Why Not All of It?

One by one, little by little, mountains have moved in my life. God is slowly giving resolution to some pretty tough trials I have been facing lately. These trials include all areas of my life: physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, and financial. Looking back, I see His footsteps walking along beside me on the path I have trudged.

I stand on His promise to rescue me from the financial hardship I have been thrust into. I have witnessed Him change the hearts of banks and creditors against whom I thought there was no hope... Then I remembered His promise of blessings and provision to me; and, the words He spoke over me. Three years ago, as I was praying over my finances, He said to me, "I am going to do something in your finances that will shock and leave in awe all who hear of it." I was overwhelmed with joy! WOW! What is He going to do? Then I lost my job after the market crash... afterwhich, I lost the ability to walk and landed 170K in medical debt.... now I find myself in foreclosure.

To date, 160K in medical bills have been paid! I am walking.... wait... I run! I now have a job; and, am starting to see the debt slowly diminish. With the recent lottery frenzy that swept the land, I prayed, "God, why don't you just let me buy a ticket and win the lottery? That would take care of all of my debt and would definately leave all in shock and awe!"

This morning He replied...

Deuteronomy 7:22 "The Lord your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you."

Wait..... what?

Little by little, the Lord is eliminating my debt. He knows what is best. He also knows that if He were to wipe out all of my debt in one sweep, the "wild animals" increasing around me may cause me more harm than the debt itself would have.

Thank you my God for being patient and loving enough to, little by little, fulfill the promises You have made to me. There is no one faithful like You!

Deuteronomy 7:9 "Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commands."

Look Into Your Storm

I was deeply saddened by the recent news of the devastion throughout the United States brought by terrible storms ravaging the land. The pictures alone were enough to melt even the hardest hearts.... Then God took me to the book of Ezekiel. I read the first two chapters the start of which had Ezekiel standing by the Kebar river with the exiles when there came a powerful storm:


Ezekiel 1:4 "I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north—an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal....."


Storms are not new. This world and its inhabitants have been plagued by storms since the beginning of time. How we weather the storm; however, changes with our seasons. Ezekiel chose to do something I don't know that I could choose... He looked. He looked into the storm; and, as I read on, I noticed he looked past the storm.


When he chose to look to and then past the storm, the Heavens opened up and he saw the glory of God ~ Ezekiel 1:26-28 "Above the expanse over their heads was what looked like a throne of sapphire, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be His waist up He looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down He looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around Him.
This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking..."


Then the Spirit picked him up and stood him up... and God said do not fear.


In our lives, we will face storms. We can choose to hide and hope in our own devices to protect us; or we can look past our storm where we will see the glory of a mighty, loving God. A God who tells us to fear not because He is in control and has the power to calm even the raging winds and hush the fiercest waves ~ Psalm 107:9 " He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed."

My God, may I always remember to look past the temporary storms of this life and see the glory of Your Presence. May I feel Your strong arms picking me up and standing me up. May I always hear Your voice telling me to "fear not!" I know you are in control.

Dissolves When Wet...

Mother Teresa once said, "the hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread." I spent some time thinking about her statement and about how true it proves in my very life.
Hunger can be satisfied with bread but we can never quench the desire for love in our hearts. We try to fill it.... with alcohol, drugs, sex, works, and money; but all of these things only supply a watered down sense of fulfillment and are short lived. Which leaves us, not only continuing to hunger for love, but also feeling ashamed for our sins/behaviors.
We long for an unfailing and unconditional love of our hearts to fill a void that dates back to the beginning of the creation of man. Since mankind's separation from the Divine there has been a constant emptiness in our hearts and a longing for completeness that can withstand the test of time and will not dissapate due to life's challenges. In our human minds we cannot conceive how this emptiness can be restored and so we use our corrupt judgement in an attempt to satisfy a deeper longing that we incorrectly think is only surface deep.

Our hunger for love reaches the very core of our life. Proverbs 19:22 states, "What a man desires is unfailing love....." We want a love that doesn't fail; a love that is everlasting; a love that is true; and a love that lacks conditions. This hunger can be satisfied... but only with the love of an Amazing and Loving God.

His Word tells us in Jeremiah 31:3..."For I have loved you with an everlasting love..." so we know His love will never end. In Psalm 13:5, "But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation" reminds us His love will never fail us.... Romans 5:8 reminds us, "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us...." This just shows that it has nothing to do with who we are or what we have or Will do... He loves us unconditionally. He always has and always will. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the World that He gave His ONLY begotten Son so that WHOSOEVER believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life." He loved us enough to send His son as the ultimate sacrifice to ensure that we will never have to be separated from Him. All He ask is that we believe and accept His love.

My God... my Father.... Lover of my soul... I am so grateful for this love that is beyond my simple mind's comprehension. Your love withstands the heaviest rains and storms of my life... it satisfies my deepest desires and fills my heart with joy. Thank you for the strength to believe and for loving me in spite of me. I love you!

That Still, Small Voice

Sometimes, He could scream in my ear, and it would never be as loud as the still,small voice I hear in my heart.

I remember the first time I heard it. It was a tugging in my heart that whispered to the darkest places of my soul. Whispering to places filled with pain and hurt that went beyond the comprehension of many. It said I love you; I want you to be Mine.

I haven't always listened to The voice. Sometimes, I decide that It is just not the voice of reason; and, I choose to go my own way. But the voice never leaves my heart. I hear it mixed in with the constant lubb dubb of my heart beat; in the whispering of thoughts in my mind; in the quiet of my home in the dead of night; and in the rustling of the pages of my Bible as I read every morning. It gives peace and direction in my sometimes chaotic life.

It also reminds me of the rules and regulations of this life. We are given the privilege of having the very breath of God (the Breath of Life ~ Genesis 2:7 And the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the Breath Of Life, and man became a living soul...). As with every privilege, there are certain laws and commands we must adhere to in order to maintain the privilege granted. This same Still, Small Voice is reminding me that He wants to give me abundant life.... He wants me to live....

John 10:20 "The thief commeth not but for to steal, to kill, and to destroy; But I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."

Ezekiel 16:6 " Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood, I said to you LIVE!"

SO often I forget that The Voice belongs to my closest friend. A friend Who has chosen to love me in spite of me. A friend that sticketh closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24). A friend Who has my absolute best interest at heart and wants so desperately to bless and prosper me (Jeremiah 29:11).

Today I choose to listen for that Still, Small Voice.
Prayer
My God, the Lover of my soul.... my heart cries out to you as deep cries out to deep. I love the sound of Your voice. In the stillness of my busy life, help me to hear and encourage me to obey. I love You, heart and soul.



~1 Kings 19:11-12
And He said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake:
And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

A Chance Meeting?

So much to do and so little time! That is my new motto! Saturday was no different for me. I was trying to get through my busy day when I remembered I had forgotten to buy balloons for a going away party I was throwing for a friend. I decided I would go to a store on Church street in Concord to pick them up. If I left early enough, I could stop off at Music and More (A local music store also located on Church street) and pick up three Christmas presents that I needed to pick up this weekend. So I hurried and got dressed just in time to leave my home an hour before the party was to start. Plenty of time to get there and do what needed to be done.

As I was pulling out of my driveway, I kept hearing a small voice in my mind telling me to go to the guitar shop located on Union street in downtown, historic Concord. I brushed it off telling myself that it would be much more expensive and was not on the way. However, before I turned on church street, I felt like I really needed to go to Union street. The urge was so strong that I found myself making the left and driving in the opposite direction of the Church street music store. As I thought about it, I felt like maybe God was telling me I would save some money or find the perfect gift on Union street; so I settled it in my mind and was soon parking in the rear of the shops on Union street.

Hopping out of my car; anyone could see I was on a mission as I headed toward the Union Street sidewalks... anyone except, that is, for one individual. As I was scurrying, I heard someone yelling, "hey lady. Hey You! Lady!" My first reaction, I admit, was not pleasant. I stopped dead in my tracks and thought to myself, "I know she 'ain't' talking to me." As I turned toward the voice, I made eye contact with a lady, every bit of six feet tall, dressed in rags and holding a plastic bag and a large tin can. She immediately cast her gaze down at the brick sidewalk and mumbled in my direction, "thank you for stopping."

I walked up to her thinking to myself, "I sure hope I have a dollar or two on me. This lady is obviously begging money." I stood in front of her listening for a little while as she told me about her life and all that she had been through. Her eyes were empty and her voice harsh. Then she handed me her North Carolina ID card. "I want you to know I am telling the truth," she said. As she fumbled through some papers from a doctor's office. I read through it as she talked. She was HIV positive and had Hepatitis C. She had been raped three times in the last few years of living on the street. One of these encounters, she stated, had produced (she handed me a picture) what she described as her world. The picture was of a little boy whom shared her facial features. She said she was out there that day just trying to get the money up to buy him a present for Christmas. He was in the custody of the state; but, she was going to get to see him Christmas day.

At that I felt led to stop her story. I asked her if I could pray for her. She started crying and asked me why would I want to do that? "Because God loves you," I said. I stood there for quite some time telling her about the love of The Father and how important she was to Him. Through the tears she was crying, I saw hope in her eyes for the first time since she had been standing there. After we prayed, she started to walk away with a smile on her face. She turned one last time and looked at me again asking one simple question, "He really loves me?" "Yes," I said then I stopped her and handed her the only money I had. See, as we were talking, she had even forgotten to ask for the one thing she had been seeking that morning. I like to think it is because she had found what her heart was truly searching for.

All smiles, I walked into the music store and paid more than I should have for what I bought. But in the end, I am reminded it is not about me anyway.

Spread His love today.

1 John 3:1 "See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him."

Dear, Sweet Little Boy. . .Did You Know

So I was reading the book of Matthew today, and I had so many questions...

Dear child,
Did You Know?
When they came from strange lands bringing gifts,
did You know?
When the shepherds came to worship,
did You know?
When Your parents fled by night,
did You know?
As Rachel wept for her children,
did You know?
When God called You out of Egypt,
did You know?
As the voice called in the desert preparing the way,
did You know?
As You called them from the sea,
did You know?
As Your great light dawned for all to see,
did You know?
As You healed the crowds from Jordan,
did You know?
As they marvelled at Your teachings,
did You know?
As she touched the hem of Your garment,
did You know?
As you woke them from eternal sleep,
did You know?
When You prayed in the garden,
did You know?
When he betrayed You with a kiss on the cheek,
did You know?
As they slapped You in the face,
did You know,
As You bled from their whip,
did You know?
As they nailed Your hands and feet,
did You know?
When they hung You on the tree,
did You know,
As Your body breathed its last,
did You know?
When they pierced Your heart,
did You know?
As they laid You in the tomb,
did You know?
Did You know me?

The response? Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”