A Work Of Art

God's Painting

Luke 3:22 "And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased."

A Work of Art

I'm going to go out on a limb here and call myself a work of art. As a matter of fact, each and every one of us is a masterpiece in our own right. When we were created, we were not painted by the kindergarten class with our non-toxic paints and fat paintbrushes. We were crafted by a Master artist with the finest paints and brushes and we, each and every one of us, were painted by an artist better than Michelangelo!

You see, when we were forming in the womb, God had a plan for his piece of art. It took him nine months to create the perfection He saw in us. He didn't just blink us into existence like a genie, no He masterfully created each and every brushstroke of our life and when we were born, He already saw the finished fulfilled work of art in its completion to the end, hanging in the Sistine Chapel. 

He looked at us and it was good! He knew every brushstroke our life would take. He knew the perfections and imperfections because He saw us up close and personal, not from the marble floor below. No, your mother, father and everyone else saw you from below the art. They gazed at you and saw a tiny infant seemingly perfect. As you grew, people saw you and studied you as a piece of art and came to a conclusion of what they perceived. But to God, you were still a masterful work of art in progress. 

If you say that God makes no mistakes, you'd be correct in your assumption. The imperfections I referred to was our free will. You see Adam and Eve were made perfect! A completely perfect work of art finished and drying in the sun. Free will was the last brushstroke in giving us a chance to assist with the painting. The reason we're not the creating artists is that we botch the job. Our free will leads us to the imperfections of our life, all of which God saw in advance when creating you but he is not in control of our free will.

I knew as I got to this point in my life I had done a bang-up job of this masterpiece. I didn't handle the brush with the gentleness and care of the Master artist. Not that I turned Michelangelo's work into a Picasso but I think sometimes I turned it into an Andy Warhol meaningless jumble of paint. But I digress, I'm still in the planning stages so the brush hasn't been whisked out of my hand yet. God sees a Van Gogh in me; a little loose around the edges but awaiting perfection.

I now see this illness as a chance to complete what was a little messed up. My mind, my body, my soul all are taking a little tender care of the flamboyant brush strokes that I let onto the canvas; I'm no intense chapel in the making, and definitely not in Vatican City. These illnesses I'm being faced with are all a part of the whimsical flinging of the paint onto a blank canvas, I'm now in the process of making some sense out of what I want this painting to be. I want people to look at me as a work of art, not perfect but worth looking at for hours on end trying to sum up a conclusion of what they see and are going to walk away with.

Each day I wake, after thanking the Lord for another day to open my eyes and gaze at the canvas, I stare in awe of what has the potential to be a worthy piece of artwork! My writing, my healing, my poetry, my muse all are forming an exquisite piece of artwork ready to be hung in a gallery among the greatest artists who ever lived. 

I'm not standing here and proudly boasting of a swelled ego, I am an artist sharing with you my vision of just where this completed work will stand in the end. The gates of heaven have the potential to be open for me and the gallery of brilliant colors of a reflected prism are at my fingertips. I am a light-bearer, I am a shepherd, I am not here to tell you where you've gone wrong, I'm here to tell you what went right. You were born! You were created by a Masterful artist that saw all of your potentials and now it is time for you to take control of the brush and complete the painting that was begun when you were born.

We've all made mistakes! And if you're over the half-century mark, you are now in the final stages of completing your masterpiece. Are you going to finish up by botching up the canvas? Or are you going to make the necessary changes that need to take place to see you too entering the gates of heaven, or do you even care and are just happily strolling along in life not caring where this journey ends? My friends, take care of the work of art that is you. God did all the hard work and now He hands you the brush to take care of the finished product that will hang on the walls of Heavens gallery someday.

May the blessings of the Lord our God be with you today and always!

Quotation Saturday ~ Faith ~ Strong

Rom 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

FAITH

“When God is going to do something wonderful, He or She always starts with a hardship; when God is going to do something amazing, He or She starts with an impossibility. ” 
― Anne Lamott

“Radical obedience to Christ is not easy... It's not comfort, not health, not wealth, and not prosperity in this world. Radical obedience to Christ risks losing all these things. But in the end, such risk finds its reward in Christ. And he is more than enough for us.” 
― David Platt

“Having faith in God did not mean sitting back and doing nothing. It meant believing you would find success if you did your best honestly and energetically.” 
― Ken Follett

“In order to have faith in his own path, he does not need to prove that someone else's path is wrong.” 
― Paulo Coelho

PROMISE

“Men promise freedom while establishing laws; God promises laws while establishing freedom.” 
― Criss Jami

“Make a promise to yourself that you will always choose growth over safe and dreams over fear.” 
― Brittany Burgunder

“Love meant hope. Without love, life held no promise.” 
― Christie Craig

“The promise you attract is determined by what you seek” 
― Sunday Adelaja

HEALING

“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.” 
― Rumi

“Pain is a pesky part of being human, I've learned it feels like a stab wound to the heart, something I wish we could all do without, in our lives here. Pain is a sudden hurt that can't be escaped. But then I have also learned that because of pain, I can feel the beauty, tenderness, and freedom of healing. Pain feels like a fast stab wound to the heart. But then healing feels like the wind against your face when you are spreading your wings and flying through the air! We may not have wings growing out of our backs, but healing is the closest thing that will give us that wind against our faces.” 
― C. JoyBell C.

“Our wounds are often the openings into the best and most beautiful part of us.” 
― David Richo

“Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason.” 
― Novalis

STRONG

“The one who falls and gets up is stronger than the one who never tried. Do not fear failure but rather fear not trying.” 
― Roy T. Bennett

“She made broken look beautiful
and strong look invincible.
She walked with the Universe
on her shoulders and made it
look like a pair of wings.” 
― Ariana Dancu

“So he tasted the deep pain that is reserved only for the strong, just as he had tasted for a little while the deep happiness.” 
― F. Scott Fitzgerald

“My scars remind me that I did indeed survive my deepest wounds. That in itself is an accomplishment. And they bring to mind something else, too. They remind me that the damage life has inflicted on me has, in many places, left me stronger and more resilient. What hurt me in the past has actually made me better equipped to face the present.” 
― Steve Goodier

Be Still...

Pss. 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God.”

Silence

Have you ever tried listening to the sound of God’s voice? Try as you might you can’t because of all of the noise surrounding you. Sure you’re alone in the house, windows and doors closed, your place is silent but it is so silent that you can hear a clock ticking, a refrigerator humming, a car passing outside, sirens blaring, winds stirring, or your neighbors hanging a picture. Where is the silence in that?

Being ‘still’ is not just about sitting completely still and then waiting to hear God’s voice. You need to be in complete silence where this day and age, complete silence is fleeting. Even in the woods, there is no silence as birds call out, trees sway in the wind, leaves are rustling, water sometimes flows downstream, and silence is always disrupted by a noise. While nature has a host of sounds they’re not as distracting as life away from nature but not everyone can live surrounded by nature, now can they?

To seek and find God’s voice in the murmurings of the day, to hear His voice you need to hear nothing but silence, be still and breathe in the silence of the moment. Try it, can you? For fifteen minutes a day can you turn off the distractions of work, the computer, the washer, the noise, can you find silence somewhere in your day? You think you can but there will always be a noise to distract you and pull you away from God’s voice whispering in your ear.

I think I realize why I love the cold snowy season so much. For the very reason that out in the middle of nowhere, where I’m located, the snow renders the farms silent, the only sounds are the wind, even the trains often heard in the distance become silenced. It is during these times I can have a most meditative walk with nature and listen for God to whisper in my ear. It is at these times I talk to him too in a most silent and peaceful surrounding; I feel as if I’m touching a little bit of heaven.

I think humans are a lot like trick-or-treaters on Halloween. First of all, they dress up and put on a costume for the world outside their home to see; then they’re always going from house to house, city to city, job to job searching for a treat of some sort to make them happy, a quick-fix so to speak. For some reason, they cannot find the overwhelming peace that is needed to get through a day nevertheless a month or year. While I understand that not everyone is open to God or even cares to listen out for Him, they seem unhappy at any event that passes in their life. They claim happiness but deep inside when it comes down to it when they rest their head on the pillow at night, sleep eludes them.

They’ll blame medication, they’ll blame insomnia, they’ll point fingers at the noise of the stirring of the cauldron but they won’t blame themselves for the inability to find peace. The world is addicted to noise that distracts people from finding inner peace, from finding that still small voice of God.

I’ve always been a person who prayerfully meditates, listening for that still place of peace where I hear the words of God, and I do understand that not everyone has the ability to find that place because of all the noise, noise, noise. Yeah, I may have channeled Dr. Seuss on that one but you understand. You’ve tried without success to be still, but it is hard to be found oftentimes because our minds are the loudest noises we hear. You find yourself over-thinking a situation, a bible verse, a chore, a drive, or maybe loneliness. Those are noises that need to be quieted.

Now that I’m among millions in the throes of an illness, I seek even harder to find that silence brewing inside of me. Without my prayer and meditation, I would’ve never embarked on the journey of alternative treatment. I feel with every fiber of my being that God placed me on this path because He too knew I was ready. I cannot speak for others and their journey, or to those who have no God, I can only speak for myself because right at this moment in time, this is MY journey.

I try to share my journey with you so you can see that while I am one of the sinners and noisemakers of the day, I find that still small voice of God trumpeting in my ear for me to come and follow Him and it is only then that I can find solace in my healing journey. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory but I tell you now, even if it is the last resort for you, finding yourself at the mercy of Gods feet will find you some peace in moving forward on the railways of life. May you find the peace that a still small voice will give to you.

Pss. 32:7 "Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah."

Resurrection Sunday ~ My Happy New Year!

1 Peter 2:24 KJV “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”

Resurrection Sunday ~ My New Year Begins

By the blood of Christ, I am healed

The truth of Him to me revealed

I do not walk in doubt and fear

From Him I’m fixed it’s ever clear

My suffering is but a small measure

Of the life I live, one that I treasure

Although a shell, my soul’s at home

My body on earth is free to roam

Slithering in the illness came

The ashen rider with death as a name

Catching me weakened and off guard

Knocking me down, leaving me scarred

I rose from the ashes scattered about

Reached for the Lamb, behind me doubt

Fear melted faces of those around me

Until the Light was all they could see

An orchestra of Angels plays a tune

Wraps me in their heavenly womb

I walk with Light and love by my side

The Lord is my Shepherd, my only guide

As Holy Week ends with a signified seal

My journey goes on, I continue to heal

The sidelines are full, friends and angels cheer

On this day I begin my Happy New Year!

Acts 4:22 “For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was shewed.”

The Gamut Of Emotions

An Icy Morning

Jer. 9:23-24 (ESV) “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” 

The Gamut Of Emotions

After last Wednesday’s diagnosis I have been put through the mill of emotions; sorrow, pain, sadness, fear, grief, and believe it or not faith, hope, and joy. Now I feel like I’m being hit with a new emotion for the day, denial and off in the distance I can see anger galloping toward me. 

"No, it can’t be! They’re wrong. Wait for the test results. Doctors who know what to look for and feel for CAN be wrong, it’s rarer than the cancer you’ve been diagnosed with, but it does happen. Miracles happen too." < -- That's my mind talking. 

If you just thought to yourself after reading ‘Miracles happen’, “Yeah, she’s in denial.” Go away! Get very far away from me and leave me to believe all that I’ve believed and have already lived through and experienced in my life! MIRACLES DO HAPPEN!

You don’t think it strange that people of no faith haven’t experienced a miracle in their life? They’re the ones who allow doctors to be the last word, they allow doctors to be their miracle cure. Yeah, I’m not about to put my faith in man. You see the world today? It’s because people, millions of people have put their faith and trust in their fellow man! Don’t misunderstand me please, I believe Doctor’s serve a purpose, but I believe only YOU know what’s best for your body and they should work WITH you so you both have the same vision as to where to go in treating you.

You know where the miracles come from? Emptying your reliance on man and placing your faith and hope in a God who created the very disease/injury or illness you are struggling to rid your body of!

Here’s what I’m reading, from a friend who is on the same page as me in seeing HOPE; and it has only been because I see HOPE, not a death sentence that man wants me to see. Surrounded by survivors, I see HOPE.

Article Summary by A Von Butz.

*From the conventional medical perspective, cancer is a disease that for all intents and purposes is just as untreatable today as it was 40 years ago.

*Cytotoxic chemotherapy chemicals destroy both good and bad cells leaving aggressive cancer cells behind and leaving patients prone to more cancer.

*Radiation treatments are increasingly being shown to trigger secondary cancers in patients within years after administration.

*We rarely hear about patients actually being cured from cancer when opting for chemotherapy and radiation. At best, these treatments might help extend a person’s lifespan by a few weeks, months, and sometimes years − usually with serious side effects and greatly reduced quality of life. At worst, such treatments kill patients more quickly than if they had chosen not to undergo them at all.

*There’s no money to be made in telling you how to avoid cancer in the first place. The “bread and butter” of the cancer industry is unleashing the next, latest-and-greatest cancer drug.

Think about that. “There’s no money to be made,” in a nutshell, every illness and disease can be prevented and cured but the ones making the money on your illness and disease are NOT going to tell you about it. They’ll pump you with drugs and radiation before they tell you of the holistic treatments that are in testing stages. They’ll say, “Oh it’s very expensive,” but what they mean to say is, “My colleagues don’t make one dime on holistic therapy.”

Prayer results in promise! I believe in the power of prayer and as a witness of the way it effects me, just this Sunday I woke after what I believe, hundreds upon hundreds of people are praying for me. Not just in this country, in other countries as well. Not just of the Christian faith either, many faiths (even atheists and non-believers, mind you) are all sending their thoughts, their prayers, their positive energy toward ME! I woke and felt rested. I didn’t want to cry, I wanted to go out, look at cows, look at the landscape, breathe in the farm air. (Yes, if you know what a farm smells like, I WANTED to inhale the aroma!)

Most of my mind is a blur. I’ve been doing so much reading about cancer my brain hurts. I AM optimistic, that’s the good thing but I’m hoping my doctor’s share the same optimism and deliver to me a shared treatment plan that I can get behind. What I don’t want is someone telling me that THIS (cut you open, dispose of tissue, and radiate) is the only option. I want to hear what is out there and being tried and tested, I want to be the face of the cure not the face of the disease. I DON'T want to be microwaved!

Now keep in mind, I have never been operated on in my life, not even a tonsillectomy. I’ve never broken a bone or been in a cast. I’ve kind of sailed through life uninjured until I hit forty-seven and was hit with arthritis and severe gum disease. Now at fifty, I am being hit with breast cancer? Boy, God must see a strong little soldier in me all geared up and ready to go into battle and ready to FIGHT tooth and nail for a promising outcome! 

But through it all, I prayed. I steadfastly prayed and God has either answered immediately or made me patiently wait but rest assured, He has never let me down once! Now if He’ll just step in and let the Doctor’s know and understand that He’s in control and He’s got this and guide them to an informed treatment based on knowledge, not MONEY! I do truly believe from the very General Practitioner to the breast specialist to the timing of all of the appointments, God is here working His plan. Now just let me accept His plan. 

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

What I leave Behind

Job.30:18 “By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.”

*No poetry Sunday, I have too much to say

What I'll leave Behind

Being hit this week with the diagnosis of cancer has left me in an emotional state that is totally foreign to me. I’m a person of light, love, and hope and this week I was tossed out onto the battleground of a disease that has plucked many members of my family (whether blood or friends) away and out of my life.

It started with subtle signs about a year ago in 2015, the year my aunt succumbed to some kind of cancer and my non-blood uncle to lung cancer. The signs were there but I brushed them away trying to hide from them so they didn’t see me and begin to form on me. I do know they went the cut me open, spread the disease, and radiate me, only for the diseases to stay dormant a year or two and resurface, wiping them out entirely. This is the way it was for members of MY family.

I’m thinking that this is the unexpected earthquakes or avalanches, tornados or hurricanes that come in and rattle the very routine existence you live. Day after day we routinely wake, have coffee, shower, go to work, sit on facebook and many do it day after day thinking possibly this is all God has planned for my life.

I was asked what I’m feeling right now and honestly, I don’t feel. What is on my mind is what I might have to leave behind, then with this morning's sermon I was smacked with the reality that this is just God shaking up the routine I call life.

Have you ever lived through a tornado, hurricane or earthquake? Did you lose anything? Well for some, they lose EVERYTHING while some lose a little, and some nothing at all. Sometimes lives are lost and the ones left behind have to sit in wonder of what just happened and try to grapple with the reality that their lives were shaken completely off the axis of routine living. 

You may think that your life is going to end because you can’t live without routine but let me tell you, God does not like people to become stagnant and stuck in a routine for months or years on end and this is the reason we have shake-ups in life that come completely out of nowhere.

My routine life is going to be shaken up big time. I will no longer wake, sit at the computer, write and surf the web, nope it will be slammed with test after test, surgery and possibly radiation for days on end, week after week, then I’ll either be defined as a survivor or a victim. I choose survivor, but MY plan might not be God’s plan. My husband’s routine of waking and sitting on the web, playing his games, surfing YouTube will be massively shaken but I’ll see him trying to cling to what he thinks is HIS routine not realizing that God is in control of ALL OF OUR routines! Hubby will try to remain in control when basically we’ve never been IN control in the first place.

While I think about what I might leave behind, my husband, son and my family I also have to think of what lies ahead for me and that is the journey to our amazing Father. Yes, no matter what I am put through I will still see God as amazing. He doesn’t want me to focus on what I’m leaving behind, He wants to chisel away all routine brick and mortar and place my eyes on the spiritual route that my life has been and will continue to be in the hereafter. 

Day after day I wake and want to just wallow in a bucket of tears, and that’s okay because right beside me is my Amazing God saying, I can carry this load for you, I’m here for you. Isn’t that amazing? When we think we can’t take anymore, can’t cry one more tear, we have God, the Comforter ready to carry the weight of the load. We might think he’s forgotten us but no, it is during that time He is remembering all the beauty He created in you and looks and says, “I did good! She’s beautiful!” That my friends, is my solace, knowing God sees the beauty in me that he created and I gave to the world.

As much as you want to cling to that routine fantasy life, and hide from the reality that has shaken your world via tragedy or illness, keep in mind that it is NOT your life, it is God’s life. Just because you bought and own that new electric self-driving car it is not yours, it is in the hand of something more powerful and electrifying than you.

When a tragedy strikes and your comfort of a routine is gone, don’t fight to get the mundane actions of a day back, take this time to seize the opportunity to CHANGE your routine, because rest assured if you don’t, God will!

1 Cor. 15:51 “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,”

The Cave Dweller No More

Luke 12:27 “Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

It seems like the last year I’ve been living in a cave. The world is going on around me and many things have gone on in this world that I care not to discuss because I can discuss them quietly at home and in the depths of my mind, I don’t need all of my thoughts out there for the world to see.

I stop by facebook once a day to see what people are sharing and well, it’s the same ol’ same ol’ basket full of deceit, cunning opinionated news (usually lies), abused animals, lost children and prayer. My page is full of prayer request and that is just how I like to start my day by being in prayer for those in need. 

I’ve changed my facebook page so much I no longer get the negative feed that was turning my stomach early last year. With every visit my heart hurt, my mind ached and I was left puzzled by some of the things people felt the need to share, so I climbed into the cave crowded by grief and didn’t ever want to come out and view the social world again.

Something happened along the way. God spoke to me and asked me what I was doing sulking in the cold darkened damp cave. Never one to shy away from God, I told Him the truth about what was bothering me. He set me on a straight and narrow path and I came out the other end of the cave dragged there by the light that was pulling on my shirt.

After God showed me what was wrong, I took action to change. Then the New Year erupted and I made a commitment to be more focused on my writing craft. I don’t need a best selling novel, I need to WRITE! If I write one word that changes the way people see the world, one word that speaks volumes to them, one word to encourage them, then my writing is not in vain, my gift is being used the way God intended and the positive energy that comes from my writing will light me up and allow me to SHINE!

Since I don’t believe in coincidence, what do you make from this meme that came across my feed? 

“God wants to bring you out of your cave, out of that place in your mind where you have been lost.”

Now some will say, it’s just a meme. Well, since I believe God works in mysterious ways, more ways than the human mind can comprehend, I believe I was in the right place at the right time. Has that ever happened to you? Well it clarified what was truly on my mind and that is that God doesn’t want me languishing in the cave. He wants me out here in the spinning world sharing my words that are ‘on my mind’ and words that might reverberate in other minds also. 

Also, this lovely sentiment came across my screen:

Believe it... in your mind. 

Receive it... in your heart. 

Achieve it... in your life.

I sat up, took notice and got busy working on the plan God has set before me to change the darkness into light, to take a breath, inhale and exhale the positive flow that needs release to this world of negativity. 

I know it’s a stretch but if others see me actively taking a stance to change, maybe they too will follow suit and by years end I will have changed some small portion of the world. Remember this, social media is not just a place to share pictures, memes, and what the news media wants you to believe, it is also an avenue to share the true inner you that the world has come to know and love. 

Continuing down the same path as last year, you are consciously blocking the pathway to change. The choice is up to you my friends. Live, grow and change! It is after all a New Year.

God Bless each and every one of you!

2 Thes 1:3 “We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;”

Comfort Zone

Isa. 49:13 Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.

Through prayer people find the comforting arms of the Lord surrounding them in their time of need.

These past few weeks I have been down, depressed and not wanting to go on in life and the only thing that got me through was prayer. Even us good people have our moments of darkness shrouding us but we MUST go on and in prayer I find healing. 

Lam. 1:16 “For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed.”

I spoke the other day about our loss of electricity due to a substation malfunction and me being ever the optimist saw light in those many hours of darkness. Here I was, at a low point and who would have thought that hours without electricity and the unknown return of the electricity could spring optimism and hope?

We were sitting at the kitchen table with a kerosene lamp and candles lighting the room but it was the Lord’s presence and warmth I felt the most. As I looked at the shadowed faces trying to pick a card to throw out as we played Rummy, I smiled. I felt comfort and loving arms hugging me and allowing me to see a light in this darkness.

Facebook for some is a game room where they play their games and have fun, for some it is a place to joke around and have fun while for some it is a political pedestal that they can stand on and promote negativity. The U.S.A is a pool of negativity these days and I can’t wrap my arms around it or swim in the cesspool of hate. 

Facebook to me has become an ocean of prayer. There is not a day that goes by that someone isn’t in need of prayer; whether it is an illness they seek out prayer for, a medical procedure, or a death in the family. People seek out prayer because of the healing that they feel wash over them.

While I sat at home, wallowing in my own self-pity, I was still drawn to the power of prayer and continued on my facebook journey to see who needed prayer on any given day. Through praying for others, I felt an emotional healing within myself, and the day we lost electricity it became a God-slap moment.

In the previous weeks I had cried, I ranted and raved and sang the woe, woe is me plea. I didn’t know if anyone knew of my predicament but I do know that I have a friend on facebook who prays daily about the downtrodden and on this occasion, these prayers were for me. I could feel them holding me in place.

I used to use facebook as an avenue for writing and my writing friends but it quickly became a place of prayer for me. I can be fun and jolly with the rest of the playmates but my focus is on prayer and those in need on facebook and outside of facebook. 

Take for instance my mother. The other day she informed me that they might be raising her rent. Knowing she and my father have limited income and are swimming in medical debts, she was worried. Instead of worrying with her and adding to the worry, I chose to pray. Yesterday when I spoke to her she said that they DID raise her rent by forty dollars BUT and this is a BIG but, she was okay with the increase. I feel in every fiber of my being it was because of prayer that she was comforted. My mother, the worrywart, was comforted!

I end this week from a different perspective. I’m not down, I’m not up, I’m right in the middle seeing hope at the end of the tunnel. I see that life is not about religion, or how one practices their religion, it is not about judging people for the way they practice their faith, it is about strengthening people in their walk of faith and being a prayer warrior that they can turn to and trust and hopefully find some comfort. When all is said and done at the end of the day, I’ve found my comfort zone… in prayer.

God bless you all!

Matt. 9:22 “But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.”

The False World

Ex. 23:1 Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.

The False World

Did you know we live in a false world? A world that is made up of artificial people, with fabricated faces and bodies, walking around pretending to care what is going on around them; a simulated world that we create to our own likings. You know, where people buy into fake pics, laugh at people who aren’t in perfect conformity with them or their way of thinking, make fun of the less fortunate and again buy into the falsity?

The pictures you see on my blog are the things I’ve seen with my own two eyes (unless otherwise stated). I find it kind of funny how people are so quick to use fake-doctored photos to make a point at poking fun of people, all the while spewing lies. 

This is the new (or not so new) beguiling wave sweeping the nation. Women with altered breasts are swooned over while the natural woman is there to be laughed at standing in the corner being taunted. The ill-conformed butt is commercialized, liposuction is applauded, and a brutally fake tan is swooned over. We have become a world of convenience; everything we want right at the brush of our fingertips.

What is wrong with this country that we can sell ourselves out to the demon possessing this type of mockery? Please don’t justify this disgusting nature by saying that it has been this way since man was created.

The beautiful woman was once lauded for her inner beauty as well as her outer God given beauty, not this fake stuff that the media and its little followers buy into. Also, we’re left to live in a viral infested state of clicking. The once beautiful man/woman is now gone from the map, they have been relinquished to a viral video clip gone wild.

We click upon click news stories, hoping whoever is doing the reporting is being truthful, that is. We have become a nation of texting, sexting, selfies, and lies; men becoming women, murderers with alibis; we have religious hating religions and atheists hating God. We have satan running rampant and people scooping him up by every delectable deceiving mouthful; quite literally I might add.

Then we have Christians claiming Christianity and determinedly setting out to destroy the very foundation of Christianity. We have law against lawless; we have walls where they mock with deceptive lies, our bodies being used for graffiti markings, we choose to abuse rather than use nature and all it was intended for.

Ex. 23:7 Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked.

No longer are words used as a form of expression. A pic or an emoticon have all replaced the written words of empathy. It is so much easier in this world to not appear to be human. We kill before settling; we accept before investigating; we abuse before understanding. We thrive in a fun-filled virtual world instead of facing the reality that is right on our doorstep.

We escape instead of being imprisoned; take the easy way instead of the hard route. We set about to live in this fantasy world created for us. I care when I shouldn’t and don’t care when I should.

Life has become a mangled heap of bones, mere shells of what was and will never be again. Skeletons clickety-clack all about in a deafening sound to be absorbed by the bogus beings that pass themselves off as humans.

I lay at the bottom of the rubble suffocating, struggling for a breath of fresh air that is not to come. An outcast in society, I’m alone and bewildered caught in the mire of pretense. I await the day I’m lifted from the ashes and taken to a place filled with light and love, where I’m a wanted participant embraced by the living spirits that will surround me. Thank you oh heavenly Father for the promise of eternity.

Isa. 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

I'm Alive!

Num. 23: 8 How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied?

The season of JOY is in full swing and I’m so happy to be alive.

We went to see the movie Exodus Tuesday night and it was the first time that we’ve been out alone in a very long time, nine or ten years? Yeah that’s about right. We don’t get out much not only because of funds but because seriously there is nothing out there that I so desperately need to see.

Exodus was an exception. I had heard it was a good movie and when someone says it’s good we usually wait for it to come out on DVD to see the product of what people are talking about.

The movie Noah had some pretty bad reviews so we didn’t waste our time on it. God’s Not Dead received pretty good reviews and we’re thinking about purchasing and now Exodus? A lot of excitement surrounds the Moses story so we wanted to see for ourselves what Hollywood is doing or not doing for our Lord.

Christian Bale was chosen for the role and I would have much rather had Jim Caviezel, who played Christ in Passion of Christ in the role, but Bale would have to suffice. Although Bale lost his English accent quite a few times, he didn’t do a bad job of Moses and bringing him to life for me. (English accent, really?)

To me the movie Exodus was a darker version of the all time favorite version with Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments. The images were not as colorful and vibrant but then again, do we really believe the Bible stories are all about Rainbows and Unicorns? No, the Bible can be pretty dark at times and I think Hollywood pulled this one off. Is it biblically sound? Well you’ll just have to see for yourself. I didn’t leave the movie laughing at the fabled lies like the Noah movie drew; I left feeling… ALIVE!

Then the drive home -- I despise nighttime driving no matter who is behind the wheel and Tuesday night was no exception. The roads have no streetlights so basically you’re driving blind down a narrow dirt road until high beams are spotted. With what felt like a never ending constant swerving at a high-speed journey home, (the speed limit is 60 MPH) my prayers were being said the entire time and you guessed it, we made it home ALIVE!

Three times this month we had a near miss car collision – once when Steven was driving north into Gibbon and a white pickup was heading east. He had a stop sign and Steven had the right of way but the truck just kept coming through the stop sign. Steven pressed hard on his brakes to avoid a collision, leaving a nice skid mark on the road and the man driving the pickup looked at us like WE had done something wrong. The incident almost put us toppled in a ditch but the Lord was just not ready for us yet.

Adam had three incidents in his learning to drive so far. Once when a lady was backing up out of her driveway, again not looking to see if any cars were coming. A good horn-honking stopped her abruptly. Then a red light runner almost hit us. Then yesterday a company van was trying to hurriedly get through a stop sign to beat an oncoming truck as an 18 wheeler passed. He didn’t see us because he was waiting for the cattle truck to pass, then speed up and make it to the other side of the crossing only WE were there on the other side of the cattle truck. He came within less than a foot of ramming Adam in the driver’s side. Adam had the right of way and the van was just in a hurry to get across the road.

Here lately, it seems like the world is in a state of defiance where they don’t feel the need to obey traffic laws or any laws for that matter. Very similar to the days when Moses was trying to free the Hebrews and they became restless and tired of ‘waiting’ for God.

People are taking the Law into their own hands and it looks like their trying to wipe my family out but my patience of waiting on the Lord is my saving grace and we were spared death.

Thank you Sweet Jesus!

Rom. 6:11 “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

I Remember...911

Psalms 27: 1-2 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

I Remember

I remember like it was yesterday

The sky was solemn firm in gray

Soot it landed on the ground

No planes were heard; nary a sound.

Cars all paused in their ride

Time had stopped the nation died.

Silence covered all the land

Tears were counted like grains of sand.

Imagine hate quieting states

Forks were dropped onto their plates

Terrified by images seen

All seemed lost, nothing to glean.

Out of the ashes there arose

Sounds of life among the woes

Panic tried to break us down

Sorrow lifted from the ground.

Stories of heroes losing their life;

A husband, a child, a working wife.

Set in stone, we grieve, we mourn

But beyond the hate, a child was born.

Amazing how hate breeds hate

While love it opens a heavenly gate.

Out of the fear a nation rose

To show that LOVE has eased the blows.

The end is near; the time is nigh

To put hate aside and learn to fly.

Embrace the world God placed in your heart

There lies the secret of a promising start.

© Joni Zipp

Written this day: Sept 11, 2014

Pss. 27:13-14 I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Poetry Sunday ~ Within the Ethereal Night

Isa. 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Within The Ethereal Night

Somber still is the ethereal night,
A sheltered home for inner flight
Darkness embedding mystical light
A flurry of bouncing spheres.

Cascading over inclement beams,
Caressing colorful starlight seams
Clustered into radiant teams
 Behold the glorious sky.

Beguiled by blistering thundering sound,
Blatantly making my heart to pound.
Cautiously savoring what I have found.
Transcending the sublime.

Whispering winds wash over me
Whisking wisely to eternity
I'm bathed amid the endless sea
I touch the other realm.

Flawlessly floating back to earth
Feasting on fruits of heaven’s birth
Finding favor of my self worth
I grasp the truth within.

Lent: Day Forty-five ~ It Is Finished

Matt. 13: 53 And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence.

It is finished…

When I began the Lenten season I never really thought I’d make forty-seven straight posts but here I sit with you today, Good Friday, and you have before you forty-five posts. I’ll have my Quotation Saturday post and Poetry Sunday to finish off the season.

Today is the day Jesus carried the cross, the one He was to be hung on. I remember for many years it seemed Good Friday was always a bright sunny day but around dinnertime it would always darken and possibly a storm would hit. I’d say, “Well it IS Good Friday.” Everyone celebrates Easter with food, family, friends, maybe a church visit, and candy, lots of candy. They’re celebrating the Risen Christ, but what do they remember of this day, the day He DIED?

I normally fast during Lent but God didn’t want me to this time. He asked me to write for forty-five days and tell people of His Son. I thought it would be an easy task to take on because I’m a writer, but this has been much harder than I thought it would be. Then I thought, but I gain so much cleansing when I fast, what is writing going to do for me?

It hit me Wednesday as I was writing my Salt and Light post; clarity. For some reason things are becoming so much more clearer to me. I sense things in a strange fashion not the normal kind of sensing things I’m accustomed to; clarity. I have gained clarity in these writings.

Let me tell you when I began my postings I had a list of things I wanted to write. Well wouldn’t ya know it, God had different plans and each day I sat down to write, I’d ask Him what do I write today; and there it would be, a post that I wrote but read and wondered where some of the stuff came from. Not really wondered I was more amazed than anything.

Five days passed, then ten and suddenly I saw a shift. My stats went from maybe ten a day to a whopping 100 page views. WHAT? I thought for sure google was doing something wrong, and no I don’t track my own hits that I only do once a day or responding to a comment left.

My comments weren’t going anywhere but my page hits ARE! There were days I’d sit down to post and freaky things were happening. Either my internet wouldn’t work, I’d  have the post all ready to ‘publish’ and the screen would freeze, or the formatting would change. I know science would have an answer as to why these things were happening, they have an answer for everything, but I knew differently, satan was not and still IS NOT happy with me possibly turning people to Christ. Oh and to top it all off, I had another birthday, a huge tree fell in my yard killing four smaller trees a dea th in the family AND it snowed in April! Ha!

You might ask why I don’t capitalize the name satan, even though it has a red line under it to make me want to change it; I won’t give in! I won’t allow his name, even though I KNOW it’s a proper noun, to be capitalized. I guess it is my little way of fighting back.

I post my blog to facebook and I know of only one man who has been a faithful reader every day, thank you Steve! You’re a good, fine, Christian man. But others got bored with my posts along the way, I could almost hear all the negative comments under their breath (whether it was my lousy grammar, or tiring topic) but I’m okay with that, I’m reaching WHO I needed to reach and it isn’t all about the FB people; I’m reaching out there, to the world! I didn’t write these posts for the grammar, I wrote them to reach ONE single person that might need a positive uplifting word to guide them in the right direction.

And while I changed my ways on facebook, things are about to change again. With Good Friday here, I’ve kept my promise to God and it’s time for me to reflect on all I’ve written and accomplished. I leave people to be one with their thoughts and reflect on themselves. Hopefully this is the time they’ll do it if at any time at all.

As I carry a heavy burden, I must bear the cross. I must release and let go. I must bleed whether blood, sweat or tears. I need a break. I’m worn thin and I must gather all of my strength to prepare for my New Year, to begin anew. Today I am saddened, but Easter will shine in me a new Light and I’ll carry it throughout the year. A year of change is in store.

If you’re reading this and you’re not a Christian, please respect my love and compassion for someone who is much grander than me, more vast than the universe, willing to die for my sin, so I may have eternal life through Him. ETERNAL LIFE.

If you’re a Christian reading this, may you walk with God and feel the blessings enrich your life. May you have a blessed Easter and may God be with you always, my friend.

Remember these words:

Matt. 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
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.

Happy Easter

2 Tim. 4: 7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

Lent: Day Twenty-three ~ Obedience

 Heb 5: 8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

Obedience ~

I woke up this morning and thought wow day 23. Maybe I’ll skip a post. I need a break. WHAT? Skip a post? Break?

Can you imagine God waking up and saying, “I think I’ll skip answering that prayer. I need a break!” ???

Well as you’re reading this, you can see I shrugged that silly thought under the rug. I made a promise and I’m sticking to it. Just as God makes promises and sticks to them, we have a duty to stick to our promises to Him.

1 Cor.15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

I get tired too. I sometimes just let off steam and rant my loose lips and just want to give up. But it is momentary, I’m telling you, I am an obedient servant of God and as I go through my day I watch as people say they are obedient Christians be anything BUT obedient to Christ. “Is all this in vain Lord? Why do I seem to be the only obedient one here?” I feel alone in the world sometimes and then a small sliver of light shines down in way of another obedient Christian. I see them, embrace them and for a moment I feel hope wash over me like a rain shower on a warm spring day.

Galatians 6:9-10 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

That was it, I had a momentary lapse of weariness. I felt overwhelmed with a task; I felt isolated and alone so I did ask God, “Is this all in vain?” He assured me that any task for Him wasn’t and gave me a shoulder of His to rest on so I would feel revitalized today and as ready as ever to move forward.

I think what is happening in the world is that men and women don’t look down at their moral compass often enough. They go on with their day, make sure they put their mask on before being seen in public, and go about their day lusting, wanting, needing, fulfilling their need to satisfaction and asking for forgiveness day after day, sin after sin. Why not, God is a forgiving God after all.

To me, obedience is nurturing the spirit. And I do mean nurture not just feeding my body of all that it craves. Sometimes depriving the body is just the right tool to move you into an obedient spirit.

Say you’re a chocoholic. You crave chocolate daily and every day you give into that craving and eat a piece here and there. No harm, no foul? You are satisfying YOU. Deprive yourself of that urge every single day for a month or two. You are now nurturing you and satisfying the spirit.

Now some of you will cheat and say, “I can’t afford to eat chocolate every day, so a month with none is pretty easy for me.” That is cheating. And who are we cheating? Our soul!

You need to find something that you get the urge for on a daily maybe even an hourly basis. Like say coffee? Can you obediently deprive yourself of coffee for a month? I know, you think I’m insane. Why in the world would you do that, willingly? Sometimes to nurture our spirits and become obedient to Christ, we need to deprive ourselves of urges we get and sacrifice them for the Lord.

I’m not saying ‘you’re going to go to hell’, I’m not saying ‘oh look at you, you’re a bad Christian!’ What I AM saying is that to nurture your soul, to hear God speak to you personally, sometimes we need to be willing to sacrifice for HIM to draw closer to Him.

A lot of times I hear people say, “God doesn’t talk to ME!” like they’re offended or something because I hear Him talk to me. Maybe because I don’t consume to satisfy ME. I don’t ‘click’ to satisfy MY urges. I don’t purchase things for ME! I’m not about ME, I’m about being an obedient servant. I’m about guiding my moral compass in the right direction and staying on that direction. I’m not about giving up, taking breaks and resting from my duties, I’m about fulfilling my promise to God knowing full well, He will fulfill His promise to me.

Ephesians 6: 7-8 With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free.

Poetry Sunday ~ The Rainbows Touch

Luke 24:49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.

***

The Rainbows Touch
***

The sun drips rainbows from the sky,
a canopy of color blooms down.
Skyward my eyes squint to behold,
the hue of God to which I’m bound.

Rest those eyes, my precious child
For you are not alone.
Color the sky in rainbow pearls
where angels before have flown.

Whisked away to the palette
where brush and paint collide
In His hand I’m gently cradled
the arc of the bow I reside.

Flecks of color come alive
they dance in a splendid show.
His voice now sings a melody
of which I’ve come to know.

Beads if shivers rush my spine
but warmth of light abounds.
Spinning in a cosmic glow
awashed in harps and sounds.

In Gods eyes we unite
the harmony I seek so much
I’ve found it in the loving care
and warmth of the Rainbow’s Touch!