I’ve been there too
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I’ve been there too

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I’ve been there too

So, I caught a cold this past Monday. I have an old family rule that I live by that says, ‘if you don’t have a fever you aren’t sick enough to stay home.’ I hate this rule; but once something becomes engraved in your mind it’s hard to change. So I plowed through and made it to Saturday where I almost died on the couch. Not literally. Then my mom asks me to bring a meal over to my grandparents. Up I get and off I go to carry the food across the yard, (we live on an acreage). On the way back my dog wants to play. It’s so warm and sunny that we play for about half an hour. Then I see him. My horse with his head over the fence. Guess what? He too has a cold. I walk over and rub his neck and he presses his forehead against mine. I have had my horse for nearly 10 years, I knew he was saying he didn’t feel great. I also felt the sense that we were sharing a moment of understanding. He was sick and so was I, he needed a hug and so did I. We understood each other’s suffering. Then I got to work filling his water, because he was low and giving him extra mineral to combat the virus, and feed to keep his strength up and then more hugs.
I have two points here. One is that no matter how you feel there is always someone who needs something and true love is doing that something no matter what. My mom is really great at this. Complain your way through if you must, but Christ’s spirit of carrying one another’s burdens makes us keep giving. Point two. No matter what you are going through there is always someone somewhere who has been through the same and wants to help. You are NEVER alone. With 7 billion people in the world there is zero chance that you are the only one who is suffering this particular way. Others get it and even if they don’t, Jesus gets it and He has always got your back! He will Always help you through the tough times. Even if that though time is pushing through with a cold.

God arms me with strength. And He makes my path perfect. Psalms 18:32

Where Faith may fail
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Where Faith may fail

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Where faith may fail

Do you ever feel as though your faith has failed?
Ya, me too.
You build yourself up with courageous words and scripture verses to make your heart feel okay, but deep down you still feel faithless. A nagging voice says, ‘you know God doesn’t operate like that anymore! You know that those kinds of miracles ended before the 20th century began. So why pray for it? Why run after something that you will never catch? You’ll just end up looking silly for trying so hard. Give up. Faith has no ground.’
Wow. Say ‘hello Devil, when did you get here?’ because that’s the voice I hear when I hear such words. It is clearly the Devil saying such things; eating away at your Faith like a monster devouring flesh, but that doesn’t stop us from believing such wicked and common lies. We hit a wall where our Faith feels powerless and we just can’t fight through. I realized something the other day. Why do we fight with our Faith? Faith isn’t a weapon. It’s a shield. The Holy Spirit is the weapon! Our Faith feels battered because we are using it to beat down our enemy. We drop our sword, take our shield in both hands and smack our enemy with it with all our strength! And we get knocked back on our belt of hard truth. The truth is that with our own strength we can’t do anything. But if we attack our enemy with the sword of the Spirit the enemy will fall! Because we are using God’s strength to win! Our Faith gets battered because we wield it as a weapon. Which it isn’t. But as a shield, as our defense, our Faith is unmatched in power because our Faith is in the unmatched, powerful God. Whose name is Jesus.

So then, put on the full armor of God-Ephesians 6:10

Prayer blocks
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Prayer blocks

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Do you ever get ‘prayer’s-block’? Me too.
It’s hard isn’t it? To have your mind over taken by every-single-possible-thing you could think of and the one thing you can’t think of is your praying. When that happens to me I whine at God about not being able to concentrate and say things like, ‘if only you were easier to focus on.’ And, ‘if your presence was more clear right now I could do this better.’ Guess what? That never helps me focus. Sometimes I try God meditation. I put on soothing instrumental music and sit on the floor so my brain isn’t telling me to go to sleep like it does when I am on the couch trying to concentrate, and sometimes that helps. Sometimes lighting a candle or starting a fire, (in a pit preferably outside) helps. Or watching my horse graze. Or staring at the sky. Something that doesn’t take much effort but reminds me of how awesome God is. When none of the above works I switch tactics and I worship. Because I can always put on music and listen to the words about how awesome God is. I even found a radio station that plays worship time. It is literally a musician who is doing a guided worship for those of us struggling to concentrate. It’s called ‘power of worship radio’ for those of you who would like to try it.
Just remember. God loves you for your trying. Even if you are struggling to see Him and focus on Him, He sees your attempt and it makes Him happy.

Do you understand this God?
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Do you understand this God?

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I have often heard it said that God can’t relate to pain of romance. That is an interesting point of view. I have a question. What is the most painful thing that can happen in the search for ‘love’?
Rejection! You got it on the first try right?
You may then say that the Jesus being rejected situation is different. You’re right. It is.
But God sends out His whole heart full of love to us every single day. He wants a commitment, a relationship, our trust and our love. If God is the lover of our soul and the soul is what He seeks then He is being rejected by the one He is in love with. So He gets it. He is rejected by many people each day, He feels sorrow at that. Is sorrow to proper of a word?
Then how about agony? Grief? Heartbreak? Longing? He longs to have us come to Him. He feels EVERYTHING we feel.
Never think God doesn’t get it.

Devotional

Are we coddling evil?

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We need to stop coddling evil. Evil is evil no matter what form. This is not a criticism, trust me. When the snow hits and the temp plummets my time with Netflix increases as does many people’s. This January and we live in one of the coldest provinces so as you can guess I have hit the, ‘there’s nothing to watch,’ issue. I could always read and that’s great too. Anyway. I entered into a TV show world that I recalled having come out when I was a kid. So I thought if I never watched it back then I might as well now. TV MA usually just means violence and for war TV I don’t hide from that. My family was in the war. I don’t ever want to look away from those horrors because it feels….wrong somehow, even if it is only TV.
Going from violence to divination was my problem with what I saw. Something detestable to God, that is Biblical so please don’t be offended. I have a small problem though. I get caught up in story lines and the ‘it has to get better’ temptation. In books too. So I stomached it and just closed my eyes and attempted to avoid the harsher sub titles. That was when it hit me. A loud voice saying ‘DON’T CODDLE EVIL.’ We see evil as murder, theft, so on. But, and I apologize because I know that this will hurt, witchcraft is evil too. Even if it is only on TV. Anyone given power by the devil. And that is what it is, the Bible says so. Is committing an evil act. And. We coddle it. ‘It’s not real.’ Right? But now it’s living in your mind, taking up residence meant for the Holy Spirit. And I really am sorry because there are a lot of good movies and books out there that have a witchcraft base, but wicked to God is still wicked to God.
I felt that this was something I needed to share as a devotional thought for this week. I didn’t want to because I knew it was offensive but I also know it’s true.
Please. Don’t coddle evil. Love Jesus. Find stuff that avoids honoring the devil. It is hard, I know that. But it is necessary.

Devotional

Speak through me

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Speak through Jesus; not through your demons.

We all have demons in our lives and it is easy to speak through them. But when we speak through Jesus our demons lose their power and flee. Don’t speak through your pain, speak through your love. Don’t speak through your fear, speak through your courage. Don’t speak through your anger, speak through your peace.
Speak through Jesus.

Spiraling or climbing?
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Spiraling or climbing?

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Downward spiral .vs. upward climb

Have you ever noticed how it is a spiral? Spiral indicates fast, generally out of control and of course spinning.
It sounds like a bad ride at an amusement park, you know, the one your friends dare you to go on and then you feel too sick to do anything else for the next 2 days. 10 years later you have the confidence to laugh about it with someone. Spiral.

And upward CLIMB. With this one I visualize a mountain. I love hiking and exploring. If you let me go with my dog and spend the day someplace hiking and exploring, there is a chance we will be gone that whole day. Generally the moment we feel like…..I am sorry, I feel like, he could go on forever……when I feel like turning around is the moment I hit a steep incline. Usually it is my powerhouse Jack Russell who keeps me moving, he is probably 1/6th of my weight and yet he is the one who pulls me to the top and we stand (and I gasp for air) and he starts to head down the next trail, dragging me behind and I feel this wave of achievement. We made it to the top! Oh Ya! And look! Another hill…… I wonder what the top of that one looks like?

To hit rock bottom takes a simple ‘yes’ or a small give in your normal perspective. It happens fast, it is generally a little sickening and it takes a long time to recover.
To hit the summit takes a lot of hard work, motivation, and sometimes someone else pulling on your lead to keep you going, and you find acheivement in the end.

To climb back up from the bottom is a massive struggle and you can NOT do it without God, but you CAN do it.

Verification?
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Verification?

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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.

Still here God?
Devotional

Still here God?

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It is so easy to forget that God is still here. You are let go from work, your marriage begins to fall apart, a beloved one dies or is ill, you become ill….ect.

Life is full of kingdoms to conquer and goblins to slay, and when that kingdom doesn’t fall and your enemies stand vast and strong before you it is easy to get caught up in the heat of everything, forgetting that God is still there. You look around and scream for help wondering how to move on, usually that is about the time we remember God. We look around and see the All Mighty waiting patiently for us to remember Him and come flying into His arms again.

God is still there. No matter your situation or the cause of your grief, He is still right there.

Devotional
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Pain and grief build like the thick, muggy atmosphere before a storm. You tell yourself you are okay, but after awhile your heart and mind fill until the storm clouds break and you are left in a downpour of tears and a thunderstorm of racking shakes; until through the midst of the rain you see Jesus. Scarred hand reaching out and taking you into His arms. As you cry into His heart you slowly feel better, His reassuring voice trickles in through the sobs and you hear Him tell you He loves you and that you will be okay. Suddenly your pain stops and you feel like the air after a big storm. Refreshed…renewed…clear…. better. Thank you Jesus.