Showing posts with label me. Show all posts
Showing posts with label me. Show all posts

Monday, August 06, 2018

Worship Music - My love


This is a You Tube praise and worship channel. It is one of the best I've listened to and yes, I've listened to many.

If you're hurt, in doubt, living in fear, give this a listen to, all the way through.

There is power in music.

Enjoy and be comforted and blessed!


Sunday, October 29, 2017

Me - Images

Prov. 15:31 "The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise."

This was me at three years old. What a cutie I was. They were my favorite slippers!

I was about 37 or 38 in this picture. It's a guess.

I was about 40 here

I'm 49 in our wedding photo!

51 years old. This was 8-21-17. Eclipse gazing

Summer of '17 and 40 lbs lighter than my wedding photo! 

God has been very good to me giving me a second chance to change the mess I made out of life.

Prov. 21:21 "He that followeth after righteousness and mercy findeth life, righteousness, and honour."

Friday, May 05, 2017

I'm Gonna Let It Shine

1 Peter 1:7 “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:”

I’m Gonna Let It Shine

Do you have a goal in life? I never really was a goal setter and I don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I have since a young girl of about fourteen always had a plan, kind of, and that was for people to see Christ in me. 

You might say, well weren’t you a drug addict and alcoholic? And I would quite bluntly and honestly admit that yes, yes I WAS. BUT here’s the thing, people always saw God in me. Comments like, “Oh she’s that God person”, or “Don’t ask her for advice, she’ll give you a sermon.” stuck with me. I went through life thinking, I’m a God person, and that is what people see in me, even in my darkest days, they see a Light.

As an adult, in hindsight, I see that it wasn’t my plan after all; I think seeing God in me has been His plan all along. While being dragged through coals of fire, being darkened by pain and strife, I always saw God. People would often wonder how I could see God through raging storms of hell. Again, quite bluntly I responded with, “Because He never lets me down.”

Drug addiction and alcoholism didn’t break me, being sexually abused didn’t taunt me, the loss of two children didn’t crack me like an egg, I plowed on refining my light so that the world would see the brilliance shining from me. 

Last week I went to WalMart. I was standing inside as I waited for hubby to park the car. It was a chilly rainy day so I opted for being let off at the door instead of walking in the rain. I stood inside and my eye caught an older lady and man as they passed me. She had an ear-to-ear smile as our eyes met, then her hand went to her husband's arm as she was gently nodding towards me. Did she know me? Recognize me, what? I didn’t recognize her but I smiled back.

As I walked through the store, I felt like I had a neon sign on my forehead because for some reason I noticed more and more people smiling at me. Not just the smirky kind of smile, smiles that said, I SEE you! What? It was an interesting shopping event, to say the least. This week I went shopping but this time I was going to notice what and why the smiles were there.

I realized that I had a smile on my face for every passer-by. Whether a crotchety old woman, a disgruntled older man, a mom with a screaming child, I had a smile for each and every one of them and they could do nothing more but to look at me, and smile back!

My ego would say, oh yeah, I’m all that. But the portion of a realist in me says, they see me; they see CHRIST in me. Instead of looking at people and forming a judgment in my mind, ‘she wore THAT’, ‘she needs to lose weight’, or ‘take a chill pill dude’, I looked with an intense gaze and thought, GOD, BLESS YOU!

I think the drastic change in my diet has caused my mind to expand on some metaphysical level; I see God in everything. Yes, this has always been parts of me but lately, it is ALL of me not just a portion of me.   

It’s not easy looking intently into someone’s eyes and seeing their pain, like the crotchety old woman who had a bit of road rage on the way to the store. I offer a smile. To the grumpy older man who was hesitant in getting out of bed and going shopping on his own because he NEEDED his medication, I offer my smile. To the man who has a bit of impatience brewing while waiting in a long line, I smile and let him go ahead of me, silently blessing each and every one as they pass. 

Can you imagine what kind of world we’d live in if every person took it upon themselves to bless people? I know the world is set on destruction but individuals can make a difference by shedding a light in all the dark places. They’re everywhere you walk, they’re in every person you have eye contact with, bubbling under the surface, with a light and a smile, the anger can be dispelled.

My General Practioner’s office called the other day, Ashley said, “Dr. *** wanted me to call and see how you’re doing and if you need anything.” 

I said, “I’m doing GREAT! I didn’t go to chemo and I’m feeling GREAT!”

July is my sixth-month marker and I was informed the doctor will be leaving in July since she’s finished up her two-year residency. I told Ashley, I’d make a well patient visit before the doctor left. I WILL go and shine the light for all to see! Test or no test, this little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine! Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!!!

I thought I’d share this for you to keep in mind:
From the Purpose Driven Life: “The Bible often compares trials to a metal refiner’s fire that burns away the impurities. Peter said, “These troubles come to prove that your faith is pure. This purity of faith is worth more than gold.” (1 Peter 1:7) A silversmith was asked, “How do you know when the silver is pure?” He replied, “When I see my reflection in it.” When you have been refined by trials, people can see Jesus’ reflection in you. James said, “Under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors.” (James 1:3).”

James 1:3  “Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.”



Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Justified

Isa. 28:12 “To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.”

Justified

Do you want to know how I come up with my blog topics? Believe it or not, I pray. I wake in the morning and pray for all the sick on my prayer list, then I ask God’s guidance on what to write for the day. I don’t always get a reply on what I’m to write about so I might skip that day as I wait, patiently!

After prayer, I open the news of the day, open facebook also, to find a plethora of topics but usually one topic will stand out a few times and God lets me know, write about THIS!

I so wanted to write about my niece getting her purse returned, after losing it somewhere sometime during her day, by a young black gentleman after he had found the purse on his way work, and returned it to my niece at ten thirty in the evening when he returned home.

My niece cried because she was so happy to not have to renew her license and cancel all her credit cards and she thanked the young man profusely! She even gave him twenty dollars of the fifty that had been inside. I’d also like to add that this was in Baltimore, Maryland. The place you only hear bad stuff about and never the good stuff. 

As I continued searching for a blog  post, a few things stuck out and THAT is what God wanted me to write about, while my nieces story is a beautiful one God wanted me to know that there is something more important to write about at this time and maybe, all of the stories will mesh together? I’ll have to finish this before I know. 

Getting it right with God is a struggle all Christians go through and at times I never feel worthy enough of His love. I’ve already blogged about that one in a feeling unworthy post. But let me say this first and foremost, I AM WORTHY of God and that is all that matters to me. 

I loosely call myself Christian because all Christians are not the same. These days they are drinkers, self-righteous, judges of all. I do understand that we are ALL different and on different paths. Jesus (NT) himself didn’t choose perfect people to carry his ministry, and God (OT) certainly didn’t pick perfect people that He created to do His work. Nope, He picked the most imperfect people He could find; maybe that is why He chose ME to be a writer. For some reason He had faith in me and that I’d carry my testimony/His ministry to His people. 

Ecc. 9:7 “Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.” 

Ephesians 5:18 ESV “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,”

Proverbs 20:1 ESV “Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.”

You see, God has called us ALL to carry His ministry. Not to drink, get drunk, whoop it up and praise God or claim to be His all in the same stinking drunken breath. 

We justify what we do so we don’t feel so bad but the only one who is going to judge us for allowing ourselves to be led astray is our One and Only Savior. We ALL walk a dimly lit path, we find the Light but then get led astray by all the inhumanity in the world that gets us unsettled so we turn to drink to justify the reason we’re sitting alone in the dark with a bottle in our hand. Some find the Lighted path only to continue on struggling to stay on the very straight and extremely narrow path.

As I walk the path, for ME, I do not believe in the drink and be merry babble. For one, you’re not drinking to be merry, you’re drinking to get drunk, bottom line. It makes you feel good, it unfurls your twisted tongue, it has you allowing your loose lips to sink ships. Thoughts are free to roam the wilderness and usually, the wild is not a place to be alone because you’re bound to get bit.

When a person comes to Christ, he (or she) is new to Christ and struggles daily to get it right with God. I understand that they’ll still drink it up, curse like a sailor, call themselves Christian just so they fit into a society over running with Christians but they have yet to learn the true meaning of the word, Christ-like. Christ was not a drunk, and I think He knew the right words to use so as not to come across as a liar and hypocrite. 

I often think about what it must have been like back in Jesus’ day. Here He was gathered around a table with His twelve chosen, knowing He was going to His death. When they took a drink of wine, did they all yell out, “Let’s finish off the bottle.”??? I seriously don’t think so; it was not a merry event to celebrate.

In the course of the Last Supper, Jesus divides up some bread, says a prayer, and hands the pieces of bread to his disciples, saying "this is my body."[metaphor] He then takes a cup of wine, offers another prayer, and hands it around, saying "this is my blood [metaphor] of the everlasting covenant, which is poured for many." ~ source Wikipedia

The church is the way it is today because people divided up what was right and what was wrong; what was/is acceptable and what is not acceptable. Some churches look down on the homeless and only reach out to the parishioners in need, not everyone in need. Some churches look down on homosexuals by judging them and letting them know they are not right with God because you know, God made them judge and jury of the people. Divided the churches are.

Eph. 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

I myself CHOSE to get my life right with God and follow His Son to the cross and weep prayerfully at His feet. We are not called to judge others because we feel they are beneath us, we should judge ourselves, our actions, our ways, our character, and virtues, only then should we call ourselves Christ-like. 

This post didn’t end the way I intended but it did help me see that there are good people out in the world trying to do what is right, whether FOR God or because of God. Goodness is all around and as soon as we stop justifying our negative actions and living the way WE want, we’ll see the good in the world or the world will never change.

God bless you all!

Thursday, May 26, 2016

I'm Alive

Photo by: Adam

Rom. 12:2 “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.”

I’m alive and I’m okay with that. Depression sucks the blood right out of your veins until you feel like a shell of skin with nothing in between to hold it together.

“Sometimes you are satisfied with your life while many people in this world are dreaming of living your life…
A child on a farm sees a plane fly overhead and dreams of being a pilot. But a pilot on the plane sees a farmhouse and dreams of returning home.
That’s life! Enjoy yours… if wealth is the secret to happiness, then the rich should be dancing in the streets, but only the poor kids do that.
If power ensures security, then officials should walk unguarded, but those who live simply, sleep SOUNDLY.
If beauty and fame bring ideal relationships, then celebrities should have the best marriages.
LIVE SIMPLY, WALK HUMBLY AND LOVE GENUINELY. All good will come back to you.” ~ Healing Journey posted this to facebook. I don’t know who the author is but I like it. 

I need things like this to lift my spirits so I don’t feel so isolated in an over-populated world. I see the outside but gusty winds that nearly topple me, and continuous days of rain keeping the ground saturated and the cool temps of springtime are keeping me basically housebound. My extremely unfertile soil is keeping me from growing anything that resembles something edible and the scorching sun will devour my flowers that do make a comeback soon. 

You’d think I’d be writing like crazy but no when I get depressed, writing is the farthest thing from my mind. It’s a good thing I don’t eat like a mad hatter or I’d be as big as this house we live in. I’ve never really been into chocolate and junk mainly because when you’ve suffered from toothaches the size of Mt. Etna throughout your life, it does keep you in check of what you CAN eat and what you avoid at all cost. 

Even with my tooth problems taken care of, I’ve built a dislike for things that just aren’t good for me, to me, a blessing in disguise since heart problems and type2 diabetes and other health problems run rampant in my family. Taking care of my internal health hasn’t been a problem but it still doesn’t stop maladies from cropping up to attack me.

The world has me depressed. Not so much the world but the cunning people of the world, the hypocrites, the liars and deceivers that I truly believe are working for satan and not God. I have one or two friends that are children of God. You can see Him working through them and everything that they put out into the world glows like a meteor flashing across the sky. They shine brightly. 

I’m hanging onto my faith in God as tightly as I can as the wine bibbers and deceivers prowl around as if they are working with God but I can see right through them. They’re the once a week Sunday dwellers. The rest of the week they’re partnered with the likes of satan manipulating their lives so that people THINK they’re the children of God but clearly they are the workers of satan defiling the world we live in today.

We are too close to the end to be toying with the rights and wrongs of society. You think you have time because hey, God will forgive you, right? No matter what you do, God is the all-forgiving God who allows you to sin and sin and sin and keep on sinning until the last day when you say, oops, forgive me God and he whisks you away to the pearly gates in the sky? 

Yes, we are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God and I strive every day to not continue in sin because I want myself clean before God, not a dirty rag that has been washed over and over in sin and at the last minute begs for forgiveness. I live to be who God wants me to be, not who * I * want to be in a selfish ego driven manner.   

I will fight my way through depression. I will pray for those who walk in the dark and are alive being a contortion of this world. I will ask for myself to be healed and cleansed. I will continue in solitude, grow in obscurity, bathe in the glory of monotony and focus on my inner qualities that God is shaping into His life form. I am a child of God not a child of this world.

A word from Charles Swindoll:

If you are reading me today, I hope it is because you have me bookmarked and look forward to reading me and my crazy thoughts. I have to stay away from facebook as one or two light-filled people don’t outweigh the many dark ones. I go now and wait for yet another storm to come and this one has a tornado watch attached to it, so be good people, I’m not going to be around forever to keep you in line. 

May the Light of the Lord shine from within you and carry it for the world to see. 

God Bless…

Rom. 8:29 “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.”

Sunday, April 17, 2016

My Spirit...

Pss. 83:15  “So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm.”

My Spirit

My spirit rests in heavenly skies
Stars erupt through spatial sighs
The cosmos is an open foray
For souls to land and spirits pray

Earth below the physical realm
Worlds collide to overwhelm
Stardust sings in blissful pleasure
Music for the spheres to treasure

The source of peace forms within
The heart and mind will then begin
To show the world this shape you take
Energy flows the storm’s awake

My spirit soars where dead men roam
I found in heaven a place called home
There’s no place here on earth or sea
I’ll fly alone just God and me

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Half A Century

(google image)
Jude 1:2  “Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.”

All of my life I’ve lied about my age. When I was 16 I lied and said I was eighteen so I could get served liquor in the bar. When I turned eighteen, the drinking age was changed to twenty-one and wouldn’t you know it, I lied then too. Funny thing is, when I was nine and going to the bar with my mother and father I didn’t need to be a certain age and I was very good at being mischievously sneaky in getting a drink. 

It began earlier in life when I used to go to bingo with my mother and you had to be sixteen but at twelve I didn’t look sixteen and by the time I did look sixteen I didn’t want to go to bingo I wanted to go to bars. What a phase. 


Many people are ashamed of their dark past escapades but I can’t hold shame because it was the years that I was forming being shaped into the person I am today. Just so you know, I quit drinking at twenty-one because there was no more mystery and excitement and well I had already been married for four years at the time so life was steam-rolling ahead.

Even when I first entered this windowed world at thirty-seven I lied and said I was twenty-nine figuring I was the older woman to younger people, and the younger woman to older people, if that makes any sense. Even a few years ago, my nephew (by marriage) asked my age and I instantly replied closer to forty than I am to fifty. 

Even at CHURCH I told my friend whose wife is the same age as me that I was over forty and not near fifty. He replied, “Good because once you hit fifty, it’s all downhill from there.”

So why do we lie about our age? I have my guesses but the reality is, we are all too eager to be older then when we get older we miss being younger. Reality has a hold on me now, I’m NOT getting any younger and yes I’m getting older, just like everyone else. Maybe I’ll finally catch up to my friends who are all nearing sixty or older.


My friend said that it’s all downhill from here but darn, I’ve never started climbing uphill or had that moment of an uphill so why do I go downhill from here? I don’t. I stay myself and take what is tossed at me in the winds of change and embrace it for what it is, change! 

The year of change is taking on different hues and as I celebrate 50, and my mother celebrates the day back home with me, (yes, I was born on my mother’s birthday) and we keep climbing UPHILL to that stairway of heaven that awaits us at the end of this journey, I embrace the odyssey. 

To all the people who wish me a happy birthday, I thank them from the bottom of my heart. I have never in my fifty years had a birthday party for myself, my mother always had a cake that said happy birthday, Del and as a side note the cake would have ‘and joni’. My birthday was never a celebration of me and I learned to accept that. A birthday is just the day you mark yourself and shout out to the world I MADE IT ANOTHER YEAR! People are happy that you’ve made it another year and thanks to facebook many people get to celebrate your day in some way with you. 

While my life continues on and I can rejoice living another year, I’m not done climbing yet and the hill seems steeper and steeper with each step. I will move onward and upward no matter what limitations my body has and now when people ask my age instead of saying ‘over the hill’ I can say ‘still climbing’. I’m okay with that.  Teeheehee

As Holy Week this year includes my birthday smack dab in the middle, I will continue on the path of sharing all that God has filled me with in my life and through me you will see a spirit-filled woman who is truly blessed in every sense of the word. 

God bless each and every one of you as He has me!

Angel always…godspeed!



Jude 1:3 “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

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


Tuesday, March 01, 2016

Message Received

2 Corinthians 6:14 (NIV) Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?

He spoke to me...

Have you ever heard someone say that God spoke to them or lay this on their heart? Have you ever wondered what they meant? I know of a story in the Bible where a dove and a raven were used to send messages to Noah. In later years we progressed to using a pony to relay a message, hence Pony Express? Nowadays we actually use airwaves to send a message. Years ago you would have thought people crazy if they said the future would look like it does today wrapped up in technological gadgets.

So what do we mean when we say God spoke to us? Did he use a bird, a pony or some other form of messenger? Did He mysteriously begin burning a bush right before our eyes?

Well, there are other parts of the Bible where God used an Angel to deliver a message as a matter of fact, the word angel is used well over 300 times in the bible, to me silencing the naysayers who say angels don’t exist and that God is done using them to deliver His message.

http://www.bible.ca/su-angels.htm

Do angels exist? Yes 
1Timothy 5:21 - “I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality.”

How many angels are there? Innumerable 
Genesis 2:1- “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the [host] of them.”
Psalms 68:17 – “The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even [thousands of angels]: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.”
Daniel 7:10 – “A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: [thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him:] the judgment was set, and the books were opened.”
Matthew 26:53 – “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than [twelve legions of angels]?”
Hebrews 12:22- “But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,”

What does "Angel" mean?
The Greek word angelos and the Hebrew malak. The term "angel" means "messenger."

How do angels not appear?

False prophets Jer 14:14 “Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.” 
Jer 23:16 – “Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.”
False dreams-  Jer 23:31-32 “Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.” 
In your own heart, Prov 28:26 – “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.”

He made angels spirits - Psalms 104:4 “Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:” 

Luke 20:33-36 “Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them is she? for seven had her to wife. And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain [that world,] and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more: for they are [equal unto the angels;] and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.”

Read more here about the Supernatural Spirit

Interactive Bible

When we say God laid something on our heart, what exactly do Christians mean? Are we telekinetically linked to God? Are we talking to angels? 

John 10: 4-7 “And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them. Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.”

When Children of God [sheep] hear God, we know it is His voice that speaks to us. It isn’t our own free will that speaks to us, or our vanity causing us to hear ourselves and think we’re God, we HEAR GOD! We KNOW it is from Him.

2 Tim. 2:11-16 “It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself. Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.”

As Children of God we are able to discern God’s voice from our inner voices because we live God’s word and breathe His every sentence so we’re able to acknowledge what is being placed on our heart as from God not man. 

Heb. 5:14 “But strong meat [the Word] belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

That’s discernment in a nutshell, we exercise our senses and God [moves] us and calls us to action, plain and simple. 

Ezra 1:5 “Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised [moved], to go up to build the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem.”

And don’t worry, if you’re tired of hearing people claiming God placed something on their heart you’re not alone. Please read this -- > Christian Euphemisms: read the insightful comments on that page also. 

If God hasn’t called you or whispered to you or laid something on your heart it does not mean that God loves you less than all the people hearing Him, but to me personally, I listen to Him, in other words, I’m just exercising all six of my senses. You might hear Him in another way. We’re all different, He made us that way too. 

May God Bless your heart and soul!

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Poetry Sunday ~ Help Me, Lord


Pss. 12:1 Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.

Help Me Lord

Help me Lord it’s been a long day
My body is failing I begin to sway.

Through the mist I see them rise,
Mangy wolves in disguise.
They rant, they rave through it all
bellowing out a howling call.

Looking like sheep dressed in white
Prowling on innocence in the night
They saunter along and show their claws
Prying open my self-made walls.

I stand alone they circle ‘round
To steal the Light in me they’ve found.
In one fell swoop they’re whisked away
My Holy Savior saves the day.

Help me Lord, to always see
The You that found a part of me.



Friday, September 18, 2015

Change

Proverbs 2:1-5 (NIV) "My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God."

Today is the day I will renounce my Christian label. Before you all go ballistic on me, allow me to explain. The label Christian means absolutely nothing these days. People toss the word around like a basketball; dribble it here, toss it there. 

Definition of renounce (before vocab nazi’s attack): to give up or put aside voluntarily: to renounce worldly pleasures.
2. to give up by formal declaration:

As I’ve been working through some tough things lately, I’ve sure been hit hard with a realization lately; I need the courage to let go of what I can’t change. I can’t change my past I accept that. I can’t change humans I have to accept that also. 

These humans are the very reason I will no longer call myself Christian. They have me struggling with my faith and it doesn’t seem fair to me. I have an extremely strong faith, a viable strength in the Lord, and an apparently different way of seeing things.

They (Christians) drink because hey, Jesus drank wine so it must be okay. Well to me, I don’t believe he drank a beer in His life and definitely don’t see Him nipping at some mushrooms in the garden before being tempted by satan. Was it all a hallucinating experience for Him and He just wish-washed the truth?

I wanna drink.  Thanks Christians.

They also curse, and that is okay too because I guess Jesus rode an ass so everyone must get the symbolization that we’re all asses? 

I wanna curse. Thanks Christians.

Is this a lie?

Ephesians 5:4 ESV “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.”

So is it okay to joke and use crude vulgar language. All in fun, right Christians? 

More lies?

James 1:26 ESV “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.

I struggle. Thanks Christians.

I’m beginning to think hell is the better place to end up when I die. Heaven is going to be full of people cursing, drinking, laughing at people cursing and drinking and maybe THIS is not where I want to end up. Christians believe they’re all going to heaven and these same Christians are the drinkers and cursers. Are they all going to change AFTER they get into heaven? Hmm...

I’m confused. Thanks Christians.

I will now call myself a Follower of Christ. Not a follower of humans who fill people with lies, have no remorse, have no character and basically they have a wilted soul. I can only pray for them in their disillusionment. I cannot change THEM I can only change ME! And this is what I strive for!

Romans 12:2 ESV “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Thank you Jesus! 

Now this is a post not many will like, maybe because of the truth it holds? My point is this I can call myself a Christian but it doesn’t mean I AM one. Just as I can call myself a butterfly but until I CHANGE from a caterpillar, I am just a caterpillar.

Thank you God! For making me, ME!

Psalm 19:14 ESV “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”

Monday, July 27, 2015

The Walking Dead

Rom. 1:10-11 Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.
For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;

 

The Walking Dead


Well I caved in due to the pressure my man and son kind of placed on me. Not really pressure but I myself felt like an outcast in my own family because I didn’t watch The Walking Dead when these two hailed it as the next best thing since sliced cheese!

I’m not really into zombie flicks but in my day I did like watching the campy ‘B’ movies of Night of the Living Dead and Day of the Dead. They were just way out there creepy and well as a kid, I liked creepy. Not so much these days but I will watch them for laughs; and to see how far I’ve come in my likes and dislikes of the movies I watch.

Since I really couldn’t pick out any good movies with no nudity and barely clothed people in it, I tired from the search and I buckled, giving into, “I’ll watch the Walking Dead, season one episode one and we’ll go from there.” Cheers and smiles rang out across the two ‘Dead Heads’ I call them who had told me, “It’s really not that bad of a show.” So I would see for myself.

After the first episode I was hooked, like it was some kind of an addictive drug given me, I was hooked. We watched two more episodes and last night we watched three and tonight we’ll start season two! The first episode had a mild sex scene in it but it was much cleaner than any of the movies I was searching, so the prude in me let it pass and I sunk into the storyline.

Unlike the old zombie movies where it was all about the zombies, this show actually has a story, the Zombie Apocalypse.  The apocalypse happened and there are a few survivors and we follow these folk trying to survive in a zombie-ridden world. Granted there is plenty of gore and head turning moments but the characters have substance. You like them as soon as you are introduced to them. THAT to me is good writing as all of my writing friends will attest to.

The writer in me dissects everything I watch (or read for that matter) and The Walking Dead is no different. Even though the guys have seen all the shows and are anxiously awaiting the new season in October, I am new blood to the show (pun intended).
I’m finding it kind of funny how we three see it differently. Adam likes the death and gore, Steven likes the sci-fi elements, and me… hold on people… I see HOPE! Adam almost chopped my head off for saying that and Steven went silent but I rambled on and on how these people all have hope in finding other survivors, finding the reason this happened, finding a cure if any. The people who’ve died so far gave up; they had no hope that there is anything out there except zombies.

Then came my thwarted analogy: This movie is not much unlike man today. We are living in the zombie apocalypse. *screams and eeks heard*  
“Not EVERYTHING is about God, mom!”

Really? To ME it IS! EVERYTHING is about God!

After watching the episode where the man from the CDC showed the few living wanderers the zombie’s brain, it hit me. He showed an active brain full of color and the zombie’s brain activity was all black, empty, void just for a small red splotch that showed their hunger. When defining Zombie here is the definition:

a. the body of a dead person given the semblance of life, but mute and will-less, by a supernatural force, usually for some evil purpose.
b. the supernatural force itself.

To ME and my understanding of it, when a man or boy walks into a theater and KILLS innocent people, for that split moment their brain has gone black, they think and feel nothing, but HUNGER, the hunger for death. When the adrenaline starts to flow back to their brain (if ever) they realize what they’ve done and either commits suicide or claims insanity.

Think of a man who kills his wife and child. Think of the man who chopped his wife’s head off. Think of all (and I mean ALL the killings globally) where killing is at an all time high. The brain has gone blank. For that one moment, they are a zombie.

When I said this to Adam again his response was, “Well, we’re all gonna die.”

I quickly responded, “Not me, honey, I’m promised eternity!” There’s that God referencing again.

Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

You see, some of us can CLEARLY see what is going on. We don’t need police to tell us that they are searching for a REASON why these murderers and evil is running rampant. We don’t NEED to know, we can clearly SEE.

I often think about the stories I’ve read passed down through the centuries of how the people of their times laughed at Copernicus, scoffed at Aristotle, mocked Columbus chuckled at Einstein and the list goes on.

I will be laughed and scoffed at too for my ‘theory’ but rest assured, those that can SEE will have the last laugh. While you sit and wonder why this or that happened, I’m at peace knowing I see it all too clearly. If you’re into quantum physics like I have ALWAYS been interested in, maybe take a look at this discovery, the Discovery of God in scientific terms that I totally understand! I can clearly SEE.
Note: I watched this video AFTER I wrote this post and thought it relevant enough to add to it.


May God be with you all!

A comment from Anon: “God has made Himself evident through "what has been made" - ie "creation" or "Nature".
And, what does Science study? Nature.
If "that which is known about God..." could be known by ordinary, non-science-trained individuals (from thousands of years ago) by observing Nature, then why on earth should it be surprising that those "trained and learned scientists", who have the job of observing Nature, should end up proving that Nature could not exist without God?”

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Quotation Saturday


Rom. 12:2 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.

DIFFERENT

“I existed on my own terms. I was different my entire life. Some called me divergent, wild, crazy, unpredictable and unconformed—an apostate to the rules of the majority. I called myself God’s creation and found purpose in the madness. When that day came, I didn’t allow other people to dictate how I should feel or act. I learned there was no shame in imperfection because history had shown being different had the power to change perspectives and eventually the world. This is when I realized that flaws had responsibility. This was the day that I learned I was truly BLESSED.”
― Shannon L. Alder

“God has a way of picking a “nobody” and turning their world upside down, in order to create a “somebody” that will remove the obstacles they encountered out of the pathway for others.”
― Shannon L. Alder

“If your not annoying somebody, you're not alive.”
― Margaret Atwood

“For a man who makes his salvation perfect through suffering, is more of a saint and a loving hero of nature.”
― Auliq Ice

NON-CONFORMITY

“My kids are starting to notice I'm a little different from the other dads. "Why don't you have a straight job like everyone else?" they asked me the other day.
I told them this story:
In the forest, there was a crooked tree and a straight tree. Every day, the straight tree would say to the crooked tree, "Look at me...I'm tall, and I'm straight, and I'm handsome. Look at you...you're all crooked and bent over. No one wants to look at you." And they grew up in that forest together. And then one day the loggers came, and they saw the crooked tree and the straight tree, and they said, "Just cut the straight trees and leave the rest." So the loggers turned all the straight trees into lumber and toothpicks and paper. And the crooked tree is still there, growing stronger and stranger every day.”
― Tom Waits

“But human beings are not machines, and however powerful the pressure to conform, they sometimes are so moved by what they see as injustice that they dare to declare their independence. In that historical possibility lies hope.”
― Howard Zinn

“to be nobody-but-yourself in a world which is doing its’ best, night and day, to make you just like everybody else – means to fight the hardest battle any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.”
― E.E. Cummings

“If, living in the world, you refuse to be a part of it, you will help others out of this chaos - not in the future, not tomorrow, but now.”
― Jiddu Krishnamurti

INDIVIDUAL

“The first duty of a man is to think for himself”
― José Martí

“Despair is typical of those who do not understand the causes of evil, see no way out, and are incapable of struggle.”
― Vladimir Ilich Lenin

“I have no right to call myself one who knows. I was one who seeks, and I still am, but I no longer seek in the stars or in books; I'm beginning to hear the teachings of my blood pulsing within me. My story isn't pleasant, it's not sweet and harmonious like the invented stories; it tastes of folly and bewilderment, of madness and dream, like the life of all people who no longer want to lie to themselves.”
― Hermann Hesse

“To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.”
― Robert Louis Stevenson

INSPIRATION

“when you're a poet
you can dish out whatever's
on your mind and you don't have to
apologize for it”
― Shannon Lynette

“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”
― Paulo Coelho

“The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all.”
― Walt Disney Company

“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”
― Maya Angelou

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Poetry Sunday ~ Isolation

Rom. 12:2 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.


Solitaire

I play the game of solitaire
Isolation of my life.
Gentle peaceful flipping
For the settling of strife.

I long to be free
From impeding worldly addiction
Hours leading into days
The soul shaped in affliction.

A world made up of images
Flashing on a screen
Never breathing in the life
Of the muffled outdoor scene.

This day I will fight to live
Outside the walls I’m in.
My life will never be attuned
To the state of man and sin.

Friday, December 13, 2013

Nailed for You

1 Tim 1:17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Nailed for You

My nails they drip with blood
The pain will never end
I feel no one is listening
To messages I send.

The hustle and hurried world
Goes on without a care,
Ranting about the moment
In the media blitz they share.

Gossip crawls along the floor
Then slowly up the wall
Clinging to the idle ones
I slowly watch them fall.

Was death not enough for them
Were miracles a game?
Are blessings things that they seek
On a whim in my name?

While claiming that they look to me
They’re often caught unaware
Of falling in the pit to hell
Crying out that life’s unfair.

A voice was not given you
To babble like a brook.
Life was freely given
So it’s me to whom you look.

Wasted seasons spent
On anger that you spew
Withered moments now all gone;
Away from me you drew.

The time to call is not at death
Embrace me while you’re living.
To each and every one of you
My blood is well worth giving.

Col. 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;



Tuesday, December 10, 2013

The Spirit is Upon Me


Rom. 1:9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;

The Spirit is Upon Me

The Spirit is upon me
It’s not a heavy load
to give Him praise and glory
for all that He has showed.

The Spirit is upon me
I ask what I’m to say.
In truth and love He tells me
to make a brighter day.

The Spirit is upon me
the brilliant beams they reach
to the very core of me
a message for to teach.

The Spirit is upon me
I’m asked not to conform
to a world of darkness
my soul it will transform.

The spirit is upon me
It’s always there for you.
Just ask and He will enter
a guide to get you through.

Rom. 8: 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

The Truth Hurts

Pss. 86: 11 Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.

Yes it does.  I still remember being told that Santa Claus was not real. Yeah, I had mean brothers and a sister who didn’t want to see me happy, so when I proclaimed Santa got it for me, they made sure they said loud and clear, “Santa ain’t real!” (Yeah they used the word ain’t)

I didn’t want to believe it. My mother wouldn’t lie to me, would she? Well sure enough, she wasn’t happy with my brothers' way of telling me but she did sit me down and tell me the truth. Santa, the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny all lies concocted by some age old myth. Great, my entire life was a lie. Granted I was only six but to me, my life was all a lie. I grew to form my own beliefs, never, and I mean never counting on man to feed me the truth!

Now imagine me as a grown Christian woman, someone telling me that the Bible has ‘some lies’ or untruths in it (lies; untruths, same thing), but ‘most’ of it is true. Well slap me upside the head and color me stupid!

My faith has been built on these truths, or what I have known and been SHOWN to be truths and after being told that, all of my biblical beliefs came crashing down around me and I began digging through the rubble reassessing my ‘beliefs’.

The truth hurts. Have you ever been lied to? It sure doesn’t feel good, nor does it feel good when you find out the truth.

Pss. 32: 8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.

Instead of doubting my faith, I went to God himself and asked for clarification so that I might respond clearly to the attack, as I saw it, of lies about Him and His truth. He guided me to truths about Him and when shown to the person, undoubtedly the person became angry. Mind you they were not MY truths, they were God’s truths.

I didn’t dig for scientific proof, I didn’t sling words to say 'Believe this', I slung it to say, you’ve showed me what YOU believe to be truth, and here is what I believe to be truth.

Truth hurts. I also got a quite intelligent answer from a kid, almost 18 years old. He said, “There are only opinions of one truth.”

“What?” I said.

“Truth is like a tree root, it grows and grows, the branches are the opinions formed from that truth.”

Wow, what a smart kid, I say!

Eph. 3: 17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

Imagine a strong wind coming in and breaking those branches leaving all leaves on it to wither and die. No, I won’t be a branch, I won’t pretend to be a leaf. I choose to be the root and the Son being the Light in which I find my strength to grow.

THAT is my truth. THAT is who I am. I won’t be swayed by science; I won’t be molded by words of men. Science is just an opinion formed by men with supposed intelligence. Remember, science once stated that Pluto was a planet, only for years to pass and then to say it isn’t a planet. What IS the truth?

I tell you this writers, the reader WILL find out for themselves. If you mislead them or try to fool them, they WILL find out. And the truth hurts.




Friday, May 28, 2010

The Puzzle

The Puzzle
***

Pieces all scattered about
not formed, it’s incomplete.
Each one has a perfect place
I strive with vain conceit.

The box shows an image
of abundant life and glory;
raging seas all on top
a flower bed of fury.

Colors clash as vibrancy
shakes the solid ground.
The puzzle wreaks redundancy
boisterous without a sound.

The silent spot of  me begins
to see the object form
I see a scene setting in
the puzzle of a storm.

Whirlwinds just like life
the waterspout meets sky.
My pain in life is all washed up
I never know just why.

Clearer now the image
is all said and done.
I’ll stand here now and wonder.
what happened to the sun!

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Poetry Sunday ~ What is Love, Comfortably Me


What Is Love?

All rights reserved: copyright © Joni Zipp
There's more to love than meets the eye.
Give it wings and it will fly.
Sow it in the richest soil,
a tree burst forth with little toil.

Hold it in the palm of your hand,
mold it, shape it so it will stand.
Drop it in the widest sea;
it will flow through you and me.

Make it an instrument and it creates song,
carry you gently your whole life long.
Release it to the fragrant air;
surely it finds a heart to snare.

Give it freely, if for no reason.
It takes the form of the changing season.
Breathe it in and it will seep,
into your soul for you to keep.


Plant it firmly within your heart,
the seed of love will never part.




Comfortably Me
All rights reserved: copyright © Joni ZippAmber beauty or so I am told.
Brazen brilliance; blatantly bold.
Winsome and witty, cautiously carefree.
An astounding vessel for none to see.

Embedded in the embryo of time.
Richly rooted in rhythm and rhyme.
Often listed as strangely weird.
Life’s complexity creatively seared.

Whisked into a whimsical tomb.
Daunting spirits frequently loom.
Captured in a subtle seed.
Lost amid humility’s deed.

Scattered along the ocean floor,
There I lay an unopened door.
Gracefully flowing in the rhapsody of sea;
my shell is my own, I'm comfortably me.


Copyright ©Joni Zipp