Testimony

Pss. 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

Why all the testimonies lately? I guess because it is what God is calling His people to do. My friend Debbie gives a testimony as she has fought and is winning the battle with breast cancer. Tom had a testimony about his heater and had it happened just two days later, he’d be sitting in the cold unable to fix what was broken. (he’s having surgery immobilizing him for days.)  My friend Steve is also battling and winning the fight with cancer, and I myself have given testimony to the many blessings the Lord has put in my life. And the list goes on.

A testimony of Christ is a Christian, baring his/her soul of their struggles and showing you, possibly a non-believer, how He has worked victoriously in our lives.

Take for instance Sunday. We made it to church on Sunday (read previous posts.) What I left out of the already 800 word post was this:

We went to a beautiful service but when we walked out to the car, there under the car was a puddle.

“Is that supposed to be there? Or is it from another car?” I so blondely asked.

“Yes honey.” Is the smart response I got.

I could SEE it was from our car, but we got in, it started right up and off we drove. Church is about 20 –25 miles from home and as we pulled into our driveway, went to park, it just conked right out. It started right back up to be put in its place, but I was amazed that God had gotten us to our front door before the car conked out.

What a blessing, what a testimony.

I’m in a Prayer Partner group on facebook and while many are in need of prayer, it is always later related by a testimony of just HOW those prayers were answered. I’m sensing a thread that ties the two together. Prayer request ---> Prayers go out ---> Prayers answered ---> testimony. Prayer for a struggling soul ---> Prayers go out --- > Prayers answered --- > Testimony. It goes on and on.

It’s as if God is calling His people to prayer. I know quite a few people of different religions and the one thing that bonds those religions together is prayer. And through prayer healing occurs.

Now back to the car. Steven called his brother, the mechanic and asked him if he could look at it. Well that meant a trip, in the car, to Axtel. His brother, always ready to help his lil bro out said, “Sure bring it out.”

His brother was off on Thursday so that is when Steven loaded up the car with water and anti-freeze, bright and early because Steven had to be into work at 11. I loaded up on the prayer because I knew it was a good 20-25 miles from where we are.

Steven called at ten o'clock from Kearney and asked me to come take him to work. I had the truck, so off in the nasty wind I road. The car had made it to Axtel AND into Kearney where it now sits, I say ‘hospitalized’ (at a garage.)

Okay, so I haven’t got my miracle car fixed and who knows where the money will come from, but I do know, the radiator had a hole in it, needs to be replaced and it won’t be home from the ‘hospital’ until Tuesday. It’s okay, my car will be fine and the Lord will provide as He always does. My full testimony will come when I receive the message as to why and what reason the car got sick at this time.

The point of my story is this, God calls us to give testimony to all the glory and blessings in our life so that maybe just one person might be touched and also want to plant a seed. That’s what God’s gift to us is all about; it isn’t just about the cross and what was done to save us, it is about what is in the here and now and what we can DO to save others and possibly give them hope in their tomorrow. Get it?

The cross is OURS to bear. We either take it on or just walk, no seeds, no testimony, just walk. Maybe that is what your faith is all about to you, just walking and waiting for heaven. Me, I like to think of my faith as a seed that I plant; I carry the cross to watch those around me bloom!

He did it for me, it’s the LEAST and I do mean LEAST I can do for Him.

Pss. 119: 88 Quicken me after thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth.

When God Calls

Luke 9:57 And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.

Well it comes with great sadness that I say, our pastor of four years, with the church twelve, has been called to Minnesota. It is laying heavy on my heart but I know, in the grand scheme of things, God’s master plan is never our plan.

It is in the heart of a Christian that when God calls us to act, we must do so. Many of you won’t understand that, but allow me to elaborate a bit.

Many people think that being a Christian is just believing in Christ, reading the bible about Christ, and having faith in Christ. It is so much more than that; it is about FOLLOWING Christ where and when He calls you also. I capitalized following because believers have the faith, read, share the word part down but a Christian has to have the FOLLWER part down too, and we must understand when God calls someone. Instead of being sad, we need to be supportive.

I want to whine about it a bit, Pastor Mike leaving. For four years he and his staff have been a constant source of a shoulder we as a family could turn to. Every Sunday we get up, drive the 25 or so miles to church, whether it was piping hot or freezing cold, we go.

It was always a heart touching, thought provoking service that kept lingering in our minds throughout the week until the next service.

Whenever it wasn’t pastor Mike, granted the pastors gave a good sermon, it wasn’t Pastor Mikes fire! You get used to waking up on Sunday’s and looking forward to your pastor and his sermon.

We’ve been through a few pastors in our church life. First we had Pastor Wells at a UCC church in Texas, then Pastor Don and Tim and at Grace (an evangelical church) then Pastor Mike here, our first church in Nebraska, at Efree.

We were called to Nebraska via Steven going blind four years ago. We had to follow Christ in where He was calling us, and he was calling Steven home. We found the best church in the area (for us) after visiting a few others, Steven found one of the best doctor’s in the state (to operate and give him sight again), we found the perfect home, a perfect school, and to me a perfect life.

Wait, wait…perfect by no means; we have had our share of struggles. When we had no Thanksgiving meal, it was our church who handed out bags of groceries to the needy families to see that they had a meal (Easter too.) When we needed tires, it was a friend from church who supplied two brand new tires, when I had no insurance for a dentist, it was the church that saw to it that my bill was PAID IN FULL! When we couldn’t afford propane to heat our house, it was the church who paid the propane company. Perfect no but Godly provided in a perfect manner? Yes!

I see this going on across the nation, Churches being the backbone to families when they struggle. Mission trips to foreign lands and home, our church is there. It is what God has built his community of believers FOR. To be Christlike one must GIVE more than receive. God calls and the community FOLLOWS! (No we’re not all following him to Minnesota)

Pastor Mike might be leaving this church but our community of Christians will continue to carry on the mission he started 12 years ago. Pastor Mike has done so much for our church seeing it built up to the height of 900 + parishioners, he is now being called to serve at another church where he might do the same thing to God’s community and with that I say, "Go with God Pastor Mike! He’s leading and you must follow."

Mark 16: 20 And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.

Are you using your talent?

Matt. 8: 4 And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

Are you using your talent to glorify God? This was a question posed to us by Pastor Tim this Sunday. Yes we have three: Pastor Mike, Kevin, and Tim. This week it was Pastor Tim.

He asked us if we were using our talents to glorify God. It had me thinking about the change in my blog when I went from a writing blog, to my God given talent of a poetry blog.

This blog was focused on writing and the craft of writing and along with it the life of a writer. Was it for God or for me? Honestly, it was for me AND the writers out there. Is it what God wanted? I can once again say honestly, no, it is what I wanted!

God placed on my heart the change and it was up to me to see it through. (God does that, gives us free will so we HAVE to make a CHOICE.) I decided I was going to make the change to poetry (my God given talent) but not just ANY poetry, didactic rhyming  poetry, as my brother once called it. Didactic poetry is poetry with a message. That was me, my poetry always has a message for my reader.

Would it be received? Would my writer friends like the change or would it fall on deaf ears? Sure those thoughts crossed my mind, but I gave it up to God to let Him be the judge, not people. As of this posting, my stats are up! I went from maybe 10 –12 hits a day to 20 sometimes 40 hits or more and rising!

Maybe God was telling me something. Sure the people wanted writing knowledge but more than they knew, they also wanted God knowledge. A testimony of this God I speak of; where my devotion comes from and how do they get it.

Guess what people, It’s FREE!

God is always there, free to you and even to the non-believers, he’s there giving answers to all of your, “Why did he kill all those kids?” “Why did he take my mother/father/child grandmother away?” “Why? Why? Why?” He uses people like me who are devoted to Him to bring you a message that you might otherwise never hear, and maybe NEED to hear at the time you click on my blog.

My God given talent is poetry. Do I worry that I’m shunning my writing friends? Not at all. They’ve come to know me over the years and always saw God in my life so they probably knew at some time I’d have a God based blog.

So in answer to Pastor Tim: Are you using your God given talent? Yes sir, I am!

Prov. 17: 8 A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it: whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth.

Why am I so devoted?

1 Cor. 10: 31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

Why am I so devoted?

You know, I’ve had people ask me, “Why are you so devoted to God? What has He ever given you?”

“I mean really, you need to ask that?  First of all He has given me life, among other things.”

“You really believe that?”

“Yes, yes I do. Don’t you?”

And thus begins a discussion on God.

Last week my face swelled up like a balloon. My whole right side was disproportionate with my left side making me look quite gruesome and grotesque, not to mention the pain that rode along with the swelling.

It wasn’t an allergic reaction to something I ate. It felt like an abscess or some sort of sinus infection. I had a nightmare where I had went into church and everyone was laughing at me whispering behind my back, “She looks like the elephant man.”

We hadn’t been to church in two or three weeks because Steven’s boss keeps scheduling him on Sunday, after he’s asked for Sunday’s off, so I was feeling depleted. I continually sing praises throughout the day, read my bible and keep in touch with God but my worship on Sunday really keeps me rooted in my love of God and keeps my eyes focused on Him.

This Sunday however Steven had the day off so we would be allowed to attend service! I was elated; my face was swelled like a balloon so it kind of scared me to think I’d go into church to be looked at. Not that they EVER would look at me and laugh and judge, (I don’t attend THAT kind of church.)  But Friday’s pain did have me concerned.

I told Steven that this was satans way of trying to keep me out of church this Sunday and that I’d be going if I had to CRAWL! Steven replied, “If it works out that way.”

“Oh, it’ll work out! I have FAITH! GOD wants me there!” Yes, the battle between God and satan happens daily in lives. Who wins is up to you.

I woke Sunday at 5 am like always, had my coffee, slowly sipping because the pain was too much to bear. I was debating going to church, bracing the temps, and fear of shivering because it would hurt.

I was on my knees crying in pain, “God, I can’t make it today. I’m in so much pain.”

Quite suddenly a response of, “What pain?”

“What pain? WHAT pain,” and before I could finish crying out what pain one more time, I felt NO PAIN! What? NO pain, you ask? YES, no pain. I went on to finish getting dressed and we made it to Church. God wanted me there so again, HE won! All praise and Glory to God!

THIS is why I’m so devoted to God. Any time I have ever cried out and times when I didn’t cry out, He always hears and has a response. Now granted a lot of folks, like I was saying yesterday, have faith, pray and believe and that is all well and good, but devoted? Is your life devoted to God?

When you don’t have money to pay the bills or buy food do you worry, do you run around looking for ways to get the funds, or do you place total trust in God? I’ve heard this many times too, “God’s not going to put food on your plate.” Well guess what, He WILL put food on your plate, He will see to it the funds are there, He'll use people to see the food is there, but mark my word, He DOES move mountains to see you well taken care of.

No, He won’t pay your cable bill, He doesn’t see to it you have the luxuries that you so often over indulge in, but yes, food, water, a warm home? YES! He’s also placed the means for a new car in my life, albeit an old used car, but nonetheless a car, only because He saw in advance the total wrecking of our second vehicle, and transportation is a means to food on our table via Steven working.

So YES, He DOES put food on my plate. He covers me in a blanket of protection. He sees my falls before I get there and is the soft pillow I land on before injury. If something doesn’t work out that *I* want, it’s because it is not what HE wanted for me, and sometimes (no, all the time) we have to be alright with that.

Once you accept that in your life, you become devoted to God. Your focus is on what glorifies Him and not what the media (satan) can place in front of you to distract you. Our distractions pull us away from God and thus the state of the world today.

Why am I so devoted to God? Because God, in all His Glory, is devoted to ME!

Phil. 1:11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.

Just sayin'

Sometimes people struggle. They struggle with following, with believing and with faith. Sure it’s so easy to not concern yourself and just go with the flow like everyone else but let me tell you, conforming to the world makes up a good portion of the struggle.

I hear from many who say, “I pray, but He never answers,” or “I have faith, but I’m scared,” or “I believe!” but have no follow through with their belief.

Number one, when you pray, He always answers, it just might not be the answer YOU wanted, but mark my word, He heard you and answered. You need to be aware of the blessing and SEE it as a blessing, not an unanswered prayer.

Number two, having faith is just that, faith in the unknown and unexpected. Faith is NOT fearing, it is washing away all doubt in not knowing, and expecting the unexpected to happen. I say unexpected because we sometimes expect a situation to go one way (our  way) and it veers off and goes another way (unexpected, God’s way.)

Number three, you can’t just be a believer. If you sit at home with words tucked in your pocket, “I believe, I have faith, I pray, I read the bible.” To be bluntly honest here, they are empty words which equals an empty faith.

To believe, you must embrace the life God has set before you. To struggle is a part of that belief and as your ACTIONS carry you through the struggle, you will be either a stronger person or a weaker person.

Take a look at number three again. You believe, have faith, pray, and read the bible, right? But what do your ACTIONS say? Are you belittling people, ‘that good for nothing, look what he’s doing now,’ ranting, ‘can you believe this? I just had to share so you can rant with me,’ gossiping, ‘can you believe she did/said this or that?’

Feeling good getting all those pent up frustrations off your chest? Well no wonder you’re struggling. Your eyes are not on the Lord just because your words declared it. You’re struggling; fighting with the enemy and he has the upper hand because it is evident in your actions.

Now some will read this and state quite firmly, I’m not struggling. But let me ask, are you the same person you were years ago? Have you actively sought to change? Do you find yourself still hanging on the media and their words? Do you still engage at taking those words as truth then judging the person they’re speaking of?

Are you focused on God?

I can scan an entire news feed without forming a disgruntled opinion. I take my eyes off the screen, look out the window and thank the Lord for a beautiful sunrise. When I read about suffering and hostilities in the world, again, I gaze out the window to see the beauty in the day. When I see women demoralizing themselves, I pray for them, I don’t click that which satan has put before me. I’m not a ‘need to click, see, watch, laugh, judge’ kind of person. I’m a God person and everything that comes forth of me will be to glorify God. Nothing more, nothing less.

Believing and having faith is trusting that God knows what He’s doing. He didn’t need your help in creating you, He certainly doesn’t need your help in getting you to the right place on your journey.

Being a God person is knowing the difference in satan and God, period. When your eyes are always on God (although you’ll be persecuted) satan loses his strength in getting to you (not that he won’t try) but as a God person, you wield armor no other force can get through, and that is the armor of God.

Putting PHYSICAL ACTIONS behind your following, faith, belief, prayer, and what you read. Typing on a keyboard is not the physical action I’m referring to either.

Just sayin’

Poetry Sunday ~ Sunrise

Luke 1: 79 To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Sunrise

The morning breaks

With flaming sun

I hear the winds

The rays outrun.

I see the shadows

In length from trees

Swaying softly

To the morning breeze.

Darkness lingers

Before the dawn

Creatures who creep

Are now withdrawn.

Softly the daylight

Breaks through the sky

Warming the ground

Without a sigh.

I raise my eyes

Begin to pray.

For God has granted

Me this day.

I will soar

Always share

With all I love

And whom I care.

Nothing dark

Will come from me

I’ll shine as the Son

For all to see.

Matt. 10: 27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.

Sunrise Pics!

spectacular sunrise (autumn)

Glorious Winter Sonrise

God and His artwork
1 25 14

Quotation Saturday

Eccl. 10:11 Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better.

GOSSIP

I chose gossip because this week that is all anybody could do. Sad life they must live when their eyes are set on sensationalism, pretending to have eyes on God.

“Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.”
~ Socrates

“How would your life be different if…You walked away from gossip and verbal defamation? Let today be the day…You speak only the good you know of other people and encourage others to do the same.”
~ Steve Maraboli

“Isn't it kind of silly to think that tearing someone else down builds you up?”
~ Sean Covey

“Gossip is just a tool to distract people who have nothing better to do from feeling jealous of those few of us still remaining with noble hearts.”
~ Anna Godbersen

“These are the few ways we can practice humility:
To speak as little as possible of one's self.
To mind one's own business.
Not to want to manage other people's affairs.
To avoid curiosity.
To accept contradictions and correction cheerfully.
To pass over the mistakes of others.
To accept insults and injuries.
To accept being slighted, forgotten and disliked.
To be kind and gentle even under provocation.
Never to stand on one's dignity.
To choose always the hardest.”
~ Mother Teresa

“This day and age the hardest thing to do is resist temptation. The temptation to gossip is the work of the devil. He owns you already.”

~Joni

TEMPTATION

I chose temptation because it is not a happy day when you see people lead by being tempted by the dark one. They’re trying to lead you to the dark.

“The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.”
~ Oscar Wilde

“There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable.”
~ Mark Twain

No evil dooms us hopelessly except the evil we love, and desire to continue in, and make no effort to escape from. ”
~ George Eliot

“Whatever their bodies do affects their souls. It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out...”
~ C.S. Lewis

“The temptation to gossip is eating at our soul. We’ve become a nation of click, read, gossip. Resist temptation to save your soul.”

~Joni

ACTIONS

I chose actions for obvious reasons. It is by the actions of people that they define themselves. Man cannot serve two masters.

“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi

“Words can be twisted into any shape. Promises can be made to lull the heart and seduce the soul. In the final analysis, words mean nothing. They are labels we give things in an effort to wrap our puny little brains around their underlying natures, when ninety-nine percent of the time the totality of the reality is an entirely different beast. The wisest man is the silent one. Examine his actions. Judge him by them.”
~ Karen Marie Moning

“I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.”
~ John Locke

“Don’t tell me about your god with your words. Show me about your god with your actions.”
~ Steve Maraboli

Ephesians 4:32-33 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

The Mirror of My Soul

Job 22:28 Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.

Mirror of my Soul

What do you see as you gaze upon me

The mirror of my soul.

Granted I’m not perfectly shaped

But my God has made me whole.

I ask that you not cast your eyes

To note my physical beauty

Look into the mirror of my soul

Understand my heavenly duty.

I’ll shower you not in distaste

Or vile and damaging hate

The mirror of me will reflect

Words of the Lord I relate.

I’m mindful of my actions

And everything I imbue

The mirror of my soul is lit

By all He’s asked me to do.

I try to be a reflection

Of Christ who dwells in me

The mirror of my soul will shine

For all of the world to see!

Prov. 4:18 But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

Poetry Sunday ~ The Tree of Life

Matt. 12: 33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.

The Tree of Life

The tree shivers in the cold

Standing erect it sways.

Branches bend in the wind

Stems reach out in praise.

The bark, it clings firmly

In a solid fashion

Forming a binding grip

of artistic passion.

The stem readies for growth

Gusts make them strong.

The weak will break and fall

The ones that don’t belong.

Not fastened to the root

The dead decide to wander

Much like that of man who

Leaves his life to squander.

Take heart in this message

That I have come to bear.

There is only one tree of life

That you should give great care.

The leaf will bring forth beauty

You will rise to its call

Unleashed is fruit and wisdom

That will rest again come fall.

Rev. 2: 7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

 

 

Quotation Saturday

Isa. 61: 3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

I’ve been in a contemplative mood this week and I seek to let some things go, some things grow and I desire to branch out and seek. I choose quotes that start me thinking.

~ TREE  ~

“I felt that I was not, never had been and never would be a living part of this overpoweringly solid and deeply meaningful world around me.”
~ John Knowles, A Separate Peace

“Deciding whether or not to trust a person is like deciding whether or not to climb a tree because you might get a wonderful view from the highest branch or you might simply get covered in sap and for this reason many people choose to spend their time alone and indoors where it is harder to get a splinter.”
~ Lemony Snicket

“And then, one Thursday, nearly two thousand years after one man had been nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be to be nice to people for a change, a girl sitting on her own in a small café in Rickmansworth suddenly realized what it was that had been going wrong all this time, and she finally knew how the world could be made a good and happy place. This time it was right, it would work, and no one would have to get nailed to anything.”
~ Douglas Adams

“Nothing living should ever be treated with contempt. Whatever it is that lives, a man, a tree, or a bird, should be touched gently, because the time is short. Civilization is another word for respect for life...”
~ Elizabeth Goudge

~ LEAF ~

“Listen to the trees as they sway in the wind.
Their leaves are telling secrets. Their bark sings songs of olden days as it grows around the trunks. And their roots give names to all things.
Their language has been lost.
But not the gestures.”
~ Vera Nazarian

“A withered maple leaf has left its branch and is falling to the ground; its movements resemble those of a butterfly in flight. Isn't it strange? The saddest and deadest of things is yet so like the gayest and most vital of creatures?”
~ Ivan Turgenev

“There is another alphabet, whispering from every leaf, singing from every river, shimmering from every sky.”
~ Dejan Stojanovic

“There is an eternal love between the water drop and the leaf. When you look at them, you can see that they both shine out of happiness.”
~ Mehmet Murat ildan

~ BRANCH ~

“There's the tree with the branches that everyone sees, and then there's the upside-down root tree, growing the opposite way. So Earth is the branches, growing in opposing but perfect symmetry. The branches don't think much about the roots, and maybe the roots don't think much about the branches, but all the time, they're connected by the trunk, you know?”
~ Gabrielle Zevin

“Be like a branch of a tree; flex your body to face 'wind of sorrow'; flex little harder to dance in the 'wind of happiness'.”
~ Santosh Kalwar

“The man journeyed far, and he heard and saw many strange things on his travels. He learned that - that the friend and the enemy are but two faces of the same self. That the path one believes chosen long since, constant and unchangeable, straight and wide, can alter in an instant. Can branch, and twist and lead the traveler to places far beyond his wildest imaginings. That there are mysteries beyond the mind of mortal man, and that to deny their existence is to spend a life of half-consciousness.”
~ Juliet Marillier

Weary Among Men

Job 39: 12 Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy barn?

Weary Among Men

My heart is growing weary

My eyes are drawing dim.

I cannot find the laughter

In man who’s wrought with sin.

My legs are turning wobbly

My arms they hurt to raise.

I cannot find the joy

In man who gives false praise.

My mind is set to wander

Away from a faulty place.

I cannot find the happiness

In man who wears false face.

My body’s nearly broken

I’m aching all inside.

I cannot live in sanctity

While man is full of pride.

Dear Lord come and take me home

Where I might find some peace.

I cannot stay where I don’t belong

I cry out for sweet release!

Prov. 7: 19 For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey:

The Souls Ascent

Pss. 11: 1 In the LORD put I my trust: How say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?

The Souls Ascent

I peered up at the towering mount
That glistened from the snow
Would I reach that velvet cap
That no one dared to go.

The very tip seems to drift
In a string of pearly lace
No end in sight for it was hid
Upon this rocky face.

Burgeoning trees whispered still
They called within the deep
Nature would carry my weary legs
If for my soul to keep.

Every aching step I took
Impelling me to climb
A voice was beckoning in my head.
Transcending the sublime

I walked on fading fury
As the summit reared its head
The stones were trembling underfoot
My essence being fed.

Every time I stumbled about
My eyes would raise to see
The brilliance of the lemon rays
Shining down on me.

I gasp for air my final steps
What seems to last for miles
My bated breath my moistened brow
Slowly, sweeps the aisles.

I let it out a HOWLING yell
I gaze at the valley below
My echoes resound in empty space
My soul begins to glow.

I reach the powdered summit
My mind now crystal clear

It's never the journey taken
It's relinquishing all you fear!

Pss. 49: 5 Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?

Judgmental Nation

Prov. 14: 9 Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favour.

Judgmental Nation

Your false idols do not worship you

As much as you lust for them.

Nudity appeals to men who knew

They’d boldly be condemned.

Our God is jealous of your love

For material and physical things

You claim to adore the man above

Not afraid of what sin brings?

You continue on the erroneous path

You’re filled with misguided hate.

Laugh and scoff at God’s wrath

As you continue to berate?

You mock the people not like you

Judging those not the same

Laugh and scoff as you do.

There’s no one but you to blame!

A hypocrite will praise the Lord

Then turn and face the crowd

With mocking stance, you’re adored

Alone, obnoxious and proud.

When you can serve two masters

An image comes to mind.

Your life will fill with disasters

Your heart will be left blind.

Wake up you judgmental nation

You cannot serve the two.

While sin is your fixation

God alone knows what to do.

Prov. 17:5 Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker: and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.

My Life has Changed

Prov. 24: 21 My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change:

My Life has Changed

My life was spent in the city

For many of my years

Blackened streets surrounded

A community of tears.

The dirt road dream forbidden

My survival full of doubt.

I longed to be in the country

Where rolling fields stretched out.

I longed to wake and taste the soil

A midsummer rain would cause.

My life was spent in the city

But my passion gave great pause.

In later years I found myself

At the end of a dirt road.

My prayers have all been answered

I was placed in a humble abode.

Before me sits fields and fields

Of cow, farms and more.

My God has heard my cries

And gave me a life I adore.

My life was spent in the city

I guess it was a test.

For now I dwell in beauty

Where country life is the best!

2 Cor. 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Poetry Sunday ~ I Pray

2 Sam. 7: 27 For thou, O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house: therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee.

I Pray

Now I’ll kneel me down to pray

Lord I know not what to say

The world is filled with so much hate

I pray to you, it’s not too late.

Just because they read the news

They feel the need to share the blues

My prayer is for them to open their eyes

And see some beauty within the lies.

I’ll pray they have an open heart

To give out love as their new start.

To not be overcome with guile

That they instead would give a smile.

As I kneel me down to pray

Please have mercy as they stray

Grant us peace here on earth

Allow in men to see their worth.

Now my knees begin to hurt

For man who sleeps in earthly dirt

Will you love them once again.

Show them grace, I pray, AMEN!

Ephesians 4:32-33 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

Quotation Saturday

GIFT

“What you are is God's gift to you, what you become is your gift to God.”
~ Hans Urs von Balthasar, Prayer

“Hydrogenated and androgynous milky white love is all I have to offer you. Would you like me to pour it in your coffee, or directly into your soul?
”
~ Jarod Kintz

“A wonderful gift may not be wrapped as you expect.”
~ Jonathan Lockwood Huie

“There are souls in this world who have the gift of finding joy everywhere, and leaving it behind them when they go.”
~ Frederick William Faber

WISDOM

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
~ Mark Twain

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
~ Aristotle

“There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must of felt what it is to die, Morrel, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of life.
" Live, then, and be happy, beloved children of my heart, and never forget, that until the day God will deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is contained in these two words, 'Wait and Hope.”
~ Alexandre Dumas

“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
~ Aristotle, Metaphysics

LOVE

“To love others you must first love yourself.”
~ Leo Buscaglia, Love

“When we learn to read the story of Jesus and see it as the story of the love of God, doing for us what we could not do for ourselves--that insight produces, again and again, a sense of astonished gratitude which is very near the heart of authentic Christian experience.”
~ N.T. Wright

“…There is the heat of Love, the pulsing rush of Longing, the lover’s whisper, irresistible—magic to make the sanest man go mad.”
~ Homer, The Iliad

“I always think of each night as a song. Or each moment as a song. But now I'm seeing we don't live in a single song. We move from song to song, from lyric to lyric, from chord to chord. There is no ending here. It's an infinite playlist.”
~ David Levithan

A Snowcapped Morn

Rom. 2: 19 And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness

Snowcapped Morn

The snow is hugging the trees this morn

In a blanket of purity’s glow.

My soul is comforted in Christ the Lord

By a Light of wondrous show.

Each branch is cradled in soft cotton

Frozen is the arm and stem.

The Lord asks me to raise my eyes

And no man am I to condemn.

My snowblind eyes squint to see

The white that clings to the tree

God Himself has locked his arms

Around the mortal part of me.

Each morning I rise to a glorious sight

I bow my head and pray.

The Lord has wrapped me in His love

The sunrise a sweet bouquet.

Beautiful Pictures!

 Sunrise and prayer

Cows not where they're suppose to be!

Cows fertilizing my neighbors lawn!

Snow clinging to the trees today