IMAGINATION CAN BE GOOD!

IS THIS NOT THE GREATEST IMAGINATION PICTURE YOU CAN THINK OF!!!???

Isaiah 40: 10 and 11.

See the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and his arm rules for him.  See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.  He tends his flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart;  he gently leads those that have young.

I fell in love with this picture years ago.  It was on the front of a greeting card.  Upward Christian Living Bookstore had them.  I began sending them out, and then a friend copied this and sent it to me so I use for a screen saver.  It exemplifies our Lord Jesus Christ to a T.  It dots every i and crosses every t.  When changes come, when the storms come, when life hits us in the stomach, and when we just need to think about how sweet it would be to be helped up over the rocks in life.  He is ready to hold us, carry us, rock us, love us!

Imagine - IMAGINE - Imagine!  Nothing to fret about even though you may have right now.
He is there all the time to carry us and take the burden off.  I love it.  I love Him.  Enjoy your imagination today about what it would be like to be pulled up to safety.

Isaiah 41 comes along right behind 40 with - verses 10 and 13.

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you;  I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

For I am the Lord, your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear;  I will help you.

IS IT SMOOTH SAILING. . . .

OR CAN WE RIDE OUT THE STORM WITH OUR LORD JESUS?


Psalms 107: 23/32

Others went out on the sea in ships;  they were merchants on the mighty waters.  They saw the works of the Lord, his wonderful deeds in the deep.  For he spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted high the waves.  They mounted up the to the heavens and went down to the depths;  in their peril their courage melted away.  They reeled and staggered like drunken men;  they were at their wits end.  They cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress.  He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.  They were glad when it grew calm, and he guided them to their desired haven.  Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.  Let them exalt him in the in the council of the elders

(I would suggest you read the rest of that chapter - it is full of great stuff.)

This reminds me of that walk on the wild side with Jesus and Peter.  Jesus invited Peter to come out on the water.  He was encouraged to walk out of his comfort zone and knowledge that no one walks on a sea of water, especially during a storm, right?    Would you have responded to Jesus without question and just walked on the water?  Peter did, but as soon as he looked down, he started to sink.

There is another favorite story that goes with this concept of riding out a storm with Jesus.  It comes from a story about people visiting the tallest building in any given large city.  They are all at the top looking out over the city when some one tells them the building is on fire.  That would have been it for me right there.  Pass out time.  They look across from the tall building at another tall building.
They suddenly see that a line goes between the buildings.  On the other side is Jesus and a wheel barrel.  He comes across with that wheel barrel and asks you to get in, He will take back over to the safe side.  "Come on Shirley, get in!"  Are you getting this?

I love in Psalms where it says, " They reeled and staggered like drunken men, they were at their wits end.  They cried out to the Lord in trouble, and He brought them out of their distress. "  It is very bold and clear that we get all up in our shorts at times, right? 

All of this to say, there is a difference between knowing about God, or knowing God.  When you know Him, you will trust Him.  You will get in the wheel barrel, you will call out and know He is on the way.  You will know He can hold you up out on the stormy waters of life.  He will be in it with you.  To know Him is to be head down in His Word.  Applying His Word, and Living His Word.

Check yourself out here and decide - Am I doing my own smooth sailing my way, or am I  into smooth sailing even in the storms of life with my Lord, God and Savior.

MINE EYES ARE GLUED TO YOU. . .

OH LORD!  Unto you O Lord, do I bring my life.

Last week I talked about (and if you haven't read it, go back and read it) what do you do if someone makes a decision in their life, that changes yours as well, forever.  If it is negative, we can become bitter, angry and need to forgive.  Embracing emotional forgiveness is a very tough thing to do.  Jane Fonda said years ago,"You can't grow up until you forgive!"   I totally agree.  I also concur that it musters everything in us to let go of things that have altered our life and we didn't give that person permission to do that.  It is like the Butterfly - who has to FIGHT its way out of the bag.  IF we help it out, poor thing, we kill it.  It has to go through that small opening in order to gain strength.  They need that strength in their wings to fly.  Same thing for us, we must struggle and painfully go through the forgiveness hole in order to fly away into freedom and peace.

Psalm 25: 15 - Mine eyes are ever on the Lord, for only He releases my feet from the snare.

What snare, you ask?  Every kind of snare.  We struggle with our personalities sometimes, we struggle with letting go of anger sometimes.  We develop attitudes and ideas about people.  We get strange feelings that become ideas, which turn into brick walls.  Name a scenario today and there is the snare.  Forgiveness is no different.  Letting go of emotional pain is more difficult then taking Advil or Vicodin.  Those pills most likely will get rid of the pain in a few minutes.  Emotional pain can be lost lasting and worse then a bitter pill.   So, keeping your eyes on the Lord and KNOWING that he releases you from the snare, when?  When you finally hit the brick wall and say. . .okay, I am done with this, help me.  I still love Jim Dobson's story about his son.  They were parked somewhere and Jim had the tailgate down in the back of station wagon.  He reminded his son to stay in his seat until he got back with the bags of mulch to put in the back.  BY the time he turned around, his son was dangling from the back of the tailgate.  He was yelling. . ."Somebody, help the boy, please help the boy."  That is what we do many times.  However, I think it is appropriate for what we do emotionally or can do is better.  "Hey Lord, help me. . . I 'm caught, I need released from the snare."

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN. . .

SOMEONE IN YOUR LIFE MAKES A DECISION TO DO SOMETHING, THAT DIRECTLY EFFECTS YOUR LIFE NEGATIVELY, WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION?

It was necessary to insert that word negatively, because, of course, someone could have brought you a Publishers Clearing House check for $1,000,000.00 and you would have to point that out to me, right?

There are many positive scenarios.  Perhaps your daughter and husband just announced they are having twins.  Oops!! One baby.  You jump up and down.  Or, your husband received news that his promotion just came through and you can relax now.  Or, even got a job after being laid off for so long.

Actually I am writing today about the things that throw us for a loop and bring on worry, dread, and anger.  God is so awesome in how He walks through our life with us.  When I started the project on Embracing Emotional Forgiveness, I had no idea of all the lessons I would learn putting this on paper.
Naturally I thought I knew it all.  It has been a very irregular walk since last spring.  But, nonetheless an important one.  I wanted everyone to understand that at some points in our life from day one, we will most likely get hit in the stomach, lose our breath, and become numb over some incident brought on by an individual we know.  In 32 years of counseling, I am pretty sure I have heard most of the stories and am not too blindsided anymore. 

The things I have experienced and learned over this year, was that the book size and title needed to change.  I feel bad I had not known to do that in the beginning, but at least I changed it.  I learned more about how people close to us and also strangers can directly plunge our world into chaos without our permission.  How about Kinder Hook?  Boston Marathon victims.  I was so impressed with so many stories, but in particular the lady who lost both her lower legs in a flash.  She won't ever get up and walk home, go to the grocery store, go out to her garden, go to work, go to church the same way she did.  We have family members and friends who make decisions regarding their life that directly impact us forever. 

I was in the bathroom one Saturday morning and God gave me this thought.  It just suddenly dropped into my mind.  "Tell him to fix his future so it doesn't reflect his past!"  FORGIVE, FORGIVE, FORGIVE!  It is not an easy thing to do.  In fact for some it becomes impossible to them.  The anger rolls over their emotions like a mountain of snow avalanche.  You can't stop it, you can't breath, and you feel totally out of control.

Yet, God in His inerrant Word says in Isaiah 43: 18 and 19:  "Do not (earnestly) remember the former things; neither consider the things of old.   Behold, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs forth; do you not perceive and know it and will you not give heed to it?  I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."   I want to believe that the lady in Boston will get new legs and walk.  I pray she will give God the credit, and some day forgive her assailants.  I pray that the him in my example will also let God render the curtain over his emotions and fix his future with forgiveness.

It is the hardest thing, I believe, that a human does in their walk in life.  Forgiveness.  I just had to write about it to help people see the freedom and peace in it.  The piece that is missing for some is that they don't see God in their life.  I pray that piece is not missing in you.  All things are possible with Him Phil 4: 13. 

Something else to brighten your day. 

RUN WITH SPEED. . .

Spread Rapidly!

II Thess 3: 1/3
AMP Version

Furthermore,  Brethren, do pray for us, that the Word of the Lord may speed on (spread rapidly and run its course) and be glorified (extolled) and triumph, even as (it has done) with you.
And that, we may be delivered from perverse (improper, unrighteous) and wicked (actively malicious) men, for not everybody has faith and is held by it.
Yet the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen (You) and set you on a firm foundation and guard you from the evil (one).

I apologize for being tardy this last week.  Thank you to many who reminded me of that.  It was so crazy around here with people crawling all over the property to appointments, and meetings.  The tree pluckers were here 4 days.  People came to pick up the wood.  And, it was just a constant driveway full of someones. 

When the Lord put these verses in front of me, I was definitely looking for something along these lines.  I am reading intently a book called "The Full Armor of God".  It is amazing to read about the beginning of all this dark side stuff we see happening these days.  (More on that Later).  The influence and the distractions that are set up to take us off track.  However, it only fuels my passion to spread the Word of God quickly, to pray incessantly and gain all the knowledge of how to help people manage what lays ahead.  Here we see, read, and absorb that that is our mission.  It is our commandment to do.  And, know that the Lord is faithful to guard us from the evil one.  Not that we won't get "bugged", but at least we know and trust - God will lift us up.  So many verses come to mind.  Surround yourself with His Word, people.  My goodness, wrap up in it like a blanket.  Psalms 91: 11 and 12,    Deut 31: 8,   I Peter 5: 6/11.   

We have a lot to do, but even though we are one person, or one prayer team, or one small group, or whoever we are,  be aware we can make a difference.  We need to be free of the fear and march right on in to the battle of educating people about our God.  Teaching them who He is, who they are and who our enemy is.  Sounds Right Wing doesn't it?  Think what you will.    My husband is afraid I will be seen on the courthouse square. 

I love II Tim 1: 7  For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but (He has given us a spirit) of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.

See that well-balanced part.  I won't be on the square preaching, but I will be about teaching and praying.  How about you?