Knowledge of Him

How often do we doubt ourselves
To reach out, to make a stand, or
Just to lend a helping hand

How often do we doubt ourselves
To speak, to use our mouth to praise
Him, to share Him, to help those that are
Troubled and weak

How often we doubt ourselves when honestly
We are doubting the power of our Saviour

He is real, He is powerful, He is divine
He has gave us all this combined

Through our Faith in Him
Put your fear aside
Put your doubt behind
Replace your insecurity
With the knowledge of Him.

2 Peter 1:2-4

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (II Peter 1:2-4 NKJV)


I am a child of God therefore I can..............!(fill in the blank)

With the power and divine nature that I have through Jesus Christ!

Only Jesus

It's a hurt that can't be explained
It's a hurt that has no words
It's a hurt that takes your very own breath!
It's a hurt from within the heart
It's a hurt that only Jesus Can Feel
It's a hurt that only Jesus Can Heal!

Our hands our feet our hearts!

Our hands, Our feet, Our hearts

I'm not going to start this off by saying that I know her inside and out or that we even grew up together playing and selling lemonade in a makeshift stand on the sidewalk near our house! Nope, I've only known her about two years now! But, I can tell you I have stood back and watched her grow as God has brought her to our little church and community, a far distance from her family and home town. I can tell you she grew up in the world living by the worlds standards! But, my friend can also tell you she knew in her heart that there was a longing for something she could not explain!

That's where this story starts. Through many unlikely people and different circumstances she ended up here in our little church and now my sister in Christ!

Now, I myself at this particular hard time in my life was praying for God to send me a friend, a friend of encouragement! Well, it just so happen one day she was available to take a road trip with me and that started a whole new chapter!

I realize soon that this young babe in Christ is so hungry and so on fire for God she could not read enough, learn enough or do enough, she thirst for Him! O, what a joy to be around someone with that fire in their heart, especially when when I myself had reached a slumb in my own relationship with Him!

So, October 2012, my friend, so eager to serve The Lord, felt the calling to expand, to expand out on a journey around the world reaching all those that will listen. But, do not think it has been easy! As many of us do , she began to experience many emotions fear, anger, guilt, sadness and even doubt! To be honest, she even backed off of our friendship. I watched her as she made excuses of why she could not go on this journey. I watched her make different attempts to satisfy that inner calling without actually answering the call!

Yes, six months later, my friend came to me and she had given in! Although she has not left out yet, her journey has already begun. As, my friend, is preparing to expand her hands, her feet and her heart out to 11 different countries for Christ in the next year, she has grown in her confidence and security as she knows who has called her out to go unto all the nations!

Please take note, we are all called to be disciples and spread His word! May we all listen to that still small voice and stop making excuses and start expanding our hands, our feet and our hearts! Wether, it's here at home or across the lands, may we all be inspired to expand out the Love of His Hands! 

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. (Matthew 28:19, 20 NKJV)

Prayer for my Children!

Lord help me to raise them unlike drift wood that drifts to and fro, up and down the coast. But of a tree that is firmly grounded in Your Love and guidance throughout their life, that even when bent they do not brake! 

I know He has a plan!

So I would love to share my testimony with you of my experience with The Lord in the last seven months , but you see it ain't over yet! 

Of course, I don't think it ever is, as long as we continue to walk this earth! We just may experience several heart wrenching times that may inspire others as we write what we have faced, knowing and truly feeling the Holy Spirit walk each and every step with us!

This testimony starts on the morning of Jan7th 2013! I climbed out bed, noticing a pain to left side of my face. Due the lack of insurance from my husband switching jobs we where in a time lapse, so for two weeks I babied it as a tooth infection ! Well as you can figure , it did not get any better! Luckily, I work for a wonderful ENT, so we discuss the possibility of a tooth abscess and decided to try antibiotics to kill time till for my insurance to kicked in and I could go see a dentist. Well, after allergic reaction to that, I followed up with a dentist! Wonderful and very friendly office, my dentist tells my I have a " death grip" on my teeth at night and fixed me up with a night guard! Alright, happy to have a answer , I get my mouth guard, continue to eat ibuprofen for the pain and two weeks later , I'm calling him back !

This time he listens and is pretty sure I have contracted my muscle so much from griping my teeth I am having spasms and a form of TMJ! So, off to a Specialist I go!!

By the next week I am experience excruciating pain on the whole left side of my face and teeth. I begin praying, Lord please send me to this specialist and please be with him and prepare him with wisdom to be able to help me understand what is going on! Remember by this time I'm on week number seven of persistent pain! 

So, here I was, setting in his office and after two hours of him spending his time with me and figuring out a plan, I felt very relieved and Thanked God for answering my prayers!

So here we go.... New mouth brace for six months and monthly appointments for adjustments! Unfortunately, they got to see me on a weekly basis! The pain increased and the spasms lasted anywhere from 15 mins. to two hours and I lost all focus from dealing with persistent pain and different medications! After a month and half we were to a point they felt they could not help me anymore! But please understand they where very sweet group of people doing all they could to help! 

So, scared, worn, and in severe pain I had come to a point where I felt I had no where to go, no answers!

As I realize thru my suffering at this point from Jan - April , I had become stronger in my prayer life. The one and ONLY day my doctor was able to numb my face and I was able to talk, God had given me that day, to be able to lead a close friend to The Lord, setting on my living room couch -Amen- lets Rejoice here for a moment!!! 

Then two days later my grandparents gave my little family their camper, this may not mean much to you but tears came to my eyes cause I new it was a blessing from God! I had wanted a camper for two years but finicaly we were unable to afford one, and I knew if I was patient God would provide such a simple thing! But it is huge for me, so ready to make new memories with my children, as my parents did with me ( and the best part is my grandparents had given my parents their camper when I was a kid- so double dose of a special little blessing from God)

I realize at this point, okay God use this pain for Your will, heal me or not, just help me thru and strengthen my faith because You are so good!

In the next few days I receive a phone call from a lady that I yet to ever have meet in person, but she speaks as I listen in pain, and she tells me her story, which was exactly like mine to this point, by the middle of the phone call I could tell she was a child of the Almighty and He had sent her to me! The next day, she even called ahead of me, but I got an appointment with a new specialist she was using that was two hours from home ! When I called them that first time already in tears from pain , she had told them my story and I didn't have to talk and they got me right in the following Tuesday! So, that precious Sunday night at church the elders gathered around me and as I was anointed with oil as they prayed for me, the new doctor and for Gods will!

After a day of excruciating and painful testing, the doctor explains that from my scoliosis in my neck, griping of my teeth and weak joints I had contracted my muscle so much that I had dislocated my left bottom jaw. So we make a plan, 12 weeks of therapy and a new mouth piece for both top and bottom , the bottom being the most important! So here we go, made the molds and they said it normally would take up to two weeks to get that main mouth piece back and that one will help so much more! Okay ready for this process to get started and on a road of relief, papers signed, check wrote out and way we go home, feeling we had made a good choice and very thankful and giving glory to God that He had sent this lady to call me up and direct me to this place! Well, it don't stop there! Two days (two) the office calls and they had rushed my main mouth piece and said I could come get fitted right then! So you be,t I headed out for a two hour drive! Praising God!

Now here we are at nine weeks of therapy behind me ( a four hour round trip each week) still limited on food intake and the amount and volume of how much I can speak, but I have had such wonderful blessings as I look back along the way and the pain is getting better- they keep telling me " this didn't happen all over night so it's not going to be fixed all over night" . It will take time!

Today as I write this, I will be honest, it has not been a good day at all! I have had to come home from work and rest my muscles to keep them form spasming and as I laid down in tears again , this lady that God sent my way, text me a word of encouragement, and I had not heard from her in weeks now! You do not have to tell me! I know how Awesome my God is!!! 

So I lay here looking back at the past seven months ... I see how and where God has directed me thru unlikely people, how He my friends and family have cared for me, how so many have prayed for me and I have gained a sister in Christ, I have got to share His word with many as they ask me how I am dealing with this trial, I have felt a intimacy with Christ unlike anytime before! At first I will be honest I prayed He would just take it all way, now I see all the blessing and strength I have gained , I just pray for His Will as I get thru the pain! Because I Know He Has A Plan!

                                           And yes if you are wondering we have gone camping!! 

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9 NKJV)

Be still and know that I am God!

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! (Psalms 46:10 NKJV)

Waiting till you are clean?

So, I have question for you?

Seriously, would you run your truck or car through a car wash when its nice, shiny and clean? You have not taken it down any dirt roads or scratches that need buffed? Just wondering, think about it? Would you?

I would say not! But I also you would say, you are wondering where my point is in all this question! Well, I would like say in my experience I have never taken my car through the car wash when it wasn't needed. But only when it has been dusty, dirty and muddy from the dirty and rough back roads I've been done.

So, yes lately I was setting in a car wash and realized how through my walk and my relationship with others, I feel sometimes many have this all wrong! I have witnessed many who think they must get clean, shiny and off the dirt roads before they enter into and become a heir to Christ.

Romans 8:16-17
The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.17. and if children, then heirs-heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

So let's back up here!!!! Lets take this car wash for a good example here, a simple example, so if you are one of those many that are dealing with this issue, please read this, it may be simple, but serious!

So... you have been down dirt roads, hit a few bumps in the road, splashed up some mud and got a  few scratches along the way.Let us take this "vehicle" (our body and heart in spiritual terms here)! Lets enter into the car wash- now lets slow down and take this by a step by step process.

Do we pay to enter? Yes, but First know that Jesus paid the over all expense, will we experience some cost in our decision to follow Christ yes,  some may lose friends, family, daily activities. It all comes in many different forms from a basic washing to a super deluxe!  So, now we know who really paid the price, lets enter in-
Second, do you just run through and become sweekie clean? Yes, do understand once you accept Christ and enter in as a child of God, the heavy dust is rinsed away or should I say Forgiven Forever, but then while you are in that car wash, there is a process you go through, so it don't just stop there!
We have forgiveness-the rinsing, but then there is the soaking process, soaking in God's word and learning the importance of His ways and obedience to Him-some may soak longer than others-
Then, we have the rinse cycle and another, as we get deeper into His word our true and pureness starts showing through all the mud, we are becoming clean as He washes away are sins and our lives start  changing as He washes the mud away!
Then, we have my favorite part, the SPOT FREE rinse. Here I realize as we enter in, Jesus paid my over all cost, forgave me, cleansed me- all that I may Shine for Him and Stand before my Heavenly Father SPOT FREE!

Philippians 2:15 that you may become blameless and harmless(innocent), children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.

O, you may ask about the scratches? They are left so I remember that road that I once was on, so that I may choose not to travel that way again. But rest assured one day those too, will be gone and you will be all anew!

So, please realize what I want you to get from this example. You can not wait till you are all pretty, shiny, and perfectly buffed out to enter into Christ, but you come, openly, honestly and humbly before Him with all the dirt and let Him Cleanse you and shine you, so when you come out the other side you will be made perfect!

Colossians 1:21-22 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight-

Do we all have the same experiences? Have we all been down the same dirt road? Will we have the same path laid out before us? No, some may be muddier than others, some my get the waxing cycle "super deluxe"- remember that one- but we all have a calling and that starts with US letting HIM cleanse us! Just as in the car wash, there is a process we go through, but at the end what matters, is we Shine and we Shine for Jesus Christ.

So, sinner if you are reading this please don't wait to get clean, buffed, washed. Let Jesus truly Cleanse you, prepare you and shine for Him!
He is the way and the only way! You Can Not Cleanse Yourself,
So, enter in my beloved, as you are and Let Christ have your life!


John 14:6
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one come to the Father except through Me. 

Surrender

Surrendering!

Surrendering!  No seriously, surrendering!

When I hear this word, in  my mind, i picture a image of a person with their hands raised and knees to the ground and nothing but the clothes on their back!
Is this person me? Is this person you?
Could it be?
Should it be?
Surrendering All!
     Yes, it should be! I have really been convicted lately from a book I have been reading and it's really been making me think about the four words that i have found myself saying or speaking about lately, "by the worlds standards"
1 John 2:15-17 NKJV
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.16 For all that is in the world -the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life- is not of the Father but is of the world.17And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will If God abides forever.

So, are we giving our all to Him?
 Yes,  we all have different gifts and God has different plans for each of our lives, but they are all gifts and plans for Him and His purpose, NOT for ... ME ME ME! We live in a world that is all about "ME"!
Oh, don't get me wrong, this is directed towards me,as well as, anyone that may read this blog! I only hope that I may start to look around at others and surrender to His word, that I may love others with a Godly Love and to See others thru His Eyes! I want to surrender to His purpose!
Weather we are rich or poor, young or old, married or not, with children or not, there is no excuse! If you are a child of the one true King, you are to surrender to His Will and not to the worlds standards!

The Great Commission

Matthew 28:19-20

19.Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,20. teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.

Mark 16:15-16

15 And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.16. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

So, two things here that are on my heart lately, "go to all the nations"! We are to share His word and His love, John 13:34-35, A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another 35. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.We have to realize that this means YOU! Yes, YOU (My disciples, Jesus says here) you are to surrender to this scripture, to His word to His standards and seek out all that are lost! From the friend that sets next to you every Sunday on your same favorite pew you set at, all the way, to the villages deep of Africa, wherever, God may call you! You are here to surrender to His ways and not of the "worlds" ways!

Second, Are we TEACHING?

 I  mean really teaching! We hear this word and we instantly think "by the worlds standards" of just a Sunday morning class room!

Sundays should just be our "charger" for our batteries, that we may Run Our Lights for the lost thru the following week, that we may teach others each day how to love, to know His love, and to surrender their All to HIM, that we all, may surrender to our true purpose!

Teaching is not something Jesus intended for us to keep locked up in a classroom. Teaching is loving and encouraging others. This means to ALL NATIONS! Teaching means to your coworker, teach them about His Love and leading them to Salvation thru Christ Jesus. Teaching means to encourage our bothers and sisters in Christ to continue on the mission we are sent here for! 

To love the Father and To love one another!

1 John 3:16

By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Think about this for a moment, PAUSE................... Its Really Not About "ME"!!! or about How "I" feel, or how I look or what I drive or how much I have-Do we remember the story of the rich young ruler? Matt19:16-22!

Matthew 6:19

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;

So, am I surrendering my all? Am I just listening on Sundays and just thinking " by the worlds standards I'm a good person, God will be pleased"?

But have you dug deeper in His word, not another good book or blog or article (granted I love to read), but lets Read His Word!! Lets find out how He wants us to live our lives according to the scripture, live our lives for Him, for the lost, for others and not just for "ME"!

I challenge you, as well as, myself to dig deeper in His word, I know from experience you will grow a hunger to learn more and more and more about our Lord! I know I still have sooo much to learn and will continue to learn, but I hope that you become uncomfortable in that same favorite Sunday morning pew and you get up and truly surrender to follow HIM and not the comforts of this world! Matthew 16:24-27 says....

24.Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27. For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and He will reward each according to his works.

James 1:22-25

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.23. For is anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24. for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

Why you might ask that we surrender to Him and Him alone?!

Ephesians 2:8-9  8.For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9. not of works, lest anyone should boast.

1 Corinthians 6:20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.

Romans 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service

You see it's not about "ME" , It's about surrendering to the one that saved me that I am now a disciple of His that I may go out to all nations, teaching and showing the love to the lost so He may save them, that they to, may surrender and go out to all nations, teaching and loving for Him!

Slaves of Righteousness!

I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:19-23 NKJV)

His heart for us!

I know as mommys we all love our children. We rejoice with them when they have joyful moments, we have sleepless nites by their beds during a illness, we hurt deep in our hearts when they hurt! As they go through out all of life's  experiences, we too experience a swarm of emotions.

    That being said, just the other day as I was in the back room speaking to my mother on the phone, I hear a whaling of painful tears bursting thru my front door! My nine year old had slipped on a small step that brought her down to painful tears!( -Anyone ever have this experience of slipping up or missing a step and find themselves hurting with pain, physically or spiritual?)

So back to our attention of my hurting 9yr old! I realize she already had a red line across her leg and some bruising, so as I sat her down soothing the tears I run to the bathroom for a cold washcloth only to find myself overran with tears of pain for my child that is hurting, just hearing her cry, hurt my heart! So as I rang out the washcloth and fought back the  tears, I realize how much more God must feel for His children, joy, sadness, illnesses, anger and pain! I realize how wonderful it is to know when my child cries or tears fall from my own eyes, God is there to catch me, to hold me, to encourage me. As He is for all His children!! 

As a father shows compassion to his children,
    so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. Psalms 103:13 esv

God’s Everlasting Love

³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?³² He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?³³ Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shalltribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?³⁶ As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”^[c]

³⁷ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8 NKJV 

I guess I realized thru this tearful experience with my child, that how much more God loves me as His child and how He hurts when I run to fast and skip a step and fall to my knees! But just like us mommys,  He is always there to comfort us with love and compassion! 

Thank you God for holding me in your loveing arms, for being my refuge in all that I may face, but I will not face it alone because I not only know of you, but I know you!