Which Voice Do You Hear?

The face in the clouds

Acts 14:10 "Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked."

Which do you hear?

Two voices, one of positive encouragement the other a put down, both on the same exact subject. An example? 
"Does my hair look okay?"
"It looks great."

"I think it looks like it got caught in a blender on high speed!"

When you hear (read) both, which do you hear that you'll carry with you? Do you hear how great your hair looks and you carry that positive affirmation through your day? More times than not you hear the negative comment and go on with your day with a little chip hanging on your shoulder ready to pounce on anyone that looks at you the wrong way.

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27 (NIV)

I love this from Bible Gateway: "Jesus doesn’t tell us if we dig deep enough or study long enough or go to church often enough we’ll be able to uncover the hidden mystery to hearing His voice. Instead, Jesus lists only one prerequisite to hearing His voice: Be one of His sheep." - Katy McCown

You see, my point is, I listen to God but there are people out there muffling His words for me. I sit in the quiet of the morning, meditating on His word and His voice, listening in the still small place that He and I share in the spiritual flow of the cosmos, my soul. When I come out of this place, some negatively call it 'from under my rock', I see it as time WITH my ROCK of salvation! The negative voice hurts and puts a dent in my space but I truly try so hard not to carry it around in my day. It's kind of hard when the clamoring comes beating on your door seeking what it is you have hiding there.

It's ironic that I listen and hear his voice. I try and tell people that they too can listen and hear but I assume they have discord hammering at their door with other priorities that keep their focus away from hearing Christ in them. Yesterday, I received an email noting the distractions WE ALL have knocking on our door keeping us away from hearing HIS voice and listening to another voice that pulls and tugs at us and we often aren't even aware.

I happily live under my rock for many reasons, one of those reasons is to keep the distractions from trying to pull me into the deep end of the pool and drowning me. The other reason is that it is a cool solid place to dwell when needing a rock to lean on that actually listens and HEARS what I'm whispering. I can scream and shout outside of the rock and no one hears, and I'm okay with that too. After all, Jesus has been gently nudging people for centuries and the people smothered Him with fires and flames so they didn't HAVE to hear him.

When I was first diagnosed, the doctors circled around me like a school of sharks. They in no way offered me anything remotely helpful. This conservative state wants you to swim WITH the sharks or be eaten alive BY the sharks, you are not allowed an in-between spot on the spectrum. I am neither liberal or conservative, so basically, in a nation that DEMANDS you to choose a side or be burned at the stake, I'm screwed! I go to the doctor, they offer me drugs. I tell them my stance, they scoff and wave their hands as if blowing me off. They don't, I repeat, they DO NOT offer anything alternative! I need to cross state lines for that, and since I don't see that in my cards anywhere down the line, I stand firm with Christ and where He and He alone will lead me. HE is my safety net, my Rock! 

I CANNOT afford a chiropractor or an acupuncturist, I cannot do yoga because of my arthritis. I cannot turn to a doctor because all they spew at me is, "You need chemo chemo chemo. You don't need a chiropractor, you need chemo!" or "Here, have some drugs for your pain." That right there is the sharks I won't swim with. You too can agree or disagree with me, it is your right. I thank you all for caring endlessly for me and wanting to help. I sincerely love you all to the moon and back! 

I think I need to go under my rock for a bit and enjoy what is left of summer. Which voice is it that you hear? I hear God telling me over and over, "I GOT THIS! I GOT THIS!" All my praise and Glory goes to HIM! 

This is basically how I feel when not under my rock.

"And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the Noise! Noise! Noise! Noise!
That's one thing he hated! The NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! " The Grinch, Dr. Seuss

Godspeed friends, in all that you do, be BLESSED!

2 Cor. 1:3 "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;"

A closer look at The Face in the Clouds

Poetry Sunday ~ I Am Here

Jer. 23:4 “And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD.”

I am here

I am here Lord thirsting for your presence

Carry me away in the fruit of your essence

I am here

I am here

I am here to bask in your radiant light

Bathed by your breath in the midst of my fight

I am here

I am here

I am here Lord with the door open wide

Waiting for your touch to fill me inside

I am here

I am here

I am here with you Lord my arms raised high

I worship you Father with every tear that I cry

I am here 

I am here

I am here like a shepherd that sheep will follow

I am also the carcass all empty and hollow

I am here

I am here

I am here waiting for you to carry me home

To the place where shepherds and sheep freely roam

We are here

We are here

All praise and Glory to God!

Matt. 9:36 "But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd."

Bouncing Back After A Fall

Philippians 4:13 (NKJV) “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” 

Bouncing Back After A Fall

As much as I hear other people whine and complain about politics, life, bills, and setbacks, my biggest complaint this year is SNOW! Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I’d be complaining about too much snow, but here it is upon me now!

After this Sunday’s high of sixty splendiferous degrees, Monday was crash and burn let out the snowfall! Snow it did, all day! It never amounted to much but we finally had a week of a thaw that melted snow from as far back as Christmas, I was never so happy to see the resurfacing of the brown palette.

Monday, the white returned to the ground. Granted it was beautiful, granted it snowed the entire day but produced nary an inch but it was back, causing traveling headaches. The white was back on the ground, the bitter cold kicked into overdrive and we’re back to fluffy socks and big sweaters. For a couple of days, we enjoyed long sleeves but no need for a sweatshirt, scarf and gloves, and those were days topping out in the thirties. It’s not that I’m whining about cold and winter, my gripe is in the extended duration of deep cold spells. Yup, winter is like that! I KNOW!

While the negativity I feel with each snowfall now tries to tear me down, I am clearly in a bouncing back mode and am letting nothing beat me up! Scientifically, “crying is one way that the body removes stress chemicals,” from The Truth About Cancer. Sunday was a crying day and I do allow myself days of downtime because this upbeat, peppy all the time, no pain and just soaring gets to be a tiring chore like the shoveling of snow, instead of an accepted way of life.

I bet some of you are saying ‘you could’ve just went the chemo route and you’d already be in remission.’ You don’t understand this disease any more than I do. As a matter of fact, you and I don’t know any more about this illness than the big bad doctor. He’s just doing what they’ve continued to do for thirty and forty years. Times have changed. There are new ways of beating this Big C but the studies take too long and the doctor doesn’t wish to embrace these new ways so, in the meantime, people die all because of tradition. Their pockets are amply lined with money from insurance and the pharmaceutical companies and people are going out to pasture!

My body speaks to me and God speaks to me. John 10:27 says, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” For ME, the choice was simple, to follow that still small voice and go where He leads me. Here lately my body is telling me that something isn’t working and it kind of threw me off because I was having good, productive, pain-free days. Slowly the pain was sliding back into my legs and my back, walking was pained, muscles strained and with the winter's lack of sunshine and outside activity (besides shoveling snow), I was feeling a bit discouraged, what was wrong? It had to be something in my diet that I had changed.

You see, when you’re on such a strict protocol of food that you eat, the food then tells you what is wrong, like the recent frozen processed pizza I had. No, it wasn’t just that one pizza, it had to be something else. The only thing I could think of is wheat bread or organic oatmeal. I’m leaning more towards the cause being the WHEAT! 

I started allowing wheat bread into my diet around January first because I listened to other BC women who said that wheat wasn’t bad for our diets, go figure. I give up bread for a year and soar, let wheat bread in and crash. Really it is a no-brainer to figure that one out. 

Matt. 11:16 “But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows,”

I hear the term ‘sheeple’ in the political arena often and since I’m not into politics and don’t allow that negativity in, I assume it is a derogatory remark of ‘stupid people’ following along after every wind that blows. (Please, there is no need to elaborate for me, thank you.) I conclude this summation because sheep have no survival skills like other animals, no way of fending for themselves; set them in the wild and they will be slaughtered because they need a shepherd to guide them. I think on a religious term sheeple can be the people following Christ the Shepherd, we seem dumb because we’re following along after a non-living entity (to others) and the zombie effect has a hold on us.

I only feel dumbed-down when listening to man and anything HE (or she) has to offer me in way of the ‘direction’ I should go. I listened to the BC group of women because they are going through the exact same thing I am going through with the Natural Protocol route and thought for a brief moment that maybe they knew what they were talking about. Granted they have a lot of knowledge on the subject but I’ll say this again, what works for one does not work for all.

Deut. 8:8 “A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;”

At one time, the wheat, barley, and figs were of purity, not tainted by man. Man dusts these grains with chemicals, modifies them for the almighty dollar, making people sick in the process.

Through those links I shared, can you see what I’m up against? I’m up against man and his destruction of man! Maybe at one time wheat wasn’t such a bad grain, but with the rise of organic everything, there is more to the story that ‘man’ isn’t telling you. It’s okay, you have a doctor with his prescribed candy to make you feel better. I think the term ‘sheeple’ should stand for man following man, period! To ME, that is EXACTLY what it means. The main thing that makes me ‘different’ is I follow the One and the only living God. As soon as I listen to a man (or woman) I fall, crash and burn. Interesting.

Back to my strict protocol thank you very much. Run along now, Billy is running up the hill after Bobby, and Janie isn’t far behind with Tommy in tow seeking the candy that Timmy is offering.

Jer. 12:13 “They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns: they have put themselves to pain, but shall not profit: and they shall be ashamed of your revenues because of the fierce anger of the LORD.”

Luke 6:49 “But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.”

To Believe or To Not Believe

Pss. 27:13” I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.”

To Believe or To Not Believe

When I see this kind of rhetoric as comments across many different sites, the animosity and verbiage are the same towards Christian believer.

*not the actual screen names
nosheeplepeople says:
“You're busy playing the children's Game of Make-Believe, Christian Version, that even has your imaginary magical friend you call Yahweh playing your edition of the children's Game of Hide 'N Seek as a subplot in your Land of Pretend. Your Game of Make-Believe even includes a talking bush, a talking donkey, a talking serpent and a talking volcano.
The cartoons you watched with talking animals weren't true even though you believed they were true.”

And a response went like this:

Josh said:
If your perspective of my trust in God is nothing to you, why are you getting so worked up about it? If I simply believed that the world was made out of jello, you wouldn't give a second thought to my belief, and you'd go on about your day on to things that actually mattered, but that is not the case here, your soul is so disturbed by my trust in an all powerful Creator, that you must put in your efforts and attempts to make the disturbance in your soul, a part of my reality. I could dismiss your attempts as imaginary, and make believe, but then I'd be suppressing the subjective evidence of your existence, much like you do with the reality of God's existence.

This response was not liked by the sheeple so he tried to one up Josh by saying,

Sheeple said:
“Christians have been sold an invisible product that has an invisible cure for an invisible disease that harms an invisible soul so that the invisible soul can go to an unseen place that is invisible until they die based on a guilt trip their Pastor told them that they should have.”

Josh replied:
You know, it's funny that I address the objections or points that you make. But legit answers that I give, and points and objections to your objections that I make, never seem to be addressed. They are ignored, repressed, and then it’s on to your next objection. What is the point of trying to give an answer to your objections, when you never take them into consideration in our dialogue here? You’re not seeking the truth, you’re seeking to establish your own agenda. May God bless you, have a nice day :)

Pss 78:22 “Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation:”

I have to say, Josh had a good debate going and that his words were sound. But the sheeple guy sounded like a broken robot that I’ve heard in Yahoo comments, YouTube comments and anyplace the very word God is uttered; my God is fake and they (atheist) have no God. Sheeple continued to have this same conversation with himself.

The comments went on and on and on. I’m so used to this kind of hate towards Christians because that is what satan has himself formed out of the world. No, he didn’t magically create anything, satan has a tendency to work through the mind to bend whatever truth you may hold.

I have come to find that satan is working in EVERY faith and religion to distort and turn your thoughts away from the Creator. He puts these doubts in your mind and they fester until you are turned against God and you know what, God is okay with that because the non-believers need to be weeded out anyway. 

I’m okay with people NOT believing but don’t judge me and call my God a fairytale because of a book you might have read and not believed. If billions of people are wrong, then so be it, I’m one among many. I’m going to dissect what the sheeple wrote.

“Christians have been sold an invisible product [is he calling God a product? Sorry sheeple, God is a spiritual entity.] that has an invisible cure [cure? Where, I need one pronto!] for an invisible disease [I wish my disability was invisible!] that harms an invisible soul [I actually KNOW I have a soul because every word this person said touched me. Having never been touched, sheeple does not have a soul and if he does it is a lonely and empty one] so that the invisible soul can go to an unseen place [unseen place? Sorry buddy, I’ve SEEN heaven and tasted it and that is why I long to be there!] that is invisible until they die [not true] based on a guilt trip their Pastor told them that they should have.” [Umm, this person must’ve really been hurt by the church and a pastor because he was well versed in my Bible, KJV, but to think that everyone finds God via a church or a pastor is illogical. Did he ever think that God finds YOU? Not always the other way around?

God made His presence known to me at around age three and then I looked for Him everywhere I went as I aged. Sometimes God finds you, some people are taught about God, some are raised on the bible and attended church regularly since grade school and yes they were allowed to experience Him for themselves and make their OWN judgment call on whether to believe or not to believe. My invisible God placed within me FREE WILL to believe or not believe what I want, also! 

To the atheist, God can be explained away by scientific answers to everything that exists but to me, a believer, if God didn’t exist neither would science/scientists! You can’t have one without the other. Now my faith is invisible, the only way you see my faith is by what I project to the world. You either see it or you don’t. You have the free will to believe or to not believe. 

Prov. 14:15 “The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.”

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.

Dog Days of Summer

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.”

Summer is in full swing and as such my body is drained due to the heat and exhaustion that each day brings. As you might have guessed this is not an upbeat season for me and I try to stay away from the social media scene so as not to bring my negative vibes into the corral of hatemongers, the wannabe activists who are hung up on memes and the ‘I’m right-listen-to-me’ opinions.

Why do people assume that because they have an opinion on something they need to rally to get other people to stand firm and walk WITH them into the social media spotlight getting them nowhere really but caged up in their own heads.

I have all but abandoned my own wall seeking instead to just lay low and stick with the prayer warriors of the social scene. I’m down to five people on my newsfeed and they post so rarely, I’m left with prayer and a friend who rises EVERY morning with a positive word from the Lord. “This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it,” she begins, and then goes on to tell a story of her positive outlook that really helps me start my day in His Light!

Whenever I start to feel down, God always brings a new friend, a new light into the equation of my day and as such all the negativity dwellers fade to black. I’m trying to make the most of this pain-filled summer and believe it or not negative vibes add to the pain. I’m pained to see dear ones sink to a level I’ve never really understood or grasped.

I have to individually seek out friends to see how they’re doing and what they’re up to and more times than not I’m disappointed in seeing they’re the same-old-same old spewers of propaganda that they always were. Why do I even bother?!?

I have to look at character. I’ve noticed that some people ARE a character instead of harnessing what makes character work. I work on myself daily when I’m in the comfort of the morning dew, nestling my coffee in my hand and reflecting with the sunrise on all the positive things that I have to be thankful for. I then find myself knee-deep in prayer to start my day.

I try really hard to see the good in people but it is kind of hard as they walk around in sheeps clothing deceiving, misleading or just plain filled with so much hate standing behind the word of God, then leading people into hating what THEY themselves hate. From everything I’ve learned in life, I realize that what these people really hate is something churning inside of them, they really hate themselves so much that they want others to hate with them so they can feel somewhat good about themselves?

You know what I hate about myself? My over optimistic ways! The conformist, I mean realist are turning me away from everything I hold positive in my life. They don’t give me hope, they don’t shed Light, they DRAIN all of my optimism and make me want to barf in their faces. Yeah, that’s a picture for ya!

As I climb back in my bubble, as I place my rose colored glasses on and as I cling to optimism which for me is MY Light in a darkened hate-filled world, I will steer clear of the venom that tries to seep into my veins. Some people like bedding with snakes, I prefer to have a pillow of Christ to lean my head on and that is who I am; always will be.

Maybe it isn’t the Dog Days of Summer that weigh me down, maybe it’s just the dogs/wolves.

Luke 10:3 “Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.”

The LOVE of Life

The LOVE of Life

I see so many people distracted by hate that they are losing sight of the love of life. Entangled in bashing whether gay or religious, these people thrive on the negative aspects of everything to do with life.

I find myself wanting to distance myself from these people but I do have hope that one day they’ll see the err of their ways and give it all up to God like they proclaim. If you sincerely have given it all up to God, should you be dwelling in the judgment seat of all men?

In a matter of minutes people are seen praising the Lord one minute, then bashing gays or Muslims or political figures or what can I say, the list goes on and on. It’s ironic I know but when God said you can’t serve two masters, for some reason I’ve never had the impression that He meant money and Himself.

I seriously think God meant that in a metaphorical sense because so much of His word is built on metaphor. No He did not mean for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, He did not want us to take an eye for an eye, or pluck out our eyes, the list is endless here too, so why would we think God meant, serving two masters meant God and money?

I PERSONALLY don’t feel we can serve love and hate. I do not feel with one iota of my being we can serve good and evil. Love, hate, good and evil are masters of our soul. They reign over us and we need to know which one to serve in an every day, every second situation. *I* choose love and good, over hate and evil but man cannot serve both on their platter of climbing the social ladder.

The definition of serve:

To render assistance; be of use; help

How is dishing out your hatred of someone or something of any assistance to anyone?

The definition of masters:

A person whose teachings others accept or follow: ie: a Zen master.

Matt. 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

The definition of mammon:

Riches or material wealth.

(often initial capital letter) a personification of riches as an evil spirit or deity.

Do you see clearly how in Matthew 6 it is stated you cannot SERVE (assist) two MASTERS? You will HATE the one or LOVE the other. I don’t find it odd that the Words used are HATE AND LOVE. You my friend, cannot serve (dish out) HATE and LOVE (praise the Lord) at the same time, you are serving TWO masters.

I’m not going to run to Pinterest, Twitter or Facebook and shout out how much I love and praise the Lord then in the next post shout out how much I hate, despise, dislike or disagree with something (color it any way you’d like) it is still a love hate relationship with whomever it is you show allegiance to.

Again *I* personally choose love. I choose to love my enemy, love my neighbor as much as myself, love the Lord my God and serve only ONE master of my soul and that is the Lord of LOVE!

While you can dislike or disagree with my opinion, I will love you and pray for you.

Ezek. 34:11 “For thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out.”

One definition of sheep: a meek, unimaginative, or easily led person.

Idiom: Separate the sheep from the goats, to separate good people from bad or those intended for a specific end from unqualified people.

While some will call me a sheep because of my optimism, hope, strength and LOVE for humans and humankind, I have to say thank you, why?

Pss. 37:11 “But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.”

I am whom God created me to be and for that very reason is the reason I am!

Praise be to God from whom all blessings flow.

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.

 

 

 

 

 

Truth

Pss. 25:5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.

Truth

The truth shall set you free. Ever heard that one before? A lot of people think they are speaking the truth when in essence they are spreading gossip and enjoying the falseness of a twisted truth.

The definition of truth is this:

the true or actual state of a matter:

a verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principle, or the like:

an obvious or accepted fact; truism; platitude.

honesty; integrity; truthfulness

I watch helplessly as people proclaim knowing the truth, spread it around like salt on ice, preach it as if they themselves were the Lord of all knowing. This is sad. I watch as people lie for a laugh, make fun of people to get a rise out of the sinful because there is no way the Christian will sit and make fun of people and enjoy the laughter. Or would they?

These so-called Christians give real Christianity and all the positive aspects of being a true Christian a bad name. God does not lie, Jesus does not lie, so when I say a so-called Christian I say so because these people think that lying is part of their Christian belief system thus mocking Christianity and all of the goodness it serves in society.

I am a sinner. Have I ever lied? Yes I have. But do I spew lies to get people talking just so they like me and I’ll seem popular? NEVER! My soul is worth much more than freely giving in to the vermin of society who need lies to form the person they are. I am a changed woman because of my Christianity. I’m not the same person I was and to me, these so-called Christians are the same people they always were just with a title attached to themselves to be more likeable.

They come in sheep clothing; appearing to be all good and gooey inside like the chocolate covered cherries?  But in the end, those chocolate covered cherries are bad for you no matter how good and tasty they appear. People have allowed themselves to be the worm on the hook. They’re bait and the innocent fish devours the bait. The man holding the rod? Well he’s just an innocent man wanting to eat you is all. Sounds good doesn’t it?

John 14: 6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

The Way -- meaning by LIVING and believing

The Truth -- meaning not through lies or deceit

The Life -- meaning eternal life

I do love the way that people twist the truth to fit their agenda. An example, the media starts to breed the hate, the suckers eat it up and spew it out for those who do not care for hidden agendas, but by dangnammit, they’ll make you care because after all, they read it, it must be true so spew away, getting others to feed with you. Little lost sheep is what I think they are. I lose all respect for the lost ones. I’ll still care to see them do right but I am not the one who can change a person.

I think it’s a sad day when a man must use manipulation to get HIS truth out there. We as a nation are in a battle with the evil one and it is our duty to fight the dark that wants to swallow us whole.

Do you not see that by spreading propaganda, you are doing the dark ones work? You’ll even have yourself believing it is for the greater good but satan knows otherwise and so does God. He’s shaking his head thinking after all He has done for this world, we can still be manipulated and led by the force that causes you to gossip and twist the truth to your needs.

That’s it isn’t it? They are YOUR needs and YOUR wants, you could care less what God wants.

2 Thess. 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

Eph. 2:2-3 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

I have to take myself away from the places that try to lure me into their false beliefs. I find myself getting angry and turmoil boils inside my veins but also because I watch as my friends succumb and there is nothing I can do. They want me to partake of the anger and hatred they spew and I’ll be no part of it. I will not accept some of the liars spew because by accepting some I am accepting all.

I will bow out quietly and resurface when God calls on me. Maybe there are stronger folks who can let it roll off their shoulders but I am not that strong at this time. I’m ripe for the venom to snap at me and try to bait me. This is me being strong.

May the Lord God Almighty be with you all, even the little lost sheep. 

Lent: Day Ten ~ Spiritual Maturity

Prov. 3:6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Spiritual Maturity

Well they were new words tossed out at us one Sunday, Spiritual Maturity. What did it mean? To be mature in your Christian journey?

I spoke the other day about being Born Again, and it is just that, you are reborn, your eyes see differently the new world surrounding you. Like a babe in a bassinet, your hands are curled in a tight grip, as you look around you, you see the world in a mobile; a newly spinning environment.

Does being born again mean you just one day wake up and become sinless? No, we are all sinners, even the ones who walk with Christ, our road has as much rubble and thorns as anyone else, we just handle the road a little differently. Like babes in a crib our beginning is being wrapped in love, we are pacified of all the dangers lurking, but they’re there nonetheless.

In my case I was walked through a dark valley with surrounding hills shadowing me. I had no one that supported my new ‘born again’ status but Jesus knew and every step I took He was there on the sidelines cheering me on, or sparing a shoulder to cry on, or carrying me along the sandy shores.

There was a river flowing right through the center of the valley with sandy beaches leading to the water, it became my living water, just as the bible says. I was no longer a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes; I was a toddler getting into everything I could. Climbing stairs where I knew danger lurked. Opening cabinets full of poison. Touching fire and getting burned.

As my adolescent years of being born again were full of mischievous iniquity, I pursued everything that I knew I shouldn’t have. Climbing in dark tunnels, trudging up the side of tree lined hills, only to be knocked down to the waters edge. Always the water, the cleansing healing water.

I waded in the water for a bit feeling the spiritual cleansing on my soul. I was growing but was not fully mature yet so my path, lined with stone, made the footing that much harder to walk on.

Job 19:8 He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.

I could see the path up ahead. It was getting greener and greener and grass was lining the walkway. Church was calling to me but I had to endure more rubble in my road first. Some really big boulders blocked my path and it was up to me to move them out of the way, climb over them, or allow them to hinder my goal of finding a pasture filled with wildflowers and sheep.

Even in my darkened days, there was a Light shining as bright as the morning star, warming my body and filling me with hope that there was a pasture, waiting just for me up ahead.

I think I was on my thirty seventh mile of walking barefoot that I saw it, singing out to me and calling like a bird in a tree, it sang a beautiful melody and moved me on to maturity I had never known.

I was now feeling a Spiritual Maturity wrapping around me. I was clothed, I had shoes now that made the path more bearable. Had I reached my destination? No, not yet. More walking but now my hand was full of seeds. I scattered the seeds along the path so anyone coming behind me on their path would see, see the beauty that they know is up ahead.

When they say the grass is always greener on the other side, they weren’t kidding. I saw a lush pasture; every blade of grass had its own song that sung in the morning dew. Filled with wildflowers the song became an orchestra of melody that chimed from the ground and kissed the sky good morning.

Day after day this song in the field lightened the walk. I saw sheep gathered on the hill grazing, talking about the beauty that lay in this pasture. A layer of wool adorned the hill, but lo, behold, a wolf, looking very much like a sheep, lashed out; snarling with teeth exposed, he was moving in for the kill.  I sprinted forward to put some kind of fear into the wolf and keep the sheep safe, protected in this beautiful land.

SILENCE

That’s what fills the air when hatred seeps in among the well-fed sheep. He looked like all the others and that is why the sheep didn’t fear him, but the closer he got to them, the lure of his instinctive wiles made him out to be just what he was, a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

To protect the sheep, I knew I’d need a staff, to help me guide them to safety. With a rod in my right hand, the Word in my left, clothed in beautiful raiment and sandals that sometimes allowed my toes to feel the grass, I was mature enough to know my place in the valley. I was now at the new heights of… Spiritual Maturity.

Pss. 25:10 All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

God’s Promise:

Isa. 42:16 And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.

I Did It...

Romans 12:1 says, " I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."

Well I went and did it. As you all know, I am in a health crisis at this time and the only thing I look forward to is writing, and coming here to share what I wrote with all of you. I started the new year with a full steam ahead mode, and was enjoying the days of writing until... it happened again. I was let down by the very people I trusted. I was again the victim of bullying by mere acquaintance, and I felt that the leaders (that follow) have no control, or they allow it to happen because they see nothing wrong with the inane behavior, and I’m left standing in the rain with sopping hair and drips of water cascading down my face.


As I always do, I took it to God and asked Him what I need to do to get focused on my writing and helping writers (you my followers), to get these vicious people out of my way. You won’t believe what he said! Well ,He told me to do away with facebook for awhile and the writing sites where I assist, and move on. If those people are really my friends, they know where I am, they know how to contact me. If they care at all, they’ll support me in my task.


Well wouldn’t you know, I deactivated my account on Saturday. And it is now Wednesday and not one person has wrote to me to see if I’m okay or to see what happened. Well my dear friends Sue and June sent me Valentine’s Day cards and made me feel special, as they always do, and Jess wrote me last night asking if I was okay, but the rest of my friends, silence. Friends?


I’ve abandoned the writing sites and figure I’ll leave it to the bullies who manipulate and think they own the site, can do what they want on the site, and are welcomed with open arms into the fold of some sort of deviant behavior. I watch as what I thought were dear friends get sucked into their grasp and support the bullies in every way, shape and form, looking at me as if I have cockroaches for brains.


You see, I’m not easily mislead, and I have no need to appear to be the most popular and friendly person in the world. When I sense EVIL, I don’t play with it, toy around with it, enjoy the company of it; I DELETE it from my life. And if this is what it takes for all the GOOD and promising things to continue to happen in my life, good riddance to the negative that is trying to take me down. I’ll leave them to play and wallow in the bad things happening in their own lives and hopefully they will one day take the blinders off and see it for what it is. But for now, they’re enjoying the ego boost and enjoying the wolves in sheep clothing.


Here it is, Wednesday and already I feel a sense of promise washing over me and lifting me to new heights. I have the innate ability, unlike many, to actually hear God, and I have the strength to listen to Him even if it means giving up many things in my life. He died for me, it is the very least I can do for Him.


I apologize to all those who wanted me to play in the playground, just so you can beat me up. God won’t allow it. Too much has happened in my life to think that life is all about fun and games. I’ll remain Happy-Go-Lucky, chin-up, but it will be with friends whom God himself has chosen to be in my life.


now...onto my WRITING blog...

" and if I had the chance, I'd ask the world to dance. And I'd be dancing with myself." ~ Billy Idol

Words for Wednesday

Runs into thoughts for Thursday...

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

***

Today I was going to write about my friend and her poetry book, The Vines of Life . Julie Jennings is quite the inspirational woman with inspirational poetry to back her up!

I met her through WVU, Writer’s Village University, she’s stopped by and visited me here a few times, and whenever someone from WVU needs a little support, I’m there for them! It’s what I do. I’m a true friend. I love all people! But most of all, I love helping people.

I keep telling my fiance’ that I could never be a rich person because I would give my money away to those in need before I ever helped myself, that’s just the way I am. :)

So today, I got sidetracked with thinking of my father. He was put in the hospital on Monday, bleeding internally and whenever someone calls me crying, especially my mother, my heart aches to be there for them, her in this case.

My mother and I, when I lived back home in Maryland, were extremely close. I lived next door to her for thirteen years and when I moved a mile away, she sold her house and moved right around the corner. We were inseparable.

My dad was always the loner type guy, but my mother and me, like two peas in a pod. Funny, caring, loving and would bend over backwards to see someone else happy, and forget about ourselves. This made leaving home the most difficult thing I had ever done in my life.

Once I moved, I realized it was the best thing for me spiritually and physically because I knew, I had never really grown up, I always had my mother taking care of me no matter what situation I got myself into. And believe you me, there were many situations. (long story, read my autobiography when it finally gets published.) *wink*

I’ve been away for seven years come May 18, only returning home once, when my mother had a stroke. My sister is not as supportive and close as I was with my mother and my brothers (I have four) are all in dysfunctional stages of their lives. And keep in mind, I’m the baby of six and my eldest brother is 54. I’ve been diving into writing for the past seven years and my world has taken on new shape and meaning. What can I say, now I help writers write right! I’ve been a writer all of my life but the past seven years, I’ve taken life and writing more seriously!

My dad is home now and I knew when the phone rang that it was my mother, going to tell me my dad was safe at home, and sure enough it was her. After fifty-six years of marriage, those two are inseparable. Maybe my leaving was intended for them to get closer, because I know that since I’ve left, they’ve knitted themselves together like never before.  Sickness and health, richer and poorer takes on new meaning.

With this Sunday being Mothers Day, I think of all the great mothers out there, hopefully myself included, and I think of the people whose mothers have passed on and are now alone without that best friend there to guide and care for them. In some way, I take on that roll and nurse all the kids, whether young or old into the path they were meant to be. I’m a shepherd and all of you are my sheep. :) What a wonderful gift.

On that note...I am rich beyond belief!