Month: January 2011

Chores to be done always, so I put on some Stevie Wonder. About the time my wooden spoon began to stir the sauce I broke out in laughter. My stereo was blasting a great message…”Here I am signed, sealed, delivered, I’m yours“!

Signed…Isa 49:16a I have written your name on the palms of My hands.

Sealed…Eph 1:13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

Delivered…Psa 56:13 For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.

I’m Yours….Psa 119:94 Save me! I’m all yours. I look high and low for your words of wisdom.

He didn’t ask many questions but when he did, I could see by the look in his eyes how serious he was. He turned to my friend first and then to me to say he wanted to know….“Why do you guys like me?”

I thought my heart was going to break, but I took care to guard my emotions. My friend and I used different words, but the answer was the same, “he was worth loving.” It was easy to see he didn’t know what to do with such truth; the explanation too simple for his wounded heart and thoughtful mind. His eyes filled with tears and he wiped them away. We kept talking for a short time until it was time to leave.

Once in my car I released the emotions touching my heart. I knew what song was playing in his soul. He was in a battle between what the Lord was speaking to him in truth and what the voice of the enemy was speaking to him in lies…..

Enemy, familiar friend

My beginning and my end

Knowing truth, whispering lies

And it hurts again

And it finds me

The fight inside is coursing through my veins

And it’s raging

The fight inside is breaking me again   *

* Lyrics Red, Nothing And Everything

My feet hit the trail early and I was pleased to find myself alone in the cloud cover. I could see plenty as I walked but the distances were masked in the misty gray. By the time I got to the small lake my mind was emptied of all my own thoughts and I began to be refreshed.

I could feel the tears on my cheeks become chilled in the cold air and taking off my glove I wiped them from my face. I had no sadness, but I no longer wondered why sometimes the tears would just begin to fall. I sensed a beauty in them indefinable.

All around me was silence, but for the sounds of nature. An ache in my stomach brought to mind a certain anticipation I couldn’t grasp well. I felt deeply in love, yet unable to be satisfied for the depths of my desires. The more time I spent in the presence of the One I loved, the more I longed to be nowhere else.

Son 5:8  Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you- if you find my beloved, what will you tell him? Tell him I am faint with love.

Quietly I look for You

Seeking, ever seeking

More I ask, so much more

My hunger seems insatiable

My thirst unquenchable

I am inconsolable

Come Lord, come

Being a culture so drenched in media, many forget what real courage looks like. Courage is standing in faith while face to face with that fear or struggle trying to blow your house down. The storm blowing can be financial, relationships, health or other. Still it takes courage to stand in faith, but it’s faith which keeps us anchored properly to the Rock.

I was witness to tremendous acts of courage recently. A man laid his pride down and simply asked for prayer. He was angry. A woman laid her pride aside to admit she was giving herself over to fear. We often hide our emotions and struggles rather than let anyone help us confront them. These acts of courage and faith impacted me mightily.

Deu 31:6  Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”

Rom 1:17  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”

Can we all agree the times we live in are serious? Yeah, we all kind of know it. I was thinking about the things we say today and how much they matter to our tomorrow. Walking with people of faith, it sometimes surprises me how quickly we can set aside the very truth we know to worry about the uncertainty we don’t know.

This is an hour we should embrace what we know! We need to declare it and we should not be quiet about it. When our co-workers/family/friends start to speak of the worry they have about what the future holds, we should be stepping into that with the love and hope of what we know the future to hold.

2Th 2:16-17  Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say.

Money. Need it, want it, seek more of it right? At the core of our thoughts is to pay off debts so we stop worrying. At least that’s what we tell ourselves. But then our minds become tempted to go deeper into the cry of its deception. If we had extra money then we could do this thing or that. Most of us desire the extras to better comfort our already comfortable existence. We keep looking at the “have more than us” crowds which deceive us into thinking we don’t already have plenty.

Signs are all around us for the times we live in. We need to awaken from looking at the dollar signs.

My prayer is the weapon

My pen but a tool

The word is my sword

My voice to speak will change destiny

I love “good gossip“! I actually crave it and will go out of my way to find it. I would even go so far as to say it’s a strength of mine. I will get on my phone, facebook, email, text messages, coffee meets or anywhere else I can find it.

Mal 3:16  Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, And the LORD listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the LORD And who meditate on His name.

Wherever the Lord is the topic, I want to be in it! Any other kind of gossip isn’t for me and I choose to leave it behind. Only the good gossip is worth my time and energy.