Another blog that really spoke to me....

I just read a post by blogger Rachel Held Evans called "I don't write for an audience of one".  I was so blessed to be introduced to this blogger by my daughter, Gwen.  Seriously - if you have time - go to her web site and take in some of her posts.  They are amazing.   So much of what she writes, resonates with me (and so many others).   Today, I felt  she was talking directly to me.  This is her response to the question "how to you get people to read and follow your blog?" And then follow the question by saying that it really doesn't matter if anyone DOES read their words......  Rachel says.....

 

I confess I kinda want to shake these people and say: “Don’t you see! You were made to want others to read your work! Don’t you see! Your talent DOES bring glory to the God who created you!”

Again, this doesn’t mean we have to have a massive audience to enjoy our creative work. As Eric Liddell so beautifully put it, “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel his pleasure.” There is joy in creative expression with or without an audience of other people.

But the desire to share these thoughts and experiences—to be heard, to be understood, to be recognized, to be affirmed—is not inherently selfish. It’s good. It’s holy. It’s challenging. It’s fun.

How easy it is to forget that we are the result of the collaborative work of a relational Being who in the beginning said, “Let Us make mankind in our image, in our likeness,” and who looked upon that creation and called it good.  Even God did not create for an audience of One.

 

So, thank you Rachel Held Evans for reminding me that Yahweh has given me the desire to share, the place to share and the very words to share!  

 

to read more go to www.rachelheldevans.com  

Thunder, Lightning, and shofar blasts

Last night there was a dozy of a storm.  The entire building at the Cyrus Ministries Big Rock facility was shaking as the thunder roared (with the added vibration of a passing freight train!).  The lightning was just flashing all over the sky.  And during worship I heard the blast of a shofar.  Now, I confess, that I am more apt to SEE something unusual during worship, but last night I heard that shofar blast.  And that reminded me.......

One night last week I had my sleep interrupted three different times when I was sure that there was a shofar blast!  I have learned that when something like this happens, it is best to take time to stop and ask Yahweh for an explanation.  I was awake for quite some time, but did not have any clear answer.  Just after I got up early the next morning, I heard "the three shofar blasts were three walls broken and three gates opened" 

Okay - this is an exciting word!  I could imagine some walls that I have been facing just crumbling.  I was thinking about Joshua and the walls of Jericho.  But what were these opened gates?

Then several hours later, just going about my daily routine, and continuing to ponder those shofar blasts, I heard Yahweh's explanation.....

     Wall of hopelessness and despair broken and gate of joy and peace opened!
     Wall of disease and infirmity broken and gate of health and healing opened!
     Wall of disappointment & discouragement broken and gate of provision & opportunity opened!

Last night when that shofar sounded, Yahweh was sending forth His power and doing battle in the heavenly realm FOR US!   At those times when we are so tired, so hopeless and so beaten down, HE is sending forth his angels to break down those walls.  When we are sick and hurting, HE has opened the gate of restored health for us.  No matter what our current situation is - how bleak things may look, HE has not only provision but opportunities for us. 

What a comforting thought. I am so glad that I am not responsible for all the spiritual warfare.   It's great to be reminded that Yahweh wants to breakthrough even the nasty, tough areas of my life.  And His plan for me includes everything that is needed and the place to complete it. 

Tonight I am very thankful - thankful for safe travel home during that nasty storm last night.  And thankful for a deeper revelation of Yahweh.  I am also thankful that I am going deeper in "getting" who Jesus is!

Good time with an old friend...

Isn't it great to spend time with our friends?  Especially those people who we know God has brought into our lives for a special reason.  I am so thankful for the many wonderful friends that I have who are always there for me.  The ones that listen to my rants and raves and still want to be friends.    Quite honestly, I don't know what I would do without them.   Today I spent a few hours with a dear friend of many, many years.  (Actually, I just stopped to figure out that it has been 23 years!)  We have walked through a lot together - good times and bad times.  But the important thing is that we have prayed for each other and with each other and celebrated answered prayers.  Sometimes we don't talk for a month or more and lately, we only see each other every few months.  When we do talk or get together, it is as if no time has passed and we just pick up where we left off.   The best part of being together is knowing that she "gets" me! And I know that I "get" her!  We understand each other.  

Jesus understood about friends when he walked this earth.  He had a close circle of friends in the disciples.  And he had some close friends like Lazarus that he cared deeply about (and wept for) - that were not among the 12.  Jesus even had a few closer ties with Peter and John, his beloved. 

Today as I was traveling home from my friends house I was thinking about Jesus and friendship.   The old familiar song, "What a Friend we have in Jesus" came into my thoughts......
                    What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear.
                    What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.
                    Oh what peace we often forfeit, of what needless pain we bear
                    All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

                    Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
                    We should never be discouraged - take it to the Lord in prayer
                    Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
                    Jesus knows our every weakness - Take it to the Lord in prayer.
 
                    Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?
                    Precious Savior, still our refuge - take it to the Lord in prayer.
                    Do your friends despise, forsake you? Take it to the Lord in prayer.
                    In his arms he'll take and shield you.  You will find a solace there.   

So many things in this world are pictures of  the character of Yahweh.  We can see him in all of creation and today I realized that we see him in these dear friends.  Jesus wants to be friends with us in a deep and real way.  He wants us to know that he "gets" us and more importantly, he wants us to "get" him.  I am  going to spend the next several days pondering exactly what this means for me. I will also be more aware of  "Taking it to the Lord in prayer". 

A good time with an old friend and also a deeper understanding of what a friend we have in Jesus!

One Liners

NOTE - I am extremely convinced that this post needs to happen today!  I have typed this three times and each time it has "vanished" from my computer screen.  I will be saving this over and over as I type so that I don't lose it again! 

I have been writing in journals for the last 24 years.  I have boxes and boxes of notebooks filled with my thoughts, emotions, prayers and answers to prayers as well as words from Yahweh.  Tonight I happened to find a stray journal and it fell open to a page of "one liners".  These one sentence thoughts that had no lead in, no explanation.  As I read through them, they all spoke to me for today. 
So here they are....

*You are the solution to someones problem
*The need to be approved by people or the church can rob us our position with Yahweh.
*If you try to "fit in " you will fail.
*We need to go the position of our destiny and Yahweh will do the rest.
*Our heart has a brain that imagines.
*Accept Yahweh's direction even when it is contrary to your normal ideas and thoughts.
*Expect miraculous results.
*Yahweh wants to provide an abundance not a minimum or just enough.
*Worship bring surrender.
*The highest position you can ever hold is Yahweh's child.
*Don't be worldly or you will lose your destiny.
*Each day report to the heavenly office and ask for your duties for that day.
*Yahweh has a will do list for you to replace your to do list.
*When people are speaking death to your vision hold up your promises and say no to the people.
*Jesus is about the restoration of all creation.
*Yahweh has deep emotion for all of us -He longs for us to be who He wants us to be.
*Chew on a word from Yahweh - meditate on it, digest it, and then give it out.
*Don't respond to the needs of people, respond to what Yahweh is saying and doing.
*Jesus knew that the cross was not the end - it was just the vehicle to get to the end.
*See the Lamb (get revelation every day) and See the Land (hang on to the vision and promises of Yahweh)

I am so thankful for my journals.  If you don't take the time to write down your thoughts each day, you will lose them.  (And if you don't save your blog post, you will lose it also!) Over and over I have been amazed at the insight I have gained just by looking back at my journals.  So pick up a pen and find some paper and start writing!  Be blessed! 

Feeling stuffed..... and it's not Thanksgiving!

Last year around this time, I noticed that I was feeling "stuffed"!  You know that feeling, when you have eaten much more than you should have.  Yes, I was overweight.  Over the last few years my weight had just crept up and up.   And it wasn't just physically that I was feeling stuffed - it was Spiritually.   I was hearing and taking in lots of good teaching.  I was soaking in new revelations and excited about the things that were beginning to make sense to me.  But, there was also an increasing feeling that I could not hear ONE MORE THING! 

That was when I realized the connection between feeling full Spiritually and my weight!  One of the most amazing testimonies of Yahweh's unique plan for me is my name.  My first powerful encounter with Jesus included the Bible verse - John 7:38 -  "Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him".  That verse became my "life verse"!    Imagine my surprise and delight when years later, I discovered that my name means "streams of water" and the Bible verse associated with my name is that exact verse.

 I had been drinking from that river of living water, pouring down from the throne.  But there was a dam preventing that flow out of me.  And I believed that there was a connection between this and my weight! 

So I committed to Yahweh to be more aware of ways that I could allow the many good words I had heard to flow out of me.  I watched for opportunities to share and focused on some projects that had been sitting on the back burner for some time.  I even agreed to take on a project that I knew I was not "qualified" to do in the natural.  And I made a decision to make better choices about my food intake and exercise.  Over the next 6 months I lost 30 pounds.   So I have lost that "stuffed" feeling in my body. I still have a bit more to go, but I am on the way. 

 I am still feeling somewhat stuffed Spiritually.  So I am trusting that this blog will be part of breaking down that dam that may still be holding back the flow of living water that is in me. 

I am on the way to living in that MAY place.