Just taking a break from cleaning while a room is occupied for a few that I need to clean next and as I start looking around on my computer it came to mind that I have yet to share what’s up with me. Well only slightly with a few people.
The Fall of 2014 after the move was rough. Actually from mid-October of 2013 through the whole of 2014 for the most part was the roughest in our 25 year marriage. We believed that Satan was on the rampage. He knew that I was coming into this time and he didn’t like it. BUT
*1 John 4:4 “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world."
And, I am on my way back.
I could go on and on telling you about all of the many struggles but as my bestie says, “you couldn’t make it up!” and as our leader at Celebrate Recovery reiterated to me once again last night, “It’s much better to concentrate on the victories than on the struggles!” I started to find a scripture befitting of not doubting but they are so numerous and so to pick just one might be a tough one. And too numerous, once again, regarding God’s faithfulness yet this song has kept playing through my mind by Lincoln Brewster:
GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS
[Verse:]
Great is Thy faithfulness
O God my Father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee
Thou changest not
Thy compassions they fail not
As Those hast been Thou forever will be
[Chorus:]
Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me
(Verse2)
Pardon for sin
And a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence
To cheer and to guide
Strength for today
And bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine
With ten thousand beside
Since the beginning of 2015 my husband and I have had numerous prayers answered and life seems to have done a flip flop. We had prayed about my husband’s job for several years since he had several pay cuts and seemed to have no room for advancement among other seemingly poor business practices by his employer. Yet we did know that he was blessed to have a job through the years of recession in the US. He kept working and we kept praying, knowing that God was making a way even when we saw no way. I applauded my husband for his faithfulness, working in a job that he was not happy about going to daily for 8+ years. Then his new job took 2 months with interviews, e-mails, phone calls, and on and on. When he got the job we were so overjoyed and we knew that God was showing him favor for his longsuffering. The job he ended up with was more than we even dreamed of and he is quite happy there. This job has taken an adjustment to 3rd shift hours but we have known it was from God so He would help us with that adjustment.
Along with the new job there is newness in the financial management of our household as well. I had been prophesied over in the not too distant past and was told that I had a gift of giving and that God was answering my prayers in the exact words for Him to bless us so that we could bless others. We have been able to bless others, not only from our own household but also in being shown deals that can be shared with others in need!
AND, a big AND, my hubby announced at his birthday/new job celebration that he thought that we’d see about going on a cruise for our 25th wedding anniversary (12/8/15). A cruise was on my (not actually written down) bucket list! So excited and it is now booked so looking forward to an entire week away with my honey, my precious gift from God who has lived a life of longsuffering coming alongside me, too, in all my illnesses and quirks (LOL)! Hallelujah!
And, with that it is time to go back to my cleaning and I will have to write a bit more later!
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Well, here I am doing just what I figured would happen. I had a dream where I ran into the lady who helped to lead me back to the Lord in 1988 and we were giddy, then I awoke just wide awake knowing I needed to get up and write! Hallelujah! As I walk with the Lord longer I’ve started to see a pattern now and then. ALL THE TIME, He is God and I cannot second guess Him because He will prove it to me yet I DO KNOW HIS LOVE FOR ME and like I might guess my Heavenly Father was up to something loving, kind, and daddy-ful (just made that up) I sometimes see my Heavenly Papa’s hand in the midst all too lovingly! I have felt that things were falling together as in puzzle pieces at times. He is here…He is with me…He is:
* Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
*1 Corinthians 2:11 “For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.”
I’m always in awe! He never ceases to amaze me!
And my writing feels like dictation this morning, which doesn’t always happen but it’s quite cool when HE CHOOSES to do it! That’s just it IT’S ALL GOD! His revelations are edifying to me which is most probably why He shows me His amazing work so notably! He lets me know that He is walking with me and talking with me!
Kind of old and corny? Well, that’s because I learned it when I was a little girl and when I went to prison in 1988 it rang through my head and heart almost daily for that entire 16 months. He helped keep me alive and sane in that scary place with that song, those words. (Palm Sunday our church started the service with it. We heard it on the outside speakers as we were walking in and I entered in tears and remained that way until the greeting. The memories of Him truly becoming that ALIVE to me all those years ago were just overwhelming! (And still are overwhelming this morning as I’m moved to tears again!)) He truly is a companion, the best companion. I hope to convey that to you who are reading my blog at this time! I pray you never neglect to seek Him out because as the Bible says:
*Proverbs 8:17 “I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me.”
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| "My Momma's Home" w/added digital art - by Juliana |
Back to the share at hand. Things are falling together, it seems, like the gathering together of so many thoughts and prayers over these 26 (nearly 27) years since I started walking with Him again. I see it almost daily! And even since I started writing this blog post, I’ve had the realization of another miracle in my life. I have had another healing that to me one of the most amazing of those entire 26 years. In my past life of degradation before I ‘woke up’, I fell off a roof and broke my back. I crushed my L2 Vertebra. I could go into a long sorted ordeal of all that has transpired since yet I am mostly alive to share of His glorious works and not to go into all the gory details of my past. The memories are good for testimony’s sake and as a reminder of what He has brought me through but when the sting is still there (which it is not) then healing is needed! This whole fall ended up in a 10 hour spine surgery in 1995 where I truly learned of my assurance of my salvation and eternal life. It seemed that most people expected me to be fearful of dying since I was told that I had a 50/50 chance of survival but that wasn’t it at all. The only fearful thought I fought was in awaking paralyzed or similarly handicapped. I KNEW HEAVEN WAS IN MY GRASP if I did not make it through. Yet, I was left with back pain. I woke up, even daily, for 17 years feeling stiff and so many ramifications of pain…BUT WALKING!
(I sure wish I’d see these peacocks that I’m told by the sound that I am hearing – beautiful!)
In 2012, my husband was led to the “Wheat Belly” diet and we quit eating wheat and to my surprise within just a few months nearly all of the “chronic” pain had left me along with other various arthritic pain in my body. Hallelujah! I did prove this when I, out of true stupidity, fell off the wheat free wagon in 2014 when on vacation in my home town of 45 years. Sentimentality can seemingly be true stupidity at times. I “had to eat” certain things that I loved and by the time I’d thought that just a little over time wouldn’t hurt, I was on the couch several days a week in severe pain with the knowing that if I kept it up that I would be in that wheelchair far sooner than I’d had faith to walk out against! Within another few days, I was back off the wheat and even mostly fully gluten free. (If God so touches your heart, please check out the Wheat Belly diet at http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/ There have been many more positive resolutions from this diet than just the loss of pain.)
Yet in the last couple of years I’d started developing a case of pretty intense Sciatica so I sought the Lord and an orthopedic doctor that to the surprise of my chiropractor, even agreed with my returning to him for relief versus surgery so I had been seeing this doctor again for several months.
To make a long story short, I will share a timeline of last week:
Our refrigerator/freezer failed about a week ago with the subsequent 3 days of work standing on the ceramic tile to finally end up knowing that we had several more days before the mess would all get back to “normal”. By that time I was on the couch with my legs feeling like jelly. I had to stop! That day I prayed like never before about my back telling my Heavenly Papa how I just couldn’t stand it (remember David in Psalms?). Thursday night I went to bed with this strange feeling that I hadn’t had that back pain all day (?). On Friday night as my bestie and I walked down the hall at Celebrate Recovery I remarked to her that the pain had still not returned and I ended up sharing it in small group that night. The following day was when I started writing this and I had a little pain when fixing dinner but it left me with just knowing that it was time to stop and that has been the way this has been ever since. I have had less pain than possibly since the fall in 1980 when my back was broken. I am still in awe and knowing that if I do have pain that it is merely a warning sign to slow down.
When we moved to Christian Retreat, I kept having the word “restoration” go through my mind. I knew God was up to something. This place is amazing. The grounds are perfumed with His Holy Spirit. I drove into this place in 2005 with my brother and I knew from then on that the fullness of God was here. The only way I’ve known how to explain it is that prior to living here we were in a community where there were few of us home during the day due to most being away at their jobs and (so it was quiet and peaceful) but it felt empty, except His anointing upon our home. Since our move here, it never feels empty! I never feel alone! In my studio is the strongest sense of His holy presence!
And, I know even more than I’ve known all along that He is preparing me for more. This year, so far, I’m learning to walk in “One Day at a Time” like never before. I have an extra-spiritual faith that won’t quit, knowing that He is working in me. I’m experiencing More Healing, More Joy, More of His peace, More, More, More of Him! Come along for the ride…only He knows what He is doing:
*1 Corinthians 2:9 “But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
*1 Corinthians 1:27 “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;”
I AM ON MY WAY BACK!
May God bless you through my writing. If He has especially touched you in any way, please leave a comment below. Your comments are so very encouraging to me to help me to keep writing. Also, click on the “Uptweet” button on the above right and share! I pray you will keep coming back. I fully 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? Also, please be sure to share any questions you might have with me and if you would like to keep them personal (just between you and me) please don’t hesitate to e-mail me at juliana.pace@gmail.com. If I don’t know how to answer you, I will may every attempt to refer you to someone for more information. Thanks and may God bless all your days!
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