The First Sunday of Advent

Isa. 2:2 "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it."

🙏The First Sunday of Advent 🙏

When I begin to reflect on the First Sunday of Advent, I often get asked, ‘Are you Catholic?’ and I say no, no I’m not. It is my time to reflect and rejoice on the relationship I have with my Lord and Savior. I tend to reflect and rejoice year round but Advent to me is a time where the world is so caught up in commercialism and materialism, Advent gives me a solid base to hold onto so I don’t get ensnared by the trap that man lay.

When I was diagnosed with a disease most people fear ever being told, they cling to that fear as it guides them through the treatment of their choice. When I was diagnosed, after a good-days-worth of tears well spent, I climbed into what some would call my ‘denial cloak’. They might be right but I was not accepting this diagnosis as a death sentence and I certainly would not put my life in the hands of people who make it a point of feeding fear and prescribing much-needed drugs as an answer to feeding that fear. Please, do not argue my stance with me, it is MINE. People think I’m crazy for believing the Bible and all it says about ‘fear’, it NOT being from God. You can’t take that word 'fear' literal now, can you? Or can you?

Mark 4:40 “And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?”

Advent to me is all that God is to me, Light, purity, sincerity, and most of all a TRUSTWORTHY RELATIONSHIP!

Isaiah. 41:10 “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” 

He strengthens me in the way I should go and guides me in what I strongly believe to be the right direction, FOR ME! I say, FOR ME because we all hear, see and feel God differently as individuals. Christians (I myself included) have a tendency to justify their actions all based on a scripture they read. We justify daily living because ‘God said so’ and we are strong in what we believe whether we believe the earth is a mere 6,000 years old or 6 million years old, we ALL justify our stance because we read it in scripture.

Then it comes down to name calling and finger pointing, which to me, is judging one another. Justification. Is it justification if GOD spoke the word to you, not you read it in the Bible, but because God really placed it on your heart and you believe Him to be a trustworthy source? God does not dish out FAKE NEWS!

Did God tell you that one of your versions of the Holy Bible (KJV, NIV, or any of the numerous other versions) is the most accurately recorded?

Did God tell you not to put a Christmas tree up? Or to put one up?

Did God tell you to celebrate His sons birthday every year?

God told me that His WORD is the version I should trust the most.

God told me to love ALL trees and creation! Celebrate LIFE and BELIEVING in HIM the way YOU want! Even if it means the joy of lighting a Christmas tree!

We could justify every question above with a Bible verse that stands the tests of time and rigors of dissection. We do it because we BELIEVE! There ya go! Advent to ME is BELIEVING God wants me to celebrate His son every second of my day, not just once a year. God wants me to meditate on His word in any way that my focus is on Him (a candle, stones, rocks, a picture, or some wordless music) and not the false idols that religions, the world, politics and social media leads you to believe. Note that I said wordless music? I said that because I save the music with words as my praise to Him.

This is my life to Him, for Him, and in Him! 
I'll stand
With arms high and heart abandoned
In awe of the one who gave it all
I'll stand
My soul Lord to you surrendered
All I am is yours

I'll Stand 

As you go through this Christmas season, don’t let it bother you whether you celebrate Advent or not, don’t worry if you have a tree or not, don’t point fingers at those who believe differently than you, don’t envy your neighbor because they go all out when you can only afford to do YOUR all.

I can 100% assure that God is saying “When giving, give your all, to ME!” That is when our focus is on Him and not the world.

May the Light of the Lord rain down on you and wash over your body. May you drink Him in 
and it be a well within your soul.

I'm Different

Rom. 3:22 “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:”

I’m Different

It didn’t take me long to realize in life that I’m different. I’m not like everyone else and to me, that’s a good thing. I was relentlessly bullied as a kid because I was different. I was prettier, thinner, dumber, poorer, you name it, I was a walking target. From my brothers and sister to the kids at school I had a big L on my forehead and kids were more than willing to just smack the back of my head in hopes it would fall off, but no, it remained.

This is where reading and writing became my only friend. The long days and nights of reading in my bedroom while hearing kids in the courtyard playing became my safe haven. I had to isolate myself because the neighbors all thought I was a bad influence on their kids so they kept them away from me and shrouded them in their own clique where to this day they still remain friends. I was different; I became a defiant rebel and lived up to my bad influence of a name just to spite my neighbors. I wanted to hang with my sister and brother’s friends but I was just Bony Joni to them.

To be one of them, I did things I shouldn’t have done like drugs and alcohol. I had no one to tell me right from wrong as alcoholism was prevalent way back in the genealogy of my family. From who I knew of, my great grandparents all the way to my brothers and sister, and even me,  were all products of the poisonous alcohol and it was detrimental to our lives as a whole.

Something drastically changed for me at fourteen-years-old when I became a born-again Christian giving my life over to God. My family was Catholic, in name only, and I defiantly went against all of my years in Catholic school and became a born-again Christian. Once again I separated myself from my family and the majority of society that didn’t then and doesn’t now accept anything Christ-like except Christmas and Easter holidays.

By twenty-one, I was so transformed I gave up drugs and alcohol, not by any program mind you, all on my rebellious own with the hand of the Lord guiding me in the right direction. Then one by one what little friends my ex-husband and me had were peeling away and once again I became an isolated young woman with only God, writing and books to carry me through.

As I look back over my many years on Earth I see what might have gone wrong, I was/am different. Even now as I’m faced with the disease of a lifetime I’m the defiant rebel handling this leg of the journey different than many others would have chosen. Granted there are other rebel soldiers out here defying the odds like me and wouldn’t you know it, in some fantastical magnetic way we are drawn to one another.

My friend said something to me yesterday that made me realize how different I am, he said:
“We may not be changing as thoroughly as you, but you are providing a continuing example.”

When I woke this morning all I could think of after my morning bible reading was how different I really am and that that comment had lingered with me. I thought back to the days when my niece was a big part of my life daily and the influence I obviously had on her. I don’t feel it was a bad influence because she went on to college to become a Reiki specialist to understand the natural part of Holistic healing and what it meant to her in her life and her developing family. 

I don’t ask to influence people. I don’t judge you for not changing your lifestyle. I don’t force, bully and browbeat you into doing things my way or else. No, just like me, you’re on your own and what you choose to do in your life is your decision, which will eventually carry you to your afterlife or grave, whatever you believe. What I can say is that I’m ‘providing a continuing example’ for men, women, children everywhere.

As I’m writing this I can almost feel your heads shaking in agreement, ‘she’s different alright’, and I’m okay with that. I’ve accepted my weirdness, strangeness, difference and today I defend myself against the bullies of the world that try to knock me down a few rungs.

As I stand here today, I am a living testimony of all that my God has done carrying me through the many tragedies of my short life. I could’ve buckled, I could’ve gone along with everyone else and become something of a robot but I chose nature over technology. I chose Spirit instead of a materialistic life and again, I’m okay with who I’ve become. I am poor, I am humble, I am grateful for being allowed to know and see the difference that someone different can bring to the cornucopia of life. 

Lev. 10:10 “And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean;”

Holy Week ~ I See Him

Eph. 3:3-4 “How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)"

I See Him

I see Him in the light of day

I see Him in the clouds that sway

I see Him in the breeze He breathes

I see Him in the soul that seethes

I hear Him in the songs of praise

I hear Him in intuitive ways

I hear Him in the reprimand

I hear Him in the Promised Land

I touch Him in my daily need

I touch Him in diurnal deed

I touch Him with my active prayer

I touch Him with each wisp of air

I taste Him in the scented dew

I taste Him in His words so true.

I taste Him in the daily bread

I taste Him in the cross He bled

I see, hear, touch and taste

The scent of Him in honor placed

For all I see and all I do

It is my God I share with you.

Deut. 4:29 "But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul."

My Body Is A Temple

Pss. 34:4 “I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.”

My Body is a Temple

I’ve heard, read and believed this statement but not until I was diagnosed with cancer did I fully understand what this meant. I knew it meant that I should treat my body, mind, and soul as a temple but did I believe that I would reap what I sowed. I don’t think so, I don’t think any of us do really.

I sowed and sowed,  at one time I smoked, did drugs, ate anything I wanted and never felt one time that I was going against all I knew and learned from the bible. The words in the bible were written for us today as much as for the people two thousand years ago. 

I see with many of the different religions of the world that elements of the Holy Bible are strewn in there to look like their very own religion. They are not called Christian but many have the same principles and most all have in some form of another how the body is the holiest of temples. How do we not see it?

Prov. 23:7 “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.” I think, therefore I am. Ring a bell?

I think it’s a part of conforming, doing what everyone else is doing, eating what they’re eating, drinking what they drink. If you have heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, cancer or any numerous other diseases, you are reaping what you’ve sown throughout your life. Your body is failing because it was not treated as the temple that it was formed to be.

Did you ever wonder why in the Old Testament, we read the precise food we’re to eat? Did you ever notice how altars were built to perfection? Noah’s Ark was built to perfection? Do you remember what happened when temples were defiled? They were destroyed. That is exactly what happens to our bodies when they become defiled by the ways of the world.

All the lessons are there for us to learn but yet we defile them daily. I am not exempt, obviously. I have cancer and my body is reaping what I’ve sown. I have eaten bad, I have treated my body as if it was mine when in reality it is God’s and has been all along. I got this wake-up call and repented immediately. I screamed out “forgive me, Father for what I have done.”

Every time we make unhealthy choices we are defiling the temple that God trusted us with and usually it takes something as a serious illness or disease to wake you up with a God-slap moment. We need to repent. We need to change.

Do you know what country that has the lowest breast cancer? Japan. And the highest rate of cancer? 
Highest: 
Lowest: 

It’s a fact, the Western Culture has some of the highest cancer rates and diseases because we’re gluttons. We’re not like the third world countries where we have minimum foods to eat like herbs, leafy vegetables, and fresh fruit. Think about it, we eat like kings compared to the Africans. We’re gluttons. We treat our bodies as if we can do what we want with no ramifications and if you’re dealing with ANY type of illness all you have to do is look at your daily eating habits. Your diet is your gluttony.

In the past four weeks the only meat that has gone into my body has been two pieces of freshwater salmon, the only vegetables were/are organic in nature meaning no toxins, and the only dairy was/is farm fresh vegetarian fed chickens eggs. I have all of the organic fruits I can eat and I'm feeling great! You could not tell I have any illness residing in me. Headaches, coughs, sinus problems can all be attributed to the foods you eat and the toxins you breathe in.  

I know what you’re thinking, ‘that’s not food you're eating!’ Well let me tell you, this is the best I’ve ever felt in my life! MY ENTIRE LIFE! Did you ever wonder why God chose manna to feed the Israelites? Why Jesus fed thousands with loaves of bread? Why didn’t He have hundreds of animals drawn to the people for them to slaughter and eat? Why didn’t He lead the people to bacon and fried chicken? Because He KNEW their bodies were His temples and treated them as such!

We don’t treat our bodies as His temples. We treat our bodies as they were conditioned to be treated; by man, for man, we eat for ourselves and no one else. I am not condemning you or judging you, I’m just relaying what I’ve learned in the past four weeks and I NEED to share this. It’s not mine to own!

I feel as though I have been placed on an eternal fast. My body is being cleansed and changing, it is reacting to the way I’m treating it, in a good way. My mind is releasing all the bad and I’m basking in all the good that is left behind. I’m no longer treating my body disastrously and reaping what I’ve sown there, I’m rejoicing in treating my body as the Temple I know that it is and can only be perfected for Christ and by Christ.

Only by His stripes am I HEALED! I am healthy! I am well!!! This is my new daily mantra thanks to Chis Wark of Chris Beat Cancer. I’m listening to his 10 [module] steps to beating cancer while they’re free and his module seven of the series was the solidifying game changer for me. It was all about having faith in doing what you’re doing, BEATING CANCER without drugs and chemo, the real new-age killer! 

Change the ye to chemo and you get how I feel about chemotherapy:

Ezek. 34:4 “The diseased have ye[chemo] not strengthened, neither have ye[chemo] healed that which was sick, neither have ye[chemo] bound up that which was broken, neither have ye[chemo] brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye[chemo] sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye[chemo] ruled them.”

If I have all the faith I claim to have then I KNOW I can beat this. If Jesus healed many, He can heal me. He didn’t say, “I’ll heal you one day.” He clearly stated that he’d heal me NOW! And I believe that with every fiber of my being. The very LEAST I can do is treat my body as the perfectly constructed temple He entrusted me with. With every bite, with every breath, I honor and respect HIM! 

Praise be to God!

Rom. 8:28-31 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?”

Bringing You The Fruit

Prov. 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

The Week Begins…

Well, the week has arrived and I was scheduled for my doctor’s appointment barring any weather upsets that would keep me from going. I was a little nervous, not scared or worried just the normal what doctor’s deem ‘The White Coat Syndrome’. That’s when your anxiety heightens as well as blood pressure rises before and during the doctor visit. 

I think I was anxious because this wasn't just a routine exam where she’d look at me and give me a clean bill of health and send me on my way. No, this is more of the serious nature visit where you’ve found the dreaded lump and your mind reels with lies and stirs with emotions. 

I haven’t told my mother yet and for one reason only, first her mind doesn’t comprehend like it used to and second, I don’t need her negative spin on it for sure. She’ll just worry and think I’m dying of cancer, then tell me about her aunt and every other person who has died from cancer in my family (as if I don’t already know). I DO NOT need that kind of negative thought process! 

So today, the 24th I went and just as expected, I didn’t hear words I wanted to hear and wasn’t patted on the back and said good job, received a lollipop and sent on my way. No, today I heard words like biopsies and mammograms and further diagnosis. All of this I was expecting knowing the size of the lump in my breast. Tomorrow I go for a ‘consultation’ to hear what needs to be done then she’ll scoot me out the door to have my breast squeezed like oranges but I’m praying no juice comes out. Yes, I still have my sense of humor intact.

After reading an email (biblical of course) I think this very email was just what the doctor ordered for me today. It said something like God is pruning me. Have you ever seen a ripe peach tree with a bunch of peaches scattered on the ground? The tree is pruning itself of all the bad peaches or over-ripe ones. That’s sort of like me, I need pruning so my testimony of Christ is the proper fruit to go out to all of the people. I can’t give you all dead fruit so he is using my circumstances to give you an abundance of fresh fruit. 

From Ministry Today: 
“Jesus told his disciples that God acts as a gardener in the lives of those who claim him as Lord. He wants his followers to be abundant producers of good fruit, showing the world that they are children of God. But this is not enough. Instead of simply harvesting the fruit that is produced, the Lord grabs a pair of pruning shears and begins to trim the branches. A little here, a little there, until he is satisfied with the end result.

John 15:8 “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.”

My take on the whole situation is God deems me worthy to prune. I’m not just a fruit producer spouting off scripture; I’m a living testimony of God and His masterful plan. I’m not taking lightly the diagnosis of ‘biopsies’ and ‘treatment’, I see it as bringing you fresh ripe fruit for the picking. 

Gal. 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

I had every intention of leaving my blog behind in the New Year to focus on my writing, my fictional writing and me. I guess God had other plans. He wants me to continue bringing you His Word so that you yourself can savor the juiciness of hope and love. 

While the world bathes in hate, while people spit off everything wrong with the world and people sling mud to feel good about themselves, I’m claiming my ministry of bringing God to you and possibly bring you to God. 

Don’t you see, the power of LOVE is stronger than any hatred you can sling. You can try to affect people with your mudslinging but the power of God is more powerful than any anger and hatred you try to stick on people. Your hate is laughed at, God is not mocked!  

My journey continue…

Philippians 4:6-9  “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.”

Change is Coming

Isaiah 26:9 (NIV)

My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.

Change is Coming

Change is coming in the air like a veiled morning fog. I can see it in the spiraling leaves being swept by the wind. I can feel it in the temperatures ever changing with the season. I can smell it blowing in the air the sweet scent of change that will wash over me as a waterfall.

I felt the change coming and I wanted it to be swift but as you know, my plans are not Gods plans and here I sit today on my 201st post of the year as I barrel toward my 203rd goal of posts so I can rest. After this post, I will end with Quotation Saturday and Poetry Sunday, then be on my way to Holy day. I’ve watched as my stats flew through the roof this year and as I love my supportive friends very much, facebook was not the only source that had me soaring. 

I’ve had to bear a lot this year as people have either liked or disliked what I’ve said and it’s been an interesting year tolerating what all of you have either said or not said. Now it is my turn to reflect on me not what others do or say or how they acted and reacted. It has been a year of scars and blemishes by people knowingly or unknowingly saying things that cut me and now I must go and heal. The New Year cannot come without my healing taking place. 

I tried to stay away from Social Media when it got too bad, the news when it got too loud, and the world when it got too hard. I’ve seen friends disappear and new friends emerge. All in all the year has been good to me, pain wise and otherwise, I’ve survived.

I feel like a lone wolf who’s been caught in a bear trap, freed and released to wander in the wilderness among the animals of the forest. Sorry humans, for relinquishing you to the animal species, but I have not seen much humanistic display this year; I’ll have to dig and look back to see if any existed.

I won’t get back to you on that because the change calls for me to find a nice cove to hibernate in peeking out only to retrieve nourishment to sustain me through the winter. Nourishment to my soul can only be found one way and it isn’t anywhere connected to a screen and keyboard. 

I have some serious health issues to contend with in the coming new year but I’m not at liberty to go into anything before the holiday season. Maybe that will be my new year blog beginning seeking out people who relate to what I’m experiencing but for now, my little semi-hibernation cove will have to do. 

My Thanksgiving will be spent in thankfulness with my husband. We’re not going to have a humongous meal like in prior years just something simple where we have plenty of leftovers for the next day, not the next month. My son will have to work on turkey day from nine to five so it will be a bit different by not having him in the house as my helper. 

I know what you’re thinking, working on Thanksgiving Day? Well, he’ll be out of a job in a couple of weeks because of the store closing down so he’s trying to make all the money he can to prepare for the interim of joblessness. As of December 2, he’ll have been there five months and the young man has worked his heart out in those five months, so I can put away any selfishness I have in wanting him home as I find a new way of life in the empty nest.

I’ll also be preparing for new ventures in the coming year so during this holiday season I’ll be enjoying the breathing room necessary to carry me through the lone wolf syndrome. May you enjoy the sights, sounds, aromas, tastes and magnificent wonders of a Holy Season and always remember when you’re feeling selfish, greedy, and prideful that Jesus sacrificed His life for you so you would think of others before yourself. 

God Bless You ALL!

1 Timothy 6:6-10 (NIV)

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Refiners Fire ~ Perfection

Zech 13:9 “And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.”

I’m Not Perfect!

I sometimes feel like I come across as a miss-know-it-all. Let me stop you right there in that thought, I am the farthest thing from known perfection since my son was born. To me, he was the most perfect thing I’d ever seen!

Guess what, he grew up and is not perfect either! Wow, how did something so perfect, reshape and transform into an imperfect being? Life, that’s how. Life happens to all of us and instead of being perfect we are refined. We are but grains of sand in a shell waiting to become the perfect pearl.

We are an imperfect species and as we grow we, in all of our instabilities, try to refine ourselves to become the most perfect beings possible. To me, there is only one way to achieving such status and that is to allow the Holy Spirit to live in me and take up a residence in my soul.

Only through the storms are we going to find the refiners fire to go through the hailstorm and shape our inner beings into something of perfection. Maybe not what perfection is to you but what perfection is to me. Since we’re all on different paths leading to different places we will all achieve our own perfection in our own time. Maybe not even in the time that we want or expect but by the Holy Spirits time. 

As I woke today and encountered a double rainbow I knew right then that there was a beauty that was going to encompass my entire day. If I were to allow negativity to drive my day it would have wiped the slate clean of such beauty so early in the morning.  The sun was struggling to peek through heavy clouds in the east while I was facing west and there it was a double-arced rainbow alight in wondrous color right before my eyes. 

I tried with all my might to see the beginning and the end of the rainbow and what I saw was myself, standing midway underneath the joyous arc. I smiled taking in all the beauty and became one with the luminous shape, so much so, I stood in the quiet coolness of the morning and allowed the aroma of the crisp air to shape my day.

As the day progressed the clouds swallowed the rainbow; lightning crashed as thunder erupted in a calamity of rumbles unleashing a torrent of rain that washed over the parched fields. I sat in the stillness of the darkness that had blanketed the room. The rain, calling me to write…I embraced my inner peace of perfection and sat to write today’s blog. 

No, no one is perfect and judging people for their imperfections makes you even less perfect than the Holy One had intended when he refined the pot of gold He shaped you into. He never left you alone to sort out this thing we call life. He never once made you feel that you had to achieve perfection because one thing I’ve learned, He loves us the way we are, only because in his perfection He created you! You ARE perfect in His eyes.

When my son drove off today to go to work in the rain, my maternal instincts wanted to worry about the muddy roads, the nighttime driving when he comes home and all the worries a mother faces but the words ‘I love you, mom’ as he drove off, was like a rainbow of peace washing over my soul. I thought of him going off in his own direction perfecting what his soul means to him. 

Peace has completed my day!

May the Light of the Lord wash over you all and bless you on your individual journey.

Poetry Sunday ~ In The Day

"The worst lies are the ones we tell ourselves. The worst verbal abuse comes from our own tongue. The most negative influence is the devil on our own shoulder. The cruelest judge is the one staring back in the mirror. The person really withholding the love you need is you. No one will ever out-do you at your own mind-games. You must stop doing this to yourself!"  ~ Bryant McGill

Pss. 37:30 “The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment.”

In the Day

Praise the Father, Praise the Son,

Praise the great and Holy one.

In the day when no love shines

The haughty man will rise

Holding there within his hand

The truth behind his lies.

In the day when people think

That wisdom comes from shores

It sails along the currents feed

Right into open doors.

In the day when man is fooled

By fancy ways of talking

Finding face with a false god

A feeble form of walking.

In the day when man can serve

Two masters in his pride

Humanity will surely fall

And nowhere can man hide.

In the day when man can love

Relinquish earthly hate

Walk along the path with Christ

And enter Heavens gate.

Praise the Father, Praise the Son,

Praise the Great and Holy One.

Pss. 111:10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.”

The Revelation Song ~ Kari Jobe

I picked the Revelation Song because it is one of my favorite worship songs. If you can listen to this song and it not give you cold chills then there is something seriously wrong with you. Nah, just kidding. It doesn't touch everyone in the same way but you have to admit, it is a pretty awesome song. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. God Bless!

My favorite part goes like this:

"Clothed in rainbows of living color

Flashes of lighting rolls of thunder

Blessing and honor strength and glory and power be

To You the only wise King"

Filled with wonder awestruck wonder

At the mention of Your name

Jesus Your name is power, breath and living water

Such a marvelous mystery" 

Strength and Power!

God In Me

John 16:33 “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

When people meet me for the first time they look past my outer beauty and see something they might have never known or seen in someone before; they see God in me. To a non-believer they’re seen scratching their heads in wonder, wondering what it is about me that makes me different. Then I speak, if I did not carry God with me, I will leave those people scratching their heads but as soon as I speak they see it, that thing that makes me different, they see God in me. 

Eph. 4:22-24 “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”

When attending Church, people have a tendency to walk out the door still the same person who went through those doors. If we have an ounce of faith in what was said behind those doors we will walk out renewed and wear a different layer of clothing; a new man.

We can read and believe until we’re blue in the face but if putting on a new spirit does not renew you then you have missed the gift that God has given you of being a new person in Christ. We’re not the same, we’re different and non-believers can see Christ in you.

If you walk out of those church doors and are the same beer drinking, hate spewing, judgmental person then you are missing the message being delivered and not learning to live with Christ in you. People will then see you as a non-Christian and as such you contort the very meaning of deliverance that Christ brings to the world. You’re setting up shop of becoming known as a hypocrite who knows the Word but doesn’t know Christ. 

Phil. 2:1-5 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

We can’t live like we know Him if we don’t make an effort to get to know Him. Reading the bible is not getting to know Him, attending church is not getting to know Him; living with him in us is the only way we can feel the personal connection to Him that causes us to be renewed in the spirit. 

Here’s an example of what I mean. When you read To Kill a Mockingbird, do you know Atticus, do you know Gem and Boo Radley? No, you read about them but you don’t KNOW them, they can’t live vicariously through you by just reading about them. Let’s say you went to Harper Lee’s house, does that mean you know her? You read her book, visited her house so does that make you an all-knowing friend of hers? Not at all, you have to have years and years of a relationship with her to even KNOW her. 

When we go to our mother and father’s house we know them. We know where they put the forks and spoons, we know where the spice rack is, we know which bedroom is theirs; we know because we lived with them throughout our life and have taken all that we learned from them with us out into the world. 

If our father has passed away, we still carry him with us and we still see him in little things like an old hammer he used or an old song he used to listen to; we smell him in different foods and colognes because he is living in us because he is with us in spirit.

This is the difference in reading the bible, going to church and saying we KNOW God. We cannot know God unless we live WITH Him. We carry Him with us out into the world because He defines our world; He IS our world. 

If we read, believe and go to church we cannot in all good conscience come out and spread the word saying we KNOW Christ, we have to LIVE with Christ to say we know Him. In all we say and all we do with all that our Father has taught us over the years can we carry Him to the world.

It would be very vain of me to say, I am God; it would be smug of me to say, I am Jesus; but it would be truth to say that God is IN me because I’ve known Him my whole life and the Spirit of my Father dwells within my soul.

Rom. 12:1-2 “I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

This Is The Air I Breathe

People always say, "What is it about this God of yours."

Let me tell you, this song says it all. If the video doesn't play, here are the words that say everything that my God is to me.

This is the air I breathe

This is the air I breathe

Your holy presence living in me

This is my daily bread

This is my daily bread

Your very word spoken to me

And I I'm desperate for you

And I I'm lost without you

This is the air I breathe

This is the air I breathe

Your holy presence living in me

This is my daily bread

This is my daily bread

Your very word spoken to me

And I I'm desperate for you

And I I'm lost without you

And I I'm lost without you

And I I'm desperate for you

And I I'm lost without you

I'm lost without you

I'm lost without you

I'm desperate for you

I'm desperate for you

I'm desperate for you

I'm lost without you

I'm desperate for you

I'm desperate for you

I'm lost without you

I'm lost without you

I'm lost without you

I'm lost without you

I'm desperate for you

Sight

Sometimes we see only what we want to see. I try to see what God sees when looking out at mankind. I’m as discouraged as Him.

Ruth 2:13 “Then she said, Let me find favour in thy sight, my lord; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens.”

1 Chron. 22:8 But the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build an house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight.

Neh. 1:11 O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cupbearer.

Pss. 9:19 Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight.

Pss. 76:7 Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?

Pss. 101:7 He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.

Ecc. 2: 26 For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Ecc. 8:6 Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him.

Isa. 38:3 And said, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.

Mal. 2:17 Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?

Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

Rom. 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

2 Cor. 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)   <--- b="" emoticon="" first="" found="" here="" in="" is="" kjv.="" smiley="" the="">

Heb 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
[13] Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

Heb 13:21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

May God bless you all!

A Snowflake?

A Snowflake?

There was a snowflake that fell

On my nose without a smell

Cross-eyed I did look

It trembled and shook

It found a new place to dwell.

The snowflake began to squirm

It wriggled like a worm

It began to slip

Down to my lip

A snowflake I can’t confirm.

The thing began to tickle

Feeling kind of fickle

I blew in the air

Without a care

I seem to be in a pickle.

It came down in flight

What a beautiful sight

Unlikely weather

For snowflake not feather

A message on wings of white.

“Feathers appear when Angels are near.”

This is the poem I wrote for my mother, whom just lost her husband of sixty years. This is her Christmas present. I told her I’d write one that wouldn’t make her cry and I’m hoping I succeeded. I also put in the envelope a white feather. 
Comments are much appreciated. 

Pss. 91:4 “He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.”

Poetry Sunday ~ Hosanna!Hosanna!

Matt. 28: 19 - 20 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Hosanna! Hosanna!

***

He gave life to the dead, cleansed the impure

healed the sick, became all lepers cure.

Fed the hungry, gave sight to the blind,

revealed the innocence of a child’s mind.

If you were thirsty, He gave you to drink,

Washed away sins with nary a blink;

Of His eyes we shined while light was dim

righteousness filled our cup to the brim.

Turn your cheek from the one that maims

seventy times if you burn with flames

Forgive, forget, move on I say

I’m reaching out to show you the way.

Disciples slept, while Jesus pleaded

to let him live unless he was needed.

Crying out He returned to die

while all looked on, not batting an eye.

They rejoiced and sang; praised his name

Hosanna! Hosanna! Into town he came.

Fronds of palms were laid at his feet.

All glory to Jesus our Savior we greet.

But lo and behold this man betrayed,

was scourged and beat but never swayed!

“My Father, My Father why have you forgot,

I gave them all that you said they’d have not.”

With one last breath he gave up the ghost,

shedding blood where man needed it most.

Our sins forgiven our God came as man

In a wondrous fete generations will span.

Will we remember the sacrifice made?

Can we ever honor the price that was paid?

Do we respect all things that He taught

our souls are free for sins his death bought.

My Glorious redeemer, Savior and King,

I bow with honor my soul shall sing.

 

 Blessed Resurrection Sunday to all!

Lent: Day Thirty-four ~ Praise and Worship

Isaiah 29:13-14 (NIV) The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

What is this talk of praise and worship? Through this Lent series, you’re learning about the great Almighty God and Jesus but what does the bible say about worship and praise? Is praise in reading the word? Is worship in believing?

The word praise is used over 400 times in the bible; the word worship over 200 times, so the words in scripture must carry some meaning; more than just reading and believing.

Praise is defined as: the offering of grateful homage in words or song, as an act of worship: a hymn of praise to God. Worship is defined: reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred; formal or ceremonious rendering of such honor and homage: They attended worship this morning.

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

God calls us to praise and worship Him. He not only calls, He commands us to do so. If you have a mother, you understand command. When your mother said be home at eleven, she wasn’t asking you politely to obey her order, she was commanding you to listen to her.

This is the same with God. He doesn’t ask us to read and believe the bible; the choice is yours but He DOES command you, once a believer and follower to praise and worship Him outside your comfort zone.

Your comfort zone is the nice quiet place you reside, read and believe. With all your intelligence that you’ve garnered after reading the bible and dissecting it scripture by scripture; your wisdom that you think you own and have gained will be swallowed up.

Isaiah 29:13-14 (NIV) The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

These people that the above scripture verse is speaking of are the ones sitting comfortably in their homes. They call on God with their mouths, they pray with their lips, but their hearts, sitting comfortably at home are far away from Him.

Have you ever heard the one that if a tree falls in the woods and no one was around to hear it, would it still make a sound? I hear over and over again a logically wise response, a resounding NO!

That’s what praise alone is; it is making a sound (if the utterance leaves your mouth) but it is not heard. You are paying lip-service to God and to me (TO ME) that is short changing an all Mighty and Powerful God who says their wisdom will perish and their intelligence will vanish.

Worship is the same way. God does not command us to worship alone.

Ex. 34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God

I feel as if your (my) television screen or computer screen is a false God. If your worship of Him is with a television, radio, or computer screen, remember the Jealous God. The screens are no different than that of the golden calf that the people built while Moses was away receiving the Lord’s Commandments. The TV becomes a false god.

We get into a comfort zone and remain there thinking we can pick and choose how we praise and worship. The choice isn’t ours to make. God COMMANDS us to worship Him and Him alone, He COMMANDS us to praise His name and His alone. He calls us to come out of our cocoon of a comfort zone and Praise His Holy name.

Will God hear your praise alone in your cocoon? Of course He will. But like our mother commanded us to be home at a certain time and we chose to come in a little later, we are chastised by her. Do we expect God to be any different? Does He pick and choose the commandments you’re to obey? Does He say come to me in the comfort of your home and sit idle and praise me? No! He commands us to EXALT him, praise Him, glorify His name, worship Him and Him alone.

A Christian understands the commandments. He or she understands praise and worship and the benefits that flow through your veins.  He doesn’t pick and choose how he sees it fit to praise and worship, he is guided by the very hand of God.

Chron. 16:29 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

Matt. 4: 9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

Praise is the basis of the Christian spirit. Reading and believing is not praise. Praise is when you feel in the pit of your stomach a glorifying of God lift inside of you and song is poured through your mouth. You are not a tree, alone in the woods falling with no one around to hear. Your voice is lifted up and those surrounding you hear your praise and are there with you glorifying the heavenly high God. The power of Lord rains a spiritual shower on your spirit and the psalms of praise are heard.

Pss. 150:1-6 Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.

In closing, allow me to say, we are not to pick and choose how and when to praise and worship; God makes it very clear the methods in which we are to follow scripture and His Word. Picking and choosing is the way of a vain and selfish man thinking of himself above the Savior and King.

“When God’s people begin to praise and worship Him using the Biblical methods He gives, the Power of His presence comes among His people in an even greater measure.” ~ Graham Truscott

Just as there is POWER in prayer, there is also a Mighty POWER in praise and worship. If you are new to the Christian faith, let me tell you, once you feel the power of praise, you will no longer pick and choose the scripture you adhere to. Your praise will be felt and heard.

Lent ~ Day three ~ A Spiritual Season

Ex. 13: 10 Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year.

Did you ever notice how people prepare for Christmas? Year after year they get their houses ready, fill it with lights, trim the tree, rejoice on Christmas morn that the Savior was born? Oh, let’s not forget the gifts; the payoff of the holiday season, right?

Did you ever notice that the only planning to get ready for Easter Sunday is the dying of eggs, the purchase of a new Sunday dress and shoes, the preparing of a meal, or the getting ready to visit church and family? Or maybe even a basket full of candy will dress your table.

Why is this? Has society so saturated us with materials that we fail to see the spiritual value of these two most religious Holy Days? Let’s not forget the political correctness of these days either. We don’t see commercials fill our airwaves with Hanukkah presents or celebrations; we don’t see Kwanzaa as a celebrated Holy Day, so why are we fed all the commercialism of Christmas and Easter? Why is man SO offended by Christ?

Please, don’t blame Obama on this one. Since man dictated to us that on December 25^th we’d celebrate it as Jesus’ BIRTH has man fought against the entire Christ movement. On Christmas day we’d light trees, give gifts, spend time with family, drink and be merry; thus MERRY Christmas?

We have been nourished by commercialism, materialism and have been driven away from the entire Spiritual movement that these two extraordinary events were meant to be. Whenever someone approaches us and says they are spirit-filled, we move away from them as if they just stepped in manure, distancing ourselves from the odor. Why do you think that is? Nobody wants the aroma clinging to him or her all day, so they move away from it in hopes that it isn’t a contagious disease.

Imagine that, thinking the spirit, the Holy Spirit no less, is a contagious smelly disease. That is what man and man alone, not just ONE man, has done. Through all this wrongful thinking, man is destroying the spirit.

Have you heard the old saying, ‘You are what you think’? I’ve heard it put in many different colorful connotations but all in all, they mean the same thing. Action causes a Reaction. Man has MOVED (action) to eliminate any spiritual drive from us causing a REACTION, a spirit-less society.

I have many Native American friends who understand the spirit and the Forefathers before them strive to keep the Spirit alive. But many will tell you, that as we move into a new frontier, many natives are losing sight of the Spirit.

The spirit is not some imaginary thing, it is real and it is a force of all things in nature. The Holy Spirit is what is within you driving the vehicle you call a body. Think of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit as the fuel in your system, in Earth’s system, in every living and breathing creatures system! When we take the Spirit out of this world, we are then taking LIFE out of this world.

Even if you don’t believe in God, say you’re an atheist, the spirit, or driving force, is STILL in there, you’re just lower on fuel than many.

The Spiritual Season is upon us and as many nourish their souls with commercialism and materialism, know that the spirit is still moving in you and would love to connect and bring back to the world the fullness of His intention from the beginning.

It is by universal thought that we created this dissolution. Before you blame ONE man for this earthly demise, look to the man that YOU are and what part YOU feed and in turn feed to your environment. Because in truth, WE become what WE think.

 Lev. 23:4 These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.

Prologue to the Journey ~ Part II

Pss. 33:20 Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield.
***

The wait did not roll like waves on a shore. The wait was like pulling gum off the bottom of a shoe. Many ask where we got our strength from and I can speak for myself, it came from God himself.
 
Every morning I’d wake and praise God, and I was always told to wait, patiently. That is the part a lot of folks have trouble with because we live in a world that is consumed with having everything they want when they want it. Patience has been tossed in the winds of Autumn when it comes to waiting. Me, I just prayed, listened and humbled myself to whatever the Lord placed in my lap each day.
 
I sit in the eerie position of the observer. Watching people go on in life as if nothing is happening and sitting here in my world knowing everything has happened. I feel like Moses must have felt when he came down the mountain after witnessing the burning bush. We see images of a television show that Moses’ mouth hung open and his hair had grayed over and his face held a new light.
 
This is exactly how I feel. As if I’ve seen God’s face, yet I’m still left here on earth to watch the people return to their misguided ways, without ever realizing God is standing right beside them every single step of their day. Every thought you think, He knows it. Can I ask? Are you proud of what your thoughts are?
 
The miracle of sight. You might say, “But it was the doctor,” or “It was technology,” but I am here to tell you after living through the two years of having Steven not seeing and waiting patiently on the Lord, as a living testament before me, it was not the doctor, or technology, it was the hand of God guiding every person, every prayer, every thought, to the outcome of a miracle.
 
Two years ago we ‘tried’ to get this operation, but because it was not God’s timing, it was not successful around any turn we made. I watched as people became disappointed in the prayers not being answered, saddened, impatient, almost to the point of giving up.
 
I had to be strong. My faith is everything to me, and from experience, I know that waiting is never easy and sometimes we feel like God has forgotten us and our prayers but it is in those times that he is with us the most. He’s hugging your patience, cradling your perseverance, rejoicing in your faith. And in those moments, God is preparing for you a miracle that will solidify your love for Him.
 
To you I say... Praise the Lord...for it is time.

Ps. 37:7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.
[9] For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.
[34] Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.