This is the Ride of Your Life!

I have always wanted to ride a scenic train. Hopefully this summer will be my opportunity. We have plans for just that. I know that this type of train travels on the edges of rivers, winds through mountains and dips into valleys. There will be a couple of tunnels to travel through and there are no lights in these tunnels. I will not be able to see outside the train car, but I’ll be safe inside where it is well lit and all our needs for comfort are met – drinks, bathrooms, soft seats and air conditioning. I’ll also have my wonderful husband by my side.

I don’t know if I’ve told you, but I’m not fond of heights, dips, cliffs, bridges, curves or the dark! Yet I am planning a trip that will take me through those exact situations. My fears of those things are overcome by my desire to enjoy the ride!  I won’t be riding alone anyway, even when I’m afraid my husband never is and he will hold me close and remind me that it’s safe.  I might get scared from time to time but it will be okay because the trip will be outstanding and the scenery will be breathtaking!

We don’t always get to choose our trip. There will be hard times. We must go through them just like I will have to go through the tunnels. Life’s twists and turns can be rough. We don’t know how we can hold on. We want off the ride and back on terra firma – safe ground.  But regardless of the dangers ahead, we are meant to dwell in joy! The train cars of life are full of His care and comfort – we can abide in joy and peace. Our conductor is no novice –for He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He knows what He’s doing.  Not only that, the one who sits with us and comforts us and whispers words of safety is our Lord and Savior!  Even when we are in the tunnels of life and we can see absolutely nothing or no one, the music playing in our head is the Word of God sung to us by the Holy Spirit, who is with us always.

Oh beloved, run to God’s Word for you are in for the ride of your life! The Word of God is your ticket to heaven, but it’s also your seating assignment, your boarding pass and your safety net! Read it all and take it in for you will be refreshed in hard times and strengthened in weak moments. When you cannot see anything, the Word will increase your vision!  When you wish you were somewhere else the Word is your reminder that God is orchestrating your life for His glory and your best! You are blessed and highly favored for the King of your life not only gave you heaven, He has taken care of all your needs for this life as well! Keep your eyes on Jesus for He is the Conductor of your entire life – He will check your ticket and attend to all your needs and safety all the way. 

Psalm 112:6-8 Such people will not be overcome by evil. Those who are righteous will be long remembered.  They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the Lord to care for them. They are confident and fearless and can face their foes triumphantly.

Isaiah 25:9 In that day the people will proclaim, “This is our God! We trusted in Him, and He saved us! This is the Lord, in whom we trusted. Let us rejoice in the salvation He brings!”

Isaiah 42:16 “I will lead the blind by a way they do not know, In paths they do not know I will guide them.  I will make darkness into light before them and rugged places into plains. These are the things I will do, And I will not leave them undone.” (New American Standard)

Proverbs 1:33 But all who listen to Me will live in peace, untroubled by fear of harm.

Looking For Change?

Brother, Can you Spare a Dime was an old song sung during the Depression era when people valued and prayed for every nickel and dime they had. Even though there’s a big push towards a cashless society, we still like our folding money and jingling coins.  Danny and I have a huge water jug that we collect change in. When it gets full, that money will be turned in for Run for the Son missions’ effort.  We enjoy seeing the nickels dimes and quarters along with pennies inching their way to the top. Danny enjoys giving good tips and telling the waitress to keep the change when we dine out. The grandkids all love getting quarters from us when we’re at the discount store so they can get bubble gum or try to retrieve a toy via one of the games.  I can still hear my daddy rattling the change in his pocket.  Danny also likes to pick up pennies on the sidewalk and in parking lots. It’s money and five pennies equals a nickel he says. It’s really hard to believe people will throw away pennies, discard them as though they are worthless. The most recent time change is hard to deal with in the morning, but it sure is nice in the evening. 

Change is inevitable. Change is good. Change is everywhere. Give someone cash and you’ll generally always get change back.   Color your hair and a big change happens. Drive a little slower and your gas mileage will change for sure. Take vitamins and your fingernails change – they get stronger and grow faster.  Have a cold? Take your medicine and the symptoms subside and you get well faster. Paint a room and the change is dramatic!

Maybe you’d like to have more change. You wish that you could repair your mistakes, forget your regrets or balance your life account to quit being in the red. You’re thinking you overspent your chances at mercy and grace and there’s no way to get anything back that’s worth having. Hold on! God’s mercies are new every morning and His grace extends to thousands of generations. 

You may be reading this and thinking, “I don’t WANT change!” You’re tired of people being fickle and life handing you lemons. You wonder why things can’t just stay the same. You don’t want to have any changes, you like things just the way they are. You live for the old days when things were simpler and life was easier. You fear tomorrow because you don’t know what’s there. Hold on, there’s no need to fear for God is in your tomorrows!

Oh beloved, it’s time to make friends with change! Change will help you grow in faith. Don’t fear the outcome for God is making a way for you where you can’t see the way. Life may appear to be a foggy road ahead, but God will clear out the things that are holding you back. His Truth is your vehicle to forge into the future with gusto! Whether you want change or fear it, God Has wonderful plans for your future. While some changes are not good in themselves, God can be trusted to keep you safe and He will cause you to grow in Grace! God uses each change to increase your Knowledge of Him! Believe His way is the best road and love your life in Christ!

The greatest change you will ever experience is the change God makes when you yield yourself totally to Him.  If He can change a heart to belong to Him, then He can surely take your yesterdays, todays and tomorrows and change them into a life that displays His glorious mercy and grace! God loves you always and forever beloved and He’s for you eternally and that’s something you can never change!

Ezekiel 36:26-27 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.  And I will put My Spirit in you so that you will follow My decrees and be careful to obey My regulations.  And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow My decrees and be careful to obey My regulations.

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

2 Corinthians 3:18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image.

Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me. (Amplified Bible)

Time Flies - How's Your Conversation Skills?

My family on my mother’s side is planning a reunion. One of my cousins has taken on the task and I’m so grateful to her. It’s a monumental effort to find a place, figure out the feeding of people and make sure everyone is happy with their surroundings. It’s also tough to figure out who will come and who won’t be able to make it. Many of my cousins (along with my own brother) are teetering on their 70’s. It gets harder to navigate and age creeps up on us all without warning. You never hear age say, “Hello, I’m Age, I’m coming after you and I will catch you”.

While getting in touch with various cousins, I found one particular cousin’s email bounced back. So knowing he had email through his business, I contacted him there. I got a response from him. He’s been sick and won’t be able to make it to the reunion. Although we were together just a little over a year ago, I had not talked with him all that time. So I was shocked to find out he had been very ill. His progress into healing will be slow as well.

Often we get out of touch with family because of daily life. We get busy, time flies and next thing you know we don’t have any contact with them for months, sometimes years. Other times it’s because of a simple misunderstanding or hurt feelings. It’s easier to stay away from the person who hurt you or someone who misunderstood you. It doesn’t take long to fill in the gaps of family time with other things. A good example is drawing a line in the wet sand along the the shore of the ocean. It covers back over and fills in in moments and the next person who comes along doesn’t even know anyone was there.

Maybe you are the one who has been left alone. Someone got offended or didn’t get their way and now you are the one sitting by yourself. Maybe you tried to contact them once or twice, but figured there was no point.  You feel left out, discarded, embarrassed or sorrowful.  Many times you’ve wished you could go back and make things different.  You wrack your brain searching for your mistake and then berate yourself and take all the blame.  Regardless of the reasons, you want to blame yourself and then you want to fix it yourself.

Even if it’s just that time has flown and things got busy, there’s still time to make contact and renew connections, companionship and affection.  

Oh beloved! There’s still time! First things first, pick up your prayer line and talk with Lord. He will direct you and counsel you on which way to go. He is your greatest ally, your best friend and your forever companion. He doesn’t quit you, He won’t turn His back on you and He’ll always be within the breath of a prayer. Even if you’ve been too busy to talk with Him, today is the day and He will answer immediately. He doesn’t hold a grudge or say it’s been too long.

He will speak to your heart and give you instructions if you need to make amends, reach out or start over.  This marvelous relationship we have with our Lord lets us go to Him in prayer for everything! This prayer we pray is no mere memorization of words, but a real conversation with a real and available God. He knows your hurts, He knows the situation, He knows how time flies.  This intimate relationship we can have with the Lord is worth pursuing so that we have His heart about relationships and fellowship and more. 

Then pick up the phone and talk with that long time no see cousin, that old and dear friend, that special someone who hasn’t been in contact in many years.  God will open the doors for you and He will make fellowships sweeter and relationships renewed, if you let Him choose the way. And always remember, God is the way maker, so that if things don’t work out, you are still drawing closer to God with every conversation you hold with Him and that’s something eternal that will never be taken away.

God loves you and He’s for you – that’s why you can talk to Him about anything and everything – now that’s an amazing Savior.

Psalm 73:25-26 Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; He is mine forever.

I Timothy 2:1 I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.

Philippians 4:6 Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all he has done.

God's Love is Your Perfect Christmas Gift!

A Charlie Brown Christmas came to mind last night as I read a friend’s post.

In A Charlie Brown Christmas, everyone who’s ever seen the little 30 minute kid’s movie knows that Charlie Brown’s tree was absolutely pitiful! It was almost completely bare of needles and the top looked broken and bent. Now this tree was once a much better specimen. It started out like most trees. Growing in a tree farm, it was cared for lovingly. Fertilizer in the spring so the needs would be deep green and the limbs remain healthy. Mowing underneath all year long so that weeds and vines wouldn’t encroach. Trimming ever so carefully by the skillful hands of the tree farmer, just so. Not too much removed, but just enough to make the little tree and all the other trees in the farm stand perfectly and become full and robust.

Once the tree was cut and removed from the farm it was destined for someone’s home. But there are many variables in the life of a Christmas tree – from the farm to the store to the home. The little tree of Charlie Brown’s evidently had it pretty rough. First, with lack of natural water the needles got dry and ginger. The liveliness of the tree began to wane. Then the winds came and the trunk became bent underneath the trauma. Finally, after being thrown from truck to yard it had all the effects of mistreatment. After all, once at the store, trees are just mean to be a cash crop. No real care given to any of them.

Charlie Brown’s tree was not met with enthusiasm. In fact it was a cause for derision and great laughter. But somehow Charlie Brown saw something important in that little wisp of a tree. And, when he got at his lowest point, his friend Linus came to his rescue. Linus did not offer him more money to get a better tree. He didn’t offer to discard the tree for him. He didn’t try to make the tree better by adding to it. He didn’t even try to convince Charlie Brown that he was okay, did the right thing or any such advice or help.

Instead, Linus did the only thing that would truly help. The only thing that a true friend could do. He pointed Charlie Brown to the real meaning of Christmas.   

Linus states he can tell him, and recites the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke, verses 8 through 14: “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill towards men.'" Linus finished by saying, "...And that's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."

Which takes me back to my friend’s post, reminding me that when we point one another to the real meaning of not only Christmas, but life itself, we have done well. When we share the TRUTH about God and His wonderful, magnificent, astounding, unending, eternal, everlasting, perfect love for each and every one of us, we have done our part to take that friend out of the elements of life and into the warmth and caring of Almighty God. As we give out the living water and they take it in, things change. Attitudes change. Hearts change. Lives change.

Oh beloved, are you absolutely sure that you understand that God loves you? That you are truly indeed His beloved? And, because you are His beloved, you can look past the forlorn elements of your life to the Living Gospel and see! Rest beneath the promises of God! Rest under the shade of the Mighty Living Lord! Hear Him calling you? Yes, you. He always says Beloved, and if you ever hear words that don’t speak love and tenderness, you are not hearing from the Lord!

Run to His Word this morning and ask Him to make it real to you. The enemy of your soul wants you to believe his lies and he has been formulating them for a very long time. However, the Savior and Lover of your soul formulated His love songs to you before the foundation of the World! He is Loyal, Faithful and True! And His love was created just for you! Let His living water revive you. Let His constant care and tender pruning make you what you could never hope to be on your own. Rejoice as He speaks His love song into your heart singing “I love you, I’m for you, I will deliver you and heal you and keep you forever with me!” What wondrous love is this, oh my soul, oh my soul!

Psalm 31:7  I will be glad and rejoice in Your unfailing love, for You have seen my troubles, and You care about the anguish of my soul.

Psalm 127:2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to take rest late, to eat the bread of [anxious] toil—for He gives [blessings] to His beloved in sleep. (AMP)

John 15:9 I have loved you even as the Father has loved Me. Remain in My love.

Ephesians 6:11  Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.

John 8:44 b  …(satan) was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Romans 8:37-38 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.

 

 

 

 

Got Burdens? Let Jesus Lift Them From You!

My friend Kathy raises donkeys. They are magnificent! I know you’re thinking, donkeys? Magnificent? But these are no ordinary donkeys. They have special papers and names. They are a breed fit for the show ring. Most donkeys are considered mere beasts of burden. From old cowboy movies to modern day pack rides, you see donkeys everywhere. I will tell you I didn’t know that donkeys could be so beautiful and do so much!

When we come to Jesus we are mere beasts of burden. We carry such a weight on us. All of our sins, mistakes, hurts, pains, troubles, trials, disappointments, discouragements. It’s heavy and we can barely walk. The Lord Himself takes our burdens from us! We are free to be His creation, fit for Him to show His glorious praises! Sometimes we come to church looking for freedom and we find more burdens – religion, duties, condemnation and more. But Jesus never gives us more burdens! He loves us so much that He frees us to come and go from His pleasant pastures. As we lean on Him He removes our burdens ever so delicately.

Oh beloved, today is the day you can let God release your burdens for you. He says to you today, I AM the one who has taken your burdens all the way to Calvary and beyond. I AM your burden bearer. I AM your load lightener. If you will just give me your burdens, hand them over to me, I AM able to make you a magnificent example of my love and care! I will always take perfect care of you, I will always display My love for you and I will openly bless you with all the good things that are found in Me.  

Run to His Word and see this morning! See what He says about you! You may feel ordinary, but you are extraordinary as you read His Word and see your papers – His Word tells you everything you need to know about the pedigree of your spiritual lineage. You are loved and you are cared for and you are free to be all that you were ever meant to be! He loves you and He’s for you and that’s all that really matters!

Psalm 55:22  Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.

Matthew 11:28  Then Jesus said, Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

Psalm 146:8  The LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are weighed down. The LORD loves the godly.

Ephesians 6:10 For we are God’s masterpiece…

Genesis 49:25  May the God of your father help you; may the Almighty bless you with the blessings of the heavens above, and blessings of the watery depths below, and blessings of the breasts and womb.

Psalm 16:5  LORD, You alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing. You guard all that is mine.