I truly wanted to write something this week. Being Christmas week (which I love) I just felt that I had to write something about Jesus. Well, this isn’t a long writing but I believe this little story may touch some of you as it touched me a couple of years ago.
I ended up at the hospital having x-rays on my left hand due to severe pain I’d just woken up with a week or so before. I left there in a rank mood, feeling sorry for myself. I had just gotten the CD, X-Christmas in the mail that day before leaving the house so I had decided to listen to it on the way there. As I left that hospital this song, “Mary Did You Know” came on in a rendition by the band, Kutless. The words in this rendition are so very clear. It came to the line “When you kissed your little baby, you kissed the face of God?” and that was my AWE moment. I’d never thought of it that way before. And, I knew God was speaking to me through that song to remind me that Jesus was the reason for the season. And, I wept!
Please share in this song with me:
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
We are ALL Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
I awoke around 2 am, knowing that I was supposed to write something about how I've learned not to judge others but I prayed for more sleep. I woke up again and again with this scripture “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” (Matt. 7:1) going through my mind.
Some time ago I had a quote on a plaque on my wall and I’m not sure where it came from but I’ve remembered it for as long as I can remember and have always thought it to be true. I tried to find out who wrote it but can find nothing more than it is an American Indian Proverb - Never criticize a man until you’ve walked a mile in his moccasins. If this is a hard thing for you to believe then I would recommend a book to you - The Search For Significance: Seeing Your True Worth Through God's Eyes by Robert S. McGee. I have taken a couple of classes on this book and through it God taught me more than I learned in nine years of regular psychologist visits. We are shaped by our perceptions and we see others by those perceptions, also.
Earlier this year I know that God started speaking to my heart and telling me that it’s not always about me. That I needed to realize that disapproving looks that I thought I was getting weren’t always about me that many, many things shaped whatever I saw on an individual’s face that I saw looking at me, which reflects the above proverb. All that is past may be for our good or to our detriment, which is for God to decide as He created us. I prayed for wisdom to learn to put it all behind me. To rid me of all of that baggage that caused me to not see people through God’s eyes. He led me to a class called **“Walking in the Light” (with use of The Cleansing Seminar Study Guide) which helped me to shed those pounds of past that shaped those disapproving looks!
And, I’ve truly learned to see that we are all *Psalm 139:14 “…fearfully and wonderfully made;…”. God created each one of us to fulfill a certain purpose (Please read 1 Cor. 12: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Cor.%2012&version=NKJV).
I’ve been learning this for years. Why it takes some of us so much longer to truly learn something, only God knows. I’ll always remember an event in my life that happened when I worked in patient registration in the emergency room at a multi county hospital back in Ohio. I had revered the nurse’s station where I’d seen the doctors’ and nurses’ running in and out of since I was a child there with my many broken bones or torn up knees. I set it high upon a pedestal. I carried it to this day when I worked in registration. The charge nurse came out and asked me if she could borrow the 3-hole punch. Within a few minutes she returned with it, exclaiming that she could not figure out how to use it and could someone help her. I thought how I could work a 3-hole punch in my sleep or with my eyes closed and in my mind’s eye it wandered to 1 Cor. 12. And, that pedestal disappeared that day. This is one of the best lessons that I learned. I went onto working with quite a few doctors who definitely worked hard enough through years of schooling to earn the right to be respected with the name of doctor before their name. But, I also learned that they put their pants on one leg at a time like the rest of us and that they liked being befriended as the human beings that they were.
God created each one of us to fulfill a certain purpose.
I will always remember that season of my life when God chose for me to work in the emergency room. One of the main reasons I cherished this memory so is that I directly saw every employee treated as a team member -- From the housekeeper that cleaned up after the treatment of the patients by the doctors and nurses to the doctors and nurses themselves. I spoke with nurses several times who I thought were having such a horrendous night (time and again) and they thought we women in registration must be having an awful night. Each person in the team was a necessary, intricate part that it could not be without (referring back to *1 Cor. 12 :15-19 “and If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be?”)
*James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” As He has given to me, also.
We are all fearfully and wonderfully made by our creator and worthy of being given the chance to be seen through His eyes!
May God bless you through my writing. If He has especially touched you in any way, please leave a comment below. This is so very encouraging to me to keep writing. I pray you will keep coming back. I totally believe that my writing is by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so if I am writing, there is someone that needs to read it! Maybe it’s you?
** Pastor Timothy Davis
Cleansing The Church Ministries
PO Box 8326
Mission Hills, Ca 91346
(818)833-7999
http://www.cleansingthechurch.com/•
A little share from me: Premise of my artwork: “Most of my artwork is inspired by our Creator's Complexity in that He created each one of us so unfathomable that one has to look many times over to see every aspect of each and every one of us! I appreciate that uniqueness and value those who dare to be who God created them to be! I hope you enjoy my art and appreciate that I also include a bit of whimsy as me being who I was created to be! I don't expect you to love it all but I hope you find something that you can appreciate. Thank you for looking!”
Some time ago I had a quote on a plaque on my wall and I’m not sure where it came from but I’ve remembered it for as long as I can remember and have always thought it to be true. I tried to find out who wrote it but can find nothing more than it is an American Indian Proverb - Never criticize a man until you’ve walked a mile in his moccasins. If this is a hard thing for you to believe then I would recommend a book to you - The Search For Significance: Seeing Your True Worth Through God's Eyes by Robert S. McGee. I have taken a couple of classes on this book and through it God taught me more than I learned in nine years of regular psychologist visits. We are shaped by our perceptions and we see others by those perceptions, also.
Earlier this year I know that God started speaking to my heart and telling me that it’s not always about me. That I needed to realize that disapproving looks that I thought I was getting weren’t always about me that many, many things shaped whatever I saw on an individual’s face that I saw looking at me, which reflects the above proverb. All that is past may be for our good or to our detriment, which is for God to decide as He created us. I prayed for wisdom to learn to put it all behind me. To rid me of all of that baggage that caused me to not see people through God’s eyes. He led me to a class called **“Walking in the Light” (with use of The Cleansing Seminar Study Guide) which helped me to shed those pounds of past that shaped those disapproving looks!
And, I’ve truly learned to see that we are all *Psalm 139:14 “…fearfully and wonderfully made;…”. God created each one of us to fulfill a certain purpose (Please read 1 Cor. 12: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Cor.%2012&version=NKJV).
I’ve been learning this for years. Why it takes some of us so much longer to truly learn something, only God knows. I’ll always remember an event in my life that happened when I worked in patient registration in the emergency room at a multi county hospital back in Ohio. I had revered the nurse’s station where I’d seen the doctors’ and nurses’ running in and out of since I was a child there with my many broken bones or torn up knees. I set it high upon a pedestal. I carried it to this day when I worked in registration. The charge nurse came out and asked me if she could borrow the 3-hole punch. Within a few minutes she returned with it, exclaiming that she could not figure out how to use it and could someone help her. I thought how I could work a 3-hole punch in my sleep or with my eyes closed and in my mind’s eye it wandered to 1 Cor. 12. And, that pedestal disappeared that day. This is one of the best lessons that I learned. I went onto working with quite a few doctors who definitely worked hard enough through years of schooling to earn the right to be respected with the name of doctor before their name. But, I also learned that they put their pants on one leg at a time like the rest of us and that they liked being befriended as the human beings that they were.
God created each one of us to fulfill a certain purpose.
I will always remember that season of my life when God chose for me to work in the emergency room. One of the main reasons I cherished this memory so is that I directly saw every employee treated as a team member -- From the housekeeper that cleaned up after the treatment of the patients by the doctors and nurses to the doctors and nurses themselves. I spoke with nurses several times who I thought were having such a horrendous night (time and again) and they thought we women in registration must be having an awful night. Each person in the team was a necessary, intricate part that it could not be without (referring back to *1 Cor. 12 :15-19 “and If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be?”)
*James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” As He has given to me, also.
We are all fearfully and wonderfully made by our creator and worthy of being given the chance to be seen through His eyes!
May God bless you through my writing. If He has especially touched you in any way, please leave a comment below. This is so very encouraging to me to keep writing. I pray you will keep coming back. I totally believe that my writing is by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so if I am writing, there is someone that needs to read it! Maybe it’s you?
** Pastor Timothy Davis
Cleansing The Church Ministries
PO Box 8326
Mission Hills, Ca 91346
(818)833-7999
http://www.cleansingthechurch.com/•
A little share from me: Premise of my artwork: “Most of my artwork is inspired by our Creator's Complexity in that He created each one of us so unfathomable that one has to look many times over to see every aspect of each and every one of us! I appreciate that uniqueness and value those who dare to be who God created them to be! I hope you enjoy my art and appreciate that I also include a bit of whimsy as me being who I was created to be! I don't expect you to love it all but I hope you find something that you can appreciate. Thank you for looking!”
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Today is our 20th Anniversary - Memories
Here I am awake. I’ve been awake since about 5:30 and it’s almost 6:00 now but I knew that I had to write. Why else would I be wanting to get out of bed when it’s 37 degrees outside (and in Florida that’s colder than you even know) and it’s my 20th wedding anniversary? Yep, that’s 20 years! The most amazing part of that, that I believe I’m supposed to share is that my husband and I only spent just 9 weeks dating and only knew each other for about a week longer. If you put your relationship in God’s hands and He wants you together, He’ll get you together.
I was only released from prison 3/29/90 and working temporary jobs. I so vividly remember the events that surrounded our meeting and eventual marriage. I’d thought that I had been placed by the temporary service in a near perfect position with full time hours doing data entry until after the New Year (this was the end of September). And, the money was good for that time, besides. I worked only one day and had plans to spend an evening with friends. I turned the corner onto their street, sneezed, and within a few minutes I was so sick that I had to leave and go home. I remained quite ill over the weekend, then tried to go back to work on Monday and they sent me home. I was just so sick. And, to my chagrin the place where I’d been working said that they no longer wanted me to work there. The temporary service, then, decided that I needed the rest of the week off to get well. I was quite distraught as I lived alone and I so felt the need for money to be coming in on a regular basis. I got better and was reassigned on the following Monday (Hallelujah) but was assigned to another factory position, which I was hoping to bypass as I’d already had one factory position that left me coming home as black as night from a filthy job where I only got a 15 minute lunch as voted on by a union. But, I needed the money no matter where I was placed and this was all in God’s hands.
I was placed at the beginning of the factory line and my future spouse was at the end, but we had breaks together. I was (at that time) already engaged to the man that I’d gotten in trouble with whose mother played a major role in my being led back to the Lord prior to entering prison. This man was 7 years younger than me and I was only 30. His immaturity showed as he broke up with me periodically for a few days but always came running back. I was also living in and redecorating the inside of a house that was to be our wedding present. Joe and I had already met when this man decided once again to break it off, sighting that he thought he was too young to get married. I was quite tired of this happening every few months so I accepted Joe’s advances. We had a mutual friend that he hadn’t seen in some time so I offered to take Joe over to see him. We hit it off and Joe asked me out for the following Friday. That first date was on 10/1/90.
Joe didn’t seem like my type at first and I’d wanted to take things slowly but we hit it off, even talking on the telephone to the wee hours of the morning many nights. I remember, quite vividly, talking to the Lord about him. I surrendered to God’s will. I told Him that if I was supposed to fall out of love with this other man and fall in love with Joe, then so be it. And, I don’t even know when it happened, but here we are this 20 years later. Everything fell into line.
We attended a wedding of one of my closer friends at that time, which got us romanticizing the whole being married thing. When we told my folks that we wanted to get married as soon as possible I thought my dad would go ballistic. His jaw went sideways as I’d only seen happen 3 or 4 times when he’d been the maddest ever. So, I took it to the Lord in prayer and the next day my dad was planning our reception. I’d remembered my oldest brother (minister) had told me that when I found someone who God wanted me to marry that I would have my parents full approval. Well, this was a definite miracle that I will never forget. I also remember calling my other brother’s wife in Florida to share this with them and came upon no opposition what so ever. I even questioned this and she knew I’d been previously engaged several times before but hadn’t gone through with it so this must’ve been right. All the events just fell in line. All the doors opened and we ended up married on 12/8/90 with 11 family members present and then had a full wedding on 1/26/91.
To top it off, we found out after a few years that I was unable to have children. Joe had a son from a previous marriage who we ended up getting custody of in 1999 when he was 13 years old. At that time, Brian wasn’t living in a Christian home. Brian is now 24 years old. He lives about an hour north of us and has been involved in church, singing on praise teams and gets mad when I called him my step-son stating that I know he’s my kid. Even though we have our struggles, as all families do, I couldn’t be happier. The things that they both have stuck with me through in my life definitely shows me that this entire endeavor was God’s plan.
And, many nights I awake several times with this tremendous song of spiritual warfare in my dreams: (here is a wonderful video portrayal, too - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmxUpDmvAfs). It is a reminder to me to fight alongside God against forces that would have Joe and I break up. That it isn’t easy especially in this world today, to make it in any marriage yet for 20 years! And, I know, because He orchestrated our marriage, He blessed it. I have placed our marriage in His hands over and over again over the years. And, I will stand my ground!
May God bless you through my writing. If He has especially touched you in any way, please leave a comment below. This is so very encouraging to me to keep writing. I pray you will keep coming back. I totally believe that my writing is by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so if I am writing, there is someone that needs to read it! Maybe it’s you?
I was only released from prison 3/29/90 and working temporary jobs. I so vividly remember the events that surrounded our meeting and eventual marriage. I’d thought that I had been placed by the temporary service in a near perfect position with full time hours doing data entry until after the New Year (this was the end of September). And, the money was good for that time, besides. I worked only one day and had plans to spend an evening with friends. I turned the corner onto their street, sneezed, and within a few minutes I was so sick that I had to leave and go home. I remained quite ill over the weekend, then tried to go back to work on Monday and they sent me home. I was just so sick. And, to my chagrin the place where I’d been working said that they no longer wanted me to work there. The temporary service, then, decided that I needed the rest of the week off to get well. I was quite distraught as I lived alone and I so felt the need for money to be coming in on a regular basis. I got better and was reassigned on the following Monday (Hallelujah) but was assigned to another factory position, which I was hoping to bypass as I’d already had one factory position that left me coming home as black as night from a filthy job where I only got a 15 minute lunch as voted on by a union. But, I needed the money no matter where I was placed and this was all in God’s hands.
I was placed at the beginning of the factory line and my future spouse was at the end, but we had breaks together. I was (at that time) already engaged to the man that I’d gotten in trouble with whose mother played a major role in my being led back to the Lord prior to entering prison. This man was 7 years younger than me and I was only 30. His immaturity showed as he broke up with me periodically for a few days but always came running back. I was also living in and redecorating the inside of a house that was to be our wedding present. Joe and I had already met when this man decided once again to break it off, sighting that he thought he was too young to get married. I was quite tired of this happening every few months so I accepted Joe’s advances. We had a mutual friend that he hadn’t seen in some time so I offered to take Joe over to see him. We hit it off and Joe asked me out for the following Friday. That first date was on 10/1/90.
Joe didn’t seem like my type at first and I’d wanted to take things slowly but we hit it off, even talking on the telephone to the wee hours of the morning many nights. I remember, quite vividly, talking to the Lord about him. I surrendered to God’s will. I told Him that if I was supposed to fall out of love with this other man and fall in love with Joe, then so be it. And, I don’t even know when it happened, but here we are this 20 years later. Everything fell into line.
We attended a wedding of one of my closer friends at that time, which got us romanticizing the whole being married thing. When we told my folks that we wanted to get married as soon as possible I thought my dad would go ballistic. His jaw went sideways as I’d only seen happen 3 or 4 times when he’d been the maddest ever. So, I took it to the Lord in prayer and the next day my dad was planning our reception. I’d remembered my oldest brother (minister) had told me that when I found someone who God wanted me to marry that I would have my parents full approval. Well, this was a definite miracle that I will never forget. I also remember calling my other brother’s wife in Florida to share this with them and came upon no opposition what so ever. I even questioned this and she knew I’d been previously engaged several times before but hadn’t gone through with it so this must’ve been right. All the events just fell in line. All the doors opened and we ended up married on 12/8/90 with 11 family members present and then had a full wedding on 1/26/91.
To top it off, we found out after a few years that I was unable to have children. Joe had a son from a previous marriage who we ended up getting custody of in 1999 when he was 13 years old. At that time, Brian wasn’t living in a Christian home. Brian is now 24 years old. He lives about an hour north of us and has been involved in church, singing on praise teams and gets mad when I called him my step-son stating that I know he’s my kid. Even though we have our struggles, as all families do, I couldn’t be happier. The things that they both have stuck with me through in my life definitely shows me that this entire endeavor was God’s plan.
And, many nights I awake several times with this tremendous song of spiritual warfare in my dreams: (here is a wonderful video portrayal, too - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmxUpDmvAfs). It is a reminder to me to fight alongside God against forces that would have Joe and I break up. That it isn’t easy especially in this world today, to make it in any marriage yet for 20 years! And, I know, because He orchestrated our marriage, He blessed it. I have placed our marriage in His hands over and over again over the years. And, I will stand my ground!
May God bless you through my writing. If He has especially touched you in any way, please leave a comment below. This is so very encouraging to me to keep writing. I pray you will keep coming back. I totally believe that my writing is by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so if I am writing, there is someone that needs to read it! Maybe it’s you?
Thursday, December 2, 2010
A Must Read Devotional Share + my commentary
Good Morning! The following devotional struck me so profoundly this morning that I shared it in the “Notes” section on Facebook (where you can you find devotionals shared by me almost daily) and I wanted to share it with all of you. I know I was a person who was raised up with some verbal abuse and was told that I couldn’t do anything right and that I’d never amount to anything, well, this devotional is the direct opposite of that. When people tell me I can't do it, He tells me I can! While in prison I repeated over and over again, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Phil. 4:13) and I’ve used it many, many times since! He made each one of us for something special (*Psalm 139:14a "I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;") and He will not let anyone tell Him what to do.
1 Corinthians 12 – Here is the link to this in The Message version, which is the language of today. You will not regret reading this. Exerpt 1 Cor. 12:18a "I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less.":
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2012&version=MSG
“The Great Reversal by Rick Warren
"He has displayed his power with many mighty deeds but has scattered the people who are proud and think they are the great ones. He has brought down mighty rulers from their thrones but has raised up the humble! He has filled the hungry with good things but sent the rich away with nothing!" Luke 1:50-53 (NCV)
"God says the people who think they have it all together are going to fail, and the people who think they don't have it together are going to succeed."
What is humility? Humility is when you say, "I'm going with God's plan for my life, because my plan isn't as good." And the Bible says, "Humble yourself before the Lord, and he will lift you up" (James 4:10 NIV).
In Luke 1:50-53, Mary says, "He has displayed his power with many mighty deeds but has scattered the people who are proud and think they are the great ones. He has brought down mighty rulers from their throne but has raised up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but sent the rich away with nothing" (NCV).
Do you see the great reversal here? God says the people who think they have it all together are going to fail, and the people who think they don't have it together are going to succeed. Those who trust God are the ones who are going to make it in the long term.
Who or what are you trusting? Do you put more emphasis on what God's Word says or what the celebrities on TMZ say? How about the athletes in your fantasy league? Or the financial wizards of Wall Street and the stock prices? None of the things our culture says is important will matter five years from now. But those who trust God humbly and know his Word are going to make it in the long-term, because that's what lasts.
Mary knew the Word of God enough that she could quote ten verses from the Old Testament and make a song out of it. Do you know enough Scripture like that? If you want God's blessing on your life, you need to get into the Word and read it, study it, and start memorizing it. “
If you are blessed by this blog entry, please leave me a comment as it totally encourages me to write more. I will appreciate it even more than you know and even consider it as a special gift from you! Thank you & may God bless your coming and your going!
1 Corinthians 12 – Here is the link to this in The Message version, which is the language of today. You will not regret reading this. Exerpt 1 Cor. 12:18a "I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less.":
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2012&version=MSG
“The Great Reversal by Rick Warren
"He has displayed his power with many mighty deeds but has scattered the people who are proud and think they are the great ones. He has brought down mighty rulers from their thrones but has raised up the humble! He has filled the hungry with good things but sent the rich away with nothing!" Luke 1:50-53 (NCV)
"God says the people who think they have it all together are going to fail, and the people who think they don't have it together are going to succeed."
What is humility? Humility is when you say, "I'm going with God's plan for my life, because my plan isn't as good." And the Bible says, "Humble yourself before the Lord, and he will lift you up" (James 4:10 NIV).
In Luke 1:50-53, Mary says, "He has displayed his power with many mighty deeds but has scattered the people who are proud and think they are the great ones. He has brought down mighty rulers from their throne but has raised up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but sent the rich away with nothing" (NCV).
Do you see the great reversal here? God says the people who think they have it all together are going to fail, and the people who think they don't have it together are going to succeed. Those who trust God are the ones who are going to make it in the long term.
Who or what are you trusting? Do you put more emphasis on what God's Word says or what the celebrities on TMZ say? How about the athletes in your fantasy league? Or the financial wizards of Wall Street and the stock prices? None of the things our culture says is important will matter five years from now. But those who trust God humbly and know his Word are going to make it in the long-term, because that's what lasts.
Mary knew the Word of God enough that she could quote ten verses from the Old Testament and make a song out of it. Do you know enough Scripture like that? If you want God's blessing on your life, you need to get into the Word and read it, study it, and start memorizing it. “
If you are blessed by this blog entry, please leave me a comment as it totally encourages me to write more. I will appreciate it even more than you know and even consider it as a special gift from you! Thank you & may God bless your coming and your going!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)