Amazing Grace

I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak his praises. I will boast only in the Lord; let all who are helpless take heart. Ps 34:1-2 (NLT)

Are you there God? It’s me, Joni.

Have you ever felt like your voice is echoing in a tunnel and no one is hearing? I’ve never really felt like that because I always knew God was listening, as He was talking to me along the journey of Stevens blindness, He spoke, I listened. I never really asked anything of myself, I just kept praying for everyone else in need.

The power of prayer is simply amazing. When I send out a prayer for someone or say to a person, I’ll pray for you, those are not empty words that stop at just words, I really sincerely pray for that person. I won’t go into the amount of prayers I’ve said or for who, but I can say that the persons prayed for come back to me and say, “I FELT your prayers.” All Glory to God.

So when I send a prayer into the tunnel, it doesn’t have an echo, because of all the prayers it is bumping into. The tunnel is full of prayers and when I say, “Are you there God, it’s me, Joni,” I know God will hear my prayer. He forgets no one.

People think I’m crazy because when they ask or tell me to do something, I have a tendency to say, “I’ll see what God says,” or I’ll wait to hear what God wants me to do.” and if He says wait, I wait, patiently, sometimes in deep pain, struggling, gasping for air, but I wait, and God answers in a resounding brilliance of rainbow colors.

I don’t mean He puts a rainbow in the sky for me, (although sometimes he has done that.) But He layers his answer in a colorful rainbow that only I hear, and obey. ROYGBIV
Red-- “REST my child for you are weary”, Orange-- “OPEN your heart and let the Light shine through.” Yellow -- “YOU are my child and never forgotten.”, Green -- “GRACE from your Lord and Savior surrounds you.” Blue -- “BE one with all that I AM.” Indigo -- “I am the Lord your God.”, Violet -- “ VALUE all that you are!”

Then He adds... “You are not alone.” And then gives me a hug that is like no other warmth of the universe surrounding me.

How can you ignore that? Maybe you don’t hear Him? Maybe you’ve been so busy with reading the scripture, you never really gave it a chance when it came to actually living the scripture. I am not perfect by no means, I am a sinner like each and every one of you and think myself nothing more, but I strive, every day I wake up, and listen for the rainbow, I strive to make my day full of Glory to God.

I rose today, along with the glorious sun and felt, His Amazing Grace...
...was blind...but now... I SEE!!!

Thank you Lord, for prayers answered! Praise be your name!

NOTE: We are nearing a holiday, where people are lonely and need our prayer. Thanksgiving and Christmas should be a time for celebration and giving thanks. This weeks posts will be for the needy, the less fortunate, the ones no one cares for, but Jesus.

Matt. 11:29 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.

Off Topic~ Bullies!

Ps.73: 16 When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me;
***

Adam had a feeling. He didn’t want to go to school on Monday. Was he sick? Does he need a doctor? No, just a feeling. I sent him anyway saying , “Aww you just have to shake it off.” Against my better judgment, I sent him to school.

All day I sat wondering and I anxiously awaited the bus. I can always tell by the way he walks from the bus to the front door whether or not it was a good day. Monday was not a good day. No wave of the arm, no smile, just a sulking boy with his head lowered not to rise until he got to the door.

“What happened?” I asked. “I got sent to the office for self-defending myself!” he unleashed. Now let me tell you, I know mothers always think their son is right and never wrong, but my son is a good kid. When I went to the Parent/teacher meetings, Adam got all good reviews of how well behaved he is, mannerly, polite and respectful. Not a bad thing about his behavior. He even received the ACE award which is for Achievement, Citizenship, and Effort.

So when he told me the story of how he tripped, fell into a kid, and the kid turned and began pushing him, HARD. So he pushed back. What was he supposed to do, stand there and take the bullying? A teacher was a partial witness of the commotion and she overheard the other boy calling Adam an effing b*tch. They were both sent to the office. The perpetrator was taken first.

Adam was the one to look like it was all his fault. The principal called in a ‘witness’ and the poor girl only told what she saw, but she didn’t say Adam tripped, she said Adam was trying to trip the other boy, intentionally. Adam, trying to START something? No, he’s the one always trying NOT to start anything. So the girl didn’t lie but she didn’t see Adam trip, she ASSUMED he was trying to trip and her word was gold to the principal. “Thank you, for telling the truth.” she says. Adam wasn’t allowed to say HIS truth.

So Tuesday, Adam stayed home from school. He now doesn’t want to go back. Gibbon has let him down. What I thought was a Christian community, has turned into everyplace high school. Is this what the schools across the map are all about? Are kids being bullied, fearing for their life each and every day? Are the principal’s in these schools taking the proper precautions in preventing bullying or are the protecting the bully by blaming the victim.

As always, the victim is made to feel more of the victim, and this is hurting kids across America! What is a parent to do? I step in and it continues, nothing is being done, so once again I am stepping in, trying to resolve this so my kid can get the pleasure out of school. One more time and I’m pulling him out and returning to home-schooling.

This morning he rose and went off to school. He said, “I can’t miss my test!” He’s a good kid!! God be with him today and always!

Joel 2: 6 Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness.

Poetry Sunday ~ Sacrifice, Sunken Treasure, Fall from Grace

Psalm 25:18 Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.

SACRIFICE
All rights reserved: copyright © Joni Zipp
***
Sometimes our lives intermingle with one
Allowing us to expand ourselves.
Committing to the spatial amount of time
Remembering to allow each others wings to

spread

Into the fullness of a blossom.
Forever being grateful for the journey
Into each others soul
Constantly nurturing…
Each others total hollow shell.

***

Sunken Treasure
All rights reserved: copyright © Joni Zipp
***
Anything is more than me.
I am the waif that spans decades,
of searching.
Lost among the vibrating echoes of silence,
abandoned
on the sandy shore of loneliness.
Collapsing on the pier of destiny,
waiting effortlessly
for the ship.
The ship that will take me out to sea,
and drown me in the emptiness of space.
Waves will crash around me.
I'll burrow in the whitecaps,
until I become...
a sunken treasure.

***

Fall From Grace

 All rights reserved: copyright © Joni Zipp
***
Father, Father, what have I done?
Seems I have fallen from number one.
Faltered, Faltered, where do I turn?
Please come save me, from hellfires burn.

Sheltered, Sheltered, was my soul.
On the top, I once was whole.
Fallen, Fallen, out of space.
I wipe a teardrop from my face.

Hear me, Hear me, hear my cries.
Take this sadness from my eyes.
I beg thee, beg thee, don't let it win.
Take me, Take me, from this sin.

Forgive me, Forgive me, for I have strayed.
Sinful choices, I have made.
Save me, Save me, as you always do.
Return my soul so I begin anew.

All rights reserved: copyright © Joni Zipp