There's hope for me.

I have always thought Moses had to be one of the Godliest men in history.  Although I still believe that, my view of him has been altered since reading in Exodus in my Daily Chronological Bible reading.

He is a tad bit different than I had always thought and it gives me hope.  Want to know the difference?!

Moses is normal.  He isn't eloquent with his words, struggles with fear, doubt, disbelief, low self-worth, lack of confidence, he is disobedient, he questions God and he sins and God has to almost strike him dead to remind him of it!


God has to go to major extremes for Moses to understand, believe and follow through with God has told him to do.  He even has to show him physical proof multiple times, when God's spoken word should have been enough.

Need proof?!  Glad you asked.

Proof Moses struggled just like you and me....

1. God had come to Moses in a burning bush and had told him, "Take off your sandals for the place where you are standing is holy ground."  Then  Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. (fear)
2. God had given Moses specific instructions about going to Pharoah and asking for the Israelites to be released and Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The Lord did not appear to you.'" Exodus 4:1  (doubt and questions God)  In order to "prove" to Moses, God ended up giving him 3 miracles to perform just in case they didn't believe: 1)staff turning into a snake, 2)putting his hand into his cloak and it becoming 'leprous' and 3)water in the Nile becoming blood.
3. Even after THREE physical miracles to perform to Pharoah in his repertoire, Moses STILL questioned.  "Oh Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past, nor since you have spoken to your servant, I am slow of speech and of tongue.  (The Lord had to have been frustrated by this point!)  The Lord said to him, 'Who gave man his mouth?  Who makes him deaf or mute?  Who gives him sight or makes him blind?  Is it not I, the Lord?  Now go.  I will help you and speak and teach you what to say." Exodus 3:10-12 (disbelief, NOT eloquent, doubt)
4. In Exodus 4:24, it says, "At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him.  But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son's foreskin and touched Moses feet with it.  So the Lord left him alone."  Moses had been groomed for 80 years for this mission that God wanted him to do yet there was still sin in his life (not doing what God had clearly told him to do...circumcising his son).  In order for Moses to carry out this plan, Moses had to be repented of his sin and get right with God in order to do so. (sinful)
5. Moses was instructed to go to Pharoah and ask for the Israelites to be released and God even told him that Pharoah's heart would be hardened.  But after Moses went to Pharoah the first time and Pharaoh did just as God told Moses he would do, Moses still questioned.  The plagues hadn't even begun yet and Moses says to God, "Ever since I went to Pharoah to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all." Exodus 5:23 (Pharoah had made the Israelites work harder by still asking them a certain quota of bricks, yet were not provided straw to make them like they had in the past.) (disbelief and questioning God)
6. He later questions God again, "If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharoah listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips?" Exodus 6:12 (not eloquent, disbelief)
7. Again in Exodus 6:30, "Since I speak with faltering lips, why would Pharoah listen to me?" (not eloquent, disbelief)

I guess the Lord sunk it into Moses' doubting mind and dense brain because soon after that scripture says that "Moses and Aaron (his brother) did just as the Lord commanded them." Exodus 7:6 and then again "So Moses and Aaron went to Pharoah and did just as the Lord commanded."  Exodus 7:10

I would love for my life testimony to say, "Amanda Lemonds did JUST as the Lord commanded her."  But I am afraid mine would look like Moses' initial testimony..."She struggled, questioned God, didn't belief at times, was NOT eloquent with words, was sinful, feared and doubted God."

Moses' testimony is a reminder to us all that God can use anybody.  He uses those are aren't good at lots of things, but then that is a great testimony to the Lord that we accomplished His purpose in HIS strength, not in our own because we don't have it in us!

For me, THERE'S STILL HOPE that God can use me!  

And there is for you too. 

As God says to Pharoah a couple of chapters later, "But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the Earth!"  Exodus 9:16

Ways God speaks

This is for those that think no matter how many times you cry out to Him, that God has "forgotten" you or doesn't hear you.  Maybe you are waiting on him to audibly give you an answer for something you have been asking him about, or maybe you are just waiting on a "sign."  God just seems "silent" to you.


Regardless, our God still speaks.


One of Job's friends said to him, "Why do you complain to him that He answers none of man's words?" Job 33:14.  Then he mentions some of the ways God speaks....

¹⁴ For God does speak—now one way, now another—    though no one perceives it. ¹⁵ In a dream, in a vision of the night,    when deep sleep falls on people    as they slumber in their beds, ¹⁶ he may speak in their ears    and terrify them with warnings, ¹⁷ to turn them from wrongdoing    and keep them from pride, ¹⁸ to preserve them from the pit,    their lives from perishing by the sword.^[b] 19 “Or someone may be chastened on a bed of pain    with constant distress in their bones, ²⁰ so that their body finds food repulsive    and their soul loathes the choicest meal. ²¹ Their flesh wastes away to nothing,    and their bones, once hidden, now stick out. ²² They draw near to the pit,    and their life to the messengers of death.^[c] 23 Yet if there is an angel at their side,    a messenger, one out of a thousand,    sent to tell them how to be upright, ²⁴ and he is gracious to that person and says to God,    ‘Spare them from going down to the pit;    I have found a ransom for them— ²⁵ let their flesh be renewed like a child’s;    let them be restored as in the days of their youth’— ²⁶ then that person can pray to God and find favor with him,    they will see God’s face and shout for joy;    he will restore them to full well-being. ²⁷ And they will go to others and say,    ‘I have sinned, I have perverted what is right,    but I did not get what I deserved. ²⁸ God has delivered me from going down to the pit,    and I shall live to enjoy the light of life.’ ²⁹ “God does all these things to a person—    twice, even three times— ³⁰ to turn them back from the pit,    that the light of life may shine on them.

The truth is, God may not be speaking audibly to you, but He might be speaking to you in ways you wouldn't imagine.  Look around you and be alert to what He is saying to you.

You just might find He has been speaking to you and you just weren't listening to His voice. 

Job and his friends

You call them friends, you say you trust them, but do you?  Can you?

For the past few weeks I have been reading through Job in my Chronological Bible.  I will admit it has been a tough read, yet it has been good for my soul.  I have gotten lost in some of the reading, to me some of it is like reading Shakespeare...you have to concentrate on each and every word to understand what they are saying and the ideas they are trying to get across.

I will tell you one thing I understand...I am SOOOO glad I don't have friends like Job.

I have battled over the past few weeks with how open to be on this 'ole blog.  You know...where to draw the line.  But over time I think it is important for people to know that we struggle through things like everyone else, we make mistakes, have hard times and are human and far from the perfect like life that blogs sometimes indicate.  A few days before Christmas, to put it bluntly, I found a lump in my breast that I quickly became very concerned about.  I am by nature a worrier which didn't make it easier.  Christmas was just a few days away and our family vacation was on the horizon and we ALL needed it badly.  I chose (hard decision) NOT to tell my husband or mother until the end of the vacation so as to not ruin their vacation.  It was a VERY hard week not knowing the diagnosis of this mystery lump (fairly large the size of a quarter or so) could alter my family forever.  I would stay up late at night after everyone else had gone to bed doing research on "scaremetodeath.com" (as my doctor calls the web) researching it. It did make me treasure Christmas that much more not knowing what my future would hold.  To make a long story short, I told Jay and my mom 2 days before we left on December 30 and I felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders.  I went to the doc when I got home and he felt certain it was a cyst.  However a friend of mine had already told me that when she found a lump they insisted was a cyst ended up being stage 4 cancer and her "symptoms" were just like mine.  So I was relieved, yet still worried.  He scheduled a mammogram and an ultrasound for a few days later and that morning when I woke up, it was not coincidence that God had be beginning Job in my Chronological reading.

The Bible tells us that Job was "blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil," Job 1:1.  He was a Godly man and the Lord gave him favor.  One day Satan comes with the angels to speak to the Lord and the Lord asks him, "Have you considered my servant Job?  He is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." Job 1:8

God gave Job over to Satan but told Satan that he could take anything from him but couldn't take his life.  And Satan did just that.  He takes his 10 children, 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 oxen, 500 donkeys, servants and his health away from him.  Job was in a MISERABLE state.  He wanted to die so he wouldn't have to suffer any more but not once did he curse God.  He questioned him, but never cursed him.  Even his wife said to him, "Are you still holding onto your integrity??? Curse God and die!"  Ouch.  Yet he chose not to.

For eight LONG days, Job's "friends" tried to convince him that he was a man of sin and that his many sins had caused this "miserable" state.  Job tried to convince them that he wasn't living a life of sin and had been upright but talking about "kicking a man while he is down!", they did just that.  They continued to badger him and badger him about his sinful life and to "get right before the Lord and then the Lord will hear you!"   

With friends like his, who needs enemies?!

In my commentary, Iva documents real friends are those who:

• accepts me "warts and all"
• share my burdens and are easy to pray with
• don't reinforce my feelings of failure and inadequacy
• recognize my flaws, pray for me, but they never bring them up
• don't judge me
• make me feel valuable and valued when I am around them
• make me feel safe in their presence
• inspire me to become a better wife, mom and sister in Christ
• fuel my heart for God
• contribute to my spiritual well-being
• inspire me to develop and reciprocate all the above traits

Healthy friendships:

• "A friend loves at all times." Proverbs 17:17
• "There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." Proverbs 18:24
• "Ointment and perfume delight the heart, and the sweetness of a man's friends gives delight by hearty counsel."  Proverbs 27:9
• "As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of a friend." Proverbs 27:9

The truth is, all of our friends, (including ourselves) are going to let us down at one time or another just like Job's, sometimes in our deepest struggles; however, there is one who won't EVER let us down.  That is why we must learn to depend on God alone and not on other people to meet our needs.  Although I am so thankful for my friends, I am thankful for a Heavenly Father that despite my faults or circumstances, can be my ALL IN ALL, my everything.

He alone completes me.

As Job states, 

"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked will I depart.  The gave and the Lord has taken away, may the name of the LORD be praised." Job 1:21

P.S. After the mammogram and ultrasounds, it was confirmed that I have Fibroadenoma, which is a non-cancerous, benign tumor.  They are going to check it again in 3 months and at that point I can have it biopsied or taken out at my request.  Thank you Jesus.

Just some songs

Below are some songs I have been chewing on this week....soooo good!

A hard week.

Wow what a few days.  After last week's busy week I was hoping for a reprieve this week.  Well that didn't quite happen.

Monday started off very productive and I got my whole house cleaned.  It was almost like "nesting" for an event I didn't know was about to occur.

Monday night Lucy woke up about 11:00 moaning and I knew it didn't sound good.  She threw up everywhere in the bed and I knew I was in for a very long day/week.  I made her a large pallet in the den floor (with LOTS of towels, blankets etc. around her) and I slept next to her on the couch.  I put sheets into wash.  She woke up about an hour later and threw up again.  Load #2 in the wash and then went back to sleep.  Luckily she didn't wake up again until 3 a.m. asking for something to drink and I knew that was good news.  She drank a cup and then went back to sleep and never got sick again.  I didn't sleep much because I was worried about her, listening for her, watching her, washing clothes etc.  You moms know how it is...ugh!

Well woke up the next morning and I knew instantly I had an infection.  Soon after Brayden's asthma got worse throughout the day and he was on breathing treatments every few hours.

After I got off work that day, I went to the doc and got some meds for my infection and we went through Chick-fil-a drive thru on the way home.  Once we got home and ate, I realized that Brayden was getting progressively worse.  I knew I had to make a decision fast.  It was supposed to snow that night and did I want to chance an asthma attack at night when we could be snowed in???  No.

So I called a friend to come over to watch the girls so I could take B to the Emergency Room.  We got there about 9:00.  Later my dad drove an hour to relieve my friend MB and ended up spending the night with us to help out just in case I needed him.  I was SOOOO thankful to have him here!  Thanks dad!!!

A couple of hours later, we were in a room.

Somebody got some sleep, somebody else did not.

We finally saw the doctor and were discharged at 2:00 a.m.  They gave him another treatment and some steroids and we headed home.  It was snowing hard on our way home but none of it seemed to be sticking.  But we woke up the next morning to this.....

A WINTER WONDERLAND!  

It was our 2nd snow of the season and schools did not let out (shocker!).  

So after 2 nights of little/no sleep, 2 antibiotics, a steroid, 3 sick people, an ER visit and multiple breathing treatments, I am hoping we are on the mend.  

OH and did I mention Jay was out of town all week in Chicago at a conference???  So in the midst of all this I was a single parent.  I am sure everyone will be perfectly healthy by the time dad gets home tonight.  Isn't that always how it works?!  :)

Karis was the only one who remained completely healthy this week....

This morning Lucy put on her "Tangled" dress and she said Brayden was her protector (her "knight in shining armor I suppose?!).  It was sweet.  He does do so well in protecting her.

Whew!  Hoping for an uneventful week next week!!!

In the midst of my rough week, I opened up my Bible to do my quiet time and this just happened to be what I read....

"Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ But he said to me,“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:8-10

Thank you Jesus for that.  I needed reminding that despite how rough my week had been, things could have been so much worse and there are many single parents out there who do it by themselves all the time.  Instead of whining about my week, I should delight in my weakness(es), hardships and difficulties.  

Because with Christ, when I am weak, then I am strong.  His grace is indeed...enough.

An argument between the disciples

One of my favorite verses of all time is Galatians 2:20-21 which says,

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.  I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"

But not until this morning did I know the context in which it was written.  And now I love it even more!

It was written by Paul (formerly Saul), who was a former zealous Jew who breathed murderous threats to the disciples and intentionally persecuted Christians.  He says about himself about that former time, "I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers!" Later God appeared to him on a street with a bright light and caused Paul to be blind for 3 days.  When his eyes were opened, scales fell from them and he could see physically and spiritually and he was immediately baptized and after regaining his strength, scriptures say he "at once!" began preaching the gospel in synagogues.  This guy truly did a 180 and had one heck of a testimony!!!

He is writing to the church of Galatia who has been swayed by some Jewish Christians that you still have to follow the law even if you are a Christian.  Not true, so Paul is setting the record straight.

The disciples were hesitant to accept Paul because of his history persecuting them but after they saw what God had done in him, Peter, James and John gave he and Barnabus the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to him.  They agreed that Paul and Barnabus should go to the Gentiles, and Peter, James and John to the Jews.

Peter to the Jews = Paul to the Gentiles

But apparently,  Peter was teaching the Jewish Christians that they still had to live by the law.

SO Paul calls him out in front of all the disciples.  Galatians 2:11-21...

¹¹ When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he clearly was in the wrong. ¹² For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.¹³ The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. ¹⁴ When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? ¹⁵ “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles ¹⁶ know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in^[d] Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. ¹⁷ “But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! ¹⁸ If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker. ¹⁹ “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.²¹ I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”^[e]

Thankful for Paul setting the record straight so that I can know the truth!


IT DOES MEAN that we truly die to self and are crucified with Christ, we no longer have to worry about our flesh making all the right choices, because we will fail EVERY time.  It is He that lives and lives in us.  We are NOT bound to the law or it's rules.  We no longer are a slave to family traditions, American traditions or Christian traditions.  We live by faith.

IT DOES NOT MEAN that we can live life however we want.  Yes, the Lord extends grace to us without measure and can and will forgive anything and everything if we are repentent, but we ARE still held accountable.  We now depend on His grace and forgiveness and not on the sacrifices for redemption and the rituals of the faith/our religion.

Why do we have the law then? Is the law opposed to the promises of God?  NO!

²³ Before the coming of this faith,^[j] we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. ²⁴ So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. ²⁶ So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, ²⁷ for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

I am so thankful that Christ paid the price so that we can live a life full of joy and redemption!   I can't wait to get to heaven knowing that God saves all types, kinds, colors and religions!  We are all one in Christ but only through the gospel of Jesus and none other!!!

The book of James, lots of leaves, and my little blessings

Hello friends!  It's been a while and things have been super busy around here.  It has been a hard two weeks for me.  Nothing has "happened" per se, but a lot going on and the winter "blah" has set in.  Our times with the Lord have been excellent and family circumstances changing (for the good) so we feel as if Satan is doing what He does best...confusion.  I love the holidays but I feel as if Satan tends to use it to distract us when we get too "busy."  That I don't like.  The simpler things are for me, the better.  I decided it would be less stressful for me if I did most of my shopping early this year, so I am almost done with my Christmas shopping...that's a plus!

It is not by coincidence that the Lord had me reading through James the last two days.  WOW...like drinking through a fire hydrant.  Like a dagger to the heart and relief to the soul all at the same time beginning with verse 2, 

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know htat the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.  If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.  BUT when he does ask, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind."  James 1:2-6

 Wow ok Lord...you got my attention.  You should see my Bible, it is underlined, highlighted so much it would give you a headache.  James goes on to say all of these nuggets of truth....

• Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, 
• Every good and perfect gift is from above, 
• We should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 
• Don't merely listen to the word but be doers, 
• Keeping a tight reign on your tongue, 
• Love your neighbor as yourself, 
• Faith if it is not accompanied by action, is dead, 
• We don't have because we don't ask, 
• Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God, 
• Submit yourselves to God, resist the devil,
• Anyone who knows the good he ought to do yet doesn't do it, sins,
• Be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near,
• Let your "yes" be "yes," and your "no" be "no",
• The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective,
• The beginning of Saul and Barnabus,
• Peter's miraculous escape from prison.,
• Herod is struck down by an angel and was eaten by worms and died.

Iva May then discusses how we tend to want to "bail-out" when things get tough.  "Bailing out has become a defining characteristic of American culture, but for followers of Jesus Christ, bailing out isn't an option.  With every bailout, you become weak-willed wimps, pathetic, and remain infantile in your faith and experience of God.  Persevering through difficulties and trials matures believers.  God uses the tough stuff to toughen our stuffing (our internal resolve to become mature believers).  The path to maturity leads through fields of disappointment, hurt, and sometimes, unbearable pain...God calls us to persevere, not bail out!"  

WHEW!  But God sure is good and speaks to me through His Word.  And it refreshes my spirit every time!

---------------------------------------------------------------

Ok...really changing gears here.

I haven't had good stockings since Lucy joined our family and have put off getting personalized ones for years.  But I decided I was not going to wait until the last minute this year and I bit the bullet and ordered them.  I LOVE the way they turned out.   I looked for weeks and could find nothing I liked other than these below and I LOVE them!  I bought them off of Etsy from ZaneyJanes.

I can't wait to hang them up this weekend when we put up our Christmas tree!!!!

Wow things have really changed around here.  The pretty Fall leaves didn't stick around for long and they have since turned brown and alot of them blanket our grass.

Cool that God knows the exact number of leaves that are just on my lawn just like the grains of sand near the ocean!

Now some pics of the kiddos...

I came around the corner to find Lucy like this....made me laugh!  She had put her swimsuit on over her clothes.  I don't think we will be going swimming anytime soon!

 Our friends Story and Meila came over yesterday and they had gotten this hat out of Karis' "special drawer."  It is the hat Jay wore during my C-section.  Hilarious!

Meila loving on Everett....

Last night right before dark, the sky got really dark blue but the sun was still shining through the clouds and it was a beautiful reminder that God is in control. :)

This is the difference a week makes.  The pic on the left is last week and the one on the right is this week.  All those pretty Fall leaves are now on the ground. 

Looking forward to camping out this weekend, putting up our Christmas tree, and spending time as a church family celebrating Thanksgiving.  Also looking forward to seeing family over the next week for Thanksgiving. Oh and only 2 more weeks until my half-marathon.  Eeeeekkkkk!!!  I need to get to runnin' folks!

Heavy heart

My heart has been heavy this week for so many reasons.  Do you ever just have those days, weeks, months that the reality of "life" just hits and you realize that life is just hard???  That has been me this week.

I know part of it is just Satan. It is not ironic that this week I have been reading about the Last Supper, Jesus crucifixion, burial and resurrection in my Bible study.  It is just like Satan to work his magic in the midst of the Lord doing something incredible.  Regardless of Satan's efforts, I know who wins the battle in the end.  And it's NOT him!

I have been reminded this week of friends that are truly hurting, sickness that is not understandable or fathomable, people struggling financially, the deep consequences of sin, marriages that are ending, mothers and children separated, unhappiness, lostness among people who haven't heard the gospel and those that have heard the gospel, family's crumbling, persecution, devastation, hurt, and heartache in general.

And I was reminded that life is just tough sometimes.  The Lord never promises it will be easy..in fact quite the opposite.  And He tells us to be prepared for not if it comes, but when.

But I also was reminded that God never leaves us or forsakes us and He promises we do not have to do it alone.

Many things have helped make this week easier including lots of prayer, time in the Word, random songs that come on that I know are meant for "such a time as this," a letter from our Compassion child and some of the things that are listed here....

1. John Piper's message here.
2. My friend Lori's blogpost here.  She has been there and God has brought her to the other side.
3. Another blogpost here.
4. Another Piper blogpost here.
5. "God knows He can bring more glory than Satan can bring devastation if we let Him in our life!" Beth Moore
6. "Worry is a waste of energy.  It can't change the past.  It can't control the future.  It only makes today miserable." Rick Warren
7. "Sin is so ugly and redemption is so lovely but the consequences of the struggle from one to another are deathly expensive." Not sure of the author

If you are hurting, downcast, or discouraged, please know that the Lord sympathizes with us and experienced it first hand.  He knows how you feel and is waiting to embrace you with arms open wide.  Please don't turn your back on Him.

As my friend Lori stated, "God has written the story.  May He receive all glory and honor for the ending."


We only see a chapter.  He sees the big picture, the whole story.

"But seek His kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well."  Luke 12:31

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."  Luke 11:9-10

"Come to me all you are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."  Matthew 11:28-30

Spiritual Preparedness

I read this the other day in my quiet time and it was so good I had to share it.  It is actually from October 31st so I am late in posting it...you will have to excuse me it has been a crazy week to say the least and I am not really even sure why other than this is the first night we have been home in over a week.

Please read this...it applies to everyone.  Yes, even you (and me).

The scripture was about everyone being prepared for Jesus' return.  Before Jesus was crucified, He sat with his disciples (believers) and explained to them what His return would be like and heeded them some warnings in order to be prepared.

In Mark 13, He gives the specific days of distress that will happen before His return (people claiming to be God, wars, earthquakes, handed over to the local councils, gospel preached to all nations, arrested for Jesus' sake, family betray one another etc.).

Then, it reads....
"But in THOSE days, following that distress, "the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.  At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.  And he will send His angels (with a loud trumpet call) and gather His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.  When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."  Mark 13, Matthew 24 and Luke 21


Then He tells us how to be prepared for His coming....

"Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness, and the anxieties of life and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap.  For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth."  Luke 21:34-35


This applies to each one of us right now...in the midst of your daily lives.  Iva May explains more in detail what He means. And before you think NONE of them apply to you, think again!

Dissipation-the indulgence of extravagant and temperate (no self control) pleasures or the delving into immoral pleasure.  Dissipation includes the excessive enjoyment of: food, sexual pleasure, sporting activities, surfing the internet, shopping, hobbies, etc. (none of which are bad in and of themselves) and exploration of immoral behavior (pornography, illicit sex, drugs, etc). 

Drunkenness- the use of anything (drugs, alcohol, etc.) to stimulate enjoyment or to numb pain.  Under the influence of anything that blurs spiritual vision. 

Anxieties of life-This includes anything that you should pray about but don't (child rearing, finances, aging, job, politics, elections, etc.) so you live in a state of worry and anxiety.

"A weighed down heart needs to lose weight.  Just as exercise and self-restraint shed unneeded pounds so they prepare us to live life on high alert or in a state of readiness. Self denial is not popular in America where is always something new to be had.  The lust for things handicaps ones ability to develop watchfulness and prepare for the coming kingdom of heaven." Iva May

Oswald Chambers states, "You must discipline yourself now, if you do not you will ruin your life for God.   People go spiritually wrong because they stubbornly refuse to discipline themselves physically, mentally or in any other way, and after a while they become that most contemptible and objectionable thing, a petted man or woman, and their own greatest cause of suffering."  

We are all guilty of overdoing something, overeating, worrying, not praying enough, and too much of a good thing.  Let's all be ready for His return.  Shed some spiritual pounds so we that we can see clearly!

Jesus himself tells us in Mark 13:33, "Be on guard!  Be alert!  You do not know when that time will come!"

Are YOU ready?  

Don't wait until we see Him in the clouds to get your spiritual affairs in order, it will be TOO LATE!!!

Tears of the Saints

Wow...I have to share this.  So unsettling and heartwrenching, yet so timely and important.  Please take 5 minutes to watch this video.....(You can click on the video to see it larger on vimeo.)




I found myself watching this several times to look back at the statistics so I decided to write them down.  Here they are below...

• There are 100,000 missionaries in the world today, approximately 3% among the unreached.
• There are 16,000 people groups in the world
• Over 3,700 are unengaged which means they have NO church and NO missionary...that's 350 MILLION people who have no access to the gospel
• 3.5 billion people in the world are Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist
• 2 out of every 3 people in the world live in Asia
• 70% of Asians have never heard of Jesus Christ
• Persecution and Martyrdom is on the increase
• In N. Korea, Laos and Iraq, believers face prison, torture and death for their faith
• Half of the world's population live on less than $2 a day
• 30,000 people starve to death every day
• There are more than 18 million orphans worldwide
• In the past hour....1,625 children were forced to live on the street, 1,667 children died from malnutrition or disease, 115 children became prostitutes, 257 children were orphaned because of HIV/AIDS.
• Work is being done all across the world to reach the unreached, but the workers are few.

YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!!  What can we do?

• BE INFORMED!  "We do not want you to be informed...about the hardships we suffered." 2 Corinthians 1:8
• PRAY!  "Pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified."  2 Thessalonians 3:1
• LOVE!  "You are to love those who are strangers." Deuteronomy 10:19
• SEND!  "How can they preach unless they are sent?"  Romans 10:15
• MOBILIZE!  "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few."  Luke 10:2
• GO!  "Go and make disciples of all nations."  Matthew 28:19

"Having seen all this you can choose to look the other way, but you can never say again 'I did not know..'"  -William  Wilberforce

This next quote broke my heart.  As we go about our daily lives....there are those dying and going to hell because someone didn't get there in time.  Oh that the Lord would break our hearts for what breaks His!  This is timely and an emergency...won't you help?

"The gospel is only good news if it gets there in time."  -Carl F.H. Henry

"Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter." Proverbs 24:1

Time

It's always an ongoing struggle in my life, TIME that is.  I mean, where does it go? Where can we get more of it?  What do I do with my time?  How do I prioritize my life in the time that I have?  How do I use my time wisely?  There are never enough hours in the day.  Or is there?!


We seem to be busy most of our days.  We have a lot to do and not alot of time to do it in.


In Luke 17, Jesus was talking with the Pharisees about the coming of the Kingdom of God. They were asking him when the kingdom of God would come.  They were referring to TIME.  Jesus replies in vs. 20-21, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you."


Jesus gives 2 examples of times when people were too busy to notice the work of God around them.


In the days of Noah...

²⁶ And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: ²⁷ they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

In the days of Lot...

^28 [r]It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; ²⁹ but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and ^[s]brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.

Then the Lord gives a warning that we MUST listen to...

³⁰ It will be ^[t]just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. ³¹ On that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out; and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back. ³² Remember Lot’s wife. ³³Whoever seeks to keep his ^[u]life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. ³⁴I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. ³⁵ There will be two women grinding at the same place; one will be taken and the other will be left. ³⁶ [^[v]Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left.”] 

In my Chronological Bible Study, the author writes:
"Why does Jesus use Lot's wife to illustrate the coming of the kingdom?  Let's just imagine together what life must have looked like for the wife of a city council member by looking at her Day Timer.


6:45   Get up, brush teeth, notice how the color of your "Life is good" t-shirt matches your eye color
7:00   Do a few exercises, maybe light a candle for fresh aroma and mood enhancement, get dressed for a long, busy day
7:30   Get hubby off to work and check e-mail and Facebook
8:00   Make bed and do light house work (if time allows)
9:00   Manicure and Pedicure (maybe even a facial if time allows)
10:00  DSW (definitely NEED another pair of trendy new sandals)
11:30  Meet some of the other wives for light lunch and a bit of shopping
3:00    Stop by Fresh Market and pick up Southwest Stuffed Chicken Breasts, bread and a salad for dinner (also snacks for her Bunco group which meets later in the evening and trick or treating candy for the grandkids)
4:30  Upload ballgame photos to Facebook
5:00  Google information about tummy tuck procedures
5:30  Throw dinner together
6:45  Change into new jeans picked up earlier in the day and set out snacks for the Bunco party which starts at 7:00
10:30   See who's online and do more research on tummy tuck procedures and other plastic surgery procedures


My emphasis here:
11:00  Too tired to spend time with the Lord because your day has been TOO busy with non-eternal things!


Ouch!  Isn't that how our days look most of the time?!  Maybe not tummy tuck procedures or manicures, pedicures and shopping every day but other things fill those spaces.


What part of the day are you giving to the Lord?  Are you giving him the leftovers at the end or none because you have it all together?  Nothing bad is going on in your life right now so you don't really need God, right?  Maybe you are filling your time with hours of useless tv after work because you "deserve" it after your hard day, or going to hours of baseball because you have to get that scholarship, working in the yard to reach perfection, getting great ideas on Pinterest (ouch!), checking Facebook, blogging, or taking pictures (ouch, ouch and ouch!), or just cleaning your house (ouch!).  Or maybe you are like the Pharisees and you are you too busy for God because you are busy for God...ya know, working the nursery, decorating the church, working a women's retreat weekend, cooking for a church breakfast???  None of these things are wrong per se, but they are considered an idol if you have put them over the Lord.  You might have worked all day "doing" for the Lord but you haven't stopped to spend quality time with the Lord as you should.


Or are you giving Him the first of your day, the best of your energies, and the undivided attention He deserves?


Let's be careful we are not too busy for the Lord.  He warns us to be ready at any given moment for the "kingdom of God is near." Let's fill our days with things that matter for the kingdom, not the busy-ness of life, the American Dream.  These "things" we can't take with us.  Jesus tells us in Luke 14:35, "In the same way, any of you does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple."


What is it that you need to "give up" because it is taking the place of the Lord?


Do you have time for the Lord "penciled in" today?  If not, let's re-prioritize and make it happen.  He deserves all we have to give.


And MORE.

Spiritual Eyes

This is what the prophet Isaiah says about those whom the Lord has NOT called to repentance...

 "You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.  For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.  Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them."  Isaiah 6:9-10

But today I am thankful for this verse...

"But BLESSED are your eyes because they (spiritually) see, and your ears because they (spiritually) hear."  Matthew 13:16, emphasis mine

I took these pics of Landon last week and they seemed only fitting for these verses I read this morning!

An unreached people group

In John 4, Jesus was traveling with his disciples and they had to go through Samaria.  Samaria was the burial place of all the kings of Israel and was full of half-breeds because it was where all the exiles from the other countries came.  They all had different beliefs, religious traditions and was full of sexually immoral.  Jews avoided the Samaritans like the plague.

When Jesus was tired from travel, He stopped at Jacob's well to rest and to get a drink. A Samaritan woman approached and he asked her for a drink.  This Samaritan woman had been married 5 times and was living with a man that was not her husband.  She had been searching for someone to fill her lonely soul and after 5 marriages and 5 divorces, she had given up and didn't even bother with marrying anymore.  I can guarantee she felt alone, despised and rejected.  She was shocked that Jesus even spoke to her being a Jew and she being a Samaritan.  She obviously thought He was talking about liquid water to drink, but He was ultimately referring to living water.

²¹ “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” ²⁵ The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”  ²⁶ Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am He.”

Iva writes this and I have never thought of it this way before...

"Jesus, however, saw His Father working among this unreached people group.  He saw a spiritual harvest field where the disciples saw only a place to buy bread.  Jesus knew that the key to reaching the city with the gospel was a woman well known by the men of the city and avoided by the women.  The news of this woman's encounter with Jesus Christ turned the town upside-down.  You too may be sitting in the middle of a harvest field and not realize it.  A rich harvest awaits those with eyes to see.  The woman or man most overlooked may be the key to reaching an entire community."

Isaiah 61:1-2 has in the last few months been one that God has used in my life and today it has a whole new meaning.

 ¹ The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
   because the LORD has anointed me
   to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
   to proclaim freedom for the captives
   and release from darkness for the prisoners,^[a]
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor.

 Oh I pray that the Lord would open our eyes to see a spiritual harvest and wisdom to be bold telling others about Him!