Too Deep! It Goes Too Deep!

Too deep! It goes too deep!

We all have those places where the emotions cut into the veins of our existence and suddenly we go weak and falter for what we should speak. My life is being rebuilt day in and day out in these areas. What will I say? What can I say? How much of me will I expose? How much of my life will I give away?

My recognition of being rebuilt is only the beginning of what our Lord is doing in all of us. I know I am a temple of His presence but I need Him to be my foundation. Taking me back down to a foundational level is not comfortable. It exposes all my weaknesses.

Isa 44:28b  ‘He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, “Let it be rebuilt,” and of the temple, “Let its foundations be laid.”‘

Obedience Beckoned Me Again

Upon awakening I was aware of my calves feeling tight. My muscles had been stretched for a couple days. Reaching my hands out I could feel the bed was empty. It was time to get up. Putting my feet to the floor I quickly remembered the various cuts from stepping all over some glass the night before. Limping about, I found my husband doing chores already in the kitchen.

I went back to our bedroom, desiring some quiet reading. I opened my bible but when I tried to read, they were just words on the page. Laying my head on my pillow I felt naked. It was as if my spiritual covering had vanished in the night. I’d felt this before and I hated these moments.

A war began in my head. I had made a commitment to pray with folks for healing, but how could I pray for them if I couldn’t pray for myself? Maybe no one would notice that I didn’t show up? Lies shot at me like a rapid fire machine gun for how I wasn’t sanctified enough to pray for anyone. I could hear my accuser remind me of the multitude of my sins and weaknesses.

I looked at the clock again and realized I was missing my window of time. It was now or never for what I needed to do. I hobbled into the bathroom and turning on the shower I began confessing once more how ill equipped I was to do anything. My Lord reminded me I didn’t need my strength, just His.

Once dressed, I could feel my stomach rumble a protest that I wasn’t feeding it. I talked to my husband briefly and he was sensitive to pray for me. I packed a bottle of water in my bag and headed out the door. My feet had to go where I didn’t feel worthy to walk. Obedience beckoned me again.

Do I Really Mean It?

What would I do?

Faith by definition is to gamble on what you can’t see but hope for (plain speak).

I look at that question again….”what would I do for my faith?”

I am only living my own version of such a walk but I have shelves of books for how others before me gave all for faith. I admit to growing weary of words and long for my own actions but then I tremble at the reality of thought…..”do I really mean it?”

Cleaning Closets

A needed chore triggered memories. We all keep boxes of mementos in our closets. I opened up doors…

“I never meant to hurt you, I never meant to make you cry, but tonight I’m cleanin’ out my closet” *

* Lyrics by Eminem, Cleaning Out My Closet

Rock Hound

Isn’t it interesting that most of the jewels in the world are obscured and hidden in nature? It isn’t until we seek them out and refine them that they really show their finished beauty. We go to all this work for rocks and stones but sometimes we forget to do the same with people. I have to say it’s been fun to become a “rock hound”, but my favorite treasures are the living stones.

1Pe 2:4  Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious

Identity

What’s in a name? A friend who is homeless shared something significant recently. When asked if he could do anything at all, what would he want to do? His response was to travel to distant countries in search of his identity; where he came from, his namesake. Our identity matters to us in the depths of how we see ourselves. I can only know who I am as I have come to know Christ. All my identity is in Him.


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2Co 5:17  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Where The Fight Matters Most

I smashed into a hard wall of protection this weekend, only this time it wasn’t one of my own. A familiar pain touched me along with a desperation to see freedom come to a stranger’s life. I say stranger, but she doesn’t feel like one to me. I know her in ways I can’t explain, but she has yet to know me or others like me.

Knowing the rejection I was going to face, I was still compelled to approach this wounded woman to ask her name. To my surprise she spoke it to me, but then disappeared quickly. I didn’t chase her. That wasn’t my job, nor is it my job to teach her trust. I know what I am meant to do. She needs someone to fight for her where the fight matters most.

2Co 10:3-4 (Amp)  For though we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons. For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds

Fairy Dust

Luk 15:7  Count on it–there’s more joy in heaven over one sinner’s rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.

I want to see the “replay” video of the party they had in the heavens when I committed myself to a life rescued! I can remember an odd song done in the German language years ago called “99 Luftballons” which translates to 99 Red Balloons. If we are living only in the shadow of things to come, can you imagine the balloons of heaven? I get this crazy thought about 99 balloons released into the air; each one explodes with joy into the atmosphere, sprinkling something like fairy dust upon those yet to come home.

Fairy dust is from the imagination of men. What comes from the imagination of God?

Never Meant To Walk Alone

All around me stood courageous people admitting their feelings of loneliness. To see them suddenly surrounded by love, dispelling the lies isolation brings was almost more than I could take in. I sat quiet, observing the outpouring of real truth, we are never meant to walk alone.

Gen 2:18a And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone;”

Mercy

Mercy is what I have been given when I didn’t deserve it; when I didn’t ask for it; even when I didn’t want it. I have succumbed to its allure. It has touched the depths of my heart. I live differently towards others because I have been shown love and compassion, but it all started with mercy.

Jas 2:13  There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when He judges you.