May 10, 2020

May 10, 2020

I recently had a word given to me to give to someone I knew who had asked me to pray for their situation. They have since told me that I should share this word.  They believed that this word could help another, as it at helped them. So I will share it but not the persons name or situation.

This is the word that I had received;

‘You have had someone hurt you. This pain was not caused by their actions but because of what they did not do.  You feel hurt and are disappointed. Their actions did not live up to the words the spoke to you. They made a commitment and they failed you. I know exactly how this feels. You cannot count the numerous times per day people who have committed their lives to Me, that have turned back to the world the second they have a problem. Instead of turning to Me, they return to doing things as the rest of the world does.

The second troubles come you want to turn and walk away and say that it is no big deal. I want you think about what would happen if I gave up on you that easy. If I turned from you every time you disappointed Me,  hurt Me, or even cheated on Me, etc….  Every time you have been hurt, I have been hurt.  Every time you were rejected or abused, so was I. Now multiply your pain by an infinite amount.  What you go through with others, I go through too. I don’t give up on you. I will never leave you or forsake you.

Yes you have been hurt by these people, but can you see now how I feel? Can you see how much I love those who have hurt and wronged Me?  You may be the only one who is bringing my Light into these peoples dark world. Don’t give up on them. They have never met anyone to show them my love before and they do not know how to react. The spirits operating in their lives are don’t want to let go. Yet My Light can drive away the darkness in their life. You carry this Light within you, like a lantern in a dark world. Let them learn of my Love through you. Another might now show them this love. Remember Love is patient, and love is kind and it also long suffering. ‘

To put it in other words. God puts up a lot with the mistakes we make, the pain we cause and He does not give up on us.  There are bad relationships that we have to escape, because they can and will cost us our life if we don’t leave. This message is for those of us who have been slighted in any way that hurts us, we need to remember the pain of a Father who sent His Son to pay the price for those pains. How much pain Jesus suffered for our sins. We sometimes will have to let go of people who we cannot help and will only continue to hurt us and themselves. Yet our first reaction to pull away at the first sign of trouble we should rethink. Sometimes God will use these people to teach us, smooth out our rough spots like sandpaper.

Please take a moment and read 1 Corinthians 13.

Thank you fellow bloggers

I want to thank all of you who take time out of your busy day to read and follow my blog. I love reading your comments. I also enjoy reading your blogs as well. You all write and share some wonderful posts. You encourage, edify, and lift others up. With humor and song you spread cheer. Then the most important thing I want to thank you for is sharing the love of Jesus. Thank you all for the good work you do and for being blessings to friends and strangers.

Here is a short list of bloggers I follow and the order of the list is not by ranking or favorites. With so many blogs that I follow I have chosen these randomly and there are many more since there are so many of you please forgive me if I miss listing you here. You can find the other bloggers I follow on my blog page.

 

Being Broken

When you think of the term broken what is the first thing that comes to your mind?

Here are some things that came to my mind.

  1. Ruined
  2. Trash
  3. Destroyed
  4. Unusable
  5. Worthless

I could easily list many more things and you might have some of the same things on your list. Yet these are only the negative thought about being broken. Do you like nuts? I love them. To get to the nut you have to break the shell. Some shells are easier to break open than others like sunflower seeds or peanuts. Walnuts or pecans are are not so easy to break open. You need a nutcracker to get to the good part of these nuts, and if you don’t have a nutcracker a hammer works as long as you don’t hit the too hard. It takes effort to break their outer shells to get to the good part that you can eat and enjoy.

So being broken even though painful can lead to something good for you. The process hurts and is not fun. Imagine you are the nut and you can see the nutcracker coming for you. Then you feel trapped in its grip till you crack and break open. Scary thought. Most of us would run from pain if we knew it was going to happen was going to hurt. Yet if we all ran away from the possibility of pain we would cease to exist. Women would not have babies because labor is pain! Life is going to have some very painful moments. Just as a woman who goes from the pain of labor to the joy of holding her newborn baby, life can take your pain and turn it into joy.

Look at the life of Joseph. his brothers hate him and throw him into a pit, and want to kill him. Thankfully one brother suggest they sell him to travelers passing by. Then he is bought as a slave and goes from slave to prisoner. He lived a life under pressure of attack and rejection. Yet in the end he was lifted above his circumstance and placed in a position where he was able to save not only the people in Egypt but his own people. (Look up his story in Genesis.)

Sometimes we have to be broken to get to the good part of ourselves that is hidden deep within.

Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
Psalm 34:18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalm 51:8 Make me to hear joy and gladness, Let the bones which You have broken rejoice.

 

 

Today’s Thoughts-Joy & Laughter 2/9/2017

This morning has been incredible. I woke up inspired and filled with the joy of the Lord. I even was able to enjoy the sunrise. As the day has progressed thoughts keep filling my mind. I have been posting a series of devotionals by Kay Warren from Saddleback Church and wife of Rick Warren a pastor and author of ‘A purpose Driven Life’. My inspiration for sharing these devotionals is because I struggle with PTSD and depression. I have good days and bad. Learning that joy is not because I have an absence of problems but that in the middle of the dark and stormy days in my life I have the assurance that God is both with me and for me. Since I know that I am not alone in my struggle and that others have their own battles and the need I have to be encouraged I want to encourage others not to give up. I have also battled suicide because my depression has been at times more than I could bear alone but thanks to God I am still here and I have a hope that I did not have before. The joy of the Lord is my strength and He gives me hope to press forward and to hold on when there is nothing I can see to hold on to. I may not be able to see Him as I can see you and you can see me but I see Him all around me if I just open my eyes to Him.

Another thing that I have just started sharing are some jokes that I am finding that are not vulgar but comical and make me laugh.Proverbs 17:22 A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength. Sharing the laughter God blesses me with lifts up my spirit. When I get to feeling down and depressed I try to find things to make me laugh. I will find a good comedy to watch so laughter fills my home. As I begin to laugh I feel the heavy weight of my depression or even my anger lift from me. It is hard to be angry or depressed for long once you start laughing. I have even laughed at myself at times. When pain and anger rises in me and I just let out a blood curdling scream. Then I hear the scream as it comes out of my mouth and wonder how many people just heard me. I live alone and I am physically small (not even 5 foot) but my voice can carry and can be very loud. When I think about the reactions of others who are with hearing distance I begin to laugh for a couple of reasons. One I may have just startled someone without meaning too and they have no idea where the scream came from, and the other reason I realize how ridiculous I must have looked and how God watching me is probably thinking, “There goes my girl again being silly”. Whether that is actually true or not I will one day find out when I get to the place Jesus is preparing for me. I have to confess there were times when I started throwing a mock tantrum in front of a child who was throwing their own temper tantrum and how they stop and stare at me like I am crazy has made me laugh so hard that they too began to laugh with me.

Am I going to continue having difficulties in this world? Yes I am. Am I going to be able to face the challenges and problems I face with a smile and laughter? No would be the honest answer but as I grow in my relationship with Jesus I will be able to do so without having to fake it. Yesterday was actually one of those days for me. I was in and actually still am in a lot of pain due to my back. Previous injuries which I can talk about later flare up and I can barely stand up or even use my hands without excruciating pain. I am in bad enough shape this week that I should have stayed home from work yesterday. My manager even asked me before I clocked in if I was going to be able to handle working. My answer was I had to make myself work because no work means no income and my bills are already more than I can pay. So I made it through my shift and carried out my work duties and served customers with a smile and a joyful voice, and if it had not been the way I was limping and the difficulties I had using my hands no one could have guessed how much pain I was in. It wasn’t until I was walking back to the building after bringing a customer their order and saw my reflection in the door that I had realized that I was actually smiling.  It was not one of my fake smiles I had learned to wear as a mask to cover how I really felt. Years of working with the public taught me that the public does not want someone who looks upset or down serving them. You learn to be cheerful and smile because it is good for business. Yet as bad as I was physically feeling emotionally and spiritually God have given me a glad heart and it was showing. I was so grateful that He had done this for me that it has spilled into this day. I woke joyful and with praise to God on my lips. I tell you that this is a blessing especially since I am not a morning person. I have a spirit of ease about me today and my mood has been lifted.

There are only a couple of days left in the ‘Choose Joy’ devotionals but I will continue to share the things that bring me laughter, to share my laughter with you. So I will close this with a joke and a link to a page on scriptures about laughter. God bless you and fill your heart with joy and laughter.

chose this joke since I shared with you about how I sometimes scream

A taxi passenger tapped the driver on the shoulder to ask him a question.

The driver screamed, lost control of the car, nearly hit a bus, went up on the footpath, and stopped centimeters from a shop window.

For a second everything went quiet in the cab, then the driver said, “Look mate, don’t ever do that again. You scared the daylights out of me!”

The passenger apologized and said, “I didn’t realize that a little tap would scare you so much.”

The driver replied, “Sorry, it’s not really your fault. Today is my first day as a cab driver – I’ve been driving a funeral van for the last 25 years”.

link for page on laughter and humor in the Bible

http://biblereasons.com/laughter-and-humor/

 

 

Being Broken

When you think of the term broken what is the first thing that comes to your mind?

Here are some things that came to my mind.

  1. Ruined
  2. Trash
  3. Destroyed
  4. Unusable
  5. Worthless

I could easily list many more things and you might have some of the same things on your list. Yet these are only the negative thought about being broken. Do you like nuts? I love them. To get to the nut you have to break the shell. Some shells are easier to break open than others like sunflower seeds or peanuts. Walnuts or pecans are are not so easy to break open. You need a nutcracker to get to the good part of these nuts, and if you don’t have a nutcracker a hammer works as long as you don’t hit the too hard. It takes effort to break their outer shells to get to the good part that you can eat and enjoy.

So being broken even though painful can lead to something good for you. The process hurts and is not fun. Imagine you are the nut and you can see the nutcracker coming for you. Then you feel trapped in its grip till you crack and break open. Scary thought. Most of us would run from pain if we knew it was going to happen was going to hurt. Yet if we all ran away from the possibility of pain we would cease to exist. Women would not have babies because labor is pain! Life is going to have some very painful moments. Just as a woman who goes from the pain of labor to the joy of holding her newborn baby, life can take your pain and turn it into joy.

Look at the life of Joseph. his brothers hate him and throw him into a pit, and want to kill him. Thankfully one brother suggest they sell him to travelers passing by. Then he is bought as a slave and goes from slave to prisoner. He lived a life under pressure of attack and rejection. Yet in the end he was lifted above his circumstance and placed in a position where he was able to save not only the people in Egypt but his own people. (Look up his story in Genesis.)

Sometimes we have to be broken to get to the good part of ourselves that is hidden deep within.

Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
Psalm 34:18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalm 51:8 Make me to hear joy and gladness, Let the bones which You have broken rejoice.

 

 

What Kind Of Witness Was I today?

What kind of a witness was I today?

The thought just popped into my head as I was dusting off a shelf. During the time I spent outside of my home today, ‘Was I a witness for Christ?’ I am not talking about only about any conversations I may have had. Did my actions speak louder than my words, and what did they say? This is a self check. Did I smile at the person as they walked past me, or was I too busy in my own little world? Did I get angry and honk my horn when a car pulled out in front of me? Did I hold the door open when someone was coming out of where I was entering? Did I ask the cashier at the grocery store how was their day? Did I compliment anyone? Have I given any words of encouragement? Did I smile when a patient came into the office and great them by name? Have I shown any kindness at all to anyone I came in contact with today?

I hope that throughout the day I have shared love and kindness and ask for forgiveness for any time that I did not.

I pray that each day of my life on this planet, I live my life to please the One who truly loves us and has given us everything, and to give Him my best every day. Thank You Jesus, without You I would never have known what it truly means to be loved. Now I live to share the love you so freely gave to me.

20. Letters from God (fictional letters based on people in the Bible) Dear Deborah

My Dear Deborah,

     Let no man ever say a woman cannot lead for she does not have the strength or the intelligence. For you my daughter are proof that that is not true. I created both man and woman. Both are good.

     You are a prophetess married to Lapidoth I made you judge over Israel during the time Jabin was king of Canaan. You did not seek this position; it was I that chose you. You judged with fairness and with wisdom. You lived in the mount of Ephraim and sat beneath a palm tree where the children of Israel came to you for judgment. There were those who criticized you, but you did not let their way of thinking effect you, or how you conducted yourself.

     You lived according to My will. Seeking to please me and not trying to win the approval of men. You are not afraid to battle and took your place on the battlefield. Then you lead an army on to victory. You dear woman are strong and courageous. You bring joy and pride to my heart when I look upon you. You are an inspiration to future women who do not believe in themselves, just because they are a woman.

     They can learn of you and know that being a woman does not make them worthless, and weak. They can find courage and take their place in the battle for my Kingdom. Thank you for your obedience and faith. I love you My child.

Love,

El Shaddai

Read

Judges chapter 4 & 5

14.Letters from God (fictional letters based on people in the Bible) Dear Joseph (falsely accused)

Dear Joseph,

(Falsely accused)

     You were falsely accused of attempting to rape Potiphar’s wife, when you denied her, she screamed her false accusations. She was angry because she had been rejected, something that no one had ever done. She was used to getting her way and had never been told no. So to keep you silent she lied. So now you sit in jail. Once again you are being treated terribly by those who are close to you. Even though Potiphar knew that you did not touch his wife or try to harm her. Yet he was more concerned about how this would look to others and how what she had done could affect the position he holds. For these reasons he hid the truth of what his wife had done. He knew in his heart the truth, yet he still punished you for a crime that you did not commit.

     You are paying the price for her lies. Once again you are alone in a dark place, imprisoned by another’s actions. The pain of the humiliation caused by her accusations has cut deep. This pain you are feeling is more than understandable. You suffer much, but I will see you through this. You are not alone. I Am here with you. Do not be afraid. I have plans for you, and through you I will save many. Soon two men will be in prison with you. I will give these men dreams, and to you I will give the interpretations of their dreams. Just a little while and I will take you out of your prison and place you on high and you will be given a position of power and authority.

      When this time shall come, how will you treat those who have wronged you? I know your heart, but do you? Do not let go of your faith in Me. Believe and much good will come from your suffering. I will take what has been done to you and use it to be glorified in you. What you have suffered will not be in vain. I will prosper you and you will see the power of my love and the grace of forgiveness.

I Am yours Faithfully,

Love your God

 

 Read 

Genesis chapter 38 & 39