not by human effort, but through prayer. I have gotten to see this only twice in my lifetime, but I will tell you, THAT is miraculous power! Dunamis!! Awe-factor to the extreme!

 Jesus' life and ministry was marked with signs and wonders and miracles. Did you know that He Himself said that WE, that's you and me, would do GREATER works!!

John 14:12 (New American Standard Bible)
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and GREATER works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.

Did you notice He said 'truly' twice? He put great emphasis on this, because He wants us to hear and understand fully what He is saying here. Most assuredly, no doubt about it, you can take it to the bank Jack! So now, I have to do some inventory in my own life. . . are these things active and working in my life? Is the ministry of Jesus something that I flow in on a daily basis? I mean, I am a believer. . . and if I am a believer I should be active in the 'greater works', right?
Let's go back to the text in 2 Timothy 3. Verses 1 - 5 are capped off with the statement "AVOID such men as these". Now I can easily understand avoiding all of the characteristics listed throughout verses 1 through 4. That makes sense to my reasoning as a Christ Follower. But at the very end of that list, in verse 5 are 'those who possess a form, or appearance of godliness' - they look right, talk right, act right, show up for church every Sunday and even Wednesday, give to the poor, visit the sick, always busy with Kingdom work. . . . - BUT deny the power, the dunamis, the miracle working power of God!

Will anyone join me saying a big huge "OUCH" right here?  Why are we not walking it out? Why are we not seeing the miraculous works of God touching others through our lives and our hands every day?

I think the answer is simple, and it is something that God has been showing me the past few weeks. We don't need to study more before we can obey what Jesus commanded us in Mark 16:18b:  "they SHALL lay hands on the sick, and they SHALL recover."  We don't need more degrees or classes or meetings to obey His clear command. What He needs us to be is "conduits" of His power! All we have to do is place ourselves in the position for Him to work through us! Do you know Him as Lord? Do you have two hands? Do you have a mouth? Find someone who needs a miracle, put your hands on them and speak to that mountain! God will do the rest! He will back up His Word with signs following!

And right here I am going to make it even easier for you. You do NOT have to have all the right words and know a bunch of scriptures by heart and pray long exhaustive prayers. Most times that is just pride, and it usually detracts from God and puts the focus on your own knowledge.  Although it is important to know the scriptures that promise healing, for our own faith, so that we know we can step out and lay hands on people in obedience to His Word and expect Him to act.  Look through the Gospels, what did Jesus do when He healed the sick, cast out demons and raised the dead? He did exactly what He instructed us to do! He spoke to that "mountain" and commanded it to be removed. Sometimes He did not even speak a word! He placed His hands on the person and it was done! SIMPLE! We have made it so hard, I know I have! We think we must articulate perfectly what we are praying for, quote 5 scriptures, turn around 3 times and touch your nose. Sound silly? That's because it is! Jesus said, "Get up!" "Be healed!" "Arise and walk!" "Come out of him!" "COME FORTH!"

You may argue that we are not God. No, halleluia, we are not! But we are filled with the Holy Spirit! And Jesus left us the perfect example to follow in every area of our walk! Thank You Lord! And I really think that the more we say when we pray for a person, the more likely we are to think we actually had something to do with the miracle other than being the conduit. And we also can fall into the danger of making a "formula" out of something because it worked once.

I have really been getting shaken awake the past few weeks with these truths, and I am purposing in my heart, and asking Him to help me, to be a conduit for His miraculous power! I am actually beginning to pray that God would bring people into my path in my everyday life, that need a miracle! Join me? I think if we will simply walk out what He instructed us to, we would begin to see growth and increase in the Kingdom of God to a degree that we haven't seen in our lifetime! Jesus got people's attention with healings and miracles! And He is still doing it today! Our only decision needs to be whether we want to be a part of it or not!

I'm in!!

PEARLS, PIGS & PIT BULLS. . . .

Matthew 7:6 - Don't give holy things to dogs, and don't throw your pearls before pigs.  Pigs will only trample on them, and dogs will turn to attack you.

God has been teaching me a very valuable lesson in the past year or so. . .  OK so I am getting it, but it is taking some time.  The lesson. . ."Shut your mouth".   No, he is not saying "Shut up".  God is not rude and mean like that.  But the bottom line of all He has been showing me is, in my language, to shut up.

I am one of those people who gets so excited when God gives me a revelation on something, or does something huge in my life that changes me and makes me more like Him.  Usually that's a bit of a painful process because He has to expose the things in my life that are not like Him, and through teaching and life circumstances He begins to purge and pluck out and purify.  And the result is beautiful.  BUT, I get SO excited that I just HAVE to share it with my friends.  I'm sure you know the feeling.  God illuminates something in His Word, or speaks to you on a certain subject, and you get so stoked that you can't wait to share it! Yeah, we've all been there. 

Those revelations, that God-given wisdom, the life lessons. . . they are like pearls.  They are precious and valuable, and a treasure to you.  You feel like God just gave you a beautiful gift and you want to show everyone!  How many women do you know who got engaged and hid the engagement ring so no one could see it?  No way!  They are holding that hand out and showing it off to everyone they meet.  But when it comes to the treasures that God gives us, many times, if not most of the time, it is an intimate and special thing that He wants us to hold and treasure and value and care for.  There was a lot of time and effort and many times pain that went into Him working those things in your life.

Have you ever read about how a pearl is made?  It's really amazing.  ­The formation of a natural pearl begins when a foreign substance slips into the oyster between the mantle, which is an organ that produces an oyster's shell, and the shell, which irritate­s the mantle. It's kind of like the oyster getting a splinter. The oyster's natural reaction is to cover up that irritant to protect itself. The man­tle covers the irritant with layers of the same 'nacre' substance that is used to create the shell. This eventually forms a pearl. 

So basically, the beauty comes as a result of something foreign in the oyster being covered by the mantle producing substance. . . .I'll let you chew on that for a minute. 

Now when we look at how precious these treasures are, and we understand then how precious the "pearls" God gives us are, we should really begin to desire to hold and guard those things much more than we want to blurt them out to anyone who will listen.

How do the pearls get trampled by the pigs? 

Well, one way is they critique what you just shared.  Have you ever had a great experience with God and He revealed so many wonderful things to you and you excitedly share it with someone, only to have them respond with doubt, criticism, and a chain of theological babble on how that just can't be because according to their doctrine. . blah, blah, blah. . .  The deflating feeling that brings is unbelievable.  The smile fades from your face, and you even begin questioning if you heard from God.  I mean, if it was really God, they would 'get it'. Right?  WRONG!  When God speaks to us He speaks within our own language.  The language of our life, our current circumstances, our level of understanding, and into what He wants to accomplish in us and where He is taking us.  Unless they are on the exact same page as you, it's not going to be the amazing treasure to them as it is to you.  

Another way the pigs trample the pearls is what I like to call 'culturing pearls'.  Cultured pearls are man-made.  They are not nearly as valuable and rare as a true pearl.  They may look nice, but still. . .   These are the folks who feel the need to 'add to' what God is speaking into your life.  They feel like they know personal areas of your life that need changing or tweaking, so they add their opinions to what God is telling you, with statements like, "Well, you have to be careful not to. . ." Or, "You really need to watch that you do this, or don't do that. . ."  As if God left something undone in you and now they must come along and finish the job.   Or here is my favorite; They will 'pray' with you but use that prayer to actually send you a message of what they think you need to be doing and not doing.  That one absolutely floors me.  How can anyone use prayer like that is beyond me.  See, the problem we run into when we blurt out all that God is saying and doing in us, is that, number one: In our zeal we tend to leave things out.  Number two:  He may not be finished with His work in that particular area of your life yet.  And number three: Other people's opinions really only damage what He is trying to do in you, because they are not based on a full understanding of all the details that are involved.

The third way pigs trample pearls (and there may be many more, these are just what I have come up with), is silence.  Silence can be more damaging than them adding their two cents.  Your mind begins reeling and questioning if you have even heard from God.  You have no idea what they think (which, by the way, if you haven't guessed by now, is irrelevant) about what you just shared.  DO NOT allow the enemy to come in and lie to you.  If you are in a relationship with Jesus Christ and you are in His Word regularly and you sit under sound teaching, you know God's voice!!  Period!

No human response is an indicator of whether or not you have heard from God.  That is only measured by His Word and His Spirit.

I believe the "pit bull response" is self explanatory.  Some folks will absolutely tear apart everything you say and believe God has said to you.  They will arrogantly tell you "God won't do this"  and "God will only do this in this manner".  They use life experiences and church affiliation to form their doctrine, and are so rigidly opposed to anything else that they will absolutely shut you down with their attacks.  You can walk away from those encounters bloody and battered and scarred for life. 

So God, in His infinite wisdom, has provided us a solution in our scripture text. . . .

Matthew 7:6 - Don't give holy things to dogs, and don't throw your pearls before pigs. Pigs will only trample on them, and dogs will turn to attack you.

In other words. . . Shut your mouth.

Unless you know for a fact that God is leading you to share a particular thing, don't!  He gives us many treasures.  Some are meant to be shared, but many of them are meant to be held in our hearts and meditated upon and valued as something intimate and personal from Him.  If we are sensitive to Holy Spirit we will know which is which and what He wants us to do with them.

He may also place a person in your life that you CAN share most things with.  That person will usually be in a trusted mentoring type position in your life.  Someone who you have given the right to speak into your life.  That you feel safe sharing things with and they have constructively guided you through many aspects of your walk and growth with God.  Like your Pastor maybe.  I am blessed to have that in my life.

I wish I could tell you I had all of this down in my life, but I am preaching to myself here as much as anyone else.  But I am learning, most of the time painfully, but learning.

I would also like to add, that when we experience these reactions to what we share, it is a great time to reflect and find out if we have been a pig or a pit bull and hurt someone else when they have shared their 'pearls' with us.

MORE NUGGETS

Here is another round of nuggets that God has spoken to me over the last few months!  ENJOY!

~He has provided a place of peace and rest for us in the shadow of His wing, nestled safely and
securely under His loving hand, and we never have to move from that spot. Why we do is
beyond me.~

~Lord, give me eyes to see people through Your heart of absolute and unconditional love. Give
me ears to really listen to their hurts and struggles. Give me a mouth to speak not my opinion or
pious educated answers, but only words of hope and healing and restoration. Give me a mind to
comprehend the fact that it is ONLY by Your undeserved grace and mercy that I am saved,
and not by anything I have ever done or will do, that I may not think more highly of myself
than I ought to. Give me feet that are willing to GO to wherever it is that I am needed to share
your love with others, whatever that may look like. Give me hands willing to reach out and
touch hurts and hearts with your healing, comfort and peace. Give me a heart filled with Your
love for Your people, regardless of race, economic stature, or cultural background; A heart that
is absent of piety and pride and judgement; and filled with Your endless compassion,
unconditional love and boundless mercy. Lord, make me like You.~

~Be careful to follow God's lead in all of life's decisions. Some of our ways may look 'right',
and we may even be able to justify them with very convincing arguments, but in the end the
consequences for not following His lead might just last a lifetime.~

~When we are fully engaged in whatever it is God is doing in and through us at any point, we
have little time on our hands to spend worried about other people's affairs.~

~I'm just done with masks, they never fit right and I can't breathe behind them.~

~~Truth be known,I am just like that rag tag bunch of misfits Jesus CHOSE to be His disciples.
. . the ones He used to turn the world upside down and establish HIS Church! It's amazing what
knowing Jesus and being filled with His Spirit will accomplish! Every one of us would have
taken one look at those disciples, and counted them out of the game for EVER doing anything
worthwhile.Watch out! He's 'bout to surprise ya!~

~ Really, REALLY thankful that God sent the Holy Spirit to help us to do this thing.~

~is allergic to plastic. . . plastic smiles, plastic personalities, plastic hearts, plastic masks. . . . it
seems to cause adverse reactions that are not favorable for a healthy walk with Christ.~

~When we realize that our enemy FEARS what it is we are destined to do and be in this world,
and the impact God has ordained us to have, then we will understand the relentless attacks that
try to keep us paralyzed and not moving forward. Our response to knowing that will cause us
to, by the power of the Holy Spirit, STAND UP and forge our way forward in relentless pursuit
of fulfilling ALL God has called us to do!~

~Did you know that you can be legalistic about not being legalistic;and you can be religious
about not being religious. . .and you can be judgmental about not being judgmental;these are
virus' in the Body of Christ, and the cure is the fruit of the Spirit, lived out in humility and
gratefulness and the knowledge that it is by His UNMERITED favor, and nothing we do that
we are in right standing with God!~

~We must have our 'default setting' on intentional love. It's easy to love those who love you, it's
a natural reciprical response. But when people criticize you and resent you (we all have this
inner radar that senses the displeasure of others even behind their smiles) THEN you must be
INTENTIONAL about love! You must CHOOSE to love, even when. . . no, ESPECIALLY
when people don't love you back. Matthew 5:43-45 THAT is how the world will know we are
TRUE Christ Followers! ? ~

~When you are committed to the work of God in a place, you will be far less likely to jump
ship when something becomes uncomfortable, or downright painful; because your commitment
is to what GOD is doing, not what people are doing.~

~When the storms are raging outside, and we are in our houses, warm and snug and safe. . .
that's what it's like to be in the shadow of His wings! To be in the shelter of the Almighty! But
instead of relaxing and snuggling in while He shelters us, we keep walking outside to see what
the storm is doing and ... See Morewe get wet and cold and the rain beats us. Sure, when we are
in our houses we can sometimes hear the storms outside, but even with all the thunder and
noise they make, we know we are safe inside. That is the rest God wants to give us as we take
shelter in Him. We just need to learn to relax and stop looking out the windows and stepping
out the door.:-)

~Prayer is a relationship. And no intimate relationship can survive without regular one-on-one
face time consisting of speaking your heart, and being quiet and listening to His heart. Think
how you would feel if someone you loved dearly only spoke to you as they were rushing past
you to do something else, with someone else. PONDER!~

~There is something so wonderfully amazing and spiritually fulfilling about watching a new life
come into the world. Something that makes you feel like you have just had a front row seat to
watching one of God's greatest miracles take place. Something that makes you feel like you
have just touched a part of Heaven. I ...will NEVER get tired of being a part of birth. I was
born to DOULA!~

~When you are following the Lord's lead in your life, you HAVE to stay focused and resolute.
Set your face like flint! Many distractions and discouragement will come from all kinds of
sources to try to instill doubt and cause you to get off track of what HE is calling you to. HIS
voice MUST be the final authority in yo...ur life, or the enemy will have you running in circles
accomplishing nothing for the Kingdom.~

~We have a tendency to think that when everything runs smoothly, the way we think it should,
that God is in it. I believe when things don't go the way we planned, or cause us to have to
stretch our faith a bit, that God is just as much in that, if not more. Stretching us, causing us to
seek Him more, growing our faith by actually having to exercise it, and learning to trust that
HE knows best, not us.~

~Some of our gravest mistakes are made when we are so moved by a need that we toss
discernment out the window and act on the first opportunity to fill that need. There is MUCH
to be said about wisdom and discernment gained in prayer and patience and trusting GOD to
fill the need in HIS time!~

~The sovereignty of God is NOT a rug for us to sweep our failures under with the broom of
pride. His sovereignty will NEVER contradict His Word. NEVER!~

~So I was just thinking, (go figure), if Jesus Christ is the Word (John 1:1), then any accurate
interpretation of scripture will always line up with His life and ministry here on the earth. That
sounds too simple, yet it is resounding in my spirit. If we interpret scripture and it clashes with
His life and ministry, then we can be sure we are in error. That makes it all so easy!
Hmmmmm~

~There is no such thing as a "Lone Ranger" Christian. We are a BODY. We function together
as one. We need one another. Isolation weakens and destroys us because we are not created to
walk alone. There is not one part of the human body that can be separated from the rest and
still function. God knew what He was doing, maybe we should follow HIS lead.~

~Jesus said "Come." Many times before He said "Go!"~

~You can only make the wrongs right in your life that you are willing to see. Our hearts can be
deceptive and make excuses for things we know we need to change. Until we are willing to
take a long, hard, honest look in the mirror (His Word), and do what needs to be done to
correct it, we are paralyzed and ineffective, no matter how well we disguise it.~


~NO great move of God goes forth uncontended by the enemy. Our adversary will be on the
scene early to plant his IED's in our path. Be awake and watchful and pray! Let nothing slip
past you. Use your armor, open your mouth, and take authority!~

~When we are mothers we find ourselves experiencing a love so deep we never imagined we
were capable of. It's indescribable! And to think that God loves us so very, VERY much more
than that. . . makes you wonder why we ever doubt Him.~

~Only when we are fully engaged with God will we no longer be enticed by the wiles of the
enemy; his seductive ways will have no effect on us, we will not look to the right or left to see
what he has to offer us. Death disguised. No more compromise; no more flirting with what we
know is sin. Our hearts and eyes will se...e God alone, and in His light ALL darkness will be
exposed! It's time to FULLY engage God!~