New Beginnings

I recently found out that I will become a grandmother.  It is hard for me to wrap my brain around this truth. I think to myself, I am way too young to be given such a title.  Yet, I sigh deeply here, I was a young mom myself.  The last thing I wanted was for my son to mimic my behaviour.  I would have hoped and I have prayed that this would not be the fate of yet another child in my family.  A child born to parents that are unmarried. A child living in two homes, split between mom and dad.  Worse yet, a child that was lacking a clear example of doing it God's way.

Yes.  I would have stayed with these recurring thoughts had it not been for my GOD.  "Renew your mind daily" He so wisely tells us in his word.  I really didn't consciously sit down and decide to renew my mind. I didn't do anything other than pray, read and listen. I continued to praise even when my heart wanted to say NO!!!! This is not my plan for my son. Well, it isn't but God certainly doesn't need me to give him any hints or help where RKR is concerned.  He already had a plan that will give him hope and a future.  That plan stands today and will continue to stand until it has been accomplished.

So I raise my hat to new beginnings, new seasons, new hope.  It is God who we must acquiesce to in all things.  God is still the One that gives us beauty for ashes. He is still the One that turns a mess into a message, a test into a testimony and all the other things that we so smartly coin to say each other. :-)  Remember, He is the One that forms  a baby in its mothers womb.  He puts together that baby so perfectly that David marvelled and said of himself, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made".  He is the God that even now stands at the end while we are still at the beginning.  He works all things for the good of those who love Him.  So you see, my mind has been renewed; reworked by promises that are true.  I say yes and AMEN to them all.  Hip Hip Hooray! There is a baby on the way!

The Journey

The journey has a beginning point and a destination point. 
Where did we start. Where are we now.  Where are we going.
A quote was that the journey if a thousand miles begins with one step. Someone else has said the journey us within. And still another has said that it is not so much the outcome but the journey itself.  To be sure you cannot stand still on any journey. To get from start to finish requires movement. For some it may be tiny steps others it may be a Giant leap.  For some the pace may be slow and for others it is like a sprint to the finish.  The journey for some may be like a paved road for others it may be a like a path  not oft trod. In this journey I chose to believe that God is with me. I actually believe that he frames my beginning and my end. He was and is to come. In the middle of Him is me and Him. 
I have to believe that He fore knew the valleys and pits of my journey and I have a predestined end.  That He is walking with me like the footprints poet wrote. That He has not left me to do this alone.
My faith is made whole when I read the bible. God's word says:
 Genesis 1:1-2 GW

In the beginning God created heaven and earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep water. The Spirit of God was hovering over the water.
Before I was a thought, God existed.  He hovered over the waters of nothingness. He is the creator of all things that I see. He therefore has my journey mapped out. Lest we forget our steps are ordered by Him. He is the beginning of us. He who created us from the dust of the earth certainly can sustain our journey here in this same earth He created. He is the beginning. He is the Alpha. He is the A. He is the God who is everything. He is the I Am.

From the beginning God has a predestined end. To think otherwise is to be unwise.  It is in fact to be in denial of Hid word which we know is all truth.  God says that the end of our journey meets Him face to face. We may become desensitized to this truth thinking in the back of our minds that it has been over 2000 years. Yet here again we see in  God's word:
 Revelation 22:20-21 GW

The one who is testifying to these things says, “Yes, I’m coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! The good will  of the Lord Jesus be with all of you. Amen!

At the end we will all face Christ. Whether we believe in Him or not we will meet him at the end of this earthly journey. He will be the judge of us then. 
If our desire is to be where He is then  Our journey is Routed out in Christ. In Him we will arrive at this desired  destination. It means then that our hearts can be at rest.  The bible says thus
 John 14:1-3, 6 GW

“Don’t be troubled. Believe in God, and believe in me.  My Father’s house has many rooms. If that were not true, would I have told you that I’m going to prepare a place for you?  If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again. Then I will bring you into my presence so that you will be where I am.  Jesus answered him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one goes to the Father except through me.

To Obey Is Better

On a hiking trip with my family this weekend I learnt something.  The trail that we walked on was beautiful and long.  It went winded itself along a creek that often times was hidden behind enormous trees.  It was a day worth walking and we went ahead with enthusiasm and gusto.  Unbeknown to me and others in the group, the walk had turned into a race to the finish line, where ever that ended as no one had yet completed the trail.

So the leaders of the pack set off and we left behind choked on their dust.  It became obvious that we would never catch them.  Curve after curve showed no signs of my two sprinting aunts.  We came upon a sign that said DO NOT ENTER/TRAIL CLOSED CONSTRUCTION.  We should have met upon them here but they were nowhere to be seen.  We stood pondering if they would have gone ahead despite the signs.  We waited for a bit until I decided to go after them.

While I called out for them by name and silence responded I thought to myself, this is just how we are as believers.  How many times do we see the signs and ignore them?  We have a bible that maps out the danger and still we find ourselves in them.  We close our eyes or we say as my aunt did, “but I saw other people coming from there!”  The road to sin and hell is wide and filled with people.  Or perhaps we reason to ourselves, there really isn’t any danger. My aunts said “oh there was no construction today…it is a Saturday.”  There is a way that seems right unto a man but the end is destruction.

 

While we had a good laugh over my two aunts who high fived each other at the end of the trail and told us they won, there really is no good outcome to the end of sin. The wages of sin is death.  The outcome reaching far into our eternity and too costly for either of us to pay. 

Beloved today we need to take heed to the word of God ad flee from sin and all things that of evil intent.  We cannot be glib (casual) about what we are told to do by God's spirit.  We must obey the signs that God has given us.  It is not there as a suggestion.  To believe we must obey; loved ones it is the better way.

 

I'm me again

I have been on pause. I have stopped exhaling. I have been waiting for better. I have been afraid of moving. That was descriptive of me just a few days ago. I was dying on the inside and prepared for a burial. Yet God had other plans. These dry bones shall live were His words to me. I would live and mot die. I was not to fade away. I was not to stay paused. God has pushed the play button and His forward motion has been in effect. The day I emerged from the self imposed cocoon I will never forget. On a path that I had often seen I walked in silence with God. He seemed to have painted the sky an even prettier blue. The green of the trees were even more intense. The sun shone even brighter. He gave me the gift of the present. I was in the now of the day; of my life. I exhaled. I was alive. I was me again. My friends I encourage you to live in the now. Tomorrow is not ours and not promised to any of us. We are all like fading grass. We are a vapour, here today and gone tomorrow. Tomorrow may be too late to start living your life. Take the gift God gives to us...this is the day the Lord has made. Rejoice and be glad in it.

Though it tarries....wait on God's appointed time

As we think on God's timing we can conclude that it is perfect. God is not a God of confusion. No, He is a God of order. Everything He does or did is intentional and at an appointed time. Summer will never preceed spring and the moon will never seek to outshine the sun. Yes. God has an appointed time. Turn if you will to Habakkuk 2, Habakkuk 2:2-3 NKJV Then the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry. Some of us have put away the written tablets of our God given vision. Like Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist, we prayed in the days of our youth and received no answer. We have quelled our disappointment and logically accepted that the time for giving birth (to the vision) has long since past. We have dried our tear stained eyes and are pressing on in service for God. We are not living in the tomorrow or the yesterday and might have shouted loud hallelujahs to the Now timing of God. Yet , we are not holding on to the vision. Yes - just like good old Zachariah we have buried the vision away. Beloved who told you that God said no? Luke 1 tells us that the angel told Zachariah that God heard his prayer! The fact that Z himself was at a loss upon the angels message tells me the prayer was not recent. He might have asked what prayer? He forgot while God's appointed time was about to speak and not lie. The tarrying was over. Only, Z was not waiting. He didn't even think it was a possibility. Does this sound like a page from your journal? What we miss is that the vision was never ours. Gods plans remains and are in perfect alignment. These people that were well past the age of having children were to be pregnant with the forerunner of Jesus Christ! So we need to wait and trust God to fulfill His vision in our lives at the appointed (set, fixed, pre-destined) time. They that wait upon the Lord shall be renewed in their strength. They shall run and not get weary. They shall walk and not faint. (Isa 40:31). Those who trust in the Lord and acknowledge Him in all their ways are guaranteed their paths will be God directed. (Prov 3:5-6). Wait with good courage my friend, though it tarries....wait on God's appointed time. God bless you all. YER💕

I am tired

I have been caught up in a wind not of my doing. I seem to be moved here there and everywhere and I am exhausted. I am tired of being tired. I am sick of others being sick. I am ready for the exit but there is none...it's just the wind.
If I allow myself these thoughts would consume me. I would sink into despair and depression. If I allow myself these thoughts would become shackles and where I was once free I would be bound.

I understand better than I did before why I need to renew my mind daily and sometimes hourly. I get why I need to think on things that are true and lovely, anything that is excellent and praise worthy. (Phil 4:8). My friend it is easy to collapse under the weight of our sorrows. It is easy to bear the burden forgetting the burden bearer says cast it all on me. It is easy to see only what is before you.  However it is not the life of the free. It is not the life of those called by Christ's name.

Today in spite of the challenges God wants us to lift our eyes to Him. HE IS OUR HELP. He is our strength and our peace. Today the invitation has been given...He says come unto me all who are weary and heavy hearted. Peace and joy are in His presence. I'm tired of holding it all together on my own. Today I'm saying yes to the invitation....what about you?

As For Me And My House

Last night I came into my home after an extended work day to misery and tears. The spirit of offense was in full form and emotions were high as weariness wove itself around labored aching bodies and minds. 

My mom has a phone that she struggles to use. Last night she attempted to answer it and missed the call. So I said "You need to get a new phone that you can use". She was offended and what was a simple comment made with no ill intent became blown up and out of proportion.

My younger sister who has been the primary care giver for my older sister has been herself feeling ill. I said to her "there is still shake in the fridge to be used before it goes bad." She responded that she made it for my older sister when her head was pounding and she is doing her best. At which point she burst into tears and sobbed into her hands for the next 5 minutes. 

I honestly felt like I had stepped into an episode of Twilight Zone. What in the world...? was my own thinking.  It continued into this morning, right after a really good devotion on the prayer line.   Another question and another blow up. So much for being an epistle of Christ I thought.  I tell you this much,  I was the constant in the middle of it all.   So, I did what I knew to mend the brokenness. 

Prayed. I asked my prayer partners for help and did a bit of my own. That is when the spirit of God began His ministry in me. I started to meditate on the words of Joshua..."As for me and my house we will serve the Lord". 

Beloved, if you are where I was last night then you want to recognize the enemy behind the discord. The disguise is good but the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see the truth. A war had been waged against my house and it was not taking prisoners alive. I needed a weapon that could destroy the lies and restore peace . Holy Spirit (because I don't think this was me) prompted me to declare the following as I prayed and you can too:

As for me and my house:

We will be in unity

We will exhibit love

We will be in peace

We will help each other

We will be kind

We will walk in oneness

We will serve the Lord

How about it friends? Make the declaration of peace for you and your house. It will destroy the weapons of the enemy to kill, steal and destroy your family! As for me and my house....