Don't ignore the fishy smell coming from that beautiful red apple.

If you want God to change your life read the Bible, if you want to change your own life read a "how to" book that tells you that you alone can change your life.  Just beware the fishy smell coming from those luscious apples in the pages of some of those self help books or speakers.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't read good inspirational books.  I'm saying that if you don't read THE Good Book you won't have a strong filter to sift out the stuff that looks good but has a suspicious odor.

I'm seeing far too many Christians "liking" authors that skew the truth and make it sound good--even siting a "creator" or "higher power". I believe that they are trying to make themselves sound good to Christians so that they can support their philosophy of "it's all about you and what you want in life--you just have to believe good things about yourself."

 Genesis 2 God spoke to Adam and Eve these words:

¹⁵ Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. ¹⁶ The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; ¹⁷ but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

Adam and Eve could have had any other fruit from any other tree in the Garden. But then Satan came to Eve and said in Genesis 3 

 "“Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” 

Way back in the Garden of Eden we see the first clever way that Satan questioned and skewed the Words of God to convince Eve to believe that God really wasn't serious about His command to her.

Did Eve forget God's strong words to them? Or did the desire of her heart overcome the truth of God? 

Eve saw the "beautiful fruit" hanging from that forbidden tree but apparently she didn't smell the fishy odor coming from it and chose to eat that luscious looking fruit.

Many self help speakers and writers want to "empower you" to have unlimited  happiness when they are really asking you "did God really say that"? Does God really care what you do as long as you follow your own heart and are happy? Does he care what you do as long as you love Him and have good intentions? (of course pulling the definition of love out of your own dictionary).

Many writers (even Christian ones) tell us that we have the power to change our own lives when the scriptures clearly say that lasting change comes from surrendering ourselves to God and allowing Him and His Word to change us.  Surrendering our heart's desire to His--making them one.

Christians beware. Use the Bible as your first source and know it so well that you recognize the fishy smell that comes from some of those juicy red apples in other books.

Let's be good "apple pickers" by knowing what a good apple looks like AND smells like".

Romans 12 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may  prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Want to know what or who triggered this blog? Just ask :)

***In Christian Life Coaching we believe that asking powerful questions help the client "get out of the box" through the power of the Holy Spirit within them, allowing the Holy Spirit to to change their way of thinking.
 

Moms, the devil is scared of you!

Just last night the Lord showed me a wonderful picture of a promise He gave me for one of my kids 20 years ago.  I heard His glorious words to me--"Now".  I have been praying and trusting God for over 20 years for this promise to come to pass.  I am ecstatic that He is going to bring it to pass.  I know His promises are true.

Moms, your prayers are indeed powerful for your children.  Never doubt that God hears every word.  You are the glue that is holding God's promises for your children.  Stick to it! Never doubt it! Trust that God will bring his promises for your children to pass.  Never weary in well doing and trusting God or when you do fall on your face before a loving God who you can trust and ask for more faith to believe.

Happy Mother's Day! May it be the day that mothers realize the great power they have in Christ Jesus.

I Go to the Rock

 I should have been ready for this.  I should have known that the enemy of my soul would not sit still when God is moving mightily in His anointed ones. I should have seen it coming.  

Why? So many wonderful things happening through the Holy Spirit.  The body of Christ around us is experiencing amazing times with God.   The Tiara Ladies retreat was drenched in God's love with the Holy Spirit bringing new freedom to the ladies there.  My marriage has been renewed and refreshed. 
 And most recently, God has given me a clear purpose statement "to cast hope for a purposeful future". I am thrilled that God uses who He created me to be to touch lives.

To top it off our pastor even preached a sermon that told us that with anointing comes attack. I should have been ready.

 I should have been ready.

But today I woke with a sense of dread instead of hope.  My first inclinations were indeed to seek God, but my heart lacked hope and my mind was being wooed into a dark place. But  I went to the Word--it wasn't easy--I wanted to zone out, run to a mind numbing activity--I wanted to hide--not "abide in the shadow of the Almighty". I knew that truth was what I needed and thank God the Holy Spirit drew me--not an emotional yahoo kind of way--but a gentle calling--faint but there.  I didn't leap into God's arms as I love to do, but dragging my feet I landed in Psalm 18.


Here's what I found in Psalm 18

David is surrounded by His enemies, his hope was shaken but what does he do?  He declares that God is worthy to be praised and has already rescued him.

I love You, O Lord, my strength.”

² The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,

My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;

My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

³ I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,

And I am saved from my enemies.

David declares that he is already saved from his enemies!!!!! that seems a bit weird when reading the next verses

The cords of death encompassed me,

And the torrents of ungodliness terrified me.

⁵ The cords of Sheol surrounded me;

The snares of death confronted me.

Wow!  He is in the midst of a hopeless situation and yet he has already declared God's rescue.

But here is the key to his rescue.  He knew Who to call on, he knew that God had already rescued him--he knew he just needed to call out to Him.  God was there waiting for the call.

 

⁶ In my distress I called upon the Lord,

And cried to my God for help;

He heard my voice out of His temple,

And my cry for help before Him came into His ears.

And what happened?  God came not in a gentle way to rescue but like a super hero (but way, way better).

Then the earth shook and quaked;

And the foundations of the mountains were trembling

And were shaken, because He was angry.

⁸ Smoke went up out of His nostrils,

And fire from His mouth devoured;

Coals were kindled by it.

⁹ He bowed the heavens also, and came down

With thick darkness under His feet.

¹⁰ He rode upon a cherub and flew;

And He sped upon the wings of the wind.

¹¹ He made darkness His hiding place, His canopy around Him,

Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.

¹² From the brightness before Him passed His thick clouds,

Hailstones and coals of fire.

¹³ The Lord also thundered in the heavens,

And the Most High uttered His voice,

Hailstones and coals of fire.

¹⁴ He sent out His arrows, and scattered them,

And lightning flashes in abundance, and routed them.

¹⁵ Then the channels of water appeared,

And the foundations of the world were laid bare

At Your rebuke, O Lord,

At the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.

Wowzer!!!!!!  Is that amazing or what?  The great God of the universe heard and flew out of the temple to rescue his beloved. 

Our God is waiting to rescue us, to defeat my enemy of hopelessness.  He is waiting to rescue you too!

He sent from on high, He took me;

He drew me out of many waters.

¹⁷ He delivered me from my strong enemy,

And from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.

¹⁸ They confronted me in the day of my calamity,

But the Lord was my stay.

¹⁹ He brought me forth also into a broad place;

He rescued me, because He delighted in me.

He brought me out of the waters that were drowning me because He delighted in me.  He was delighted that I called out to Him for rescue.  He was waiting for that trust--the trust that I knew He would and had already done it!

20 The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness;

According to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me

 The next few verses talk about being rescued because of his (David's) righteousness.  The good news is that as a believer we are made righteous and holy through the blood of Christ.

^{2 Corinthians 5:2} He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

 I am made righteous, I am delivered, I am rescued because God delights in me.  You are too! 

There He is--there's my Rock. He was there all along.

 

Kisses from God

So many things were revealed to us at the Crown of Beauty: Delightful Treasure Retreat this past weekend.  So many Jesus "intersections" among the ladies.  Intersections pre-arranged by God to encourage, lift up and bless those precious daughters of the King. So many kisses from Jesus.  So many Jesus "sightings" throughout the weekend.

I'm allowing God to bring them back to memory and I will post them as He sees fit. Today it was one of the sweetest of pictures that he gave me.

 As I lay in my bunk worshipping along with Jesus Culture "You Won't Relent" I thought of the prospect of my grandchildren coming up to the cabin the next day and the Lord gave me a startling picture of my Dad watching his great grandchildren playing in front of the cabin he built with his own hands.  He was laughing and clapping his hands with that twinkle in his eyes.  My eyes teared up and I thanked God for that picture.  I wasn't sure what it meant. Perhaps he could see from heaven? That God allowed him to be there watching them for a moment in time?  Anything is possible but didn't seem quite what God wanted me to see.

The next morning during a teaching time and a comment about our mansions in heaven, God revealed that was a picture of Dad's mansion in heaven (I always hoped it would look like the cabin) and saw his joy as children played in front of him.  A glimpse of heaven is what I saw that night--a blessed glimpse of heaven--seeing my Dad where He is alive now doing what He loves to do.

Get out of your box!!

A month or so ago I was up at the family cabin enjoying some time with family and God.  Such a cool, wonderful, quiet time to enjoy peace and rest.

As I awoke early one morning I felt the sweet lull of the Holy Spirit.  I was drawn into the throne room of God and felt His deep love.  Within minutes I heard God speaking to me.  He said "people say that they have God in a box but the truth is that they are in the box".  They are trapped by who they think they are, their own misconceptions of God's grace, their own emotions, etc.

I knew what the Lord was saying.  He was saying that we each have difficulty looking at our own lives in an objective way.  We can't seem to push beyond our small world.  It's as if we are in the box and have written all over the walls who we believe we are.  We need help to peek out of the box.

If we would just step out of our boxes, the sides would open up and we would allow the light of God's truth to shine on our now flattened out boxes--to form a picture of who we were truly created to be and what message we are meant to live.  And yes, that's what I mean.  We are meant to live our life's message--to be the message to ourselves and others.

We are unique, one of a kind, like no other creature or human in the world.  Our God is so creative, he never makes the same person twice.  Our physical DNA, our personality, or experiences, our way of relating to the world and to God are all different.  Do you hear that?  How much does God love us?  How much does he want individuals that are reflections of himself and yet unique, beautiful and created as one-of-a-kinds????

Get out of that box!  

Let God flatten out the sides of that tiny cubicle you think is your life with no possibility of change!  God's world is open to you--to experience the light of His love and live a life of fulfillment and peace to bring glory to a God that is so awesome we cannot fathom all His amazing attributes.

Get out of that box!

My theme song lately is Super Chick's song Rock what you Got!

So I keep telling my life purpose clients.

Get out of the box, see who you are created to be, and then Rock what you Got!

Here are they lyrics:

This one's for the beaten downThe ones who lost their rock and rollRise up you lost ones, claim your crownYou were born to rock inside your soul
Welcome misfits, orphans, allThe ones who feel they don't belongYou were made to rock, so stand up tallGo rock the world and prove them wrong
Rock what you gotRock what you gotDon't ever let them make you stop
Rock what you gotLight up the lotNo one can rock the way you rock
This one's for originalsWho strike out towards the great unknownFear not the missteps, take the fallsThe rock you find will be your own
This one's for the beaten downWho gave up on their rock and rollLift your eyes from what drags you downYou were born to rock inside your soul

Another Fresh Start

So, the first half of the year I determined to grow closer to God and in essence get into better spiritual shape. I studied the Word with an appetite to learn more about the amazing Creator and Lord God. I leaned in close to His heart so that I could gradually begin to hear my heart beat with His. I sought opportunities to join Him in loving others. He blessed me beyond measure despite my ups and downs, my starts and restarts. He is still leading me in those paths and I know I will eternally be seeking Him more each day.

Now, it's time to get this physical body in shape for what the future holds. 2012 is only 5 months away and God has called me to get in shape so that I can indeed run this race and keep up with Him.

So, this week I got up every morning and walked along the canal near our home. Ears plugged into music and arms swinging along to the music with some huffing and puffing as I started up that hill to better health.

What I didn't expect was some amazing insight from God as I walked. Thought I'd share what He showed me today.

My path takes me past the home where my Dad spent his last few months and then past the park where he loved to walk, count the ducks and chat with my mom and anyone else who came in his path. Today as I started to cut across through the park, the tears began to flow and he felt so close, my love for him so deep, my loss so great. At that moment a Michael W. Smith song began playing on my Iphone. "Deep in Love With You" quickly brought me to sobs.

Sitting at Your feet is where I want to be
I'm home when I am here with You
Ruined by Your grace, enamored by Your gaze
I can't resist the tenderness in You

I'm deep in love with You, Abba Father
I'm deep in love with You, Lord
My heart, it beats for You, precious Jesus
I'm deep in love with You, Lord

I remembered sitting alone at my father's bedside the night before he passed into the arms of God. (with the angels applauding according to his pastor). I found a DVD left at the home by one of Dad's wonderful caregivers and put in in the CD player. I sang to my dad those sweet words of worship. So precious was that time, a gift from God to me alone. Sweet, sweet gift from God. I am so grateful.

Walking on through the cool damp park grass I clearly heard my Lord say to me in His sweet loving voice, "that's what I want you to feel for Me, that's how I want you to adore and seek me". I wept more with gratitude that the Lord would show me what it felt like to love him as my Abba Father.

Romans 8:15
For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

I rejoice that I can experience that Abba Father love here as my dad experiences this love at the very feet of our Abba Father. I yearn for the day when we can both be there in God's eternal glowing love.

Craving God alone

Do you remember when you first fell in love? How you wanted to spend every minute of the day just talking to your new love. As you got to know him more and more you began to crave a closer relationship. Back in the old days we knew that intimate physical love had to wait so the desires grew and grew. That’s what is missing in relationships today. There is no “wait” or build up.

Back on track. I remember writing things like I can’t wait to feel you pressed up against me—wanting to meld into my love.

Craving a completeness of our intimacy. Press so hard that we become one.
Craving each touch of his hand and sweet intimacy of a kiss.
When I was upset that’s who I wanted to talk to, be held by. The comfort and peace and came with the security of that love. The fresh blush of love and the security of knowing it was returned.
We must crave our God first. We can crave Him first and foremost.
We can wake up each day whispering His name and hearing His voice.
Craving God means wanting to follow Him everywhere He goes. It’s joyously falling into step as He goes about His day. It’s waiting for each moment to serve Him, to please Him.
Craving God is so powerful that we can’t not talk about Him. In new fresh love we drive everyone crazy—because every topic of conversation leads back to him and how wonderful He is and our relationship is. We can’t not talk about Him.
Craving God is knowing that each move of His hand, a word form His heart is miraculous.
Craving God is knowing that He can do no wrong—that His intention is out of love.

A day of craving God should look like this

I awake with a smile, feeling His presence, hearing His voice—southing and loving—speaking my name. Communing to the depths of my soul—pressing deeply and completely into Him—feeling His communion with me.

Then I arise. Needing to know more of Him. To search his Word because IT IS HIS WORD. He wrote it in miraculous ways just as He writes it on my heart. Amazing! Astounding!
Then He heads out the door, me close on His trail. Waiting in anticipation of where He will go and who He will touch. Watching and joining when he bids me to come closer to see and speak.

The day goes on as we go down the road. He pauses constantly in his work to draw me closer and whisper in my ear of his pleasure that I am learning to love more and more. His arms (his pinions) surround me as my heart sores as I commune in worship of Him—pressing closer and closer.

I watch as he touches each soul and my heart grows at his grace and mercy. I watch as He weeps when He must correct when those He loves refuse to hear—he weeps knowing that their path is heading away from Him and towards destruction and despair—he weeps when they go through trials and can’t hear His voice of comfort and assurance. I learn to weep with Him, to love them as He loves them. Feeling his tenderness and His grief, I learn to grieve, I learn to pray, I learn to speak. It hurts to feel their pain, but it’s pain that brings understanding of God’s heart.

As I watch, as I follow closely behind Him, I stop sometimes knowing that I am so flawed, so far behind Him I lag, I get distracted or forget to follow. He stops and He waits for me to catch up or he retraces His steps to put out His hand to me and guides me back in place.

We move on. The road gets rougher—He holds my hand.

The day is over and I lay down, He lays down and wraps His arms around me. There is peace in my spirit and I sigh in His embrace.


Deuteronomy 6:5
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

So let's get this Refresh engine restarted!

Wow, has it really been that long since I blogged? Isn't that just like life exemplified? We have a great idea, a resolution, a decision and we motor along at a good speed for a while and then slooooowwwwlllly the speedometer drops mile by mile and then we are at a stand still, motor idling, wondering which way to go and maybe even if we can make our foot press down on the peddle ever again.

That's when it is definitely time for a fresh start! That's when we are best ready to hear the call of God--to allow God's GPS to direct our path.

Last night I woke up in the middle of the night, not in a rosy mood at all to say the least. I was in a grumpy mood! Grousing in my mind so to speak. Who would have thought that God could break into that mess of thinking things to make His point? That, my friends, is the grace of God! Trying to get a word in edgewise into a thinking things mind! How great is our God that He can and does.

Some things had already been brewing in spirit over the last couple of weeks. At CoR we had been studying about some components of our faith--Who is God, Who is Jesus, Who is the Holy Spirit to be more specific. Pastor John gave us a worksheet each week and we discussed at CoR on Sunday. The week on the Holy Spirit sparked my interest to re-discover who He is in my life (or maybe best to say who he SHOULD BE). My first step was to pick up Francis Chan's little book appropriately called "Forgotten God" which is about the Holy Spirit. Chan asks a lot of questions and encourages us that the Holy Spirit has been indeed forgotten or "put aside" in many churches.

This provoked more thought for me. All the churches I'd been in over the last few years had not forgotten the Holy Spirit--in fact He was a major topic of discussion and much a part of our lives. Perhaps Chan was talking about other types of churches?
But maybe not. We can certainly talk about the Holy Spirit and not have Him working in our own lives can't we?

So, it's time for me to wrap my arms around who each of the persons of the triune God are supposed to be in my own life and in the life of our fellowship.

With that said, I am dedicated to starting my engine again, pulling in behind God, and following Him wherever He takes me. Going the speed He goes, slowing when He slows and idling when He idles in my life.

For better or worse, I will take those along with me who want to hop in their own car, put the metal to the pedal (or the brake on the brakes) and follow Him into a new understanding of who He is.

Today I being with Matthew 1:1.........

Hold Tight

Have you ever asked God, or really begged God to give you direction in a vitally important situation?

A friend of mine and I were talking about how we've experienced Ah Ha moments just as we were waking in the morning or even during the night. I remembered reading that if you are in a dilemma or need to figure something out that you should think about it just as you fell asleep (not worry--I don't think that counts--that causes night mares more than solutions). For example, when I was up at our cabin this week as I fell asleep I was thinking about how to hang a quilt in one of the bedrooms, and sure enough as I woke the next morning I heard the words "button holes" in my head. My subconscious had worked out a way to hang a difficult quilt.

Thinking about that as I fell asleep last night, I said to the Lord "Lord I am stuck--I need a word as to how to proceed. Thanks."

It was funny, as I began to waken early this morning and repeated that request to the Lord I said to Him (and me) I'll just go back to sleep and I know you will direct my thoughts Lord." I nestled back in ready to go back to sleep when words popped into my head.

"Hold Tight".

Okay, so I asked and He definitely answered. And what did I say to Him? Did I immediately answer in faith with "sure thing God, Thanks." No I said in essence "been there and done that" and used it as an excuse to do nothing, are you sure Lord?" I know, sounds pretty silly. After all, I asked and He answered. I knew what God meant immediately--don't go anywhere--wait on Him. But God, being so very patient with me, in His mercy brought some pictures to mind. The first one made me laugh--it was me with a rope lashing myself to Jesus--I wasn't going anywhere. Then it was of a child clinging around the neck of her daddy--"holding on for dear life" as Daddy swam through water and then coming out of the water began to run with me clinging to His back. Then it was me holding on tight to my Daddy's neck!

Wowzer bowzer! What a trip! At first it was a little scary going through the deep end of the pool grasping so hard I thought I might choke Him and then hanging on even tighter as my Dad ran through the forrest at break neck speed dodging tall trees and leaping over huge boulders. Then I realized, just like a child, if I would hold tight and stay one His back, that I would see some amazing things as I felt the "rush" and giddiness of effortlessly running the race. I felt the gleeful feeling of experiencing this amazing race riding comfortably on the back of my trusted Father.

At first I have to say when God said "hold tight" I wasn't a happy camper. I wanted marching orders, I wanted written directions, I want to KNOW GOD! Instead he was telling me to KNOW GOD, to lash myself to Him with the Word of God, to hold tight to Him, throwing my little arms around His broad shoulders and neck, to bury my face in His neck when the road looked overwhelming ahead of us.

It wasn't the word I expected (is it ever fellow travelers?) but it was certainly a good one.

So, take my word as yours today if you need to. Hold Tight!

Hosea 12:6 "So you,(B) by the help of your God, return,
hold fast to love and justice (God)
and wait continually for your God.




I

Casting and Binding

Like many other people I know life has become anything but easy or comfortable lately. Layers of security have been peeled away form our lives leaving us with less security in the world but causing us to lean on the "core" of our lives security. Graciously God does this in most cases in small layers--one at a time (for He is a God of grace and mercy). He does this for our good, to bring us to complete dependence upon Him.

This morning I woke with an overpowering sense of insecurity. My head knew that I had nothing to fear but my heart quaked with fear. Usually, the Holy Spirit rises up within my spirit to combat this enemy of my soul, but today was different. This fear caused a paralysis in me. I now realize the term paralyzed with fear is very real. The most I could do was sit and pray and finish the baby blanket I am knitting.

It is so amazing to me what God uses to touch our spirits, to bring us back to that peace in Him that is just out of our reach sometimes (or so it seems). Today it was the knitting. Being a new knitter I rely on Youtube for my instruction. Having knit more rows than I can say (note to self--fatter yarn, fatter needles next time) I was ready to finish off the blanket. I looked for the videos and found out that this process is called casting off or binding off.

My spirit saw a glimmer of light and I began to look up scriptures about casting and binding.

Here's what I found

1 Peter 5:6-8
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because[a] your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.


1 John 4:17-19
Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19 We love Him because He first loved us.

Revelation 4:9-11

9 Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:
11 “ You are worthy, O Lord,[a]
To receive glory and honor and power;
For You created all things,
And by Your will they exist[b] and were created.”

on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 18:18-19
18 “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
19 “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.

So with those scriptures in mind and without further explanation, I will now cast my burdens at the feet of Jesus, cast out fear by loving my Lord, cast away the enemy who seeks to keep me in this place, worship at the throne of God, bind the enemy from my mind through the power of the Holy Spirit and ask the Holy Spirit to empower me to loose myself to walk in freedom.

I will do all this as I cast off those last stitches. I will remember that I ran the race of painstakingly learning to do those stitches. That I must finish the race by casting and binding. I will cast off and bind up this baby blanket (remembering the bundle of joy that it will cuddle soon) and joyfully finish my day.

And for you fellow Tiara Ladies, I will listen to Mary Mary sing Cast the Shackles off my feet so I can dance.

Hugs with prayer for you to have a fear free day.

The King and I: Dancing

Imagine you and the Lord Jesus are walking down the road together. For much of the way, the Lord's footprints go along steadily, consistently, rarely varying the pace. But your footprints are a disorganized stream of zigzags, starts, stops, turnarounds, circles, departures, and returns.For much of the way, it seems to go like this, but gradually your footprints come more in line with the Lord's, soon paralleling His consistently.

You and Jesus are walking as true friends!

This seems perfect, but then an interesting thing happens: Your footprints that once etched the sand next to Jesus' are now walking precisely in His steps.

Inside His larger footprints are your smaller ones; you and Jesus are becoming one.

This goes on for many miles, but gradually you notice another change. The footprints inside the large footprints seem to grow larger. Eventually they disappear altogether.

There is only one set of footprints. They have become one.

This goes on for a long time, but suddenly the second set of footprints is back.

This time it seems even worse! Zigzags all over the place. Stops. Starts. Gashes in the sand. A variable mess of prints.

You are amazed and shocked.

Your dream ends.

Now you pray:
"Lord, I understand the first scene, with zigzags and fits. I was a new Christian; I was just learning. But You walked on through the storm and helped me learn to walk with You."

"That is correct."

"And when the smaller footprints were inside Yours, I was actually learning to walk in Your steps, following You very closely."

"Very good. You have understood everything so far."

“When the smaller footprints grew and filled in Yours, I suppose that I was growing more visibly in your likeness."

"Precisely."

"So, Lord, was there a regression or something? The footprints separated, and this time it was worse than at first." There is a pause as the Lord answers — with a smile in His voice.

"You didn't know? It was then that we danced!"

God's Truth is our Shield and Buckler

Early this morning, as I was in that early morning stage of waking, I felt that creepy, crawly feeling of fear start to niggle at my mind. This has always been the time when the enemy must find me most vulnerable to a fear attack. Fortunately, as I've allowed the Holy Spirit to form and mold me gradually over the years, He rises up within my mind to do battle with the enemy who plays on my weaknesses.

The way that the Holy Spirit usually combats this menace (who seeks to start my day off in fear) is to bring back a specific portion of scripture to my mind. Today that is again what happened. The words of Psalm 91:1-3 came up like a shield against the enemy bringing with it calm and peace--pushing back the arrows of fear.

Many years ago God impressed upon me the desire to memorize His scripture. I would walk and memorize portions of the Bible most every day. Psalm 91 was one that I memorized after hearing a sister in the Lord at our fellowship say that this was the chapter that was getting her through her battle with cancer. Sort of in honor of her fight I chose that scripture to memorize. Although most nights I only hear the first 3 verses, these verses have become my shield against early morning fear attacks.

Today I determined to "refresh" my mind by re-memorizing the rest of the chapter one verse at a time, so Psalm 91:4 is todays refresher verse.

It says,
He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

Do you ever feel that something you read pops out at you as if it's in neon lights? The words His truth shall be your shield and buckler is that for me.

So I pulled up biblegateway.com to do a little research about the words shield and buckler. I wanted to get a picture in my mind about what that looks like.

A shield and buckler as it turns out is much like it sounds. A protective shield that reflects arrows. As I looked deeper I found out that typically this was a body size shield that completely blocked the body and although it was movable it was quite large and heavy and often stayed stationery during a battle.. A buckler is a small hand held shield that gave the warrior a way to ward off stray arrows.

What an amazing picture! In this chapter of Psalms we have already seen that God is our refuge when we decide to draw close to Him. It is our choice to abide under "the shadow of the Almighty" (verse 1). Then in verse 3 we see what that looks like--God closes his "wings" around us to be our safe refuge. I love this imagery. He covers me and holds me in an embrace that is feather like--sweet and soft.

And yet, the next portion of the verse says that 'His Truth is my shield and buckler". His Truth is a full body shield and a hand held shield. His Truth wards off the arrows of the enemy. His truth protects from the arrows of sin and destruction. His Truth makes sure that we can "abide under the shadow of the Almighty" and be protected from being lead away from the protection of our Lord.

So how do we "abide under the shadow of the Almighty". It's not so difficult. We press in to love God with all our hearts, we lean our heads against his chest and hear His heartbeat. We allow our hearts to beat as one with His. We spend time learning about our precious God just as we would a lover that we are falling in love with for the first time. We put God first in our thoughts and actions because God deserves to be first in our lives. We seek His Truth and we walk in His Way.

Oh how important this is to find the peace that we are offered by God. Tomorrow I will explore verse 5 and why Truth is so important.

May this day be the day when you abide under HIs shadow.

Grow old with me, the best is yet to be....

There are moments in life that God uses to validate and encourage us. Last night was one of those times for me.

John and I decided to spend some time together regularly discussing the vision we believe God has given us for a new business. We are excited because this seems to be the culmination of all the things God has worked into us over almost 37 years of marriage. We look back and see that as pastors encouraging individuals to really know and love God, franchise consultants helping others find the right match in a franchise, life purpose coaches who come along side others to find purpose, and co-business owners, we have been given a unique combination of experiences that have brought us to this point in our lives. Our passions have intersected at a place where our deepest desire is to to encourage individuals to live the life that God has designed them to live and in so doing bring glory to a loving Father God and peace and joy to their lives. We want each individual that God brings into our lives to understand this and help them take steps in the direction of God's purpose for their lives.

So, as we've done several times this week, we got away from the house--computer and books in hand. We'd decided to once again read Tom Patterson's book Living the Life Your were meant to Live which was Katie Brazelton's inspiration for the founding of Life Purpose Coaching Centers where we have our certification as Life Purpose Coaches and Life Plan facilitators.

We had a nice dinner at Liberty Market and then settled on their patio, with books in hand to finish the second chapter of the book. We sat comfortably, each of us quietly finishing the chapters, and then began an enthusiastic discussion about the chapters. We discussed many points in the book that validated what God was already saying to us. What a beautiful thing that we are each a creation of God--unique in our talents, personalities and passions--all given to us by a loving creator who delights in his creation. We chatted about how each individual is designed to have a "calling" to live a joyous life of loving God and through that overflow of love, serve and love others using their "specialness".

As we chatted, the patio emptied of people and a nice young man began to clean up around the patio area and to stack up chairs over to one side. Feeling that we may be hampering his work, and coming to a concluding point in our discussion, we packed up our things to go. The young man insisted that we could stay but we smiled at him and told him thanks but we were ready to go.

The young man stopped us as we started to walk away and asked if we were reading the same book and then discussing what we read. He asked if we often did that. We said yes that was what we were enjoying together and had for 37 years. He then said something sweet "oh I really like that, I want to have that too someday." It made us smile as we walked away. We knew that he didn't just mean reading a book with someone and discussing it.

Early this morning as I woke in the wonderful cool of the early morning I felt the sweet peace of God's blessing. As a couple we have had our ups and some pretty low downs but somehow have stuck together. I guess that's the reward for staying on the roller coaster of life. As John puts it, we can finally see that we are "being conformed to the image of God" in a meaningful way. This morning God reminded me what a huge difference it is making in our lives as we love God more, we love each other more and out of that overflow we love others with an intensity that we've never known before. That's where our "intersecting" passion is these days.

I believe our desires as a couple truly intersect with God's passion that each of his children know him, love Him as he loves them, and realize how he delights in seeing them enjoy their unique design. In so doing, how marvelous it is to be conformed to His image and be a caught up in God's glory.

Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made:
Our times are in His hand
Who saith "A whole I planned,
Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!" Robert Browning.

The Church Today in America

Wow! While doing a youtube.com search for Forgotten God by Francis Chan, I ran across this teaching. I am so convicted and very worried by this. Worried for so many people in our American churches. Please watch this all the way through. If you see yourself in anything Pastor Chan says, please spend time with God today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBhqrtMqrv8

Mustard Seed Faith

As I was seeking God in His Word today, I was reminded of Matthew 17:20.

for truly I say to you,if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.

This is a topic that we've heard preached quite often in many churches. We all know that the mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds on earth. We also understand that this means that even if we only have a very small amount of faith God will do great things through us.

Here's what popped out at me today. It doesn't say "if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you CAN say to the mountain". It says If you have the faith the size of a mustard seed, you WILL say to the mountain.

Now as they say in The Wizard of Oz, "now that's a horse of a different color."

It is not telling us to muster up faith so that when we want to we can tell a mountain to move. It is saying that if we have that wee little bit of REAL faith in God, then we will exercise that faith to do great things. We won't even stop to think about it, we will feel that gentle prodding (or Holy Spirit shouting in our ears if we've been slow to respond in the past) knowing that God wants to use us to do the miraculous--every day miracles--not necessarily moving a mountain every day, but doing what God has called us to do--be vessels that touch lives DAILY. Yes--we may have to fight through the fear of taking a risk or two--but we will be amazed when we do it.

That speaks to me in a very real way--if I really believe God, if I really trust Him, I will believe what He says. I will believe, have faith, take a risk, and obey what He tells me to do.

Amen and Amen!

My Dad, Leaving us a Legacy of Loyalty and Laughter

The past few weeks have been one of those weeks that you wonder about later--how did I get through it without totally losing it? I don't have to wonder long to realize that it is the grace of God that carried me. What a miracle! How amazing! Thank you sweet Holy Spirit for lifting me up and carrying me.

The last few months have been a journey that given the choice I would not have made. The journey actually began in 2004 when my dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer Disease. The news was daunting. Our first thought was that Dad would never want this to happen, never be a burden to anyone--he was a giver-not a taker. Dad was our family stability, our strength, our patriarch--what would we do?. It was hard to imagine that he would slowly lose his ability to remember, that he would eventually live in a world where he might not recognize his family. It broke our heart to think about what our parents would face. But, as we always do as a family, we unified and pooled our strength, we sought God's help in a helpless situation,and we prepared to go on this journey together with as much grace as God would give us.

My mother's life changed. She became the caretaker. She had always handled their finances but soon she could no longer share those decisions with our father. She struggled to change the way she did things. What a shock for her to realize that she could not always tell my dad the things she shared before, that in fact she had to stretch the truth to protect him. How difficult it was for her, a woman who never thought to lie to anyone in her life must now withhold information or out and out lie to dad to protect him.

Life became more difficult as dad became more confused. He became some what paranoid, thinking someone was in the house when no one was there. He worried that people wanted his beloved, broken down pick up or wanted to buy his cabin when he didn't want to sell it. He forgot that he had just eaten all through the day--he gained so much weight that as he began to stumble and fall our mother couldn't help him get up without help. His mind seemed to jump around in time--one moment thinking he was young and in the army or even 13 again.

We knew it was time. Time for our mother's health and ultimately for dad to change their living arrangement. God brought us a wonderful group home just blocks from their home. A place where dad was cared for and mom could be with him without the burden of his daily care. We praised God that they had the finances to do this--God showed himself faithful to these faithful people.

I could go on about the sad part of his illness, but instead let me tell you more about this man. He was a solid man, loyal, faithful, trustworthy, salt of the earth, happy, laughing, rough around the edges, encouraging, bow legged and as my children said over and over again in their video taped memorial talks--amazing! Was he perfect? no. Was he "spiritual"? no. But was he godly? Yes. He rarely spoke about God--but he lived as a Christian should live. He lived a giving life. He didn't attend church regularly until he was 70 years old, when after attending a church service with us, he said to his brother-in-law "I don't know about you, but I think I need to be going to church". He started going to church with my mother every Sunday and to their senior life group every Thursday and did that until he was not able to go anymore.

When we visited dad in the group home it was quite "a trip". He would tell stories on a "loop" sometimes going around and around with the things he said. But between every sentence or "loop" he would laugh. In many of his stories of the past he would say "and then I just laughed" followed by laughter. One day he said to us in response to "how are you dad?" "Well, we just go back from Africa". Such a shock since not only had he never been there but had never mentioned wanting to go there. We just went with it, asking him if he had a good time etc. Sometimes, I have to be honest, it could be pretty entertaining. Of course we loved it the most when he told his favorite life stories--even if we'd heard it a million times.

Then, the end became evident. Our mother mentioned that as she visited he was sleepy more often than not. God had begun to call him home.

That's when the last month began for us. As we traveled to California to be with 2 of our kids for Thanksgiving, we hadn't gotten outside of Phoenix more than 100 miles when we got a text telling us that John's brother Al had not shown up for his dialysis appointment the day before and he wasn't answering his phone. We quickly called a mutual friend to go to his apartment to check on him. Our friend called back within a few minutes to sadly tell us that he'd found Al "gone" lying in his living room. Deep sorrow hit us as we turned the car around to go back to face the next few days as we laid Al to rest. But we began to marvel at the fact that John had been able to spend time with his brother the Saturday before. That John was able to share his love of God with Al again for the umpteenth time, but this time got Al's agreement that Jesus was the way to salvation. Al did what he rarely did--he put his arms around his brother and told him that he loved him, neither realizing it would be the last time on earth that they would see each other. Faithful Lord, to have reached out in the eleventh hour to a man who had essentially ignored him all these many years. God's mercy immense in his life. John preached at his memorial and we rejoiced in Al's home going.

The night of Al's memorial Dad began his final journey home. We realized the next day that he had slipped into sleep, into a coma. It seemed that we were starting the long vigil of ushering him into a new life with God. But in God's mercy it was only a couple of days. My sister and I took turns staying with him for the next 36 hours.

I want to share with you the amazing experience. Yes, it was difficult. It was hard to see his labored breathing. It helped when the wonderful hospice nurses told us that he wasn't in any pain and told us that it was "hard work" to die sometimes. As they gently cared for him they encouraged him by saying "Sam, you're doing a good job". It became apparent that dieing was much like giving birth--laboring towards letting the spirit leave the body. The nurse described the process to us and we marveled at how God had created the human body to shut down gradually.

So we waited for our dad to step out of his body and into the presence of God. The night before he left, I was alone with him for some time. I was blessed to find a Michael W. Smith CD that I put in the CD player. I sang worship "with my dad". "Amazing Grace how sweet the sound....my chains are gone, I've been set free." I talked to my dad about the exciting experience that was coming, that he was indeed blessed to soon be in the presence of God. A sweet experience I will not forget.

The next day as my sweet son Chuck (how appropriate that the grandson named after him would be there) sat with his grandmother and me, we saw Dad open his eyes and he seemed to be able to hear us. We spoke words of love and encouragement to him. Mom told him that she would be okay, that they would both be okay. Chuck talked to his grandpa--telling him that he loved him. And we waited together.

The nurse asked to care for dad for a few minutes and we left the room. Feeling somehow secure that the nurse with him, my mother ran up to the bank. As the nurse came out of the room she smiled and motioned and I knew that Dad was about to slip into eternity. The nurse told us that as she was ministering to him he gripped her hand, opened his eyes wide and smiled a huge smile. As we walked in we saw him smiling and then we saw him release his spirit with that smile on his face and we saw his face as he slipped away. Glory Hallelujah! The nurse standing at the end of the bed said "now he's born again". Odd to say that--but true--he had a new spiritual body as he entered into God's presence. After he was gone, my friend Gail and I along with my mother, turned on that CD from the night before and worshiped together at his bedside. My mother was sad that she wasn't there as he passed--but we all knew that God understood that perhaps it would have been too difficult. Our God is so faithful.

At his memorial service, his pastor said that God showed him a picture of Jesus gathering the angels and giving dad a standing ovation as he entered those gates. Our niece Amy, who played the worship music for the memorial, told us that a song went through her head as she played and sang. It said, "if you could only see me now, you wouldn't be sad". Our God is so great to give us those images to remember.

At the end of the day, all I could say is that my dad lived a good life and he must be living an amazing life now. God honored my sister's prayer that Dad pass before he got to the point that he didn't recognize us. She didn't want our dad to be scared in not knowing those around him. And even the week before he recognized us. Thank you Lord, for your grace and mercy. We miss him but not for long, this life is fleeting and soon we will also step into eternity into the arms of our loving Father, and our loving dad.

Dear Great-Grandma Me

Have you ever said to yourself "I will never be like my mother (or any other relative in the family)? Maybe someone has told you "you are so much like Aunt Emmie" and you thought to yourself "Oh Lord, please don't let me be her when I am older". I'm pretty sure most of us have someone in our lives who exhibit behaviors or attitudes that really bug us and may even pray that we won't be like them when we are older.

Working as a volunteer in a nursing home and having parents who are polar opposites in attitude as they've aged, I have had ample opportunities to think these very thoughts. I've also been able to observe numerous elderly gals--some who I wanted to be, others who scared me to death thinking I could be like them.

Years ago I coordinated the volunteers who answered the phone at a church, I remember coming home and telling my husband " I want to be just like Elizabeth when I'm 75 or even I want to be just like Sylvia when I'm 84." Elizabeth was a retired school principle who always had an encouraging thing to say, who traveled and enjoyed every day of her life despite having difficulty walking. Or Sylvia who had been volunteering at the church for many, many years. She was such a delight. At one point we asked all the volunteers to answer the phone "thank you for calling Westminster Presbyterian Church, how can I direct your call". She would listen attentively and each time she answered the phone we'd hear a loud "Presbyterian Church!" come from the volunteer desk. How can you argue with an 84 year old woman who came to church for her weekly volunteer time and had to brace her self against the hallway wall to get to the receptionist's desk because she was so dizzy she couldn't stand up straight? That's dedication. I want to be like her.

In a previous blog I mentioned a lady who was a temporary rehab resident in the nursing home. The light on her face told me that this woman had loved God for a very long time. How beautiful to hear her sweet voice tell me now much she loved God and that when she got out of the nursing home she was going to start giving free piano lessons to needy children in her area. Remember? She's 84 years old.

I've also mentioned my great-aunt Bill who taught Sunday School until she was 89 years old and is still living alone at 95--mostly blind, body bent entirely over with osteoporosis. Her answer to "how are you today" is always "fine" and she means it!

So, after mulling this over, I said to my sister just last night "I think I'll write a letter to future me to remind me to avoid some of those attitudes and behaviors" I'll read it every year. It was a joke at the time but as I got up this morning I thought--this is really a good idea. So here goes.

Dear Great Grandma Cindy
I want to remind you of a few things to remember these days. I'm sure it will be easy to feel sorry for yourself as your knees ache and your memory is even worse than it is now.....now that's a scary thought--moving on......Here's some things I want you to remember:

1. Have an attitude of gratitude. Say thank you often and generously. Don't ever think that because you are old, giving birth to them was excruciating, or they ought to do it just because you deserve it after all these years, that you don't need to say thank you for every considerate thing that someone does for you. Say Thank You and mean it!

2. Pray, pray and pray. You have so much more time to spend at the throne of Grace these days--spend it on those rickety knees of yours (even just in our head) for others. This is probably the most valuable thing you will ever do. This purpose alone is enough warrant still being on this earth.

3. Seek God with all your heart. Get to know Him better every day. It won't be long before you see Him face to face. You'll want to know Him in the deepest way possible. The closer you are to Him here, the closer you'll want to be in eternity.

4. Read your Bible DAILY (or listen to it on CD if your hearing is gone) The Word of God will lift out of the doldrums and give power to your prayers.

5. Love those great grandkids unconditionally. Don't worry about the multitude of piercings or tattoos or whatever the latest dress fad is. It is your job to love them not to judge them. It is your job to pray for them and tell them how much God loves them and what a fabulous plan for their lives he has (even if it doesn't seem at all possible).

6. Do the same thing for your kids. They are grandparents now--be an example of that love and acceptance. Be the grace of God in their lives.

7. Rejoice! Rejoice that you will soon see your Savior face to face. Think in terms of eternity. This life of aches and pains is short--becoming shorter every day. Be happy knowing that this world is not your home--you are at the end of the pathway--only a few more steps to go.
Halleluiah!!!!!

And last but not least--Be happy knowing that God has been your Lord all these many years, that He has been faithful all the way through. That you are loved and as beautiful to God today as you were on your wedding day.

Love,
Grandma Cindy


So instead of just filing this away, I think I'll get it out every few months to remind myself that in order to live those things I need to prep now. Live a life of love, gratitude, kindness and prayer NOW.