delay or deliverance?

“But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things” (1 John 2:20) KJV

Are we living in the full anointing of God? Do we truly understand the power we can tap into because of Christ living in us? 

Are we living lives that merely delay our next pitfall into bondage or are we living our lives in search of deliverance?

My desire is for complete deliverance from those things that hold me captive. Deliverance from those things that I have created strongholds out of. I don’t seek to just delay them, but I seek to allow God to remove me from them and be delivered into His glorious light. 

We can live victorious lives in Christ. It’s about walking in His ways and walking in His light so we can possess the ability to step around those pits that are just waiting for us to fall into. If we want the full anointing of God in our lives, if we want to walk in victory, we must seek out the Light and walk according to His ways. We must allow the Light to shine in our darkness and illuminate our path.

So, are we walking in the Light? Do we even know what the Light is? Or who the Light is?

The first chapter of John tells us that the Light is Christ. A light that shines in the darkness and continues to shine so darkness can’t overcome it. 

“…God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5)

Our walk begins when we take a step of faith and trust Christ as our Savior. That is only the beginning. Our walk is a progression and it involves our communing with God and having fellowship with Him.  It’s about acknowledging that He is the Light of the world and that we must walk where He leads. We must follow His Word and His commands. God has called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light! (1 Peter 2:9)

Where darkness abides, there is no light. The darkness of sin in our life rebels against the light of Christ. But the beautiful thing about the light is that it is revealing. It not only erases the darkness, but at the same time it shows us truth. We can try and hide ourselves and our sin in the dark, but when the light is made manifest, our hiding places are revealed. Even just a small amount of light will pierce through the blackness and illuminate. 

Have you every cleaned and dusted your house and it appears spotless to your eyes? Then you open up the curtains and in the startling brightness you can see those areas that are still filled with dirt and dust? The light revealed the truth. It exposed the things that we thought were hidden or clean. 

That is exactly what the light of Christ does in our lives. It reveals to us that which needs to be exposed. And once it is exposed it needs to be dealt with. If we just allow it to remain and turn off the light, we will be right back where we started. In the dark and out of fellowship with Christ. Darkness and light can’t co-exist. It’s either one of the other.  Living in the dark causes us to stumble, lose our way, and fall into pits of sin without warning. How do we know if we are indeed walking in the dark?

1. We lose the Word.

We stop “doing the truth’ as it tells us in 1 John 1:6. We stop reading the Word and so we lose the ability to hear the truth and abide in it. When we cling to the dark, we can’t see the Word in that absence of light. So, we quit reading our bibles and we begin to lose the Word or the Truth that abides in us and we begin our walk in the dark. As we progress, our way grows darker and it takes us farther and farther away from the true Light. 

2. We neglect our prayer life.

After we quit reading the Word, we no longer desire to commune with our God. Once we stop feeding our souls the Bread of Life, our appetites wane for the Truth and we will be pulled in the opposite direction. Truth is traded for lies and deception and we begin to forfeit our fellowship with Christ. 

3. We lose our desire for fellowship with Christ.

When we walk in the Light, we desire to obey God’s Word. We have a desire to do what His Word tells us to do and we also desire to nurture our prayer life. When we see both of those begin to disappear from our daily walks, we can know that we are beginning to fall out of fellowship with our Lord. Our spiritual eyes have become accustomed to the dark and we no longer see the dangerous place we have fallen into.

Obedience to His Word entails walking in the light, so when we move out of the light into the shadows, our obedience will suffer. We have then begun a downward spiral that will carry us deeper into the dark and down into a pit of bondage. 

Is there a way out? Is there hope for those of us who have slipped into darkness?

Oh, yes, there is hope! We only have to let the light of Christ begin shining once again in our lives! We need to open our eyes and seek out the Light once more. Allow Him to reach down and pull us out of the pit of darkness and back into the glorious light of our Savior! Once we begin to recognize the beauty and safety of living in the light and the eminent danger of the dark, we can be more determined and purposed to keep ourselves focused on Christ and the truth of His Word. 

Let's not delay our next pit, but let's be delivered from it! Let’s reach up and grab the hand of our God and let Him guide our path with the light of His Son, Jesus Christ.

“Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path”(Psalm 119:105)

the Glory of God!

The well of the Word of God is so deep that we could study 24 hours a day every day of our lives and never draw out the last drop. My desire is to daily drink deeply from the fountain of His Word and allow the sweet Holy Spirit to teach me and reveal to me treasures abounding! 

What is the glory of God? That may be one of the hardest things to define, yet it is also one of the most important things for us, as Christians, to grab hold of. God’s glory is the manifest presence of Himself. It is God showing us who He is in a tangible way.  It is the beauty of who He is. It is all of His attributes, all of His character and all of His divine nature.

The word glory in Hebrew is kabowd. It means ‘the weight of something in a figurative sense’. It denotes splendor, abundance and honor.

In Exodus 33:18, we see Moses make a request of God. He desired for God to show him His glory. Basically, what Moses said was, “Show me the weight of who You are. Show me Your splendor and honor and abundance.”

Why don’t we ask the same of God today? Is it because we don’t desire to see His glory or is it because we don’t think that He will show us? God wants to show us who He is! He desires to show us His glory! In all the scriptures, only one man had the blessing of seeing His glory but that is because he is the only man that ever asked that of God. We don’t receive because we don’t ask!

I love that Moses had seen God’s glory along with the Jews in the pillar of a cloud and the fire, but Moses desired a deeper revelation. He wanted a personal glimpse of God’s glory. He wanted the intimacy of relationship with God.  He wanted a new vision. That’s what we need to be seeking today. A new vision of God and His glory. A new revelation of who He is and who He desires us to be. We need to be desperate for intimacy with our God and with our Savior. So desperate that we will ask God to show us His glory!

As we look at verse 19, we see God’s gorgeous response. God says, “I will make all My goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the Name of the LORD before thee.”

The word goodness in the Hebrew is tuwb. It means ‘good in the widest sense; pleasant; beautiful; delightful; lovely; righteous; precious; the best things. Basically it is meaning ‘nothing withheld’. 

So, God is telling Moses, “You want to see My glory? I’ll show you My glory. I’ll show you everything good about Me. I will withhold nothing from you.”

The next part of that verse is so beautiful. God says, “I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee”. Now, that doesn't sound so amazing until you stop and dwell on it. An earthly king has his name announced by proclamation before he enters into the throne room in all his splendor. It is announced so that there is no mistake who the king is. It is the greatness of the earthly king revealed to those around him. 

And now we see our God doing this very thing to Moses. He is telling Moses that He will hide him in the cleft of the rock and cover him with His holy hand. Then before He passes by in all His glory and all His goodness, withholding nothing from him, God will proclaim His Name before him. Let there be no mistake who the King is. Let there be no mistake of His splendor and His majesty and His honor.

The glory of God in our lives today is everything that makes God, God. It encompasses all His Authority. All of His Power. All of His Wisdom. It is the immeasurable weight of God wrapped up in the splendor of His manifest presence. He withholds nothing from us when we truly desire to see His face. To behold His glory. To worship Him in spirit and in truth. 

Our prayer today should be nothing less than, “Oh, God, show me your glory!”  Let us fall on our faces in sheer desperation of just a glimpse of this in our lives. May He cover us with His loving hand and reveal His goodness to us, withholding nothing. And may we receive it and give Him praise and honor forever.

Create in me...

"Create in me a clean heart, O God;

And renew a right spirit within me"

(Psalm 51:10)

What an amazing prayer that Kind David uttered to God when pleading for forgiveness, cleansing and restoration of fellowship with Him. What an amazing and pertinent prayer this should be on the lips of every Christian! 

The word create in this passage is the Hebrew word 'bara' which means 'to create or to make'. But the beautiful thing about the word is that this verb is of profound theological significance. Truly the word 'bara' is a verb that only has God as its subject. It expresses creation out of nothing as we see first in Genesis 1:1. 

So, as we encounter this word in this Psalm of David, we must understand that David knew that the work on his heart which was needed and desired could only be accomplished by His God. Our hearts need a touch by our heavenly Father. God and only God can create in us that clean heart with forgiveness and cleansing and restoration. May this prayer be on our lips and in our hearts every day of our lives. 

early morning

"Before the ear perceives the countless voices of the day, it must listen in the early morning to the voice of the Creator and Redeemer. God has prepared the stillness of the earliest morning for Himself. It must belong to Him" (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

~~~~~~~~~

My eyes open in the early hours of the morning and deep in my spirit these words are heard,

"Rise, my sweet child"

I hear His whisper down deep in my spirit and at first my flesh rebels. But the yearning inside for obedience to the bidding of my Father wins out. I throw back the covers and immediately feel the chill in the air and briefly contemplate crawling back in my bed. My flesh craves the warmth of the cocoon I had just emerged from but a fierce longing arises deep in my soul for the intimate moments with my God that I know is coming.

These quiet times in the dark when all around me is still are the times that I can hear His voice clearly. These sweet moments when it feels like God and I are the only ones awake. It's just me and my LORD. Communing together. Growing in relationship. Sharing the earliest hours of the day with my Creator and my God.

As I sit and open the Word, I get a slight chill in my body as the power of what lies before me overtakes my spirit.  

The Word of God. 

Holy-Spirit inspired.

               God-breathed.

                             Infallible.

                                            Inerrant.

The WORD.... etched by God's finger through the obedience of men.

Did those men rise, too, in the early morning darkness? Did God's Holy whisper descend to their hearts with an unmistakable sound? Did they hear His Voice and respond without delay?

Oh, how I desire to be obedient in all things. How I desire to be still before Christ and anticipate His Presence!

Acknowledging His Sovereignty,

Praising His Majesty,

Reveling in the sheer wonder of who He is and the power of His whisper.

Surrendered.... submitted.... unhindered....

Discerning and available and ready to be used. Purposed and passionate about serving my God wherever He leads. Give me ears to hear, Oh God!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"But now, O LORD, thou art our Father; we are the clay, 

and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand" (Isaiah 64:8)

He wakes me up

My God awakens me in the early hours of the morning. Sleep alludes me and I know that He is beckoning me to rise and get still before Him. 

My heart is so hungry for a Word from His Holy lips. I seek and I desire a revelation deep in my spirit. Open my eyes, LORD. I'm ready to listen. I'm ready to hear.

You are Jehovah! You are the mighty God! I look unto you, Oh LORD, for my strength. I depend upon you for my every breath. You are my sustenance. You are my everything.

My heart begins to grieve over the rebellion in my spirit. God, circumcise it from my heart. Help me to deny 'self' and desire only to walk in your ways. I want to please you! I want to submit to you and your will for my life. I desire to surrender all!

Lead me into the ways of holiness. Stir up my spirit to walk in godliness at all times. Empower me to push aside those fleshly desires and wants that threaten to seek victory in my life.

Teach me your ways. Help me walk in truth. Make the desires of my heart match the desires of your heart. I want a heart like yours, Oh God!

Hear my cry in the night. Anoint those in need. Bestow healing and restoration to my loved ones in body and spirit.

Obedience. Trust. A heart of Faith. Grant me these things from your Holy Hill. Help me to keep my eyes on you. Help me to see that it's all about you, God. I worship. I exalt your name above all others. Oh, how I love You! You fill me with joy unspeakable. Peace unfathomable settles in and praise flows from my lips to Your Throne.

Thank you for sweet mercy and grace. Thank you for the gift of eternal life that cost You the life of Your Son at  Calvary.

May I never trample on that grace but may I be ever mindful of the saving faith I possess because of the price Christ paid to redeem me from the pits of hell.

I'm overwhelmed. I'm overjoyed. I awaken to spend time at the feet of my Savior and now He gives me rest.

~~~~~~~~

"...He wakes me up in the morning. Wakes me up, opens my ears to listen as one ready to take orders. The Master, GOD, opened my ears..."

(Isaiah 50:4b) The Message

just things...

As I sat down today to write a post, all I could gather in my head was bits and pieces of what God has shown me over the last few months. Nothing profound. Nothing astounding. Just things that He has placed in my heart and spirit that have ministered to me and I pray that someone needs to read and 'hear' part or all of what He is leading me to share.

~~~~~~

*Give voice to your struggles so God can begin to do a work. So many times we keep things bottled up inside and truly God wants us to cry out so He can respond to our needs.

* Acknowledge your weaknesses and admit your shortcomings. He knows them anyway so just let it loose with Him!

* Take those broken pieces of your life and lay them at the Foot of the Cross so He can bestow healing and restoration to your soul.

* Once we lay everything down, resist the urge to pick those things back up. Resist the urge to look back. The past has been covered by His Grace and that is enough! Move forward with God!

*Grieve over the past and then JOY in the future! Do not let 'what you were' keep you from becoming what God is forming and growing you to be!

* "Count the cost as a Christ follower by being a radical doer of the Word"

* It doesn't matter what we think we can bring to the 'game' - what matters is that we have a heart that believes God can use us.

*When we search for satisfaction apart from God, we essentially turn away from the huge sea of God's love and grace and instead we wallow in the little pond that we have built for ourselves.

* If we live in gospel debt, we will be fruitless...

and lastly.... hard words to hear but so important to our spiritual growth...

* Do we expect of others what we aren't willing to do or give our own selves?  Why do we hold back forgiveness but desire to be forgiven? Why do we keep grace in check when needed to dispense to others, but truly seek and desire grace from others? Do we hold other people to a higher standard than we hold ourselves?

Let's not allow pride to rule in our hearts, but let's allow the Holy Spirit to reign within and reveal the depravity of our own spirits and hearts so He can begin a new and good work in us!

We need to be developing a hungry heart for God's Word! Do we want to hear? Do we want to change? We must have a knowledge of the written Word so we can have a relationship with the Living Word! Let's develop a desirous discipline of knowing God and His Word!

"Then Jesus said, "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear" (Mark 4:9)

don't reduce Jesus to a convenience...

Why do we get so complacent about the Lord? Why do we fail to see who He really is in our lives? Why do we reduce Him to a 'convenience' that we turn to only when we need help?

I have been convicted of this very thing only to go right back to that same mindset time after time. When the truth of it is that our spirits need to be tuned to the workings of God at all times.  We need to be ever mindful of His power and of His presence. 

We go about our daily lives doing what we want to do and we get so busy doing what our flesh desires that we neglect to factor God into our life's equation. Instead of beginning our day with the worship of our Creator, we begin our day worshiping His creation - ourselves. 

Our day needs to start in the presence of God. Before our feet hit the floor in the morning, our first thoughts need to be centered on Him. Our eyes should open in such grateful thanksgiving for another day. Another day to serve our King. Another day to live our lives worthy of our calling. Another day to share the gospel of Christ with those in need. But instead, we rise with the thought, "what do I want to do today?" 

We mistakenly think that our main purpose in life is to please ourselves. But in reality, our purpose in life is to please God. Every thought we have should be based on what He desires out of us. Every thought should be focused on pleasing Him and Him only. Truthfully, when we please our Lord and Savior, we should derive much pleasure out of that! What greater joy is there than to live a life that pleases God? 

God isn't just there for us to call upon when we are in a crisis. Surely, He intends for us to call upon His Name when we are at the end of our ropes. Surely, He intends for us to depend upon Him for strength and guidance in our lives. But He also intends for us to call upon His Name for the sheer delight of who He is!

Jesus Christ is LORD! He is our Savior. Our Redeemer. Our Rock. Our Sure Foundation. He is everything to us! We need to live daily with the Truth of Him being the I AM in our lives. He isn't there just to relieve us of our problems, but to walk with us through them. We take our eyes off of Him too quickly in times of desperation and that's when we falter and fall and then we have to cry out for Him to rescue us. If we kept our eyes on Him through the bad times as well as the good times, we wouldn't fall so quickly but instead we would reach up for Him to take our hands to steady us through those trials.

Let's begin to focus on Him in all situations and all circumstances. Let's begin to wake up in the morning with praises on our lips! Let's begin to praise Him at all times and in all things. Then we will begin to develop a God-awareness in our hearts and lives that will revitalize our spirits and rejuvenate that joy that only comes from Him. We will begin to be desirous of obedience to Him at any cost. We will begin to see His Faithfulness in all things. And that will unleash His power in our lives to make us mighty women and men of God as He can use us for His Kingdom and His glory.

Let's rush into the Presence of God with one thing one our minds. His Almighty Holiness.  What a difference that will make in our lives as we focus on who He is and what we can do for Him instead of the other way around. Let's live lives of denying ourselves and taking up our crosses and following Him, wherever that may be. He is worthy.

Africa!!!!

( Casey, Cindy, Hannah, Henry, Tammy, Jimbo and Me at the Jackson, MS airport 8-5-14)

~~~~~~~~

It's hard to believe that 4 weeks ago I was getting ready to leave the comforts of my home and head to Malawi, Africa. What's harder to believe is that it has been 2 weeks since I arrived back home. I miss that place. I miss the people. I miss the children. I miss the hunger of a people in need of a Savior.

God did a miracle in me just to get me on a plane for almost 20 hours of flying time. He called me to Malawi and I knew that I had to be obedient. And I can tell you in all honesty that even the 16 hour flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg, South Africa was not bad at all. I felt His presence every hour of that long flight. You see, when God calls you to do something, He will equip you in that moment. He will enable you and empower you to do what you can't do without Him. If you fully trust Him and are doing what He has called you to do, He works.

From the moment we landed in Malawi, I felt His presence. I felt a great need for the people there. I felt a call from God to get the gospel to them. We headed out to the Rainbow Orphanage where we would be staying with a young man from our church who is a full-time missionary there. He and his wife, who is from Malawi, just had a baby boy- little Moses. What a blessing they are!

We spent 2 days doing Bible School with the 54 children in the orphanage. They range in age from 4 to almost 20. We had such a great time with these kids. We imparted the Word, we did crafts, we played games and we just invested our time into getting to know them and showing them the love of God. These children are exposed to the Word daily but it was still important to feed them spiritually to help them in the growth process!

(Our team with the Rainbow kids and  staff of the orphanage!)

We spent 3 days in some surrounding villages doing Bible School with the children there. We were in very poor villages. One of them, the village of Sulumbwa, didn't have access to clean water. They were hauling water from a very muddy, dirty creek bed. The last few days we were in Malawi, this village receive a huge blessing from God. A team of men came to drill a water well in their village so they would have access to clean water! Praise the Lord!

We had over 240 kids one day in Bible School. It was a joy to share a bible story with them and do a craft with them. We played with bubbles, frisbees and all sorts of balls. We played games and ran around and just had a good time with them. We passed out stickers and candy right before we left. In the 3 days in the villages, we had almost 200 children accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. Our hearts were heavy with the state of poverty that these people lived in. It certainly gives you a good look at the excess of our American wealth. We have so much. We have too much. And we need to begin doing something about it.

(Children praying to receive Christ)

(Beautiful faces of the children of Sulumbwa Village)

(Precious children in Chingala Village)

(Tired girls but still basking in His Presence!)

What an amazing 2 weeks we had. We spent 3 nights in one of the villages doing a revival. My husband preached each night to the light of 3 battery operated lanterns. When I tell you it was dark, it was DARK! We had the opportunity to give our testimonies each night and we had around 120 or more people in attendance each night. We also had an opportunity to minister to over 100 women on a Sunday afternoon and after speaking what God had put on our hearts to share with them, we were able to pray with each one of them individually. What a powerful time that was in the Lord! Women have some of  the same problems, the same concerns, the same needs whether you are in Africa or America. However, when you are in a third world country, you turn to God more readily and with more trust, because you don't have anything else to rely on! Oh, that we would start trusting God in that manner!

(My sweet husband relaxing)

(Lucas, Tiya and baby Moses)

(Me with Jill, a precious missionary at Rainbow -  my buddy Yami in the background!)

(The team's last picture in Malawi, right before we headed to the airport for the long journey home)

(24 hours later, we are home!)

God did a work in all of our hearts during this trip. Our prayer is that with the power of God in us, we impacted the people in Malawi spiritually and that they felt our genuine love for them.  We all left a piece of our heart there. A piece that I hope to go back and add to in the future. God is so good and He is so faithful. 

"HE who calls you is faithful, HE will surely do it"

(1 Thessalonians 5:24)

send me

"Also I heard the voice of the Lord,

saying, Whom shall I send, and

who will go for us? Then said I, 

Here am I; send me"

(Isaiah 6:8)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The great commission. Even back in the days of Isaiah. God's plan has always been and will always be for us to go forth and spread the gospel of the Good News. What is the Good News? It is Jesus. It was Jesus back then and it is Jesus now.

 It is our responsibility as Christians, to tell people everywhere about His Son and about salvation. I don't understand how a people that possesses such a great Lord and Savior can be quiet about that possession. It makes no sense to me. We have tasted of the glory of God. We have encountered a glorious and good God and Savior. We have experienced the manifestation of His Presence in our lives. And yet, we keep silent. Lord, help us.

It's certainly easier not to go. It's easier to stay in our comfort zones and just kick back and live life. But that isn't what the Word tells us to do. The Word says, "go". He says it more than just one time. I know that when my God speaks, He speaks to be obeyed. He doesn't speak just to be heard.

In less than 8 hours, I will be aboard a plane that will take me on the first leg of my flight to Africa. By this time tonight, I will leave Atlanta and be flying over the ocean and headed toward Johannesburg, South Africa where I will be only a short plane ride away from our destination of Malawi.

Why am I going? Because my God told me to. Do I like to fly? That would be a huge and very loud 'No'. I hate flying. I am scared to death of flying. It makes me nauseous and it makes me anxious and I do not like it at all. But God told me to go so that is exactly what I am doing. 

We will be staying at an orphanage that houses 54 children and we will be doing several days of bible school with those children. We will also be going out into at least 3 villages to do some bible stories and games with the children there. We will have as many as 500 children in one village. That is awesome and amazing and a little overwhelming. I pray that God uses what He has put upon my heart to bring to them in a way that only He can. I pray that He takes the pitiful offering of my lips and turns it into a huge harvest for Him. He can do that, because that is who He is. I can't wait to see what God is going to do in our team and through our team.

We are all yielded to do whatever it is He leads us to do. We are surrendered to be His hands and His feet. We are ready to see God do wonders and miracles in a country that so desperately needs them. I don't want to miss anything that God has for me. So, I look up to my God and my Savior, and I utter these words, "Here I am, Lord, send me..."

Oh, how I love Jesus

Nothing brings me more delight than God's Word. My grandchildren run a very, very close second though. There is just something about grandbabies. They fill my heart with joy and love and peace that all is right with the world. They give me a pick-up when I'm down and they fill me to overflowing from the love that they bestow upon me. I am so grateful to my God that He has blessed me with these precious kiddos!

There are so many things about them that I love.

I LOVE the way that they are cousins and best friends. They always have fun when they are together and I am blessed that my girls are best friends as well. We just need Melissa to move from Boston and come home! 

I LOVE that they love their Nana so very much! 

Mercie attaches herself to me and is my constant shadow. She has always been a Nana's girl and I have a feeling that she always will be. She tells me I am her favorite person. I love that little girl so much!

Bryton thinks that Nana is the expert on bibles and bible covers. That makes me laugh but it also fills my heart with love that he knows how much the Word means to me!

Laylah Beth always wants to be right up in her Nana's lap and wants to 'spend the night with Nana' all the time!

Sawyer cries when he leaves me and tells me I look like 'Elsa' from Frozen.... He is in love with her so that is the highest form of praise from a 5 year old! Ha!

Eli tells me that he feels "safe" with me. I love that little dude so much and love that he still likes to snuggle with me even though he is now 9 years old!

Silas and Titus want to go home with me every time I go visit. Those two little fellas are so precious and they fill this Nana's heart with joy all the time! 

Mikaela loves unconditionally. She is the sweetest young lady and when she was younger she always said she was going to be a 'bible study girl' like her Nana. She still loves to read the Word and there is nothing that I love more than reading it with her. We can talk about deep spiritual things together and I love that so very much! She tells me how much she loves me all the time.

Liam mostly wants his mama right now, but he does loves his Nana and Papa. He is a sweet little boy and I know that when he is older, he will be a Nana's baby just like all the rest! I love being the favorite! LOL!

~~~~~

Silas and Titus on the trampoline with Nana.

Liam being his usual cute self.

If there is anything that I want my grandchildren to learn from me it is that the Word of God is the most important thing they will ever hold in their hands or in their hearts. I have tried to instill in them just how precious the Scriptures are and how much God loves them! I desire for them to have a deep and intimate relationship with Christ above all else. Lord, may it be so...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few months ago, we had the privilege of vacationing with 4 of our best friends! We had a great time at the beach and it was so much fun to vacation with people who love the Lord and desire to please Him!

You can have a great time and still honor the commands and teachings of the Word. We are blessed to have these 2 couples in our lives. I can't imagine life without them.

(Tammy, Mary Lea and Me)

(Marvin, Jimbo and Greg)

~~~~~~~~~

Jimbo and I had a great time in New Mexico. We were in Alamogordo to preach a revival and see some dear friends of ours in the process. I was able to share and minister to the women a few times that week and I had such a great time imparting things to them that God had been teaching me! 

We spent a a few hours at Carlsbad Caverns and at White Sands. It was fun but I wore out quickly! The last time we were there with our girls I was 35 years old! A lot happens in 16 years to a body!

The mountains in Cloudcroft are beautiful and really bring the glory of God right to the forefront. His Creation is gorgeous. Everywhere you look you can see His Hand of majestic creativity. We truly serve an amazing and powerful and mighty God! He left His fingerprints on all of Creation and we need to merely open our eyes and see...

VICTORY is coming!

"But He knoweth the way that

I take; when He hath tried me,

I shall come forth as gold"

(Job 23:10)

~~~~

The past twenty-two months have been rough. They have been a time of trial and testing. A time of wondering and waiting.  A time of feeling helpless as I watched my sister endure pain and suffering from chemo, side effects of chemo and from the dreaded disease itself that the chemo was seeking to conquer. A time that I certainly don't want to relive. The past  twenty-two months have been a time of putting feet to our faith. 

At the beginning of this journey that started July 30, 2012, God gave me a scripture for my sister. It was Job 23:10. Through His Word, He was telling her, as well as all of her family and loved ones, that He was certainly aware of what she was going through. He knew the path that she was on. It certainly didn't take Him by surprise. But He also was saying that after the time of testing was over, she would emerge as gold. I took that literally and I took that as a promise. 

Every Sunday morning at our church we have a healing service and I began standing in for my sister right after her diagnosis.  Shortly after I began to do this, God impressed upon my heart that she was to write VICTORY on the last page of her journal. I relayed this message to her right after church that day and it took her several weeks to muster up the strength of spirit to do this, but she finally did. And we have been holding on to that revelation from God with a tight grip ever since.

We have been on a roller coaster ride throughout this time. It has been a series of ups and downs. Good news and bad news. Good days and not so good days. Two steps forward and one step back. There have been times where it seemed more like one step forward and two steps back. 

I can't even begin to imagine the emotions that my sister has had to experience. My heart has been so burdened for her and I have felt so helpless much of the time. There has been nothing that I could do other than encourage her with scripture and petition my God for her healing daily. I have cried out on her behalf for almost two years and will continue to do so until the day that her VICTORY becomes reality. 

After a failed stem cell transplant back in April of 2013, my sister felt the agony of defeat. It had been a long and grueling process and we had such high hopes of its success. But ironically, on July 30, 2013 - a year to the day after her initial diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma - she got the news that the transplant was not successful. My mother, my brother-in-law, my sister and I walked out of the hospital almost in stunned silence. We were devastated on the inside, yet none of us was willing to show that devastation to the others. It's almost like we couldn't voice it because we didn't want to hear the words flow from our mouths. 

It was like a bad dream that  we didn't really want to wake up from because we weren't sure of where to go from there. But we did. And we began the next leg of the journey. My sister started a new chemo regimen and the testing and the waiting started all over again. 

The cancer that my sister has manifests itself by producing too many of the same kind of protein. So every few weeks she has specific blood work done to count the number of proteins present in her blood. The blood is sent off to Mayo Clinic and it takes a week or two to get the results back. Waiting and more waiting is the name of the game and it isn't a fun game to play. It gets old fast.

We finally saw a drop in the proteins a tenth of a point at a time. It would go from point 8 to point 7. And then we would see no change for several months. One time it was almost 4 months and no change. But during that time, I kept saying 'No change is good! It means that the chemo is holding the disease at bay!" We kept our focus on God and what He had done thus far. Even throughout all the trials and all the hard times, God had been so faithful to my sister! He had held her and He had carried her and He had strengthened her and He had been her portion and her shield! There were lots of things that could have happened that didn't. We saw His hand on her life over and over again. And I never lost hope. I was still looking to that VICTORY that was coming.

We saw several more drops in her proteins a tenth of a point at a time. The the last one several months ago was down to point 3. When the proteins are down to 0 in her bloodstream, there are still tests that have to be done to test the bone marrow. But we have to take it one step at a time.  

During the past few months, there have been many other problems that my sister has had to deal with. She has developed cataracts on both eyes due to the high doses of steroids that she takes with her chemo.  She has had joint problems in her hand and wrist from the disease itself. She has undergone many painful injections trying to give her some pain relief in her back and hip due to the tumors on her spine from the type of cancer she has. 

The good news? The last MRI showed that she is starting to get some new bone growth on her spine as the dead myeloma cells are being pushed out. That is a huge praise! We will continue to pray for more bone growth and more dead cells! She got her blood work results back today from Mayo and her protein counts are what they call "too low to quantify". What does that mean? It means that our God is working overtime on her healing! It means that if there are protein cells present, the number is so small they couldn't be counted. That, my friends, is a HUGE PRAISE!!! 

Now we watch the numbers over the next several months and then we will go from there. But for now, I am overwhelmed at the goodness of God. I am overwhelmed at the promise of His Word. I can't even being to put into words how grateful I am to my sweet Savior for the love that He has lavished on my sister and my family. He has held us, my friends. He has supported our heads when we didn't think we could hold them up. He has given us the strength to take that next step when we didn't know where to put our foot down. He has encouraged and enlightened and embraced us with the mighty and powerful Hands that created all things. 

And the tears that are falling as I type this are the tears of an unworthy servant of God who is simply a grateful recipient of His generous grace. I am astounded by His love. But I receive it hungrily and I give Him all the praise and glory that is due His Name. 

For now? I praise Him with all the breath that is in me. I continue to believe that He is working a healing in my sister. I grab onto the promise of VICTORY and take that next step forward with Him. He is faithful and He is abundant and He is true. And I love Him with all that is in me.

"I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and He heard

me out of His holy hill." 

(Psalm 3:4)

who brings us joy?

"Reverential fear of God, mixed with love and 

and astonishment and adoration,  is the 

most enjoyable state and the most purifying

emotion the human soul can know" (A.W. Tozer)

~~~~~~~

Isn't it awesome to realize that we can enjoy our God?  That is what He intends for us to do! We can enter into a state of enjoyment with Him at any given time in our lives. He desires for us to derive much joy from even the notion of who He is. Just the very mention of His name should fill us with JOY. Just the realization of who He is in the life of a Christian should fill us to overflowing with unspeakable JOY. 

"Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD...." (Isaiah 58:14)

The scriptures tell us to delight ourselves in the LORD! Because the truth is, no human being will ever be able to cause that kind of JOY in our spirits. No human being can ever be to us what God is. We absolutely can not delight in people. People will always let us down. It doesn't matter if it is your spouse or your children or your parents or even your very best friend. At some point in your life all of those will let you down at least one time. It's just the nature of who we are. We are sinful, selfish, prideful, arrogant and spiteful people. And we will disappoint people and we will let them down. 

But God will never let you down. Not one single time. Not ever. He may not always give us everything that we want, but He always supplies all of our needs. He may not answer our prayers the way we want Him to, but He always answers them according to His divine will for our lives. And when that will doesn't match up with our desire, it doesn't mean that He has let us down. It just means that He is protecting us from something that we can't see. It means that He is paving the way to take us on a different journey. A better journey. One that will cause us to delight in Him and be filled with JOY. 

True joy doesn't come from people. It doesn't come from circumstances. It doesn't come from the accumulation of things. True JOY only comes from a personal relationship with Christ. When we keep our focus on God and the things that are spiritual and eternal and kingdom-minded, we will have that inexpressible JOY that comes from walking in the will of God. That contagious JOY that impact those around us. The JOY that is only possible from being in an intimate relationship with Jesus. True JOY comes from the sweet and pure love that God lavishes on His children!

"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath

 bestowed upon us, that we should be

 called the sons of God..." (1 John 3:1)

Our eyes must be gazing upon our God in sheer adoration. And astonishment. And fascination at the depth of His lavish love upon us. We must know deep down in our hearts that He is truly the only one who can satisfy us completely and love us unconditionally. When we know that and accept that then we won't be caught off guard when people fail us time after time. And because we are prepared for that to happen, it won't completely devastate our hearts and our spirits. 

Our reason for living is to do the will of God. Our purpose in life is to bring glory and honor to God in all that we say and do. Our lives are all about Jesus. The One who will always be on our side. The One who will always walk beside us. The One who will never let us down. 

And when we truly get that, the mixture of our reverential fear of God and our astonished adoration of Him,  will produce that most enjoyable state of purifying JOY and overwhelming LOVE reserved only for our Creator. Our true JOY only comes from our personal and intimate relationship with our Savior and our LORD.  

Dig deep into the scriptures. Seek His face daily. Fall on your face and cry out to Him in prayer on a regular basis. He will hear the cry of your heart and He will manifest Himself to you and become the JOY that you yearn for in your life. He will become your everything and will satisfy that deep longing in your soul.

"What's taken from us is often painful.

But God can take what is left and make

it powerful" (J. Franklin)

dining with Jesus

"When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death."

 (Romans 7:5)

As Christians, we must be careful not to let the enemy cause spiritual blindness to overtake us and keep us from seeing our sinful character. We can be blinded to the deep poverty of our own spiritual character of depravity if we don't guard against it. It is so easy to think of ourselves as righteous when the truth is our righteousness only comes from Christ. It only comes from the Spirit of God working in us. Righteousness has nothing to do with us, but everything to do with God at work in us.

 Our flesh is sinful, selfish, wicked and a force to be reckoned with.The flesh will rise up in spiritual pride if left unchecked. And as we grow in our Christian walk, we face increasing danger of spiritual pride. And spiritual pride will lead to spiritual blindness every time!

The good news is that the Holy Spirit enables us to walk not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. His ministry is to help us see our poverty-stricken nature and recognize our depraved state of being. When we are shown this by the Holy Spirit, it is not to lead us into despair, but to lead us into Holiness. He creates in us a hatred for sin and an acute desire to be holy. And we can only see this when the Spirit reveals it to us.

Unless the Spirit is at work within us, our flesh is too strong for us to persevere against the enemy. Our only weapon against the flesh is the Word of God. We must stay deeply embedded in the Scriptures. That is where we will find the standard for God's Holiness.We must read the Word, study the Word, and hear the Word taught so we will be captivated by the moral beauty and perfection of God's holy standard.

"So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves." (Galatians 5:16)

We can't overcome the corruptions of our heart except by the enabling of the Spirit of God. He creates a desire within us to be Holy and then He gives us the spiritual strength to live Holy lives. We can't do it on our own and I don't know why we think that we can. Our flesh is no match against the wiles of the enemy unless we are armored up with the weapon of the Word and clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit. 

We need to be seeking a continual work of the Spirit in our lives. Do we tremble at His Word? Do we pray for Holiness in our lives? Do we desire to be Holy?

If we desire to walk in the Spirit and allow the Holy Spirit to be in control of our actions, our words and our thoughts, we must maintain dependency upon Him and His enabling power. The only way we can do this is by prayer and by meditation on the sweet Word of God. We can't walk in the Spirit if we don't know who the Spirit is. We can't walk in the Spirit if we aren't taking the time to clothe ourselves with the Scriptures. We can only walk in the Spirit if we are keeping ourselves immersed in the Word through personal and intimate prayer and study time.There is nothing more important than our relationship with God and His Word. It is life to us!

Do we want to walk in Holiness? We need the spiritual nourishment that God has provided for us in the Holy Scriptures. It's up to us to devour them eagerly and allow them to penetrate deeply so we can apply them to our daily lives. Open the Word and dine with the Savior.

"But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us" (Galatians 5:5)

a hungry soul

His Spirit awakens me in the early hours of the morning.

My hungry soul is desperate for God.

I feel an intense longing deep within for a touch of His Spirit.

A persistent ache resides in my heart as I yearn for His Presence to manifest.

Oh, I how I need to feel His ministering touch. How I long deep inside for revelation of Truth from the hands of My Creator.

Speak to me, LORD! Show me Your Glory!

Make Yourself known to me down to the very marrow of my bones. 

EMPOWER me... ENLIGHTEN me...

Stir me up and cause a deep dissatisfaction to rise up within my spirit. One that will compel me to seek You. One that will propel me to lay at Your Feet. One that will cause me to continually long for more of you. 

Oh, how I want to be like You! The great I AM. The Creator of all things. The Giver of Life. Quicken my spirit, Oh God. Bring life to these dead bones. Revive me with the same breath that breathed out the stars in the sky.

Speak to me with the hushed whispers of a loving Father that contain Power and yet so gently caress. 

Come to me. Let me feel you in an unmistakable encounter. Free me... so you can use me.

I want to be like you, Lord. I strive to be Holy. Christ-like. Pure.

Let the Scriptures astound me and spur me on to obedience. I sit still before You. Patiently waiting for a glimpse of Your Glory. Seeking to know you deeper. Craving a new intimacy with the Author of my life. I close my eyes in anticipation of a mighty and powerful move of God.

You are Here. You speak and You move and I hear Your Voice. Oh, how glorious is Your Name, Oh LORD!

My soul settles down as I feel the ministering touch of Your Hand. Peace floods my soul. Comfort washes over me. Deep satisfaction of spirit begins to fill me as I know I have been where You are. My soul has found rest and for the moment it is deeply satiated with the provision of today's encounter.  

Fill me with the sweetness of who You are. May I glory in Your Name. 

Who is like You, Oh Lord? There is none greater. Only You can speak life. Only You can breathe life into existence. 

My hungry soul has tasted of you and is full. Only You can fill the spirit with completeness.

I have a resting place in the shadow of Your wings and for now I sleep under Your covering.

You alone, Oh Lord, can satisfy....

we can't do it ourselves!

"And they said, Believe on the Lord

Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,

and thy house"

(Acts 16:31)

~~~~~

The hardest part of our salvation experience is realizing that it has nothing whatsoever to do with us. We are saved by FAITH and FAITH alone. We are saved without works and we are saved without merit. There is absolutely nothing we can do in ourselves to be saved and there is nothing we can do to stop being saved. 

"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the

LORD shall be saved"

(Romans 10:13)

It's all about Jesus. It's all about the work that the Son of God did on the Cross at Calvary. It's about a loving Savior dying a cruel and ugly death on a cruel and ugly cross and exchanging His perfect and sinless life for our depravity and wickedness. It's about believing that God's Son is the only way to eternal life. The only way to forgiveness of our sins. It's about knowing that God is who He says He is. And that His Son became our sin - all of our heinous, filthy, wicked sin - so that we could live. 

Now, don't misunderstand me here. Once we acknowledge that TRUTH in our hearts, we have to acknowledge that same TRUTH in our minds.  We have to allow Him to penetrate deeply into our spirits so that things will begin to change within us. 

See, the scriptures tell us in Romans 6:14, that once we have received that precious gift of grace, sin loses its dominion over us. The NLT says that "sin is no longer your master".  Once we understand the magnitude and the cost of the amazing gift of GRACE, we begin to see those sinful areas of our life in a completely different light. There will be things that we no longer desire to do. Places we no longer desire to go. Things we no longer desire to obtain, or read, or listen to, or watch. As we begin to let God be our master, something begins to happen deep inside of us. The Holy Spirit begins to work and to show us the depths of our sinful nature. And as the Spirit convicts us when we do sin, we begin to learn how to put away those areas of our life once and for all. We begin to see our sin through the eyes of Christ. 

We aren't saved by our works. Scripture is clear about that. But, oh, my friends, when we are saved by the precious, shed blood of our Savior and Lord, we want to do good works. We want to do things that please Him. We want to put away those sinful deeds that once beset us and walk in the ways of Jesus. We are to be imitators of God ( Ephesians 5:1). We are to have a yearning to be like Christ. The Word commands us to be holy as He is holy!

Jesus Christ is the Son of God and He loved us with such a great love that He did something for us that we couldn't do for ourselves. He redeemed us with His blood. He bought us with a price. He became the sacrifice for our sins. Past, present and Future. And there is nothing that we can do to make ourselves worthy of what He did other than believe that what He says is TRUTH and allow Him to be the Savior and the Lord of our lives. It truly is all about Him. 

"For the wages of sin is death;

but the gift of God is eternal 

life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
(Romans 6:23)

Faith is believing and receiving that gift and then purposing to be like Him as we walk in the newness of the life He gives us. Somebody say Hallelujah!

catch up time

So much has happened over the last month. My husband and I made a trip to Missouri to see our oldest and youngest daughters and their families. Their husbands were working the same pipeline job for the first time in their married lives and had their travel trailers parked side by side. We had such a great time while we were there. We miss them so much when they are off working.

Eli, Sawyer and Bryton - cousins, brothers and friends

Silas and Mercie with Nana

Mercie and Laylah Beth with Nana

Baby cousins Titus and Liam with Papa

Sweet Mikaela with Papa and cousin Laylah and sister Mercie!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My ministry team, For REAL Ministries, had the privilege of doing 3 conferences in March and April. What an honor it is to serve the Lord and be able to do what He has called you to do. We are just ordinary women with ordinary problems teaching women to live victorious lives in Him and for Him. We aren't perfect, but we serve the Perfect One! It was a blessing to see women get freed from bondage and we even got to see several women come to a saving knowledge of Christ. It was a very humbling experience to stand before a group of women and pour out a message that God had birthed in my heart on "Prepare for Rain" out of Hosea 10:12. He is still working out this Truth in my heart and I pray that He never stops!

What a precious team of amazing women that I get to serve alongside! They are my best friends and I can't imagine doing life and ministry without them. They bless me and they encourage me and they keep me accountable. Thank you, Lord, for this blessing and privilege.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

My precious girls and their families finished their jobs and came home. It is always fun when they are back at home and I get to see them many times during the week. It's nice to have them 25 miles away instead of 800 miles away! I know that it will be short-lived until the next job comes up, but I try to enjoy them while they are here and focus on the God-given moments of Joy they bring me. 

Melissa came home from Boston for Mother's Day and it was the first time in several years that all the girls were home at the same time. What a blessing it was to fill up several church pews with my daughters, sons-in-laws and grandchildren. It was a special day indeed as my husband had the joy of baptizing 2 of his grandsons. Eli and Bryton had made the most important decision in their lives. To acknowledge the precious gift of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and their Savior and Lord. 

Bryton being baptized by his Papa

Eli being baptized by his Papa

 A joy-filled Nana and her 2 sweet, newly baptized boys!

Me and my girls - Megan, Melissa and Ashlie

~~~~

What a great mother's day I had surrounded by a loving and caring husband, children and grandchildren. I am so thankful for my many undeserved but much appreciated blessings in life. God has been gracious and kind to me. Even when the times have been rough and hard, He has walked beside me and enabled and empowered me to keep my eyes on Him and walk on. What a mighty and powerful and loving God we serve. 

May His Word always " burn like a fire in our bones". (Jeremiah 20:9)