The Rains Came

Job 21:18 “They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.”

The Rains Came…

Throughout April we had a lot of rain. Endless days of clouds, drizzle, cold, and darkness lay over the land. We even had snow late in the season, which is usually rare, but the way the weather has been for the past couple of years, I guess it is the new normal.

Lucky for me, I have a flurry of friends who lift my spirits on a daily basis, except when I’m in a withdrawn mood and have no contact, then I’m left on my own with the elements I’m dealt.

I like to switch things up so my daily exercise routine doesn’t become mundane and boring. I had to make the switch of having my stationary bike being brought from the basement and I placed my Health Rider down there for Adam. Since the rains came and put a damper on my daily walks, my bike has been a blessing. 

I still do my twenty-minute walks when the weather allows but when it doesn’t I hop on my bike. The other day I pulled the mower out thinking I’d do twenty minutes but I wound up out there for an hour. The weight-loss and workout does wonders for my arthritic knees. 

When my M-I-L gave us the bike eight years ago when we moved to Nebraska, it was placed in the basement. Hubby, when blind, used to go down there daily to break up his days that were filled with darkness. I bought a Health Rider at a garage sale for twenty-five bucks and that was my nice piece of equipment for me before arthritis set into my bones.

Doing all the research that I am, exercise is an important part of my healing. I didn’t know how detrimental something as simple as a cold was to me so my walks on the cold, blustery days came to a halt. Inside equipment was going to become a new part of my daily routine in my healing.

Then there’s the sun, another pivotal portion of my healing since it holds non-fabricated vitamin D! I have obtained a supplement also but the sun, that which I can’t control was what I needed. Not only for the warmth and lifter upper elements it carried, but the nutritional value people often take for granted.

The rains came…along with that, days on end of no sun. That alone is enough to drag you into the trenches of a depressed state. March and April were so filled with ominous clouds and winds, my spirit was being put through a whirlwind as if I was in the center of a tornado being sucked through the vortex drinking in all of my energy. 

May has allowed a couple of warm days, some sun with no winds; a couple of days, not a lot. Again, the storms and rains have washed over the fields and this month we’ll see once again (as in April) record low temperatures and a lot of rain.

As in life, storms come and storms go but what normally happens after a storm is the sun comes out in all its brilliance and shines allowing a rainbow to pan across the sky. Since this diagnosis, I’ve seen rainbows in the darkened clouds, swirling in the winds, and vaporized in every breath.

Is that normal? Scientifically people will say you need the sun’s reflection to create a rainbow, but let me ask you this, has anything that has happened in the storms of your life been explained by science? Do we really live so science can define us?

When I was diagnosed I had four doctors (yes four) ask me the questions they ask all victims of this disease. They were looking for the ‘normal’ symptoms, none of which I had. They looked perplexed, scratched their heads with furrowed eyebrows and said, Hmm… interesting. 

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

Again, when I was not ‘committing’ to their way of doing things, they looked perplexed. Their science was telling them that there is only ONE way to go and this woman is NOT committing to our way of doing things. They threw fear around like putting candy in a child’s bag on Halloween, toss it here, toss it there, these kids love their candy, note: handing them the disease! But the thing was, I didn’t like the candy they offered.

Back in Texas when my son was little, we would take him trick-or-treating. I didn’t believe in having a child beg for candy, but all of his friends were doing it, so being a homeschooled kid, we took him. When he got home he’d go through the candy and pick out what he wanted. He’d pause a few times when there was a small bag with a note attached. The note would have a Bible verse printed. I had never seen this before but then again, I didn’t do the Halloween thing but I thought it was a great idea that this dark holiday had one ray of Light in the evening. 

Do you see where I’m going with this? In the darkness of the dismal diagnosis, I SAW THE LIGHT! Instead of seeing it as a raging storm, I saw it as an offering of Light. This was a time to heal, to change and to grow! No one said a change was easy and quite often it will be one of the most difficult tasks in your life. Change is necessary to grow!  But if you never weather the storms of life and see rainbows, you are committing yourself to stagnation of an over-flowing society based on science. 

God is not science. He does not exist to be proven, He exists to be felt, known and loved. My God is not a God of confusion and perplexity, He is a God of certainty, surety, a solid rock! So when men and women of science ask me to commit to their way of doing things I have to stand firm and declare my faith to be based on Solid Ground, not sinking sand. Let the rains come, let the storms rage, let the winds blow and let the dust move. Me…I’m standing on solid ground. All praise and Glory to Him! 

Isa. 4:6 “And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.”

Lent: Day Twenty-eight ~ Temptation

Luke 8: 13 They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.

Temptation

Lead me not into temptation. That’s a hard one to swallow. Would the Lord ever lead you INTO temptation? I don’t think so. Like I said, it's a hard one to swallow.

We live in a click me world where temptation is right at your fingertips. Temptation comes in many different colors and sizes and usually wears nothing or something enticing to lure you.

Have you ever been to the store and passed a pie that you know your healthy diet would not like you for and in the heat of the moment you bought it anyway? How about a shirt, clothes, toys, games, materials of any kind? All of these things can be very tempting.

Temptation is usually disguised in a way you don’t even know that you’re being tempted. People click things in the heat of the moment, stay fixated on that thing then keep coming back in an addiction form because it is so tempting you can’t resist.

I think of Jesus as He was tempted by satan. It was after His forty day fast; at His most vulnerable state Jesus was tempted. When satan asked Him to make bread to fill himself with, Jesus responded, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Tempted again satan asked Him to throw himself down for the Angels of God would save him and Jesus responded, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

Again the devil tempted Him with the ruling of many kingdoms. And AGAIN Jesus nearly spat in the face of satan and commanded him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.” Satan fled and t was then that the angels came and tended to Jesus.

Do we think ourselves any stronger than Jesus when it comes to temptation? You are truly foolish if you think that. We are tempted hour by hour when we have decisions to make. I remember a time when I was without food or means to get food and I had told my mother that, “God will provide, I have faith.” In MY mind not having food was my time of temptation and I prayed for the Lord to provide for me as I fought the dark arms of satan.

I even had people tell me, “God isn’t going to provide food. You have to go out and work for it!” I held the stance that God WOULD provide for me, my faith in Him KNEW He would. Within hours bags and bags of food came through my door.  Yes, He used man to bring me food, but I was filled nonetheless. God provided. Is that what was meant by man cannot live on bread alone but from every word that comes from the mouth of God?

I rested in my faith and His word and He provided. I was tempted to go out and by any means get food, be it beg, borrow or steal, but I stood firm in my faith instead. In the depths of my hunger God filled me and I was nourished. In the bottom of the pit as I lay hungry God saw to it my mind, body and soul was fed.

From those days on Lent took on a whole new spiritual meaning to me. During Lent I deprive myself of things so that I may find the richness in God’s blessings. Deprive seems like such an ugly word. I withdrew from my daily temptations. Things I’d normally find attractive and enticing, I refrained from; a sabbatical of sorts.

Even to this day, actually more so in this day, I face many temptations. Since the computer came into my life, temptation is too easy to fall into and let it just carry me away. But I will not put God away from me. In my daily ritual to fend off satan I find prayer to be the warming link of God in me.

I found this quote: “Our prayers lay the track down on which God’s power can come. Like a mighty locomotive, his power is irresistible, but it cannot reach us without rails.” ~ Watchman Nee

When Jesus was tempted instead of being led into temptation, I feel His prayer was the power that caused satan to go away. Satan knew Jesus and God were one in the same and he knew he had no power over God. So satan sat back and watched the persecution and death thinking he had won, little known to him it was the saving grace of mankind.

As God’s blood dripped, every man and woman present knew that He died for them; some were shocked by the realization that He WAS God in Man, and the non-believers went on about their business of the day and lived as if no man and no God could save them from their sinful death.

Behind every temptation there is a prayer feast. You cry out in hopes that your faith is not in vain. You beg for mercy and walk away from sin, or you sin and then beg for mercy. But know this, there is no man or woman alive who doesn’t walk daily with the temptation of sin by their side. It is their choice and free will to decide who wins the battle of good and evil. If God brings you to it, only He and He alone can bring you through it.

1 Cor. 10: 13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Lent: Day Nine ~ YOU are the Church

1 Cor. 1: 9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

 YOU are the Church

These words still ring in my ears, ‘YOU are the church.’ Pastor Mike said these words one week during a sermon and they’ve stuck with me ever since. What on earth did he mean?

Well he said something more like, “When you enter this building every Sunday, it is merely a building, it isn’t until all the people are gathered here that it becomes a Church, you ARE the church.”

No matter where I put the emphasis, ‘I’ am a part of the bricks (community) that form this church. That’s a lot to drink in. Many people go to church once a year for whatever reason but they are not a brick in the building, they’re a colorful decoration in the form of a flowerbed outside the building.

The once a year-ers are no different than the ones who sit at home listening to a weekly service coming through to them via the airwaves, they are a flower in the flowerbed. Don’t get me wrong, if you are sick, disabled, unable to attend a church building, you are nurturing your spirit in your own way.

But if you’re sitting at home listening because the whole ‘building’ thing is not for you, you become the soil. I know this firsthand because that was me twelve years ago. My oh my how life has changed. Changed because of a building, you say? Not at all, changed because of a community, a congregation of family, brothers and sisters of Christ bonded together, knitted like a fine afghan.

For too many years I was sitting at home week after week filling myself with God. Reading, believing and listening to the very word I would one day share with the world. Not because I’m preachy because I’m a human who has walked where you have walked, a sinner just as you but I CHOSE to change.

God is like that, you know, gives us the CHOICE to change or to stay stagnant. Growth cannot and WILL NOT happen if you don’t CHOOSE to change. Soil DOES hold the power to bring forth a flower. It also has the ability to form a brick in the making of a building.

If you attend a church and the first sermon you hear has words in it that speak of tithing and giving, and offerings, then you should leave and seek out a new church. Sometimes it takes a few visits to get to the one that speaks to YOU. If you feel the people are judging you, you should leave. If you feel uncomfortable, leave.

I remember when we first started attending church about ten years ago. We found a community that embraced us, we had the pot luck brunches, we shared, we tithed and for four years we enjoyed the church until the minister made a mistake when Steven was going blind. We were seeking Social Security and I had said that I was trusting God to see that we received S.S. He told me that you can’t ALWAYS trust God, sometimes you need a lawyer because S.S is not easy to get.

Not trust God? Really? My entire life has been centered on trusting God AND receiving the fruits of my labor and now a minister is telling me to NOT trust God? Needless to say, after four years of attending that church, we sought out a new one.

And as God promised, we received the S.S., found a new church but then we were called to Nebraska. We then set out to find a NEW church that was right for us. We went to two different churches and while they felt like a snug fit, we needed an extra-width because we had grown in our faith.

We found it at eFree; a community that wrapped its arms around us and blanketed us in a comfortable layer as we braced for blindness. We were no longer just flowers in soil, we were a brick forming a building!

About our third or fourth sermon at eFree, Pastor Mike had said as the offering plate was being passed around, “If you’re new here, this plate is not for you, it is for the members who wish to give to the community of Christ. If God has placed on your heart to give, by all means, but this plate is not us begging for money.”

A year would pass before the mention of money came up and he addressed it as, “People keep asking me why we don’t ask for money or talk about money and tithing? Tithing is about believers who understand the meaning. If you’re new here, we don’t want to turn you off by always asking for money. That’s not what we’re about. We’re about Christ and HIS message to you.” Wow!

You’re right if you’re saying that not all churches are like that. You’re right if you’re saying most churches are about money (mega churches for example) but that IS NOT what a church is supposed to BE about. The church is about you, becoming a brick in the solid foundation of a community. You are not meant to be soil, you’re not meant to be a pretty flower on show, you are about change and what a community who’s built on growth can do for that change.

Our church is about people! We serve the surrounding community, whether it be meals, whether it be shelter; we have mission trips to other states and countries and encourage change and growth. The church parking lot is not filled up only on Sunday’s, it is filled every day of the week with some form of activity; be it bible studies, women meeting for further study or men meeting for further study, or kids (college age) who attend two a week sermon’s for them, or Awana for smaller children. All in all, our church’s main function is growth, change, and most of all commitment to Christ.

A church is just a building until YOU fill it; it then BECOMES a Church. Thank you Pastor Mike for making it all clear to me. I’m NOT just a flower I’m a brick forming a building! I’m still learning and growing but without my community of brothers and sisters, I’d be just soil.

Acts 16: 5 And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.