Imagination

When I was a teenager I looked forward to the State Fair.  I stood in line for hours to ride The Hammer, The Sky Diver and The Zipper.  The faster, the higher, and the ride that would spin the most was where I wanted to be!

Funny how that changes when you get older.  

I don't know about you, but the older I get the less hairpin corners I want to maneuver, the less Roller Coaster Rides the better.  No ups and downs for me, thank you very much!

My imagination takes me on Roller Coaster Rides at times, what about you?  God allows something in my life and it takes me by surprise, it throws me through the loop, my thoughts begin to go in a hundred different directions.  Sometimes I get so worked up I actually make myself sick!  Hard to admit, but I'm being honest here.  It's easy to 'talk the talk' when you are encouraging someone ELSE going through a difficult time, but when it's US, sometimes it's hard to pull up our boot straps and walk the walk.

We are faced with the realization that we really are not in control of things, like we sometimes like to think.  We begin to ask ourselves, "What are we going to do now" and the "What if" in this situation.

We repeat all of God's promises in our heads, but our fears still begin to creep in.

Don't beat yourself up too badly, even Elijah, when threatened by a woman fled and hid under a juniper tree and requested to just die.  He had no more strength to fight a new battle.  ( 1 Kings 19)

Yesterday I allowed my fears of the unknown to become reality.  I let my worries transform into monsters that I would not be able to slay.  I let my imagination Rule, instead of bringing every thought into captivity.

Isn't it wonderful to know that God realizes that we are but dust?  He knows our frame and He rains His mercies down upon us and helps us stand up again. 

So what did I do?  I sat down, prayed, and opened the Word of God and began to read His Words to me out loud.  An amazing thing began to happen.  

"And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."  Philippians 4:7

Surrendering to God's Will allows us to put everything back into perspective.  After all, He promises to fight my battles for me, whatever they may be, and He promises to never leave me or forsake me.

So, today, I choose reality over my imagination and I will let God handle the rest...

but that's just me!

Am I standing on the problems of life?  Or am I standing on the Promises of God?  Unknown

The Phone Call

Your phone rings and you are given the news.  It can be any news, just news that you were not expecting to hear.  "We found something in your test, the doctor wants to see you."  "I'm sorry, but you will be laid off from work until further notice."  

What is our first reaction to unexpected news?  We jump to conclusions and try to get ahead of God.  Immediately we start making plans in our heads of what to do next, maybe we sink into the pit of despair.

When we respond to life's uncertainties in that way, we are removing control from the hands of God, and placing them into our own hands.  And do you know what?  We may feel like we are in control, but we really aren't.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Exodus 23:20.  It says, "Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared."

To remain in the center of God's Will for my life, I must allow God to lead me into the place that He has prepared for ME.

Oswald Chambers once said, "Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves the One Who is leading."

"I am truly grateful that faith enables me to move past the questions of 'why?'"  Zig Ziglar

And John Maxwell, "There are a lot of things in life that are difficult to understand.  Faith allows the soul to go beyond what the eyes can see."  

I received a call, and I am choosing to remain in the Shadow of my leading Angel, the Lord Jesus Christ, to lead me into the place that He has prepared for me.

But that's just me!

Confrontations

I have a confession to make.

I'm a chicken.

Not in all matters of life, but in one very specific area in my life.

When someone offends me, instead of confronting them concerning the situation, I choose to high-tail it and run out of Dodge!

Satan likes it when I do that, because he knows that if I don't deal with the situation immediately then he can get a foothold into my life.  Bitterness and anger begin to grow in my heart allowing less space for love and forgiveness.  Satan puts thoughts into my mind that say, 'You will only make the matter worse if you go talk to them."

Satan likes dis-unity.

So what to do?  Follow the step by step guide that Jesus Himself gives us in Matthew 18:15-17.  

1-Go and talk with the person who hurt you.

2-If it doesn't go well, take another person with you to talk with the person who hurt you.

Allow an offence to be brought out into the open, confessed, forgiven, healed and move on.

I've learned two things concerning confrontations:

1-You cannot heal from that which you will not acknowledge, and

2-God can straighten out any twisted situation.

But that's just me!

"If we confront someone, we should have one goal:  Restoration, not embarrassment."

       Charles Swindoll

Yes or No

 During the last three weeks, something familiar has happened to me.  I was approached by two women who started each conversation with, 'Did you mean it when you said you would help me.....?'  I immediately said, "Yes!" to both ladies, who went on to ask for my help in one way or the other for them.  But do you know what that revealed to me?  It told me that each one of these ladies have had someone in their life volunteer to help them with something.....and didn't follow through.  It made them doubt my word, and caused them to hesitate to ask me for help.

It broke my heart.

Have we made it a habit to say, "I will be praying for you...." and then never pray?

Do we volunteer to help someone, and then when that person asks for genuine help, find some reason not to help them?

Scripture is clear.  

Jesus said in Matthew 5:37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh evil.  

There is no 'maybe.'

God help me always back my words with action!

..But that's just me!

People with good intentions MAKE promises.

People with good character KEEP them.  -Unknown

Hands and Knees

 I've started my Fall cleaning.  You know, the meticulous cleaning that comes twice a year, once in the Spring, and once in the Fall.  The Nitty Gritty kind of cleaning.  

This morning I began to take pictures down from the walls for a good dusting, washed the walls, ceiling fan,  you get the picture.

But then I got down on my hands and knees and began to scrub the base boards.  The trim that circles the room along the bottom of the walls.   I keep a clean house,  but when I got down on my hands and knees and saw the dirt and dust that had accumulated since my Spring cleaning, I could see my neglect.  

Then God brought a thought to my mind:  when was the last time I got down on my hands and knees before God to pray?  Oh, sure,  I pray throughout the day, during my devotion, before my tasks, when God reminds me of something, or when I need help, but it's usually while sitting in my Quiet Place, or while driving, or while washing the dishes.  But when was the last time I physically kneeled before God to worship Him, to raise petitions before the throne of God on behalf of my family, my friends, my enemies.....?

He revealed my neglect, and like my base boards, I'm a little dusty.

If I can get down on my hands and knees to clean my house, I can certainly kneel before my Saviour who is worthy of all honor and glory.

But that's just me!

O come, let us worship and bow down:  let us kneel before the LORD our maker-Psalm 95:6

Work Day

 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord.....Colossians 3:23a

Our church is in the beginning stages of putting in a parking lot.  After having a dirt and gravel parking lot for over 40 years, you can only imagine the excitement that intensifies the air as we eagerly anticipate the final result!

Yesterday we had a scheduled work day to help with the next cement pour.  I leashed up my loyal Labrador and we both walked over to the church to get in on some of the excitement!  When we got to the church, I saw about 10 men wading through the thick, wet cement as the cement truck was pouring the 'liquid gold' into the forms.  With tools in their hands, and boots on their feet, these men were working in the sunshine on this beautiful Fall day, laughing, smiling and joking around as they stayed on task to do what needed to be done.  

For a moment I saw something else:  I saw 10 little boys, standing behind a Tonka Truck playing in the mud.

Boys at Heart!  Each and every one of them!  

Fun times to reflect on in the future when this work is behind them.

Isn't that the way it should be when we are about doing the work of the Lord?  Whatever our hands and feet set out to do, we should be working towards the same goal.

God's children enjoying each other's company while in His Work.

Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much!  Unknown

But that's just me!

Coming together is a beginning,

Staying together is progress,

and working together is success-  Henry Ford

Blessings and Cursings

 The house across the street that has sat empty and abandoned for the past ten years is in it's first stages of being remodeled.  Since the beginning of Spring and all through the Summer months, one lone Contractor has diligently been working on the exterior of this house.  While he works, he plays music from the Christian Radio Station.  The sound of music and lyrics praising God all day long can encourage all those in our neighborhood who hear, but then something very discouraging began to occur.  Every time this Contractor ran into a snag or a problem, the profanity started:  curses, obscenities, colorful metaphors.  Whatever you want to call them, the words coming out of this persons mouth is enough to make the average person blush.  I was shocked!  How can this person play Christian Music all day long and then interrupt it with a vile mouth when things don't go his way?  

Then the Lord reminded me of the verses in James Chapter 3:9-10.  The Bible says:  Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.  Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing.  My brethren, these things ought not so to be.

These verses are written to Believers!

It gave me something to think about: Do I praise God one minute, and then turn around and complain when something doesn't go my way?  Yes.  I have.

Have I criticized a brother or sister in Christ, who is made in the image of God because I didn't like something they said or did?  Yes. I have.  To my shame.

Taming our tongue is a minute by minute battle, but if we stop for just a moment before we speak, maybe we won't open our mouths at all.

But that's just me!

Often the way we react to pressure teaches us more about our own hearts than we would ever learn if things always worked out smoothly for us-Unknown

Dodgeball

 I watched the VP Debate last night on T.V., if you could call it that.  It was nothing like the Debates that took place in my High School Debate Class.  In Class, when asked a question, you had to answer that question.  If you were given a topic, you were to defend that topic.  Last night's Debate was more like dodgeball in my Gym Class.  The game everyone hated to play.  Players would frantically run around the basketball court trying not to get hit with a rubber ball that felt like a bullet upon impact.  A question was asked by the Moderator, only to be ignored to either sling mud at their Opponent, or to explain away a direct hit they received from the very Opponent they were now trying to target, and fiction was referred to as fact.  It's hard to watch a person deny something on Live T.V. when their words and actions have been documented on their very own Web Pages.  I bet the Fact-Checker's were having a field day last night!

One day we will be Fact-Checked too.  Fact's that we will not be able to deny.

Revelation 20:12 says:  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God;  and the books were opened:  and another book was opened, which is the book of life:  and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Romans 14:12 says:  So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

Jesus says the same thing in Matthew 12:36-37.

Sobering thought....but that's just me!

The Lord's Army

I started reading the Book of 1 Chronicles a few days ago, and the first 9 chapters are Genealogies.  Determined to read each and every name, I began to be intrigued by this list.  Beside some of the names in this list we learn their purpose;  some were potters, some were singers, some were able to bear buckler and sword, shoot with a bow and we are also told that they were skillful in war.  In Chapter 7 I began to see their character: "They were valiant men of might,"  or "mighty men of valour," or "choice and mighty men of valour,"    But my favorite is found in verse 11.  It says, 'Soldiers, fit to go out for war and battle.'

After reading this, I asked myself:

Do I daily put on the armor of God?  Ephesians 6:10-18

Do I take up my buckler/shield to resist the fiery darts of the devil?

Do I wield my sword, the Word of God to resist temptation?

Am I fit for battle?  After all 1 Peter 5:8 warns us, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."

The devil is constantly prowling around to wage war against the Child of God.  Are we armed?

Some day my Name will be listed on our Family Tree.  A distant relative might even look me up on some Ancestry web site.  What will be beside my name?  Will it reveal my purpose and my character?  Will my family know that I stood up for Truth?

I pray so.  I will choose to live victoriously because my Saviour already won the Battle.  There  is no room for defeat.  I will not be a Castaway.  But that's just me!

He is my defender; I will not be defeated.  Psalm 62:6