Something Beautiful

Sometimes when we listen to God, He tells us some great Spiritual Truth. Sometimes He tells us to read a specific verse or a chapter from a book that we have read before. Sometimes it is something incredibly practical like "clean out that junk box you have been keeping under your bed." I have been feeling lately that God is preparing to do something in my life and in the lives of the people closest to me, and so He has been telling me to do practical things. I have been cleaning out boxes and drawers and getting rid of things that I don't have a need for, throwing away junk and yes, I did clean out the junk box under my bed. In all of this I am aware of God's incredible faithfulness. I went through my journals and organized them and packed them into a box. As I was doing that I read snippets from over the past years. The tears I cry are thankful as I realize the goodness and steadfastness of God. Almost exactly three years ago, I was dieting, trying desperately to los...

The first mention of Jesus touching someone comes in Matthew chapter 8. This is immediately after the sermon on the mount where Jesus taught what the Bible tells us were great crowds of people. He is coming down from the mount and walking along the road when this is what happens: When He came down from the mountain, great crowds followed Him. And behold, a leper came to Him and knelt before Him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out His hand and touched Him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” - Matthew 8:1-4 What the leper did was actually against the Jewish laws; it was a bold and risky plan on his part. But then what did he have to lose? Jesus didn't have to touch this man. A single word would have sufficed. Jesus didn't have to defile Himself by...

Why hello there lovlies!! So much has been going on, so much to tell about and only so much computer battery left!! I shall try my best to hit the high points for now and give more details in subsequent posts. Last week I was on my retreat. . .amazing. . .simply amazing. Coming back to everyday life was quite difficult. I'm glad I have one more week with no class or clinics to continue to spend larger quantities of time with Jesus and to just be. I just continually felt how good and faithful and present in my life God is. I realized that no matter what my external circumstances look like, no matter what my life holds or doesn't hold, God is still good and He is still faithful. If nothing in my life goes "right" and I never receive the greatest desires of my heart that is okay because God is still good. This may sound like an obvious statement, but it just really seemed to hit home to me during this last week. Another theme that was repeated during my time with Him was...

I wrote earlier about the necessity to celebrate life and to hold each moment precious, and very shortly after I posted that I received some news that was an exclamation point on my thoughts. A dear friend and brother in Christ had a major heart attack and his family is now just waiting for him to pass from here to Heaven. He was the pastor who married my parents nearly thirty years ago, and while we haven't spent much time with each other in recent history, their family is still very dear to me and my family. Heaven is rejoicing at the homecoming of one of the saints, and we here on earth are left to mourn our great loss. We do not know our time, but we do know that our lives are like a vapor that is gone with the rising sun. So live as though every moment is precious because every moment is precious. Live fully and richly and in such a way that when God decides your time is up Heaven will rejoice and earth will mourn. Please be in prayer with me for this family as they face thes...

I made a birthday cake for a co-worker because everyone deserves cake (or pie or cookies or whatever treat you like best) f or their birthday because birthdays and life in general are meant to be celebrated. Life should never be taken for granted or moments passed by. You never get that time or that moment again. God has given us each the amount of time that we have, and He knows what He is doing. He expects us to be good stewards of all that He has given to us. And in case you were wondering just what exactly that is, let me clear that up for you. God has given you everything that you have, including your very life. Everything belongs to Him, and He has entrusted us with the great duty and responsibility of being His stewards. I feel like I am constantly learning about stewardship, and I feel like I will never be as good and responsible with everything like I should be, but I am trying all the time. I'm starting with the little things, believing that as I prove faithful in the lit...

Today has been a tackle-all-the-projects-I've-been-neglecting day. I have had mild success. Rome wasn't built over night and my piles won't magically disappear after only one day, but at least it was a start. Fortunately I have enough projects that I can bounce back and forth between them whenever my brain can't handle any more. It's kind of nice having a day to just work on the things I don't normally have time for. Now I just need about five more of them. . .sigh. Lately the word prepare has been much in my mind and prayers. As much as I want God to meet the desires of my heart, I want to be fully prepared to receive them when He does. So I have been praying that my heart would be prepared to receive what He has to give me. This has especially been my prayer as I am getting ready to have a little retreat starting Sunday. I greatly desire to be in a prepared state of mind and heart to receive all that He desires to teach me and show me on this retreat. Even bey...

Sometimes you have one of those days. You know the ones I'm talking about. It seems like no matter how hard you try to stay positive and upbeat you feel defeated at every turn. You are determined to be joyful in all circumstances and yet you find sorrow creeping up unexpectedly. And all you really want to do is take a hot bath, drink a cuppa tea and go to bed because you know that when you wake up tomorrow it will be a new day. Yeah, that's the kind of day I had today. So I'm going to eat a little dinner, take a hot bath, drink a cuppa tea and spend some sweet time with my Beloved before I curl up and sleep away this day. And dream about one of these days .