Holy Week - Strength in Scripture

Holy Week – Strength in Scripture 

Sorrow

With my illness I often find myself wallowing in sorrow. Sorrow for the lost, sorrow for what was and what is to come, physically and spiritually, literally and metaphorically.

Deut. 28:65 “And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind:”

Esther 9:22 “As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.”

Job 6:10 “Then should I yet have comfort; yea, I would harden myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.”

The Holy Spirit is my comforter during these trying days. As people hurry around buying their Easter Sunday dresses, scramble to have a feast for their family, sorrow fills my heart for those who struggle to have bread, for those who seek but do not listen. It is with sorrow my heart is heavy.

Job 17:7 “Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.”

Pss. 13:2 “How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?”

Pss. 18:4 “The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.”

Pss 39:2 “I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.”

Pss. 69:29 “But I am poor and sorrowful: let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high.”

Pss 127:2 “It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.”

I pray for my family to know the love in my heart for my heavenly Father and not to remember me for the sorrows that haunted me. I sleep eight hours a night of peaceful rest. May they know when eternal rest comes I’m not bearing sorrow but eternal peace will fill my being of light.

Prov.10:22 “The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.”

Prov. 14:13 “Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness.”

Prov. 15:13 “A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.”

This verified illness is upon me as so many hidden illnesses encapsulate me. I cannot tackle one without the other and the sorrow from the heaviness overwhelms me at times with loneliness.

Ecc. 5:17 “All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.”

Ecc.7:3 “Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.”

Isa. 14:3 “And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve,”

Isa. 35:10 “And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

Dan. 10:16 “And, behold, one like the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spake, and said unto him that stood before me, O my lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained no strength.”
I longingly give you the fruit of the Spirit as I’m guided. My Holy Week will conclude and my New Year will begin. Even if it is only I who acknowledges the New Year it is mine to begin anew. A new breath, a new day, a new flame to my fire!

Jer. 31:25 “For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.”

Hos. 8:10 “Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes.”

Matt. 24:8 “All these are the beginning of sorrows.”

I gave all I could give and have nothing more to present. His Word has wrapped around you and shown you the sorrows but the blind cannot see. I will not walk in the shadow of death, I will rise to see a New Year; a new day dawning. Man will taste sorrow.

Mark 13:8 “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.”

John 16:22 “And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.”

2 Cor. 2:3 “And I wrote this same unto you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all.”

Rev. 21:4 “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

May the Grace and Glory of God

be with you all

Holy Week - Strength in Scripture

Holy Week –Strength in Scripture 

Every day I wake seeking strength from the Word. A reason to go on.

Ex. 15:2 “The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him.”

Deut. 33:25 “Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.”

Most days I feel like a copper penny. No longer in service, tossed away and unneeded. 

Josh 14:11 “As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in.”

It’s lonely fighting a war alone. It’s hard being ‘the strong one’ while everyone around you is weak. It’s challenging to want to continue for naught.

1 Sam 2:4 “The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength.”

2 Sam 22:33 “God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect.”

What other purpose is there to life if I don't have God and heaven to aspire to?

Job 6:11 “What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life?”

Job 39:11 “Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him?”

Pss. 118:1 “I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.
[2] The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
[32] It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.
[39] For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.”

My tears are for continued strength that only He can rain down on me. If people look back on my life and wonder WHERE I got my strength from, I get it from HIM and only Him because I’m a solid rock surrounded by a pool of jell-o. 

Pss. 52:7 “Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.”

They are weak, while He is strong.

Pss. 71:18 “Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.”

Pss. 73:26 “My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.”

Pss 118:14 “The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation.”

Pss.144:1 “Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:”

And I write…

Prov. 24:5 “A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.”
[10] If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.

Isa. 22:21 “And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.”

Isa. 35:3 “Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.”

I try to relay a message but only open ears can hear what I’m saying. 

Hab. 3:19 “The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.”

Mark 12:30 “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.”

People think it is so hard to follow the Lord. All He wants is your love. Isn’t that all that you want, is to be loved? 

Luke 22:32 “But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren”.

Where I go, you cannot go but know I am in the arms of the Lord. That is the only thing I’ve ever wanted in life… and in death. 

Rom 5:6 “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.”

2 Cor. 12:9 “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

You Only Live Once

1 Chron. 29:13 “Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.”

You only live once!

I hear this too often from people justifying their unhealthy eating and drinking habits. “Well, you only live once, so I’m going to eat all I can whenever and whatever I want.” But when you get sick and on your deathbed, you don’t realize what you are putting your loved ones through. Was that toxic double burger, with melted cheddar, fried onions, lettuce and tomato worth putting your family through an emotional hell that they have to live with for the rest of their lives?

What’s so ironic is I was never overweight, never thought I had bad eating habits, but here I sit with an illness that many people wouldn’t have the strength or willpower to fight, nevertheless, have their families fight for them. I’ve never gone on a diet in my life, I never colored my hair, heck, I’ve never even been to the beauty parlor in my life. Mani/Pedi? What are those? (I know what they ARE but you get my meaning, I’ve never had the NEED for them.) FYI: I am a self-maintenance woman!

You see, I’ve always been conscientious of what I put into my body so I could live a nice long life for my family. That is why my battle with drugs/alcohol happened at the ripe age of twenty-one. Now here I am, with an illness that has FORCED me to rethink life, and my unhealthy eating habits. What did I eat that was so unhealthy? Pasta, bread, processed meats, canned food, a Pepsi a day, yeah one! And three cups of coffee. I was never a big sweets and dessert person, which I am so glad because this disease would’ve more than likely hit sooner! All foods that turned out to be the toxins eating me away.

Yup, this disease loves sugar and carbs and I’ve eliminated them too late. Or is it in time? We’ll have to see on that one. I have every bit of faith that God and I will nip this thing in the butt and in the meantime I just want to scream from the rooftops, or from this blogosphere, LIFE IS SHORTER THAN YOU THINK, PEOPLE!!!

As my doctor bills mount from what my insurance didn’t cover, I didn’t draw concern because I knew that God in all His Glory assured me that He had this covered, and sure enough, He does!!!! Miracles DO HAPPEN! Every day I wake and praise a Mighty God, trusting Him to carry me through another day and praising Him for waking me to pass through this day. I thank Him every morning I wake up and am grateful to Him for allowing me the opportunity to feel so dadgum good in a world drenched in sickness. I am empowered to be His voice in trying darkened times. 

I’m wondering if you’re all tired of me talking about my unwavering faith and trust in God? Tired of me talking about the toxic lives we live? I can’t help it, friends. The way I see it, some of my words (or links) might provide you with the change you NEED or were looking for but kept putting off because, “Hey, we only live once, I’m going to do what I want and eat what I want and die HAPPY!” Maybe you see me and what I’m going through with vitality and want a bit of what I have. I'll share, I have God, life, energy, and a most humble nature (and the best friends ever.)

Rest assured, I can guarantee if ‘you only live once’ is the way you feel about life, you will NOT die happy. You will be relinquished to a fetal position in some uncaring hospital, allowed to dry up, wither and die, ALONE! But if you have a family, they get to witness your brutal choice of this death scene.

Jam. 5:5 “Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.”

You see, you live for the pleasure of the day. You don’t think of tomorrow, or your children or grandchildren, you live for you and your happiness. You have the theory ingrained in your head that ‘you only live once’ and that scares me as I think of heaven and it not being as full as people ‘who only live once’ will never have the pleasure of seeing. I hold eternity in my pocket!

I think that’s what makes me different among men (and women), I don’t live for earthly pleasures, I live for one day getting the opportunity to kiss heavens gate and to be welcomed in with open arms.

I have plenty to keep me busy these days around the house to ready myself for spring, like Spring cleaning! Yes, I love this time of year, out with the old, in with the new! I am healing, I am well, and I am LIVING! Living for my God! 
May God reach out to each and every one of you and rain blessings upon you!

Pss. 9:1 “I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.”

The Weight Of The Matter

Matt. 11: 28-29 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”

Last year when I got married I sent my mother wedding pictures. The first thing she said to me when she received them was, “You put on weight.” What I heard was, “You’re fat you need to diet and lose weight!” But she immediately followed it up with, “but you look GOOD!” Whew, she scared me there for a minute.

You see, when I left home thirteen years ago my weight was borderline undernourishment at 105-110 lbs. I’m 5’4” and it might be what the medical charts at the time deemed a normal weight for my height, I felt too thin when my jeans of teen years of a size 3-5 fit. After arriving in Texas I began eating regularly and could feel my health in my weight gain change.

I wasn’t scared or paranoid because I knew I was still taking care of myself, walking and getting a decent amount of exercise with the amount of food I was eating. As years passed by I did put on weight and I grew to a whopping 130 lbs. And ballooning into a size 7! It sounds like a lot to me because this was 25 added pounds but everyone keeps saying over and over that with age comes weight gain. And well, I’m not a teen anymore.

I recently looked at a weight chart to see what is normal for a 5’4” woman and wouldn’t you know, I’m now a ‘normal’ weight for my height? I was never concerned with my weight before, never owning a scale and the only time I was weighed was when I had a doctor visit, in other words, hardly ever. 

When I talked to my brother last year, he told me that my dad, on his deathbed, took one look at his son and said, “You put on weight.” (My nephew had lost a large amount of weight but apparently gained some of it back), that is what my dad was referring to but I can bet my nephew heard the same thing I did when my mother told me I had put on weight. 

I never noticed it before but it seems it’s all about weight. My sister is too skinny, my cousin is too big, ‘I’ have gained weight, my nephew has put on weight, my (overweight) aunt lost too much weight when she got cancer and became unrecognizable as a thin woman and it goes on and on! Not just in my family, I see a lot of friends with health issues and weight problems and I think to  myself, what is the world coming to that we judge people by the size of their weight?

How and why have we as a human race become so obsessed with our weight and our looks? Why do we feel that we need to be a certain way so as not to be scrutinized? Why can’t we age gracefully and with dignity? So what if your hair gets thinner and grayer as you get older? So what if you get beautiful ‘I lived life’ lines on your face? Why does everyone need to point out that ‘yes’ with age things change?

Well, I used this in a post on facebook five years ago and it had nothing to do with the political year, mind you. "Change is change. Trees change every season do we complain? Our perennials change, do we gripe? Sometimes we just need to learn something from a change, whether good or bad, in one way or another, we too will be changed because of change."

When Jesus was carrying the cross, it was never about the weight of the cross. He knew that with that cross there was going to be change, change that people would HAVE to accept or deny. He was more than willing to carry the weight of a HUMAN RACE. That’s right people, He knew no color, He did not pick and choose what gender was right or wrong. He didn’t separate Himself from the heavy and the thin. The only weight He knew was the weight of the cross and that for thousands of years (ages) the cross would carry change!

Listen people, we’re on the threshold of change. Yes this is a political year and there is going to be change, for better or for worse, change is inevitable. You’re getting older, there is going to be changes in your body and health. That little baby you’re holding, he/she is going to change. He won’t be a baby forever and you my friend are not going to be young forever.

Instead of pointing out and poking fun at the changes taking place, embrace them! Yes, you're getting older, grayer, heavier, thinner, wrinklier, weightier but know this, there is no burden too big that the Cross didn’t bear at the finish line. Carrying the cross was bigger than any challenge that you and I face on a daily basis. Think about that.

I think I see why non-believers don’t believe in the Jesus story because who in their right mind would carry a cross and be hung on it for millions of people nevertheless a single friend. We live in a selfish society that won’t even let the slow driver in front of us enjoy their ride at a slow pace because we’re in a hurry to be first. We live in a society that doesn’t embrace change unless it’s our make-up and hair color, we live in a world where it is all about the facade.

When you meet someone for the first time, before looking at their size, or how many wrinkles they have or how gray their hair is, notice first that they are human and are living life, aging and growing just like you! If you see a person's inner beauty first, you won’t even see their outer shell for judgment.

2 Cor. 4:17 “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;”

Poetry Sunday ~ Come To Me

Matt. 11:28 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Come To Me

Come all who are heavy laden

The burden too strong to bear

Come one come all you sinning men

In My arms feel no despair.

Rivers of living water flow

I see the streams in you

Come all who are heavy laden

The cross is the least I can do.

Come all who are heavy laden

A shadow veils your face.

Come to me you restless spirit

Be free of this sinful place.

Come all who are heavy laden

To rest your weary soul.

I am the Lord your Savior

Through me you can be whole.

Isa. 59:1 “Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:”

Lent ~ The Season of Renewal

“Sometimes God doesn’t change your situation because He’s trying to change your heart.” 

~ from Peace Be With You

Lent defined is this: the period preceding Easter that in the Christian Church is devoted to fasting, abstinence, and penitence in commemoration of Christ's fasting in the wilderness. In the Western Church it runs from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday and so includes forty weekdays.

Dan. 9: And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplication, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:

I was raised in the Catholic religion and that meant Ash Wednesday we children would be marched off from School, across the street to the Church where we’d have a service and receive ashes in the form of the cross on our foreheads. The church always smelled so good on Ash Wednesday, the odor lingered for hours after the service departure.

We were not to remove the ashes and had to wear the cross of ashes on our forehead until it wore off or the next day. Imagine how that went over in a non-religious community. Boy was THAT a heavy load to carry a cross on my forehead for hours on end! But then it really made me think of the cross Jesus had to carry and it really was the beginning of rooting me in Christ.

I converted at the tender age of fourteen, much to the chagrin of my parents who were Catholic by mouth only, not religious by any means, they just deemed themselves Catholic. Christianity was my new course. I became a Born-again Christian.

I was mocked and persecuted more for becoming born-again than the ashes I wore on my forehead. Christianity was a heavier cross but one I was willing to carry for the rest of my life. It was as if I had become the bridesmaid and married Christ.

When I put it that way, it makes more sense doesn’t it? In marriage you vow to love, honor and cherish until death do you part? Well the good news was that I would never part with being married to Christ because He promised eternal life; then the hard part, being submissive and learning to LIVE Christ, another heavy cross.

Lent isn’t always about ‘giving something up’, it can also be about adding something that adds to the Glory of Christ. Say you don’t attend church, for Lent, you might want to attend every Sunday finishing up with the Easter service. A lot of people only attend TWO services a year, Easter and Christmas. Why? Doesn’t make sense.

Say you want to add time to your bible reading for lent; maybe attend a bible study group. All of these are a form of the sacrifice that Lent calls for. Adding bible scripture posts to your facebook wall IS NOT glorifying God, it is glorifying YOU. Glorifying yourself is not what Lent is about.

If it was warmer out, this is the time I’d be outside communing with nature. Instead my communing with nature will have to wait a few days and I’ll just walk and talk to the empty fields that will soon burst forth with life. Yes, to me, communing with nature is communing with God. God IS mother nature. God IS father time. God IS all those emotions you feel running through your veins. BUT God IS NOT hate! When you feel the need to lash out, sure, claim it as ‘just stating an opinion’, but really you are drawing AWAY from God and filling yourself with HATE. Then that negative energy will reseed and grow. That is also NOT what Lent is about.

Lent to me is sacrificing for God. Lent to me is a spiritual renewal ending on Easter Sunday when I celebrate my New Year’s Day. Lent to me is Glorifying God in all I do and not myself.

1 Cor. 7: 5 Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.

Your Sin is Not My Sin

Job 2: 10 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

Your Sin is Not My Sin

Your sin is not my sin

I cannot weather the load.

If I pry my way into heaven

My sins are the one that’s showed.

The vice is worn around your neck

Do you think each one’s forgiven?

While you go through life committing

And try to keep sins hidden?

God sees a lingering crutch in man

Those things you think not bad

He sees the things you seek forgiveness

And the ones that scorched skin had.

We often try to be our own god,

Thinking we have some power

To carry the load of iniquity within

Never giving the bundle a scour.

Your sin is not my sin

I have my own to bear.

I’ll strive to carry Light

When sin is what you wear.

Job 20:11 His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.