13 Seats: The Women Who Dared To Testify

I am apart of a movement that has begun with a book.  This book has been authored by 12 women who are sharing their stories in a chapter.  In this book you will get a preview of how they got over to the other side of life. You will see how they have lived through some challenges.  You will read about a God who used adversity to shape them into who they are today. 

I must say that these women are still far from being perfect.  They are still work in progress with the assurance that He who began a good work in them is faithful and able to complete it.  They are women who love God and are living this out daily.  They are fallible and subjected to likened passions just as you are - just as I am.

So I invite you to get yourself a copy of this book and find your story to tell. There are 13 seats and 12 of us - my friend that 13th seat is just for you!  Won't you sit with us and dare to testify?

Revelation 12:11 promises us that you and I will triumph by the blood of the lamb and by the word of our testimonies.  AMEN!!!

(This book can be purchased from Amazon)

 

 

 

In His Presence

I'm sitting here in my den and am so overwhelmed by the presence of God. 

I am not doing a bible study.
I am not praying or singing or anything like that.

Right here, in the midst of my everyday life and tasks God's presence is with me.

I don't know how to explain it but I realize that God really is inside of me.  Greater is here - in me and He delights in me as I delight myself in Him.  I am downloading songs unto some USBs and watching a movie yet, I find myself pausing to say "God  I love you".  I am sipping mint tea and curled up on my sofa in my favorite night dress and again I find myself saying "God I love you".

I am not alone in this love talk.  He responds and that is what I feel.  Perhaps He didn't respond but actually initiated it.  Whatever and however it is doesn't really matter.  All I know is in His presence, and I am, there is an outpouring of love that is unmatched; there is a freedom that is beyond words; there is  a wonderful knowing that I belong; there is a me and there is a HIM.  In His Presence I am who I am meant to be - and you my friend can be there as well.  Join Him - He awaits you even now.

Jealousy leads to insanity

I was listening to James McDonald preach and he said jealousy leads to insanity. The Pharisees were so jealous of Jesus' popularity that they deemed it a good thing to kill him.  Now, I bet you are sitting there thinking how could they think of doing such a thing and worse yet, execute the heinous plan of evil?  I daresay look at the mirror and see for yourself the awful truth.  Would you not say dear one that you have been just as insane in jealousy?  Would you not say that you have been driven by it to do acts that were awful and downright ungodly?

You may never tell a soul but as my little six year old niece pointed out to her cousin in an argument "Gods see you, you know!"  Yes.  Yes He sees you and He sees me.  So I will not sit here and try to pretend as if I am better or worse than the Pharisees. I have been battling through jealousy and her sister envy quite recently.  I have felt like I wanted a bigger piece of the pie.  I have wanted the praise. I have wanted the glory.  I am ashamed to say it but I do so only to expose the darkness in me and I daresay you as well. 

Friends, in continuing the message from Pastor McDonald, I realized that my problem is love. I don't love others as I should.  If I loved God then I would love others. Isn't that what we have been commanded to do in the gospel of John?  John 14: 15 says that if we love Jesus we will keep His Word.  So what was His word?  John 13:34 makes it real simple for people like me. It says,

New International Version
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."

If I loved others as Jesus said then I would not be jealous or envious of their success. I would not in my mind grumble about the blessings they have been experiencing, especially when I have not half of what they have been doing.  Lord, Lord Help me to overcome this insane jealousy in my life in Jesus name, Amen.

Her Blessing Is NOT Your Blessing

So the other day I was listening to a friend of mine tell us of how she was blessed to have been able to get some free paint.  She went to buy paint and by some mishap from the store they got a $45 can of paint for free.  As the words came out of her mouth I heard my thoughts think I want that too.  I want her blessing.  As quickly as that formed in my mind I was rebutted by the Spirit of Truth.  Her blessing is not your blessing. 

Even as I sit to type this post I am reminded that I cannot be envious or desiring of  her blessing that made her rich in the moment and added no sorrow.  I have not walked in her precious shoes.  What you may want to know is that this friend has been walking through long suffering for over two years.  She has been out of work for two years plus with a medical condition that has changed her life completely.  She has been battling through with the insurance company, that refuses to pay her anything. She has had to endure embarrassment and great hardship. She has had a cross to bear that pains me to even remember.  So the questions arises, am I willing to walk through her pain in order to receive her gain?  No.  I am not.

It is easy for us to sit and want the good from someone's life. We even think we deserve it. Yet, we don't see the whole story.  We don't see the aches and pain. We don't see the tears or scars.  We don't know how they suffered all we see is the glory - the evidence of God - in their lives.

I am reminded that what God has given to me is for me; the blessings and the pain are mine when He says and how He determines. I need not look on the other side of the fence.  The grass is not always greener and even if it is - that is not my portion but theirs.  Let me be content in what I have been given...Father knows best.