You Are Blessed

This is it friends; another year comes to an end. Whatever you had planned for 2015 is done or not again for this year. But there is always tomorrow. You don't have to toss out the plans or the list with the stroke of the clock. In fact you can build on what you have. Finish what you started. Celebrate the progresses made and endeavor to do better next year.

Regardless of what you do, seek God. He was in the beginning and He is at the end. He doesn't have time restraints but still does as He plans in His timing. In fact we can count our blessings and be thankful for what we have been given.  

My friends if you are breathing today you have been blessed.  If you have no illness or diseases you are blessed.  If you have a home and food to eat you are blessed.  If your children are alive and well you are blessed. If your life is in the hands of the master,  Jesus the Christ, you are blessed. 

Have a happy new year everyone. Let this be the day you choose Christ as your Lord.

I don't mind waiting?

Wait and again I say wait on the Lord. This verse from David the psalmist has come to mind as I sit waiting on a word about my sister. The o.r. waiting room is not exactly plush in their furnishings or accommodations. So to say that I am lying in the lap of luxury would be quite the stretch. Still it is warm and I am seated. I was at least smart enough to pack a couple sandwiches as parking will eat up all my extra funds. And so we wait. And wait. With every medical person that enters the room we all look up hoping that we are the family member they seek to find And say "surgery complete and on to recovery".  

It has me thinking of waiting on the Lord. David wrote that and I believe it was as much for himself as it is for us today. He knew how hard it gets sometimes to be still and wait. Your flesh wants to act and the frustration is intense when there is nothing you can do. It brings to mind the lyrics of a song "I don't mind waiting" sang by Juanita Bynum.  I have sang it a time or two but I lied all the way through.

I do mind waiting. I hate waiting in lines. I hate waiting in this waiting room. I hate waiting on God to fulfill his promises. I want what I want right now.
I shocked myself just now. Do you know that as the thought surfaced I wondered why? I wanted to pretend to be a lot more patient and showing fruit of long suffering but Holy Spirit only leads you to all truth. I hate waiting. I do mind it. God help me.

Sigh. Now that that is out here is The truth.  As much as I want instant solutions and immediate fulfillment of promises I want my way even less. I don't want anything that I can do or make happen on my own. I want His best and His will to be done. I want His direction and His good gift. I want His way and not my way.

So yes I will wait. I will wait on the Lord and allow Him to strengthen my heart. I will wait on Him and pray that He will show me how to wait with courage. I will be brave in my waiting when there is nothing I can do and even when there is something. I am choosing to wait on him even though I don't like it. I will wait until I can sing the lyrics "I don't mind waiting" and have it be true and not lie.

Beloved here is the word, read and be encouraged: "wait on the Lord; be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord." (Psalm 27:14).

I once was lost

On the eve of my sister's surgery my clan got together to offer her support. I could hear the laughter from upstairs and so I ran to join in the humor. Besides my brother had just told me about my Sis in law getting lost 5 minutes away from home.  We laughed at her lack of direction in a place that was supposed to be so familiar. Our laughter grew even louder when our mom confessed that she got lost on her way back from work taking a route she travelled on every day. She was so confused as to her where about she stopped an ambulance that was passing by her parked car. They both said they were unable to see because it was dark. Nice try ladies.

While we may laugh at their late night direction mishaps I can't help but think about how this parallels the lives of so many people. I think of all those people that are lost without Jesus. He is light but they are blinded by the darkness. The bible says the prince of this world has blinded the eyes of the unbeliever. Yet Jesus gives us sight.  He has mapped out a route for all our lives but instead we opt to go our own way. Some of us get so caught up in our own world we can't see what is right before us - Jesus.

Beloved I am here to tell you that you don't have to be lost anymore. My family members are safely home and you can be too. Home is where Jesus is and He wants to dwell on your heart. (Ask my 3year old grand-niece, she will tell you Jesus is in her heart).  When you don't know what to do or where to go, look up beyond the hills and see the help. Jesus is the way the truth and the life. Come to Him and be found.

Is your world bigger than you?

I have seen with new eyes my world.  To be truthful it was rather compressed. I kept saying my sister's world was small but no, mine was limited to just me and mine. 

Then my older sister got some news that took us to Sonnybrook Hospital.  There my eyes opened up a little more. People suffering with cancer. Young and old, black and white. This was the scene I walked into as I accompanied her to her appointment.  It was then I realized that I had no problems. What was I so worked up about in my own life?  Money? My family members? My job? What did it matter when so many people were going through life and death issues? 

I sat beside a woman who sobbed as she waited to see the doctor.  Does she know Jesus? That was my thought as I cried silently with her. Does anyone in this waiting room know Him? As their bodies are suffering and wasting away what of their souls? 

Here I am with hope and peace and joy in the presence of Holy Spirit and my eyes were on my little world?  May it never be that way again for me or for you.  May we see beyond our list and see others. That man on the street or the girl you passed by on the way, may you see them with new eyes.  

Beloved it is time that we love as Christ loves us.