Always trust the words of God. I once heard a pastor say that to truly know that it is God speaking verify it. Check it with the Bible. It is easy to hear a thought in our minds and think it is God, sometimes it is God, sometimes it is our own thought.
So verify. Check that what you heard aligns with the Bible. You can’t always do this, I understand that, but prayer and time with the speaker of the words you think you are hearing will help you know your direction. Don’t doubt God’s words, but if you need to, verify.
When Jonah heard God’s word he denied it was God and ran away. God hunted him down, and he became one of the most well known stories (and one of the best speakers) in the Bible.
When it is God He doesn’t just use you a little, He uses you unbelievably so. Even if Jonah had saved only one person he would have listened to God and done something amazing, for that one person.
If God says go to Zambia on a missions trip and you go,
‘No that wasn’t God, and I don’t want to go.’ and you end up reading Jonah, or hearing a sermon on following the prompting of God, or a song on traveling the uncertain road, take it as a conformation. If God wants you to go then He will prompt you and prompt you until you get the message.
Trust God’s word, and He will verify that word for you.
Category: searching
What do we bring?
What gifts do we bring Him?
The Shepherds brought their time.
The Magi brought their riches.
The disciples brought their lives.
His parents brought their faith and obedience.
So what do we bring Jesus?
He gave us everything we have. Hope, joy, healing, sustenance, peace, grace, love. He gave His dignity and His relationship to God. His pain is ours to unwrap, His grief and suffering, His sorrow. We can untie the bows on His glory and goodness. We can shake the box full of His kingdom and receive all He has given us. So, what are we giving Him?
What part of us does He ask for? All of us. Our heart, soul and mind, right? It can be a difficult request to fill, but isn’t that what He brought us? His heart, His soul, His mind. Ask and you shall receive, so maybe what we should ask for is the will and ability to be like our Savior. If we are more like Jesus then perhaps we will be able to bring Jesus more.
Love you all!
May your season and year be filled with Christ’s peace, His hope, His love, and His joy!
Merry Christmas
Listen to the voices of the stars
Star
The cold mountain air burns the lungs of the young astronomer as her eyes take in the night sky. Orion winks at her playfully and her gaze swings as she grins back at him; she sees a star larger than the rest and her heart takes her back to a time when a similar star drew men from far and distant countries to a small town called Bethlehem.
These days we don’t have a star to help us find Jesus, but we do still have guides. The Bible, word of mouth, pastors, musicians, artists. God sends us ‘stars’ to guide us. Little lights that show Jesus.
Many say to look to the sky for your answers, read the stars, listen to their voices. I am no astronomer, but that night when God sent a special star to guide people to the stable must have been wild. Angels dropping from Heaven into our night sky and praising their God?!? It would have been a light show like no other. Look to the sky to for your answers? why not? Look up and see 100 billion or more Galaxies and hear them answer you. ‘Yes! There is a God, and He made all this… and He made you!’ Follow the stars around you to the stable and find Jesus.
Life, Death, and Resurrection all held within this baby’s tiny hands.
The very first Christians led to the stable, by a star.
When all the lights go out
When all the lights go out
Crunch, crunch, crunch. Each footfall leaves another indent in the snow, a small trace that you were once there. A tiny blaze is nestled close to your chest as you carry a candle for just a little added light. There are other lights around you, barely visible, just a flicker, like woodland sprites dancing among the trees. The lights make their way softly through the woods and into the town. There, in a single window, is a candle; like the one you carry except for the meaning behind it. Your candle is for light, this candle is for hope. Inside the house you know you will find others like you, Christian worshippers gathering secretly to praise Jesus. You blow out your candle and step inside.
This story you have entered feels like it happened a lifetime ago to someone you will never know; But even today Christian families are having to hide from those who would seek to harm them. I wonder how many are gathering tonight? Slipping through the streets with candles to light their way?
Surprisingly I found many different opinions on the origin of lights on Christmas trees, but the one that I like the best is the one that says that Christians used to come and gather in the woods, to worship in secret because the Government wanted one religion and Christianity was not it. They would put lights deep in the branches of a tree so that the glow would be muted but visible. Even if that is not the origin I wouldn’t be surprised if it did happen. Maybe that is why lights on the Christmas tree feel so warm and homey. I would go so far as to say they make one feel secure.
On this Advent Sunday I want to send out a simple feeling. Gratitude. I am grateful for the Christian people who are faithful to the point of meeting under the cover of a midnight sky, maybe even outside in the cold, so they can keep the candles of Faith burning. Isn’t that the first place Jesus was worshiped? A cold manger stall, the only light probably a candle. Think of that as you feel warmed by your Christmas tree lights and let it fill you with a sense of wonder.
Open heart
Open heart
We all have a seed inside our hearts. A part of us that is undiscovered and trying to grow. A potential. A dream left to the wear of time and long since forgotten. Deep down in your heart, however, that dream left a seed. We all have someone we want to be. A chef, a weatherwoman, an accountant, a movie star. But to fulfill a dream takes hard work, good people, and a bull dog drive. Stats say that over 90% of people give up on their dreams instead of seeing them fulfilled. I think that is very sad. A dream is something important to us, and things that are important to us should be things we fight for. Sometimes we dream of being something that other people say we can’t be. An artist who can’t draw, or a musician who doesn’t know how to play. It is possible that maybe that means your true seed is growing into something else. Perhaps a music teacher or an art studio director. Don’t drop your dreams where you stand and move on. Sometimes the true dream is a vine of the original one. Fight for your dreams and water them. See what your seed grows. Like buying a surprise packaged of flower seeds at the plant store. All you can do is scatter them in the dirt and care for them. You know you want a flower, but what that flower looks like is entirely up to the seed. So you care for it and as it grows you love it more and get more excited to see what it will be.
Let your seed grow, and never give up on it.
Getting back up
We don’t always spring back up, sometimes we need to kneel first and that’s okay too.
When we fall, to get back up, first we have to get onto our knees. Sometimes on those knees is all we can do until someone comes and offers us a hand to lift us back onto our feet.
When we fall in life and spiritually, first we must climb to our knees and turn it all over to Jesus in prayer. Sometimes it takes a long time of prayer and kneeling before we see an answer, but that is waiting in God’s timing. As my Poppa says, ‘in the waiting we gain sustenance from the knowledge that God is doing something.’
Eventually we will look up from our folded hands to see Jesus reaching down an open hand and smiling brilliantly as He lifts us to our feet.
Soldiers
Soldiers
Home is behind, the world is ahead, (J.R.R. Tolkien). I usually see this phrase of this song as a sentence of awe and thrill. Images of camping and wooded trails, tall mountains and pounding waterfalls overtake my mind and I breathe deeply. However that was not the scene around this statement. In the Lord of The Rings masterpiece epic, ( I mean the novels) Pipin sings a song of what would seem to be great adventure, in fact it is a song of war. They left their homes behind and took to war. Trenches and hill tops and beaches. Skies, oceans and forests. Deserts and mountains and jungles. Comfort left behind, loving arms and gentle words long forgotten as feet ache in heavy boots and backs sweat under heavy packs. You almost don’t dare make friends because you don’t know how long you will get to hold to these people around you, but you become family. Our soldiers learned the line Jesus said about true friends, and what Paul said, Rare for a person to lay down their life even for a righteous person; perhaps for a good man one would dare to die for.-Paul ( this is not a direct quote)
Our soldiers dared to die for those they never met. War is UGLY! Suffering and death happen and it is awful! But freedom doesn’t come by hoping for it. We should always honor those who suffered and died, AND those who suffered and live, because our freedom came from their blood. Hate war always, hate our soldiers NEVER! They did not ask for the wars they fought and fight in, but they saw the suffering of the innocent and had the courage to stand up and do something about it. God bless our soldiers! Semper Fi.
I found the cover image on the internet and hope that it is okay that I used it because it is so powerful. My uncle was in Vietnam and this painting reminded me of the few stories that he was able to tell when he got back.
What does your heart bleed?
What does your heart bleed?
Once there was a little heart wandering through a world of little hearts.
Everywhere she looked she saw damage. Scars and scrapes healed over; open wounds in need of help.
Many of the hearts were bleeding, but the blood was different for each one.
Some bled pain, some bled love, some bled sorrow, some fear, some anger and hatred, some confusion, and as the little heart walked amoung the drips of blood she noticed them sticking to her. She began to bleed what the other hearts were bleeding. The little heart looked around and bumbled into a heart whose wounds were already healed over, she asked
‘what do I do? All these things are sticking to me and causing me pain.’
The healed heart looked at the little heart and gave a small spin; In doing so the little heart noticed a thin layer of callus protecting the other heart.
‘Callus and you no longer feel; then the pain of others won’t stick to you.’
The little heart nodded politely and moved on. To not feel was not what she wanted. Suddenly a large drip landed on her foot. She looked up to see a heart that was bleeding love. The little heart was upset to be even more dirty, until she noticed some of the other drips washing off as the love ran over them. ‘Wait!’ The little heart cried as she chased after the love heart. The heart turned and waited. ‘Why? Why is your love helping clean my pain? It is still bleeding, you still hurt! But your hurt is helping me.’
The love heart smiled.
‘I hurt because I love. If I stopped caring then I would be healed but I would be living an empty life. I allow myself to accept the pain of other hearts and to help them heal. Truth to tell, when others heal because of my love I also heal a little bit.’
Suddenly the little heart understood. The dirt of others was okay to have on you if it meant you got close and showed them love and helped them heal, and suddenly that one drip gave her life purpose.
What does your heart bleed?
Light fills everything
Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
Isaiah 60:3
Today I came across this verse. It popped up on the Bible app I have as the verse of the day and it made me feel warm. There is a peace that follows this verse. In the mess of politics and undercutting and false accusations and true accusations that we see come out every election, God is still King; He is still on HIS throne.
The Canadian election is tomorrow and there has been so much garbage on the internet and so many opinions thrown around that it is clear to see that no one really knows what they want to see leading our country. Not another Ceaser, perhaps a new Alexander? We don’t want a Saul, we hope for a Soloman. What we are searching for however is clear, and it’s not a human authority. What our country really wants is a Jesus. Something in our souls and minds has been crying out for a Saviour and we think that the right political leader will be just that. Rule us into happiness. But that is not true. The only ruler who brings happiness is Jesus.
‘Kings to your light and nations to your dawn.’ We are dying for the light of Jesus to fix this world and we search in every sidewalk crack if every city hoping to find someone to fill the darkness of our society.
We need Jesus and our hearts know it.
But no matter where we are, who gets elected, what king usurps another, or what Coliseum falls, Jesus is still in control and eventually all will run to Him and find His light and that brings me peace.
Emergencies
So. I ended up in emergency today. My dog accidentally bit my nose and it led to 3 stitches and plastic surgery tomorrow morning. If you knew me well you would know that needles send me. I had 8 of them in my nose today, maybe more but 8 was the amount I recall. There are times in our lives when it is horrible. In those moments we can choose to do many things, when we choose to call on Jesus we find sudden help and relief.
When that first needle went into the open wound my heart screamed out,
‘Jesus PLEASE! HELP ME!’
Every needle after I screamed the same inaudible prayer and everytime Jesus’ presence took over the whole situation and made me feel like I would get through this.
You don’t have to kneel and verbally call out for Jesus to hear you. He hears you. Every thought. Every word. Every need. Every want and hope. Jesus hears you.
He might not take the situation away, but He WILL get you through it.
So this Thanksgiving Weekend I say:
“Thank you Jesus for saving my soul! For hearing my prayers! For caring about every throb of my heart and for drawing me through life and closer to you. Thank you God for not just lending us your son, but for GIVING us your son and allowing us to have Him and you and the Holy Spirit. Thank you Holy Spirit for your patience with us and that you are always here. Amen”
HAPPY THANKSGIVING FRIENDS
Carried in the cross 