DebraBee

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.

I had stepped outside to wait for my ride. The air was coldly crisp and I was grateful for the refreshing after being indoors for a while. Putting away my phone, I took note of an acquaintance who had followed me and seemed to be waiting nearby to talk to me. I didn’t know her well but we’d been learning more about each other over the past few months.

For the next few minutes what she shared stirred the depths of me. As she spoke, she had kept her hand upon my shoulder, closing her eyes whenever I would answer back. I knew it wasn’t just another conversation despite everything in me wanting to shrink away from what she was saying.

My ride came and saying goodbye, I got in the cab. I took a deep breath and remembered how she was from the lineage of warriors. Looking out the window, I wondered about her hand on my shoulder and what she had been praying over me in silence while I talked.

My sleep was erratic and I kept waking up unsettled. Lying still, I could hear the steady breathing of my husband who lay beside me. Reaching out my hand, I touch the back of his neck gently, so as not to wake him. I feel a quiet comfort and I start thinking about an old song where the words talk about being lost in love and not knowing much.

I had been living these words. When I have no answers and my mind fills with questions, he comes in like superman, to lift me in protective arms to a place of safety. He wraps me in his love and I can’t fathom why he doesn’t want anything of me. As I drift off to sleep again I find myself lost in love and I don’t know much.

Shush little girl and hear my voice.

Daddy, why do I feel like this?

I have given you My own emotions.

Daddy they don’t always feel good.

I know daughter, but you must know them.

Why Daddy?

You have to understand how to talk to people.

What do you mean Father?

People are hurting daughter; you can’t help them unless you understand.

What do I need to understand Daddy?

You need to understand their hurt daughter.

Why do I have to feel it Father?

Because if you don’t daughter, you will never understand why I love.

He died young; a car accident where the driver was intoxicated. He may have been intoxicated too, but that seems a small matter in the grand scheme of things. Over the years I have heard many talks from the religious crowd who would try to convince me that my brother went to hell for the way he lived, and for the way he died.

I myself am challenged by the greater truth of hope! I am challenged to believe that prayer matters. I am challenged by testimonies of those who were destined for nether regions and yet Jesus, in His mercy and by His blood, purchased the price of the sinner. Our prayers matter and I hold onto the hope always that the prayers spoken for my brother snatched him from darkness. Nothing this side of heaven will convince me otherwise.

Jude 1:23 (NKJV)  but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

I made my way into the large room which was dimly lit, finding a place to sit alone in the back. The music of God flowed in such beauty I could scarcely lift my head. Closing my eyes I could not hear the words. I simply felt a presence unexplainable. I opened my journal to write what was in my heart. I wrote a truth about the lack for love I needed to walk in. My pen scribed, “fill my heart with more love”.

Closing my journal I looked up. Barely seeing what I was looking at, I took notice of the back of a man’s head. Although the room was dim, I could see he held his hands together behind his back and there was a familiar way he stood. Realizing it was my husband, tears flowed from my eyes. We hadn’t agreed upon issues spoken the night before and he had a tight schedule for his work duties. I knew what it cost him to be here now. My heart felt full of love, brought about at seeing this man I loved make the effort to come here. The prayer I had written only minutes before had been answered….my heart was filled with the “more love” I had asked for.