tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-241386812024-03-07T03:15:43.585-06:00Worshiping Warriorsworshiping warriorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087425991784275noreply@blogger.comBlogger110125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24138681.post-59471036555305248562018-06-25T11:22:00.001-05:002019-06-25T09:40:36.828-05:00Our Love Story<div style="text-align: left;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPjUZUBFDAeoXsfPpqDHLnjTOpcW2w9neJOnYfOSWUtJ4SEWUGrmKEkE83a-AlLRClsMeRuIUypKrFBrDvepEC8_RNayVYdwzKKNehLJursmv1wN_2a08uwBg96jBkKpKWnSNlPw/s1600/19511523_10155499931374661_471655043688949838_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="958" data-original-width="959" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPjUZUBFDAeoXsfPpqDHLnjTOpcW2w9neJOnYfOSWUtJ4SEWUGrmKEkE83a-AlLRClsMeRuIUypKrFBrDvepEC8_RNayVYdwzKKNehLJursmv1wN_2a08uwBg96jBkKpKWnSNlPw/s320/19511523_10155499931374661_471655043688949838_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and my love</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 17.5pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I wrote this on our 30th anniversary and I am reposting this today, with some updated content. Enjoy!</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 17.5pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I actually heard Keith's voice before I ever saw him. I was nine years old and my family had just moved to Ruston, Louisiana and we were visiting area churches. That particular Sunday landed us at Emmanuel Baptist Church on Farmerville Highway. I had already started fourth grade at Hillcrest Elementary and I didn’t see any of my new friends there so I was suitably unimpressed. But during a rousing rendition of 'How Great Thou Art' a melodic, distinctly masculine voice from the pew behind me reached my ears. I nonchalantly turned my head and in my peripherals I beheld the most beautiful sight my nine year old eyes had ever seen. He was tall, he was tan with dark tousled hair, and he was extremely handsome. And I was immediately and soundly smitten. But he was a sophisticated THIRTEEN year old in the eighth grade, much too old to take notice of a bespectacled, skinny, brace face in grade school. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrcN4C_3iWBgqlxuxqWfwbQiGFBuSsEzLm7vW8jUJc-MGon7vwZQHB26L8XkOcYyEWFlaSDmyoE7nZRYYkhv_VCiYrLCHPZPdlKwBHhYNl7rsypJIys_p8nXzZTcGr6-6Pj_q4eA/s1600/36087344_10156529171269661_6814131649949728768_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="812" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrcN4C_3iWBgqlxuxqWfwbQiGFBuSsEzLm7vW8jUJc-MGon7vwZQHB26L8XkOcYyEWFlaSDmyoE7nZRYYkhv_VCiYrLCHPZPdlKwBHhYNl7rsypJIys_p8nXzZTcGr6-6Pj_q4eA/s320/36087344_10156529171269661_6814131649949728768_n.jpg" width="270" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me around the time I fell in love with Keith lol. </td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 17.5pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Well my parents did eventually join Emmanuel and I didn’t protest. Our parents even became close friends much to my delight. And better yet, my cousin David became his best friend which put him at our house on a regular basis. When David allowed it, they let me tag along after Sunday night church for pizza. Thankfully Keith wasn't unkind. He included me. He teased me. He gave me a nickname- Bug. That’s all he ever called me. I absolutely loved it. I wrote his name on the back of my school notebooks and then drew pictures over them. But I knew what was underneath. And I never quit hoping. Every bit of attention paid, every perceived flirtation, all my tender young hopes of romance were wistfully penned in my diary. My dream of one day marrying Keith Johnson never wavered. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTEc2dnzU5C_hffNI3PqIkTsFzHg-gsEyLio29I4P8wlbE3gQ87J2u6lVNA1HHCee52W1aZJcvSSKnL83hg8IL8pgIlX4nQpPQDdXskwknszVxJ86KuTe4DAFPIkFWBWeaWxsvxA/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-06-25+at+10.46.12+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="588" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTEc2dnzU5C_hffNI3PqIkTsFzHg-gsEyLio29I4P8wlbE3gQ87J2u6lVNA1HHCee52W1aZJcvSSKnL83hg8IL8pgIlX4nQpPQDdXskwknszVxJ86KuTe4DAFPIkFWBWeaWxsvxA/s320/Screen+Shot+2018-06-25+at+10.46.12+AM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our first date. (One date before we got engaged lol).</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 17.5pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Well, the years passed and he joined the Navy when he was nineteen. Before he left, he hugged me and called me my name, not Bug. I wondered if he was finally seeing me as a woman (after all I WAS now sixteen years old). But life took us in opposite directions. I had high school to complete and the Navy took him far away so what might have begun at that time was delayed. He got into relationships. I got into relationships. He was stationed in Florida and then South Carolina and I was stuck in Louisiana. But one Christmas he came home on leave and I finally caught his eye. And although I had a boyfriend, we started writing each other letters. He called me one day when I wasn’t home and although I wanted to, because I was in a relationship, I never called him back. Then on the very day I broke up with my boyfriend, I finally returned his call. And we talked. And we talked. And we talked some more. We talked so often and so long that Keith eventually had to sell his truck to pay his phone bill. My dad knew Keith and his family and he knew he was a catch. At that point in my troubled young life I'd made enough wrong choices that my dad was nervous I might miss this golden opportunity (He needn't have worried). He viewed paying our enormous phone bill as an investment in my future and he did it without TOO much grumbling ;). For four months we talked every day for hours on end. I was a senior in high school and many a night I reluctantly hung up the phone an hour before my alarm was set to go off. Keith often showed up to work red eyed after talking to me all night long. Then oh happy day- he finally came home on leave. By our second date, we were engaged. He flew back home once more before our wedding in the spring to attend my senior prom with me. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 17.5pt;">I graduated high school in May and a month later on June 25, we married. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiofVeuXAYXOBUPpETBuiczZMiskzeQXR6yAHTPoR0B7A35E8O7Dn0WjG9p28AlgEAQefx8w-n20KNC-Wx8bVRos16b76F-E4erIFzL5PD8uowu_zT1IQLWTLcq5TEwnk71iVMcAQ/s1600/19430190_10155481257864661_7388582616626904172_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="441" data-original-width="441" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiofVeuXAYXOBUPpETBuiczZMiskzeQXR6yAHTPoR0B7A35E8O7Dn0WjG9p28AlgEAQefx8w-n20KNC-Wx8bVRos16b76F-E4erIFzL5PD8uowu_zT1IQLWTLcq5TEwnk71iVMcAQ/s320/19430190_10155481257864661_7388582616626904172_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">June 25, 1983!!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 17.5pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And here all these years later, I have no regrets. I can truthfully say that I have spent the last three+ decades with the man of my dreams and my best friend and it has far exceeded my girlhood expectations.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 17.5pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We’ve been blessed to travel the world with the Navy, to have four beautiful children and now four grandsons (and a granddaughter due next month!). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 17.5pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We've lived in South Carolina, <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhFfgRcmUOZ9GXJZSz_r4T393GTuATJoAGm7hca2Pu0AqdR7iqc4QiMx6V7VTEJqNbHKjGSnne8aNjwO9g2cGj9zk_eTjWN2io-mMOzucN_VBa6Xc0vEKuia-rE2otKQIqEAXUTQ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-06-25+at+10.09.33+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1074" data-original-width="1600" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhFfgRcmUOZ9GXJZSz_r4T393GTuATJoAGm7hca2Pu0AqdR7iqc4QiMx6V7VTEJqNbHKjGSnne8aNjwO9g2cGj9zk_eTjWN2io-mMOzucN_VBa6Xc0vEKuia-rE2otKQIqEAXUTQ/s320/Screen+Shot+2018-06-25+at+10.09.33+AM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Newly married in Charleston, SC</td></tr>
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Florida, Hawaii (twice), Connecticut (twice), Scotland, Louisiana, Missouri and back full circle to Ruston Louisiana where we met. We've moved more times than I can count. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 17.5pt;">But maybe the most beautiful thing has been discovering and journeying together in our pursuit of God. </span><span style="font-size: 23.33333396911621px;">We’ve grown up together. We’ve gone from foolish and worldly to curious and hungry, to ultimately determined that ‘as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord’. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2u8vFsmRAPYvgUNqibA2ixiHjvq_TOD9kPQJBshq_N2Z7Xv7fmquSjjJ8w6VkvDIkJrphKhkmCFVhmflhoEZJLDXdCINR5PLrbhd7CRgsAIhNw2rIBxtHVSreKhhQ6bUQiHPZmA/s1600/1937230_97244234660_2101265_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="431" data-original-width="604" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2u8vFsmRAPYvgUNqibA2ixiHjvq_TOD9kPQJBshq_N2Z7Xv7fmquSjjJ8w6VkvDIkJrphKhkmCFVhmflhoEZJLDXdCINR5PLrbhd7CRgsAIhNw2rIBxtHVSreKhhQ6bUQiHPZmA/s640/1937230_97244234660_2101265_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In Scotland at Dunnottar Castle</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXuShrD_MiBxhzhmEXgBuGVHqgteivFCX6RKxXQfe342QtAqRVvUgJeXGN441rHGRxe-vprXU4w6BbB0mjhN3DQlmbWF6tZjFNTrAWuiDolUdw4yagk5tLag_VmkiuWx4UqTbNyQ/s1600/243328_10150192377584661_2275836_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="976" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXuShrD_MiBxhzhmEXgBuGVHqgteivFCX6RKxXQfe342QtAqRVvUgJeXGN441rHGRxe-vprXU4w6BbB0mjhN3DQlmbWF6tZjFNTrAWuiDolUdw4yagk5tLag_VmkiuWx4UqTbNyQ/s640/243328_10150192377584661_2275836_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In Edinburgh, Scotland</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9l-Fiys5L3Pzsua_S8tLGP89SwQy3t9VK02zhVD-89Rz3i94XVAQIp2WIpsaSflpkX45dKd_LgAsGnoimGYJSuIaUZjT0uwP3P0sF1vU8dp-Jx3rJAS03JWAIRZeprRX3XJ5q9w/s1600/1937230_97300199660_2282844_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="603" data-original-width="411" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9l-Fiys5L3Pzsua_S8tLGP89SwQy3t9VK02zhVD-89Rz3i94XVAQIp2WIpsaSflpkX45dKd_LgAsGnoimGYJSuIaUZjT0uwP3P0sF1vU8dp-Jx3rJAS03JWAIRZeprRX3XJ5q9w/s640/1937230_97300199660_2282844_n.jpg" width="433" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nottingham England</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_rj_0QhKrFryV6-7_91oVAjQnRG__72Dq9n_5ZZ64cvu74TFXddw1C11GQhHHGixhVhfwfHMm4ZnbZyBoDyzULmia4MsTZQmjO1L1FJwtubsVUdLkYICl-PrJC2KezUB7h7SURg/s1600/1937230_97321304660_4574864_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="411" data-original-width="604" height="433" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_rj_0QhKrFryV6-7_91oVAjQnRG__72Dq9n_5ZZ64cvu74TFXddw1C11GQhHHGixhVhfwfHMm4ZnbZyBoDyzULmia4MsTZQmjO1L1FJwtubsVUdLkYICl-PrJC2KezUB7h7SURg/s640/1937230_97321304660_4574864_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brittany, on the westermost point of France with our oldest two</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhamkY6BnS73f3a_VBse_v1xJBS_06uoDnGGs6HbeD1EmN4qLPvGRWnn5cvkonqfS8KxvR6G3FOxGgZ9eFADdNuIctoHGKC1eJWy1J-xH3Jf1sP9yLAoI8UJFc8dZdbQDXI81q3Zw/s1600/1937230_97302294660_1333369_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="428" data-original-width="604" height="452" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhamkY6BnS73f3a_VBse_v1xJBS_06uoDnGGs6HbeD1EmN4qLPvGRWnn5cvkonqfS8KxvR6G3FOxGgZ9eFADdNuIctoHGKC1eJWy1J-xH3Jf1sP9yLAoI8UJFc8dZdbQDXI81q3Zw/s640/1937230_97302294660_1333369_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And then God gave us two more :) In Hawaii with ALL our kids :D</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0J2Iq9y9LDV4WVChhrDwAY2wHfFNavKCnh-br2Jx6wnr10DWjs-5AqUGQKSjT61SQ5tCjvhmb9fj1inDL4jxR6_E2xob9gCTex1zO4hJtfQXBKv2qRyfJOcMgCivGf13zF9a9lw/s1600/581272_10150978377229661_371719184_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="626" data-original-width="960" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0J2Iq9y9LDV4WVChhrDwAY2wHfFNavKCnh-br2Jx6wnr10DWjs-5AqUGQKSjT61SQ5tCjvhmb9fj1inDL4jxR6_E2xob9gCTex1zO4hJtfQXBKv2qRyfJOcMgCivGf13zF9a9lw/s640/581272_10150978377229661_371719184_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Keith's ordination in Hawaii</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 17.5pt;">We’ve laughed a lot, dreamed a lot, loved a lot and have prayed a lot. Now don’t get me wrong. We’ve made our share of mistakes. We’ve had disappointments and failures. We’ve suffered loss and rejection. We’ve walked through a lot together these many years. But I can stand here all these years later and say that we are profoundly blessed and I wouldn’t change a thing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 17.5pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There's not another person I would rather do life with than Keith Johnson. There's not another person on earth who understands me and sees me as I am yet accepts me and loves me and honors me. And there's no other who I respect like I do him, nobody who can make me laugh like he can. He's a man of great wisdom. There's a high level anointing on his life to preach and prophesy. The authority he carries bring a sense of peace wherever he goes and young people are drawn to the shelter of his daddy's heart. He has selflessly provided our family with a protective covering and a loving foundation. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 17.5pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Our relationship has matured and evolved over the years. It's amazing what God has done. There's so much more to our love story that is locked away in the secret places of our hearts but our beautiful story is still being written and I look forward to many more decades of love, laughter and adventure together.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggN-ieYiLruOdPf-TaJGJOyOA6n6Zyvu1b47caPZ8AXnYIB8HPVICRWR8WgevFQy0VpaLZKuC6KX6YOEWLoQbJy16ki70BcjEyH9K4CdJyrCMD0vaZGbhG5H_Qa1IPpO-RjhJ82w/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-06-25+at+10.10.06+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1164" data-original-width="806" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggN-ieYiLruOdPf-TaJGJOyOA6n6Zyvu1b47caPZ8AXnYIB8HPVICRWR8WgevFQy0VpaLZKuC6KX6YOEWLoQbJy16ki70BcjEyH9K4CdJyrCMD0vaZGbhG5H_Qa1IPpO-RjhJ82w/s320/Screen+Shot+2018-06-25+at+10.10.06+AM.png" width="221" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me, Keith and three of our beautiful grandsons<br />
(Gabe, Levi & Jesse Ortego)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHtMULcGo0_kKF7FNld1-ZjcC4CVNqd3ur9AAOtJmrn-eO_J-hiEpZtBWFJeqi4kULHz-Ks8I9VvHrBYdgKqUKYxWrFVH-Iy6sUJbCXPXqkgUkZS_B-BcTsavAwSqK_-z6IL1SlQ/s1600/60173826_10157315257049661_3859379886162444288_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="668" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHtMULcGo0_kKF7FNld1-ZjcC4CVNqd3ur9AAOtJmrn-eO_J-hiEpZtBWFJeqi4kULHz-Ks8I9VvHrBYdgKqUKYxWrFVH-Iy6sUJbCXPXqkgUkZS_B-BcTsavAwSqK_-z6IL1SlQ/s320/60173826_10157315257049661_3859379886162444288_n.jpg" width="220" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our forth grandson (Beorn Lane Johnson)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 17.5pt;">So today on the anniversary of our marriage, I want to honor this man who caught my eye when I was nine years old. I've loved you since I was in fourth grade, Keith Johnson. We've come a long way! I am blessed among women. Happy Anniversary honey. You still are my sunshine!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6l98CB_caxRum01HVz1kZktz6J3OWV1oW_svjYZ0JUbD7RPAIJVEelYPC5b08BkqkwUG_deyIZHGg2lG0gg_DoEZHHAciGYdeXvJmExnNd5rk4LfQQnRRWAFl9BMiB13LdxJohQ/s1600/18581824_10155363744789661_8993631367958597230_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6l98CB_caxRum01HVz1kZktz6J3OWV1oW_svjYZ0JUbD7RPAIJVEelYPC5b08BkqkwUG_deyIZHGg2lG0gg_DoEZHHAciGYdeXvJmExnNd5rk4LfQQnRRWAFl9BMiB13LdxJohQ/s640/18581824_10155363744789661_8993631367958597230_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Us and all our offspring, their spouses and our beautiful grandbabies. Isn't God good? </td></tr>
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worshiping warriorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087425991784275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24138681.post-41577772085960072872017-05-26T14:25:00.000-05:002017-05-26T14:25:09.888-05:00Remaining<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhowUgg_S9k4jD461IzNKHXmlmdz0y5IOFkVmg6hkYdHmEVhUBhM2RbU1i_VFEm2jn641fE3hXrzTiYnLyNHBjv-NUE3X95LShXbhW7uVkxJFlYsoLjS3Rug42q0ViLD_RcZgJiLg/s1600/pexels-photo-197907.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="856" data-original-width="1280" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhowUgg_S9k4jD461IzNKHXmlmdz0y5IOFkVmg6hkYdHmEVhUBhM2RbU1i_VFEm2jn641fE3hXrzTiYnLyNHBjv-NUE3X95LShXbhW7uVkxJFlYsoLjS3Rug42q0ViLD_RcZgJiLg/s400/pexels-photo-197907.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">"Yes, I <i>(Jesus)</i> am the Vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in Me and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing... If you abide <i>(remain)</i> in Me, and My words abide <i>(remain)</i> in you, you will<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span>ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you
will be My disciples. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide <i>(remain)</i> in My love." John 15:5 & 7-9 <i>(I</i></span><i>talicized emphasis mine)</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have at times wondered about this scripture. Ever practical, I've asked: "Lord how does one abide/REMAIN in Your love?" </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Then I see where in that same chapter, down in verse 10 Jesus says: "When you obey Me you remain in my love." </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Then the thought: 'So Lord, are You saying if we disobey that You no longer love us?' </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495824706563_2222" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">And then He reminds me of the story of the prodigal son- The son chose to leave home. HE chose to not remain in his Fathers love. He ran away from it. He did his own thing and did not do the things that pleased his Father. But his Father never stopped loving him. He never stopped looking for him. He never stopped longing for him to come home. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So although the son decided to not remain in his Fathers love, the Fathers love never wavered. It remained right there, waiting for the son to return to it. And when the son finally came to his senses in the pig pen, he wisely returned home to the loving embrace of his Father. And there he found his Daddy...standing at the gate, waiting, watching for him, longing for His dear child to come home. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">And I have a feeling that after that, the son had no problem remaining in his Fathers love. Because he found that there's just no better place to be.</span></div>
worshiping warriorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087425991784275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24138681.post-43641124431978258702017-02-24T16:45:00.001-06:002017-02-24T18:57:30.113-06:00The E String<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px;">When tuning a guitar you find the exact pitch for the top string- the E string- and tune the other strings according to the accuracy of that E string. If the standard of the E string is off, the rest of the strings will also be off and the sound will be chaotic and not nice to listen to. (Trust me there's nothing worse to listen to than an untuned guitar! </span><span class="_5mfr _47e3" style="color: #1d2129; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px; line-height: 0; margin: 0px 1px; vertical-align: middle;"><img alt="" aria-hidden="1" class="img" height="16" src="https://www.facebook.com/images/emoji.php/v7/fbf/2/16/1f61c.png" style="border: 0px; vertical-align: -3px;" width="16" /><span class="_7oe" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px;">😜</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px;">) It's the same with truth. If we have no absolute standard for truth, ev</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #1d2129; display: inline; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px;">erything in our lives will be out of balance and out of tune. Just as 2+2 will forever and always = 4, whether or not we like it, agree with it, feel like it or find it culturally relevant, Gods word will always be our standard; the unchanging, solid, timeless, absolute measurement for truth. Lord knows, my feelings change minute by minute and my perspective has not always proven to be correct. There must be a standard that is bigger than me, stronger than me, wiser than me, more loving than me and transcending culture and time. Because if it's all relying on my own understanding, then my foundation will not remain solid when life gets shaky and seasons change. If it's all up to me to tune the strings without a standard to go by, then my sound will be confusing and my message will be muddled. Our lives are meant to be a beautiful song based on the unchanging, solid standard of that top string. Gods truth is our E-string.</span></span></div>
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worshiping warriorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087425991784275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24138681.post-38013754287790837092017-01-20T13:02:00.000-06:002017-01-20T14:53:15.789-06:00Golden Rule Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #3d3c3c; font-family: "baskerville"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Examining my own heart today and I
had couple of thoughts I’d like to share on this Inauguration Day…</span><span style="color: #3d3c3c; font-family: "baskerville"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d3c3c; font-family: "baskerville"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Those of us who are urging for
prayer and respect for our new President and his supporters and backing it up
by quoting the scriptures about respecting authority and praying for our
leaders, can we honestly say we did this when Obama was our President?</span><span style="color: #3d3c3c; font-family: "baskerville"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d3c3c; font-family: "baskerville"; font-size: 14.0pt;">And to those of us who are
ridiculing and rejecting our current President and his supporters, how did we feel when President Obama was likewise rejected and denounced yet not prayed for?</span><span style="color: #3d3c3c; font-family: "baskerville"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d3c3c; font-family: "baskerville"; font-size: 14.0pt;">And to those whom this doesn’t
apply, good for you. I honestly cannot say it doesn't apply to me (but I will
not share on which side of the two extremes I have fallen.)</span><span style="color: #3d3c3c; font-family: "baskerville"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d3c3c; font-family: "baskerville"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Understand, I’m not talking about
disagreeing with a president, opposing his policies or standing up for our
beliefs and convictions respectfully which is healthy and a privilege we share
as Americans. But can we just be honest and admit we don’t always practice
what we preach when it comes to respecting and praying for authority-
especially when we don't like who's in authority? We tend to point
out loudly when those we disagree with are breaking the rules but we justify it
when we do it ourselves.</span><span style="color: #3d3c3c; font-family: "baskerville"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d3c3c; font-family: "baskerville"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Truth is truth. It doesn't change
and it is no respecter of persons or political party.</span><span style="color: #3d3c3c; font-family: "baskerville"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d3c3c; font-family: "baskerville"; font-size: 14.0pt;">If the Bible says pray for and
respect your leaders, it meant Obama, and it means Trump.</span><span style="color: #3d3c3c; font-family: "baskerville"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d3c3c; font-family: "baskerville"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Like it or not.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d3c3c; font-family: "baskerville"; font-size: 14.0pt;">So can we have a moment of humility
and just admit today that we sometimes are hypocrites (hanging my head and
raising my hand here). Can we not shame those saying what we have said ourselves when the shoe was on the other foot? And beginning with this Inauguration Day, can we agree
to go forward from here and attempt to adhere to the Golden Rule, and do unto
others as we’d have them do unto us? </span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d3c3c; font-family: "baskerville"; font-size: 14.0pt;">We don't have to agree. We do have to respect and pray. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d3c3c; font-family: "baskerville"; font-size: 14.0pt;">So whether we are celebrating and thankful or are angry and grieving, let us not be critical of those who are saying exactly what
we were saying 8 years ago today. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d3c3c; font-family: "baskerville"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Let's make today- Golden Rule Day.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d3c3c; font-family: "baskerville"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The End.</span><span style="font-family: "baskerville"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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worshiping warriorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087425991784275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24138681.post-31713176595451766972016-12-26T16:30:00.000-06:002017-03-29T12:00:23.750-05:00The Now...<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh69Dssw2Eiz5e1s8Hmr1pGTEYfDQBeiOhIvX6Qyct27A452xVCJgFieYCyF3n9PT7k8ylgbydNLKMRqHuJo55BQjjK04H9agok8WhbFPHzpE1QX8BsfZXHn1LZvr-jWRPv1aUECg/s1600/IMG_3536.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh69Dssw2Eiz5e1s8Hmr1pGTEYfDQBeiOhIvX6Qyct27A452xVCJgFieYCyF3n9PT7k8ylgbydNLKMRqHuJo55BQjjK04H9agok8WhbFPHzpE1QX8BsfZXHn1LZvr-jWRPv1aUECg/s320/IMG_3536.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #3a3e44; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "\.SFNSText-Regular";"><b>2016!</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #3a3e44; font-size: 13pt;">This year has not been the easiest for our state, country or
family. There has been so much division in our country, tragedy in our state
and disappointment on a personal level. Many we love have suffered devastating
loss and tragedy. It’s honestly been unprecedented in my own lifetime. But at
one of the many funerals I attended this past year my sister-in-law said to our
family, "Let this be a lesson to us. We never know when will be the last
time we are together. We need to really BE together more." It struck home
with me at the time but as I was reflecting today, it finally sunk in. If I’ve
learned anything this past year, it’s been that life is fragile and all too
often we don’t know what we have until it’s gone. Why do we spend our days
looking back wishing for a simpler time or looking ahead hoping for some future
breakthrough and never valuing the beauty and opportunities of today? I am the
guiltiest of all at this. I spent a good portion of this holiday season sad-
sad that my kids weren’t all with us, sad that my grandbabies were 500 miles
away, sad that our parents are declining, sad that our kids aren’t little, sad
for those who are no longer here, sad that so much has changed- that I missed
many ‘now’ moments that I’ll never get back. </span><span style="color: #4e4d4d; font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #3a3e44; font-size: 13pt;">So I want to vow this upcoming year to do as
that song says, "Live like you are dying". We only are guaranteed
today. If this all sounds depressing, thats not my intention. But I'm fed
up with not having the perspective of Now! I want to view life differently this
year. I don't want to waste precious time grieving moments passed or longing
for moments ahead. But instead I want to value the opportunities in the NOW
that may not be here tomorrow, that cannot be held onto or saved for later, but
are meant to be lived and enjoyed today. </span><span style="color: #4e4d4d; font-size: 13pt;"><br />
</span><span style="color: #3a3e44; font-size: 13pt;"><br />
Can we strive to prioritize relationships this year and to value every moment
with one another, not wasting another second with regret, selfishness,
division, grudges, unforgiveness, resentments or unspoken love? What better
time is there than the holidays to say the things we have always meant to say
but have put off. Who knows if we'll have another chance. What better time than
now to patch up those misunderstandings, to let go of those grudges, to ask for
forgiveness and to give it. What better time than now to speak to each other
the things we would say if we thought it was the last time? </span><span style="color: #4e4d4d; font-size: 13pt;"><br />
</span><span style="color: #3a3e44; font-size: 13pt;"><br />
Think about it. And do it. With God’s help, I am determined to. </span><span style="color: #4e4d4d; font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3a3e44; font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">May God bless each of you and enable us all this upcoming year
to recognize and to live in the now and to be grateful for all God has done in
our lives. It’s a lot more than we realize. Amen</span></span></div>
</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
worshiping warriorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087425991784275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24138681.post-65272666897106644772016-10-11T16:16:00.003-05:002017-03-29T12:09:56.048-05:00What I Know (concerning this election)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCU575H3Vtw4TS2u5pnEvpcvNj5zjPogyGkxsWsRav3QJqnXGXzcACh3lQxGqQEn9g8wLF3o-uus1cHjLM1BGmvpqU8Tn7ue2T-l27hhCBAPiLfVad89YA5ciRVbBOSHj1UD7SUA/s1600/politics+image+for+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCU575H3Vtw4TS2u5pnEvpcvNj5zjPogyGkxsWsRav3QJqnXGXzcACh3lQxGqQEn9g8wLF3o-uus1cHjLM1BGmvpqU8Tn7ue2T-l27hhCBAPiLfVad89YA5ciRVbBOSHj1UD7SUA/s320/politics+image+for+blog.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
The political climate of this current presidential election has
been the most controversial, confusing, sensationalized and polarizing I’ve seen in my
years of living on this earth. I can’t speak for the generations before me, but of
mine, I think this takes the cake. I can’t stomach a whole lot of it, but
thanks to Facebook I am as informed as my friends are and their friends’
friends’ friends are and so on into infinity. It's confusing and peace-stealing. By not tuning into the endless
political pontificating in the news, and by choosing to watch football instead
of the debates, we try to not let it affect us. But despite these precautions,
we still are sometimes in places where we cannot help but be exposed to the news, to hear other’s unasked for opinions or to be pulled into political
discussions and so on. Unless you live on a lonely mountain somewhere or deep
in the swamp without wifi, internet, satellite or cable its pretty much
impossible to get away from it and it’s hard to be blissfully uninformed these
days. (To be clear, I'm not advocating being uninformed, I'm just sharing how I cope). :P</div>
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<br /></div>
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But I’ve never seen such polarization even among Christians. For every
article on why you can’t be a Christian and vote for Hillary, I see just as
many questioning the salvation of those who are voting for Trump. Its
ridiculous and upsetting and confusing. It's easy in this season to question what matters most when so much is wrong. Different church and political leaders who I have respected in the past, have added to the confusion with such differing views from one another. There’s no clear good vs. evil like in the
old days. There's so much legitimately wrong with both candidates that it’s looking like a case of 'pick your poison' and nobody wins. The
other day I got dragged into a political discussion and by the end of it my
stomach was in knots and I was despairing of life and the future of my
grandkids. I seriously wanted to throw up and just had to get away. It took me nearly three days before I
could feel peace return. So much concern for my country and for the body of Christ which appears divided. So many questions. So much I don't know:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Which side is right? Are they both? Are neither? Are we
doomed? Should we vote or not even bother? And who the heck should we vote
for? Should we just give up? Should we fight harder?<br />
<br />
I don’t know. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p>And I still don't entirely know the answer to every single question. However, after wrestling with my thoughts and praying a lot, I have emerged with some things I DO know and that the Lord has placed on my heart and reminded me of... Here they are:</o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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1. Trump and Hillary and each person who loves them, hates
them and those who don't care- were each created in the image of God. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2. Jesus gave up His life, He died on the cross for Trump and
Hillary and for those who love them, those who hate them, those who don’t care. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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3. Since this is true and God loves and values them, He expects me to also love and value Trump and Hillary and
those who love them, those who hate them and those who don’t care. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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4. God’s not a Republican or a Democrat. He’s not even American! He loves
each one and each nation equally. Now that doesn’t mean we should disrespect our
nation, those who fought for it or those who govern it. But He does love universally and He never
violates that love by being unloving to another He created. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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5. God isn’t worried. He’s not up in heaven wringing His hands
in anxiety. He’s not wondering what to do. He’s not taken by surprise. He’s not
angry at whoever is wrong (I guarantee we each are wrong in something). But He’s got a plan… even if we screw it up- which leads to the next thing I know…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
6. God causes all things to work together for the good of
those who love God and who are called according to His purpose. There have been
dark times down through history, times darker than this, people in authority who
were worse than these- and through those times people drew nearer to God, things
in their hearts were exposed and they dealt with them. Their character grew,
their wisdom grew, their love grew, their roots went deeper and the Kingdom of
God was advanced. Which leads to this last one…<o:p></o:p></div>
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7. We don’t need to be so distraught, so angry, so worried, so
distracted by and caught up in the horror of this current political mess to miss this opportunity to
shine God’s light and love on a dark world that desperately needs Him. We need to get this into perspective: There are worse things than our chosen candidate not winning. Worse things like people dying without hope and without knowing how dearly loved and valuable they are. And troubled times are a great revealer. They expose where we really are and
what’s the most important. If your house was on fire (or being flooded as
my friends in south Louisiana know all too well) what would you grab first? And
what would you not bother with? Troubled times cause us to cut to the chase and
get real about what is important. “Everything that can be shaken will be
shaken.”… we are being shaken and its showing our true colors and our greatest
needs. And the world needs Jesus. And we are His only representatives on this earth. While the darkness is increasing and the heat has been turned up, let us not be so distracted by and focused on the political whirlwind around us that we miss this golden opportunity to focus on what really matters to Him: people. And to share and represent the hope we have in Jesus and to tangibly show His love. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Yes, I will vote on November 8, for the one who I think will best elect the Supreme Court judges who will make laws which I feel are the most important. I encourage each of you to go to God and get His direction. And remember, there’s nothing wrong with
sharing your opinions- if it's done in a way that respects and honors those of
differing views- and to stand up for the truth in a loving way unique to you. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But let us get this whole thing in
perspective- people before politics, relationships before opinions. Find common ground with those you differ with and love them where they’re at. And be humble. Remember you may be wrong! And if who
you think should be elected isn’t, don’t despair. Our hope isn’t in a political
party or a president, or in our rights as citizens- our hope is in the Lord. It’s
always been that way and it always will be. We just know it now. And for that I
am glad. Amen.</div>
worshiping warriorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087425991784275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24138681.post-71591159440215109922016-07-20T17:04:00.000-05:002016-07-21T12:08:56.841-05:00If the answer was Yes.<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8ujm-46slhuXvIt4rSsvzaFCXhwX33H5UM-opFDtlN2gA0VB7UqO23jqCW-kNGiOYRh7Sx1fYinqMnd5-RTrpMekpE-HaeQPd5gVNsW9F3Jij6EGkHEzfxavN9SqXyY1oRGq_Fg/s1600/yes-238373_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8ujm-46slhuXvIt4rSsvzaFCXhwX33H5UM-opFDtlN2gA0VB7UqO23jqCW-kNGiOYRh7Sx1fYinqMnd5-RTrpMekpE-HaeQPd5gVNsW9F3Jij6EGkHEzfxavN9SqXyY1oRGq_Fg/s320/yes-238373_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
One thing I’ve realized that I do with this blog is I wait
until I feel I’ve kind of worked through something and have what I consider
insight into it before I share it with the world. Hence why my posts are few
and far between. But I have many thoughts in the meantime- some thought
provoking, some not so much- that I feel I’ve not processed it enough to merit a
blog post. But this morning as I was praying, I felt that (not going to say “God
spoke to me!” because it wasn’t that obvious, but…), I felt that I may need to share
anyway. That maybe some of my in-the-process thoughts might be worth reading as
I am working them out in my head and heart. It may cause someone to start working
out some similar thoughts themselves in a way and with a conclusion that is unique
to them. Also I’ve decided that I don’t have to write a novel for it to be
worthy of a post. <span style="font-family: "wingdings";">:)</span> So with that in mind I hope to post more regularly. I hope. That remains to be
seen…<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So here’s one thing twirling through my head of late. I heard
a message someone posted on Facebook where a minister asked this question- ‘If
we knew the answer was going to be ‘yes’, how would we then pray?’ Then he
followed it up with this scripture: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">For
all the promises of God in Him <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">are</span>
Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” 2 Corinthians 1:20.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">So this
got me thinking how God is my heavenly Father. I am His kid
so to speak. So as Mom with my own children- or maybe to put it where I am in life now- with
my grandsons, if one of them said, “Mimi? Would you help me with this?”
Goodness, I’d be so eager, that I’d be knocking over furniture to get to them
quicker. So is this how God is with me when I ask Him something that is obviously
His will? Or if I ask something that is already declared as a promise in His
word? I think the answer to this would obviously be Yes. (I realize He doesn't always say 'yes' when we pray for various reasons beyond our limited understanding but for the purposes of this post understand that I'm referring to those things which we KNOW are His will.) The things He has promised
and that are His will are things that He obviously wants to do. It’s not like I
have to twist His arm. To be honest, a lot of times I think my prayers have
been more like vent sessions than intercession. Or I’ve viewed my prayers kind
of like writing the President a letter that he probably won’t read but maybe I’ll
get lucky. Now there have been many anointed moments where I knew I was
breaking through and making a connection in prayer but it seems that should happen more
often than it does. Now that I’ve been turning this recent thought over in my
head I feel it has given a boost to my faith. There’s this scripture along the
same vein that encourages my faith when I pray: <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">1 John <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">5</b>:</span></i><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"> </span></i></b><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">14 </span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">This is the confidence we have in
approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. </span></i><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">15 </span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">And
if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked
of Him.”</span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> </span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"><br /></span>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">So if I’m
asking for wisdom, direction, peace, to not be afraid, to be able to love or to
forgive, then I think I can be pretty confident that God’s answer will be YES.
The pressure isn’t on me to ask a certain way or to pray harder or more often.
Really my only responsibility is just to ask and believe. And like my children
and grandchildren would hopefully do, I can feel confident that of course my
Father’s answer to these requests will be- yes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">For
example, yesterday I had a doctor’s appointment and for some reason I was
feeling anxious about it and some other things. Instead of just accepting that
feeling and going on as I was, I prayed about it on my way there. And I thought
about God’s promises concerning what I was feeling. One was- God has not given
us a spirit of fear. But He’s given us a Spirit of power, love and a sound
mind. So it’s not God’s will that I be anxious. So I asked Him to help me not
be anxious with the thought in mind that I was praying according to His will
and of course the answer would be yes, And guess what- He answered and I wasn’t.
Yay! :D <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">So
anyhow, I haven’t got as good a handle on this as I’d like but since I started
thinking this way I have been praying with a lot more confidence and faith than
I was. Now God is so good and He’s answered so many of my prayers in the past despite
my puny faith. But I feel like I have a new way of thinking of prayer and of thinking
of my heavenly Dad. It really makes me love Him more and want to talk to Him
about stuff. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Nothing profound and it’s not
totally processed but I’m working on it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I hope that despite it not being fully formed that it’s something that
blesses you, helps you in your prayer life and your relationship with your heavenly Father. So
anyhow… that’s all I got. Bless y’all! :D</span><o:p></o:p></div>
worshiping warriorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087425991784275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24138681.post-68257521314623856582016-06-18T09:24:00.000-05:002017-09-11T13:20:51.063-05:00The story I've not yet told...<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizM2srZfap3ZrtrhBdnBTco0zR3BumF6ANr3aabQ8JUiQANzfTfnol2QApL8PqzDovDYRrSf3B4Ut9EWOBzDQgvhUqDlhLoSPBBgHsnYXICf21yPGaJFv0AwOQVyQjTc5VImrG_w/s1600/DSCF0287-2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizM2srZfap3ZrtrhBdnBTco0zR3BumF6ANr3aabQ8JUiQANzfTfnol2QApL8PqzDovDYRrSf3B4Ut9EWOBzDQgvhUqDlhLoSPBBgHsnYXICf21yPGaJFv0AwOQVyQjTc5VImrG_w/s320/DSCF0287-2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
I have a story to tell. Some people have heard bits and pieces of it from me but I wanted to finally put it all down here while it's still fresh and amazing. So here goes...</div>
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Mine is your average American
family. I have parents and siblings and aunts and uncles and cousins and
grandparents. Nothing spectacular or unusual. We are great folks and all
and I wouldn’t trade us for anything but there has never been anything particularly
interesting that has made us stand out from the crowd of other great families. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Until now. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Well… I have been a member of Ancestry.com for several
years. I love history and I love genealogy stuff so it’s been something I’ve
dabbled with on and off for years and have filled in a lot of our family tree
for many generations. But I had no idea how life-changing putting my family
tree online would be for us. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Anyhow I get junk email on occasion- people wanting to sell
me prescription drugs, trying to set me up with singles in my area or billionaires
in Africa wanting to share their fortunes with me. (Apparently African billionaires
are very generous and I’m quite popular there. Who knew?). So when I got a random email
from Ancestry.com from a genealogist named Michael (yea right!) wanting to ask
me some QUESTIONS (yea, probably like my social security number. I wasn’t born
yesterday Mr. Genealogist) I didn’t even read the entire email. I just
hit delete and moved on. I forgot about it probably ten minutes later. Then one
day about a month later, my dad sends me a strange email. He said- <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I got this email from a genealogist saying
he got my name from your family tree on Ancestry.com and he is asking me questions
about our family. Do you think it’s legit? </i>My immediate thought was to dismiss
it until I read a little further, then my attention was caught. As I read on,
it became apparent that this was no hoax or scam. I had not been on
Ancestry.com in quite some time so I quickly logged in to see and sure enough,
the same genealogist had messaged me there months ago. I hadn’t seen the
message so I hadn’t answered him and after hitting that dead-end he somehow
found my email and tried to reach me that way. When that didn’t work, Michael
the genealogist’s colleague finally reached my dad and here is what we received:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2f3c;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>This might come as a surprise to you, but our
client, Paul ____, is related to you through</i></span></span><span style="color: #2a2f3c;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>either your father or one of his brothers. Paul was born in 1930 in</i></span></span><span style="color: #2a2f3c;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Manhattan, to Elizabeth Frances___ and an unknown father. His entire</i></span></span><span style="color: #2a2f3c;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>life, he has known nothing about his father because he was taken into</i></span></span><span style="color: #2a2f3c;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>foster care at a young age after his mother was hospitalized. DNA
testing</i></span></span><span style="color: #2a2f3c;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is
what led us to your grandfather, but we cannot determine through DNA</i></span></span><span style="color: #2a2f3c;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>which of his three sons was Paul's father. I hope
very</i></span></span><span style="color: #2a2f3c;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>much that you will be willing to talk about this with us further,
whether</i></span></span><span style="color: #2a2f3c;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>you
have any information about this or not...</i></span></span><span style="color: #2a2f3c;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i> I realize that this may be surprising</i></span></span><span style="color: #2a2f3c;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>information so we would of course be happy to answer any and all
questions</i></span></span><span style="color: #2a2f3c;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i> you
have for us about what led us to you. Thanks so much in advance. </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #2a2f3c; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-effects-shadow-align: topleft; mso-effects-shadow-alpha: 40.0%; mso-effects-shadow-angledirection: 2700000; mso-effects-shadow-anglekx: 0; mso-effects-shadow-angleky: 0; mso-effects-shadow-color: black; mso-effects-shadow-dpidistance: 3.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-dpiradius: 4.0pt; mso-effects-shadow-pctsx: 100.0%; mso-effects-shadow-pctsy: 100.0%;">After getting hit with this bombshell we got in touch with Michael to get
more information…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Because Paul wasn’t familiar with his
mother, he knew absolutely nothing about his father, and so he and his daughter
asked us to help piece the puzzle together for him. Using DNA testing, we found
that he was a (surname) by birth, connecting him with a whole line of (surname) men
using his Y-chromosome. In fact, we worked with someone who was
previously in contact with Kayla some years ago about the (surname) DNA
project. We were subsequently able to narrow it down, generation by generation,
to William Austin ___ and his sons by Martha ___. His DNA results were
tested through Ancestry as well as outside organizations to make sure that
everything matched with what we had found… Our dilemma is that there is no way
to tell from the DNA (as it sits now) which of the three brothers is Paul’s
father. He could potentially be your half-brother or a first cousin.</i></span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Whoa!
So their research and the DNA evidence led them to my dad’s grandfather and
his three sons. Well because of the dates, I knew this impregnation would have
transpired before my Papaw married my Mamaw and before he knew the Lord (whew,
that’s a relief). But one of these three brothers was this man Paul’s father. But
how could this be? My grandfather and his brothers were from the piney woods of
north Louisiana. I mean rural, southern America. Most people from their area
had never left the state. And New York City? How would one of these three
country boys have fathered a child in the Big Apple!? There HAD to be a mistake. But DNA
doesn’t lie. Then it dawned on us—our papaw had been in the Navy! As the reality
of this began to hit us, we realized that it was very very possible, my dad and
Aunt Linda had a brother they never knew they had, and that Cathy and I had a new
uncle and a whole new set of cousins. Could it be? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Uncle Paul. </td></tr>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Dad
was still a little unsure so he turned it over to me to talk to the genealogist
and to contact Barb, Paul’s daughter who had spearheaded this whole thing. After
talking back and forth with Michael the genealogist, I got up the courage to email Barb and to
let her know we were open to talking to them. They were on vacation up in the
mountains and didn’t have wifi so it took a while for me to hear back from her.
I was a nervous wreck waiting for her reply! Later when we finally connected, I found out that Barb had
begun this process years before, and after years of dead-ends had been about to
throw in the towel and to give it up when she received an email from Michael
telling her that he had finally found a relative of the three brothers in
question who was open to talking to them. Once Barb and I finally got in contact and began emailing back
and forth I found her to be a very gracious and down to earth woman (not an
African billionare lol) and I began to piece together the fascinating and sad
story of her father. After being put in foster care in New
York City, his mother was in and out of his life, but never would allow him to
be adopted. He would become close to potential families who wanted to keep him
only to be snatched out of their homes by his mother. He never was adopted. He
never had one person who he belonged to, or who he could call family, except
for his mother who he hardly knew. </span>He ended up joining the Navy and then going
to college, earning his degree in electrical engineering and ultimately working
for Grumman Aerospace on Long Island, NY. He designed the docking radar for the
lunar module for NASA’s Apollo 13 mission (the now-famous "Houston, we
have a problem" mission. The lunar module ultimately saved the astronauts
lives!). He married and had three children Barb, John and Paul Jr, all
successful, impressive and interesting people. Could this fascinating man
really be my uncle? It didn’t seem possible. But the more we all talked and
compared notes it seemed highly likely that my beloved grandfather (Papaw Doc
to us) was indeed Paul’s father. But the only way to find out for sure was to
do a DNA test. So dad and I submitted to one (I’d always wanted to anyway) and after
a couple of weeks what we already knew in our hearts was confirmed by science.
Yes, Paul was my Papaw’s son, my dad’s biological brother and mine and my
sister’s uncle. Wow! (And I thought our family was boring!) </div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">As we all got
acquainted through Facebook, (stalking each others pages lol ) and emailing each other, it
became clear that we needed to meet. So September of last year, we met in
Pensacola, halfway between their home in Orlando and ours in north Louisiana.
Barb, Jackie, Uncle Paul and John met me, my sister Cathy, Dad and Kay and Aunt
Linda there. I think none of us were quite sure what to expect. I’m not sure if they
expected to find themselves related to the Swamp people or not ;). And they hailed from
New York City, which is about as foreign from rural Louisiana as you can get! How
would we relate? What would we talk about? But I guess there is something to sharing
the same DNA with people. Although we’d been raised differently, on other ends of the
country from each other, we all just ‘fit’. There were no awkward silences, no
uncomfortable moments. We immediately felt as if we’d known each other all our
lives. It was uncanny. It felt right. Observing Uncle Paul brought back memories
of my grandfather. My Papaw was known for his sense of humor, his friendliness,
his warmth and his way with people. Uncle Paul had all of that. My Papaw had
been my hero. My heart was broken when he died in 1976. But meeting Uncle Paul
brought him back. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think in some ways
he looks more like my grandfather than my dad does and his late brother did. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">It was
so surreal. Hard to wrap my head around honestly. Trying to process the changes
in what I thought I knew about my family. Like: my father isn’t the oldest son
like we thought. Like: Cathy and I have another uncle. Like: We have three new
cousins. And like: my God-fearing grandfather had a past. Although he was always larger
than life to me, he was still obviously very much human. That could have been
unsettling to me, but instead, it made Papaw more relatable, more real. So many
thoughts in my head- was it a drunken one night stand or did he date the young
woman? Did he even know her name? Did she ever try to get in touch with him?
Knowing my Papaw and his character, I have to think that had he known about
Uncle Paul, he would have contacted him, he would have brought him home. He
would have been a part of his life. I do not believe he knew. But I bet he
knows now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Growing
up with a decent sized extended family with grandparents, first and second
cousins, aunts and uncles and such I can’t imagine what it was like for my cousins
to miss out on that. Or how it was for Uncle Paul, who until he married and had
children, had no group of people to call family at all. Until last year they had
half of their family tree completely empty and now suddenly a whole lot of new
people are in their lives and those blanks in the tree are finally getting
filled in. And this week for the first time in his 86 years, my Uncle Paul is
in Louisiana. He and Barb and Jackie are here in our hometown and on Monday
they will journey to see and to stay in the tiny community where Paul would
have grown up, had Papaw known. I think of the difference in Paul and his
siblings’ childhoods. Dad raised in a loving home, in a small southern town,
with the creeks and woods of north Louisiana as his playground. And I think of
Uncle Paul growing up alone, with nobody to call his own and none to call him
their own, in the gritty streets of New York City. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Tonight,
over slices of pizza, Uncle Paul and Barb and Jackie got acquainted with my husband, my
twins Hannah and Joseph, Hannah’s fiancé Shane, Cathy's two girls Callie
and Cate for the first time. Dad and Kay were there and we all filled up the
biggest table in the joint. It was loud and crowded and chaotic and absolutely
wonderful!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we were trying to explain
who belonged to who, and they tried to remember everyone’s names, Barb said
something that gripped my heart. She looked around at this big table of people who
a year ago had been strangers and with a big smile on her face said- “I’m
related to all of these people. I’ve finally got cousins! This is my family!” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Family! We really are! And at 85 years old Paul finally found his family. And that family includes me. I
feel so honored and privileged to be part of what he always longed for. We are
now all included in each others’ ‘us’ and ‘we’. Although we were raised in
different worlds, it doesn’t matter. We now belong to each other. What a
feeling! When we fill out Hannah’s wedding invitations, they will be listed in
the ‘family’ column. And it feels natural for them to be included there. God is so good
and I am so thankful.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="text-align: start;">A year ago, nobody could have convinced me this could happen to our family! But it did! And ours just got a whole lot bigger and a lot more interesting!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Uncle Paul finally meeting his Daddy.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Family at last! Sept. 2015. Uncle Paul meeting his brother and sister for the first time. Front row L-R: Linda, Paul, Dad (Glynn), Kay. Back row L-R: John, Cathy (my sis), Barb, me and Jackie.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Uncle Paul and the cousins meeting some more of the family June 2016</td></tr>
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worshiping warriorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087425991784275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24138681.post-57557415983353445012016-05-30T02:09:00.000-05:002017-03-28T20:16:12.716-05:00Martha, Martha...<div class="MsoNormal">
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">"As Jesus and his disciples were on their
way, He came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to Him. She
had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what He
said.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">But Martha was distracted by all the
preparations that had to be made. She came to Him and asked, "Lord,
don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her
to help me!"<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Martha, Martha," the Lord
answered, "you are worried and upset about many things,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">but only one thing is needed.</span></i><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
Luke 10:38-42</span></i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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There are some Bible stories that I've heard since childhood and I find myself not really reading them because I know them so well. Been there. Seen that. Nothing new. (Yawn) Well, I've been praying to look at the word of God as if I have never seen it before. To let go of my preconceived notions and assumptions and to see it with fresh eyes.<br />
<br />
Well we had a good discussion about this passage of scripture about Mary and Martha yesterday and it got me looking at it again. Most of us have read this numerous times but I took another look at this old story and saw some stuff I'd never seen before. So here goes...<br />
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I always assumed in this story that
Jesus was ticked at Martha. It sure would have been understandable. After all, she was pretty dang brazen to chastise the Son of God in front of everyone like that. I pictured Jesus schooling her in front of everyone. I could see the approving crowd, nodding and agreeing, “Mmmhmm, you sure told her Jesus!”.<br />
<br />
But at the same time, although she obviously needed an attitude
adjustment, to me it still didn’t seem completely fair to Martha. Anyone who’s had to
fix a meal for a large group of people will understand me here. I mean, they
had to eat. This is Bible times and they didn’t have microwaves or take-out. Martha’s
household obviously wasn’t wealthy and they didn’t have cooks and servants, so
the responsibility naturally fell to her and Mary. I always felt that it was reasonable for Martha to need some
help. Despite her rude interruption, the practical side of me gets Martha’s
frustration. But at the same time, the worshipper side of me also gets Mary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My word! To have Jesus in the flesh, in my
house, speaking the very words of God, I’d be like “Hold up Martha! Wait a dang
minute! I can’t miss a second of this!”<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
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Keith pointed something out that I’d never thought about with this story. Its not like Jesus went out of His way to point out that her choices were inferior to her sisters. Actually there's no indication that Jesus would have mentioned that fact at all had she not had her little outburst. But her embarrassing public tirade of, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“Lord, don’t you care that my sister has
left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” (</b>Awkward!) simply begged for a response. She asked for it, and she got it! <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><b>“Martha, Martha, you are
worried and upset about many things, but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”</b> Perhaps He didn't mind at all that she was in the kitchen. I personally don't think He did. Maybe He planned for her and Mary to switch places later. Who knows. But what IS clear is that she started it. And He finished it. </span></div>
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Actually, despite her disrespectful outburst, (I mean, she REALLY had a lot of nerve!) He didn't seem upset with her at all. His “Martha, Martha” (said twice) was indicative of
endearment. Another version had Him saying, “My dear Martha”. That doesn’t
sound like someone who is annoyed. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
mean, there were definitely times recorded in the Bible where Jesus WAS annoyed, where He didn't mince words with His disciples, and rebuked them. But this isn’t one of those
times. His response to her interruption of His message (just imagine interrupting
Jesus!), to her frustrated complaint (how humiliating for Mary!), to her doubt about
His care (that was particularly rude) and to her exasperated demand (to the Son
of God no less) was gentle and understanding. Yes, He corrected her. But
instead of being motivated by offense (How dare you interrupt ME, question ME,
command ME), it was motivated by a love for her. She definitely needed an
adjustment- but unlike how we often deliver it, Jesus didn’t adjust her to make a
stand, to defend Himself, to shame her or to make His point at her expense. He adjusted her for her good. Because He loved her. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Here's some observations I never saw before with how Jesus handled Martha.<br />
<br />
-First He acknowledged her, speaking her name lovingly (<b>Martha, </b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Martha / dear Martha</b>).</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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This communicated to her: I know you. I see you. I love you and you are very valuable to Me. <o:p></o:p></div>
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-Then He identified her issue (<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">You are worried and upset/ distracted with many things)</b>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i> She was worried.</i> Her worry pointed to a struggle with fear,
a difficulty with trusting. It’s really hard to worry and to trust at the same
time. (Believe me, I know!). <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>She was also upset.</i> Her accusatory “Don’t you care?”, indicated hurt and bitterness and a misunderstanding of Jesus’ actions (or inaction) on her behalf.
Perhaps some pain from her past caused her to default to offense, assuming the
worst about Him. We don't know. But Jesus looked past the rudeness, saw the wounded heart and
dealt gently with her. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>She was distracted</i>. So she wasn’t focused.
She was overwhelmed with many things. They weren’t evil, sinful things. They were
actually necessary things. But all the things consumed her focus and caused her
to lose sight of Him. <o:p></o:p><br />
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-Then in one phrase, He narrowed down for her (and us) what
mattered most to Him. (<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">But only one thing is needed</b>). This is huge people. If we’re honest we’ll admit that there’s
a whole lot in the Bible that makes us scratch our heads; things that aren’t
that clear, that are interpreted a million different ways by a million
different people. There are so many facets to God and so many different aspects
to His word that it’s often hard to know where to start, what to focus on first
or what to emphasize most. It frankly can be overwhelming. But despite this,
there ARE those times when He is clear, when He doesn’t speak in parables or
mysteries, where He’s obvious and to the point and it cannot be left up to
interpretation. And right here, with Martha, is one of those times. He revealed
to her, the most important thing to Him. <i>Just ONE THING is needed.</i> And what was that? It wasn’t another chore to
do, another law to keep, another sin to repent of. So what matters most to Him? Simply put, He wants to have a
relationship with us. That’s all He wanted from Martha. He was fine with her
cooking and preparing. That wasn’t the point. She had opened her home to Him
and was trying to honor Him in her own way and I know He appreciated that. But
the point of her hard work had been lost somewhere in the preparations. She’d lost
sight of the purpose of her labor- to be with Him. It wasn’t even about
what she and Mary were doing, it was about their heart’s focus.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">-</b>Despite His love and
appreciation for Martha’s hard work, He wasn’t going to do to Mary as her sister requested. (<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">And Mary chose what is better. And it will not be taken away from her)</b>. Mary was locked in on Him, connecting to Him and He wasn’t going to allow her to be pulled her away
from Him. He wouldn't agree to prioritizing work over worship. Although He wasn’t offended at Martha’s rudeness to Him, He still
didn’t totally let her off the hook concerning her treatment of her sister. His
acknowledgment and elevation of Mary and her superior choice restored her honor
after she’d been rudely humiliated by her sister in front of all the guests. Yes,
He loved Martha and was gentle with her in His correction. But He also loved
Mary. Mistreating God’s other children does not go unnoticed or undealt with. He
is just, after all. <o:p></o:p></div>
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There’s a lot more that can be learned from this story and I may
revisit this at some point with more thoughts on the matter. But for now I’ll
leave you with this simple summary of what I learned. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "symbol"; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">God values every person. Even the rude,
embittered Marthas in the world. He usually doesn’t respond to people like we
probably would (thank heavens!) because He sees the whole story. And despite a
persons behavior, sometimes kindness is really what they need.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "symbol"; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">When He deals with us He cuts through what we
think the issue is and gets to the heart of the matter. </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Martha thought her sister was the problem.
Jesus knew better.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "symbol"; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; line-height: normal;"> J</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; line-height: normal;">esus d</span></span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">oesn’t get offended when we voice our frustration
to Him. He knows it anyway so we might as well be honest.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "symbol"; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">However, He isn’t pleased with us letting off
steam at another’s expense. He will not let us get away with
that. No more than I would have let one of my kids when they were little mistreat their brother or sister.
I loved them all the same, but when that happened, it wasn’t tolerated.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "symbol"; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The end game of all ministry, is simply- Jesus. To
know Him and to make Him known. But sometimes, that focus can be lost in all of
the activity of what needs to get done. When I led worship, there were many
necessary preparations- from rehearsal to sound checks- before the worship
service. And I admit there were times that I got so busy and overwhelmed with
the preparations that I forgot to worship. Jesus still anointed and used me. He
wasn’t mad at me during those times. But I am the one who missed out. It'd be
like when my out-of-town kids come to visit. If I was too busy cooking and cleaning for them (to bless them no less), to spend any quality time with them, I’d have a lot of regrets once they were gone and I'd be pretty sad. When they are home for a visit, we’ll order pizza if necessary. Because all
of our attention is on them. And that’s all Jesus wants too. </span></li>
</ul>
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<br />
So t<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">here. That’s what I got out of
the tired old story of Mary and Martha Martha ;). What’s true for them is true for us. One
thing only is needed: Relationship. Period. Amen</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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worshiping warriorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087425991784275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24138681.post-60523475702077579652016-04-10T16:33:00.000-05:002016-04-11T23:59:37.523-05:00Hungry<div class="MsoNormal">
<span id="goog_2026350209"></span><span id="goog_2026350210"></span><br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjKOVfppwIVDEhuSkcfVOGKg0L_u3xRFRBLpjC6ndETEKlXtZ4k-txxq6MLNvCjaaOtoFKsu2uY6aDmXVlgnk6nZcsdqZbFxTUQW33JDhh6KPHrEI59ETcrvUuaT3w9wn-BzcROQ/s1600/file9261313599376.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjKOVfppwIVDEhuSkcfVOGKg0L_u3xRFRBLpjC6ndETEKlXtZ4k-txxq6MLNvCjaaOtoFKsu2uY6aDmXVlgnk6nZcsdqZbFxTUQW33JDhh6KPHrEI59ETcrvUuaT3w9wn-BzcROQ/s320/file9261313599376.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Hunger is a sign of health. If you’ve ever been sick, you
know what it feels like to not be able to stand the sight of food. One of the
first things a doctor asks us when we are sick is, “How’s your appetite?”. And
when our health begins to return, a sure sign we are getting better is the return
of our desire to eat.<br />
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Now I read my Bible every day and I go to church every
Sunday (hard to skip when your husband is the pastor lol) and I’m generally
receptive and interested in spiritual things as a rule. But not too long ago I
noticed that my spiritual growth had pretty much tanked. And the scary
thing is it didn’t really bother me all that much. I was kind of content. Well,
kind of… When you’ve tasted and you’ve seen, there’s always that gnawing thing
in the back of your mind whispering to you, “you’re settling for less. You know
there is more than this.” But sometimes life just gets heavy and its all you
can do to keep afloat, much less do any long distance swimming. <o:p></o:p></div>
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But God is good, and He is gentle. Those nudges and
reminders that ‘there is more’ are most definitely from Him. And it is because,
even though I may be content with the status quo, He’s not. He wants a deeper
intimacy with me. He is always the initiator in this relationship. Initially
when this thing with me and God started, I didn’t ‘find God’ as if He was
hiding and I was searching under every rock and bush. The truth is, He found
me. And then I responded to Him. Even when I ran from Him, He patiently
pursued. And that hasn’t stopped. He still pursues and I respond. Or sometimes I don't. But that’s
how it works even though it may seem like I’m the one after Him. Even when I do pursue Him, He still was the one who stirred my heart in the first place, to come after Him. <o:p></o:p></div>
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At first, the gentle reminder that, 'this isn’t all there is but there
is more’, passed through my consciousness, pausing there briefly. Then as I responded- a little, and then
a little more- it gained a footing. And then as it built, the thought began to gain momentum
in my heart. And now it has taken hold of me to where I sat in front of the
computer screen yesterday for 15 hours straight, transfixed, watching the Azusa Now
conference in Los Angeles on the 110 year anniversary of the Azusa Street
Revival, worshipping and interceding for God to do it again in our time. Not
saying that those who didn't watch aren't hungry, but I just know where I was. And I know that I wouldn’t have been interested in
sitting and watching that for 30 minutes a few months ago. So something has taken root in me. And it's up to me to fan the flame and to not let the fire die down again.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I think most of us at some point in our childhood were told,
“Don’t eat that now, it’ll ruin your appetite. Supper is almost ready.” How is our
appetite ruined? In the natural it is simply from filling our bellies with
other things to where there is no room or desire for anything more. I’m not implying that everything in this life, other than reading your Bible or praying or worshipping, is
evil. Rather, I think it is a matter of the heart. <i>“Where your treasure is, there your
heart will be also”. (Luke 12:34) </i>When our heart is running after things that are of lesser value, it spoils our appetite for that which is greater. It
doesn’t have to be running after something bad, but is it running after the best? It's about seeking treasure. What
is our greatest treasure? What is our heart running the hardest after?<o:p></o:p></div>
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One of my very favorite scriptures that I have gone back to
so many times in my life, because it anchors me and kind of boils it all down
for me is: <i>“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And ALL
THESE THINGS shall be added unto you.” (Matt. 6:33).</i> My KJV (Kayla Johnson
version) ;) paraphrase is this: “Make God your greatest priority, your greatest
love and desire and from there, everything else will fall into it’s rightful
place of importance.” Or to say it another way, “Instead of focusing on finding
the answer to life’s problems, find God. And when you find Him, you find your
answer; Your problem wont really matter that much anymore.” Like the lyrics to that
old song, <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>“Turn your eyes upon Jesus. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>Look full in His wonderful face. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>And the things of earth will grow strangely dim. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>In the light of His glory and grace.”</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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So all that to say this: I’m hungry again. And I’m praying
to be MORE hungry. Because you will pursue what you are hungry for. I don’t
want to find Him and then to stop pursuing. In a healthy marriage relationship, you keep pursuing intimacy. You don't say, "that's enough" and let it stagnate. I don’t want to go back to boredom and disinterest or
casual Christianity. When I read church history about men and women of God like- DL Moody, Smith Wigglesworth, William J Seymour and Maria Woodworth-Etter (to name a few) who God used to spark revival in their generation; men and women just like us, who really
knew God, who encountered Him, who were changed, and in the process touched
nations and made history for the kingdom of God- I get hungry. Why not again? Why not today? Why not
this generation? Why not me? Why not you? </div>
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<br />
So examine yourself. Are you spiritually healthy? How's your appetite?<br />
<br />
Let us not be satisfied with where we are. We can never
have too much of God. There is always more to discover about Him, more to experience in Him, more of me for Him to fill. If you are finding
yourself, like I did, content with where you are, not hungry for more, ask Him to increase your
hunger for Him. He will certainly do it. Actually it’s His idea in the first
place. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 13.0pt;">“Blessed are those who <b><span style="color: #be001a;">hunger</span></b> and thirst for righteousness, for they
will be filled”. Matt. 5:6</span><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Let’s not ruin our appetite. Supper is almost ready.<o:p></o:p></div>
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There. Is. More!<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
worshiping warriorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087425991784275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24138681.post-50366874300829228262015-08-28T21:26:00.000-05:002017-03-28T20:22:10.277-05:00Post Away!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggpEvnnxzT6NMF3VEbFB0p-ymrcEbf3E7ymRhgjmJ6uE33KQ0YTpsGz6NddsxspUzI45jeFYKs90avy0nQtxkbyggCFMSh50wwyA1Hz_5q2Zv9X2mPTjhv53uwo_nD5bEQifkXRA/s1600/no+one+ever.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggpEvnnxzT6NMF3VEbFB0p-ymrcEbf3E7ymRhgjmJ6uE33KQ0YTpsGz6NddsxspUzI45jeFYKs90avy0nQtxkbyggCFMSh50wwyA1Hz_5q2Zv9X2mPTjhv53uwo_nD5bEQifkXRA/s400/no+one+ever.jpg" width="400" /></a><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14pt;">In case you've read my blog before and this seems vaguely familiar, some of this is excerpted from an old post, but the majority of it is
new. So with that confession and disclosure, read away! :D</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14pt;">I was raised in a different era. It was a time when,
for the most part, certain things weren’t talked about and often
things that should have been discussed were swept under the rug. But as
with most things, when something swings to one extreme we can over-compensate
by swinging too far to the opposite extreme. Either way it remains out of
balance. And today, conversely this generation is being raised in an
uncensored culture where nothing much is left to the imagination. Today’s
social media, reality entertainment and the information age are shaping this generation in such a way that discretion, boundaries and privacy are becoming a thing of the past.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14pt;">So
let’s talk a minute particularly about social media. Before I am branded a
hypocrite (since I'm obviously using it to post this) let me say right
now that I'm not of the opinion that social media is bad. I use it and as
with anything, when handled with wisdom and self-control, it can be a
very useful and enjoyable tool. But I'm finding that all too often, the
easy access to being heard by an opinionated audience can prove to be too big a
temptation for many. Any random thought or opinion that occurs to us can be
instantly shared seconds after it arrives in our brain. We can get immediate
feedback and be encouraged or discouraged, branded a heretic or a
hero, persuaded and influenced, and heading down a particular path before
we’ve fully processed, tested or filtered the original thought. Before social
media, when we got annoyed or had a strong opposing opinion, we had time to
think about it, to process it and to settle our emotions before we had the
opportunity to speak about it. And often, with time to cool off,
to get more information and to think it through, we might
then conclude it wasn't something that needed to be shared at that time,
or maybe at all. But we live in a different world now. On social media,
our unfiltered, unrestrained sharing requires no discipline or forethought and tender
hearts and uncensored thoughts are exposed to the temperamental masses for immediate
approval or rejection.
Not to mention, when the day comes (and trust me, it will) that we regret the opinion,
the tirade or escapade we posted on social media, it will be forever on the
internet to be viewed by our future employers, co-workers, congregations, friends,
spouses and children. All I can say is that God was VERY merciful to delay the
advent of social media until the days when I was a responsible adult. (Let all of us pause for a moment and picture our youthful shenanigans scrolling down a Facebook newsfeed and send up a heartfelt "thank you" to heaven... Whew!).
Enough said. But suffice it to say, the ship of anonymity has long since sailed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14pt;">I’ve
seen things posted on social media that really touched
me, inspired me, made me laugh, or was exactly what I needed at that moment.
But I have never, EVER responded positively, felt convicted or
changed my opinion by an insulting, shaming, angry post or judgmental rant. Have you? Honestly? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14pt;">I admit that I too have succumbed to this culture
of over-exposure and have shared things that I shouldn't have. I
too have been guilty of sharing strong opinions in a way that didn't respect the
individuals who believed differently. We all have done it. And to be
fair, there IS a time to speak. There's a time to testify and to
proclaim. But when we are angry or frustrated, or when our hearts are in that fragile in-between place, before our
emotions have settled and our heart has found its way home, there first needs
to be a journey into the secret place where God’s perspective and
heart are sought. It's wisdom to process our thoughts through
His word and Spirit and to get His perspective before we unveil them
raw to the world. It's wisdom to get His heart for the
individuals we disagree with before we blast them with our sweeping,
impersonal judgments.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Some things are private and just not appropriate
to be shared. Some things are not safe to be shared except with certain
trustworthy people. Some things are just not ready to be shared until
they've had the time to marinate and to be tested. Some things aren’t
respectful to be shared with an audience of people of differing opinions and
beliefs, who have those opinions for reasons we don’t know or may not
understand.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">So let us all grow up in this. (Preaching to the choir
here). Before we pull the trigger and post a strong opinion or gripe or
our personal stuff on social media, can we stop, take a deep breath and look
within for a minute, and do these things first:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">1. Ask ourselves WHY we want to post in the first
place. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14pt;">What do we really hope to accomplish? What is our
real motive? Let's be real honest with ourselves here. Is it possibly to get a pat on the back by
those who agree with us? To get recognition and approval for our bold, articulate stand?
Or is it possibly a passive/aggressive attempt at taking a jab at those we
disagree with? I admit, I've been guilty on both counts. Or could it just be that we are ticked off and want to vent? (Been there, done that too) The truth is, it doesn't
take much courage to be confrontational when we are in
control of the argument, reclining with our laptop in front of us, formulating and editing our thoughts with our finger on the delete button if we dislike a rebuttal, than in person where we might have to think on our feet. Honestly, some of the things I see posted, if said to the face, would probably invite a punch
to the jaw. BUT, if the motives are clear , then let's post away.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14pt;">2. And let us ask ourselves WHO we are posting to. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14pt;">Who actually WILL see our stuff? Remember there will
be people of all ages (are there children in our friends' list?),
people of different opinions, beliefs, political leanings and walks of life. Could what we post possibly be perceived as judgmental, be hurtful, be misunderstood or considered disrespectful by them? If the answer is no, then let's post away.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">3</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">. And finally, let us ask ourselves WHAT's the point.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14pt;">Is it beneficial? Is it helpful? Is it really that important? Will it unite instead of dividing? Is it even necessary? If the answer is yes. Then please let's post away.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">To sum these all up: <strong>Is our motive love? </strong>If the answer is YES then please, post away!</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14pt;">After all Love is really what it’s
all about isn’t it? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14pt;">Recently, I heard a big name
pastor of a large church asked to make a statement about a controversial issue. His response really riled up some people in the church and there
may be more to the story than I know, but to be honest, I didn't hate what he said. I don’t have the exact quote so I’m winging it here, but when pressured
to make a statement on the issue he refused to be pigeon holed and he basically said that
he did not want to make a broad, sweeping, impersonal, public statement but rather he preferred to have personal conversations about it with individuals. And I
have to respect that. Making a statement is easy and it's impersonal. It's saying- <em>I've planted my flag here and that's that. This is my stand. I'm not open to hearing yours. Now deal with it. </em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">But investing in relationships, listening to hearts, even those we disagree with, asking and answering questions, respecting others perspectives and lovingly explaining ours, takes time and is costly. But people are kind of a big deal to God and way more valuable to Him</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> than any 'stand' we may take. I'm not saying we should never take a stand. But if love isn't involved, we'd best shut our mouths, (or in this case, sit on our hands).</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14pt;">People vs Our Stance. I think
I know which one matters the most to God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14pt;">Now...please post away :D</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span><span style="font-family: "courier";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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worshiping warriorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087425991784275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24138681.post-36125069616136429602015-05-28T15:59:00.003-05:002017-03-28T20:23:42.036-05:00The Impact of One (updated repost)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiXJrLDdblVaGrHeNepEN4chg2dP5HqGlyn5tLIGJgrwiw6QgT1aU6cHOY-zpE8HLHKznLSX6aEXcrYI2-BPF4q5GpkkRpcPxo8aTQlPpUGpfg9JdnMtUkoGTIktLz41zVzKi1Sw/s1600/la+2013+us+aunt+b+uncle+h.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiXJrLDdblVaGrHeNepEN4chg2dP5HqGlyn5tLIGJgrwiw6QgT1aU6cHOY-zpE8HLHKznLSX6aEXcrYI2-BPF4q5GpkkRpcPxo8aTQlPpUGpfg9JdnMtUkoGTIktLz41zVzKi1Sw/s400/la+2013+us+aunt+b+uncle+h.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Keith and I with Aunt Bobbie and Uncle Herb (Andy)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I wrote this about three years ago and I felt the need to repost it today. With a few updates and minor edits, it remains true to the original. So here it is once again. Enjoy! :)</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Approximately thirty(ish) years ago, Keith and I, newly married and backslidden as can be, landed in Hawaii to begin his three year tour of duty with the Navy. For this immature girl who had hardly ever been out of the South, it was a dream come true. I had always wanted to travel and Hawaii was definitely on my bucket list. <o:p></o:p></span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So here we were, on the other side of the world from home. But as God would have it, He had a divine connection planned for us. As it turned out, Keith’s uncle, Andrew Herbert Johnson (Uncle Herb to us), who was a Navy chaplain, Commander and former fighter pilot and his wife, Aunt Bobbie, were also stationed there the exact same time as we were. And this ‘coincidence’ changed the course of our lives forever. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Keith and I had been raised in church and when we were young we had both made a ‘profession of faith’. But as adults, we weren’t living it. Actually most of the Christians we had known hadn’t seemed to be very happy and there wasn’t a whole lot of ‘Life’ in their Christianity to attract us. So we had sort of unconsciously resolved to have as much fun as we could while we were young and we figured that we’d settle down and act responsibly when we were older. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Then we met Aunt Bobbie and Uncle Herb. There was something different about them. At the time, I was 21 years old and Aunt Bobbie was 50-something yet I looked for every opportunity to be around her. I know I must have gotten on her nerves sometimes tagging along but if I did she never once showed it. She just loved me, with my short skirts and all. She just accepted me as I was. She spent time with me. She invited me along shopping with her. She welcomed us into her home every Sunday and any time in between. She cooked delicious meals for us. (Her rolls themselves were reason enough to keep coming back!) But she spent hours of time with me. Just letting me hang out with her. She and Uncle Herb were there for us. They made us feel like we mattered.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It wasn’t so much of what she said, yes she would answer my many questions, but it was mostly just what she lived. She and Uncle Herb just lived love. They reached out to some of the most unlovable people on the base and invited them into their home. I would sometimes feel jealous at not having them all to myself. But it just flowed out of them. And when Aunt Bobbie or Uncle Herb prayed, we felt something we’d never felt before. We couldn’t quite put our finger on it at the time, but for some reason we were drawn to them. We just felt Good when we were with them. A hunger began growing in my heart. I had seen LIFE, and I wanted it too. They weren’t just Christians in word, they had someONE living in them. I knew this because I felt Him every time I was with them. And I wanted what they had. For the first time in my life I realized, there was more. Christianity as I’d experienced it wasn’t all there was. Jesus was really real. He was current. He wasn’t boring. He was fun. But nobody TOLD me this, I just KNEW it, because I knew Aunt Bobbie and Uncle Herb.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now Aunt Bobbie wasn’t perfect. But she was real. And what a sense of humor she had! She would sometimes get tickled in church and couldn’t stop giggling. This was my kind of lady! She had fun and joy just bubbled out of her. Almost more than anything, this intrigued me. I guess I had thought Christians were dour, boring old sourpusses. But Aunt Bobbie was a hoot! That, I could relate to!<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She and Uncle Herb invested in me and Keith. They didn’t preach at us, they just loved us and lived an authentic life, full of LIFE in front of us. We didn’t change right away. A lot of what was sown into our lives at that time didn't bear fruit for years. Actually it was so gradual that I don’t know if they were even aware of the impact they were making then. But something was definitely taking root in us. And it literally changed the course of our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Now years later, we have raised four children and our family has grown to include a son-in-law, daughter-in-law and two grandsons. I am very proud of my family. I look at my husband and children and I am so grateful. Actually that doesn’t even come close to expressing how I feel. I am BEYOND grateful if there is such a thing. We’ve had people say how much they admire our family and they ask us what we’ve done. And I find that astounding. I really do. I’m not bragging, it’s just one of those things that happens repeatedly and I’m always left, like Mary, amazed and pondering these things in my heart. </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Because I honestly didn’t have a clue what I was doing 27 years ago when I became a mom. And 27 years later its still a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants operation. I guess all I had was an intense desire- stronger than anything I’d ever felt before holding my firstborn in my arms- to do this thing right. And a revelation that I didn’t have what it took to do it. But I did have a God who did. There are no formulas and I don’t understand it, but God has blessed our family. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But one thing I do know- the blessing on our family today can be traced back approximately 30 years ago to a little speck of an island in the vast Pacific Ocean. The fact that my children are serving God today and impacting the Kingdom can be traced back to the influence of one simple couple, who saw value in two disillusioned, immature twenty-somethings and who chose to sow time, love and life into us. I will be forever grateful to them for the harvest we now enjoy. As I look into the faces of my precious grandsons, knowing how their parents will raise them to know the Lord, all because THEY know the Lord, I just want to weep with gratitude and to somehow repay them for what they gave us. But I know one day, that their reward will be handed to them by the Lord Himself and it will be eternal. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">So never under-estimate the value of investing into one person's life. You may not see the fruit immediately. But it could have eternal and generational impact. Our family is proof of that. My children can thank Aunt Bobbie and Uncle Herb (and God of course ;) that they know Jesus. One life impacting generations and the Kingdom of God.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Blessed be the name of the Lord!</span><br />
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worshiping warriorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087425991784275noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24138681.post-7360829279484095932015-03-08T21:50:00.000-05:002017-03-28T21:46:12.440-05:00Dealing<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCQrWQzuoMhxIB50dgS0U01y1KChg5gpjVWhiXECDdraMmTlJBtgGqPBpND1UhXsoRycvyogDuhgwS8z3oYj_gaMggIBhhYylMHVRDolu2KoY4NaXXFc-qveFSyI-L3G5LixoEgw/s1600/Blog+stock+photo-+Girl+writing+on+steps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCQrWQzuoMhxIB50dgS0U01y1KChg5gpjVWhiXECDdraMmTlJBtgGqPBpND1UhXsoRycvyogDuhgwS8z3oYj_gaMggIBhhYylMHVRDolu2KoY4NaXXFc-qveFSyI-L3G5LixoEgw/s400/Blog+stock+photo-+Girl+writing+on+steps.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"> I haven’t
blogged in a while. I’ve been busy moving, editing, house hunting, buying,
unpacking but mostly dealing. Don’t worry- I'm not peddling narcotics now- it’s just my sister’s and
my term for when we have an issue we are turning over and analyzing and writing
about it in our notebook, talking to God about it and then discussing it in excruciating
detail and then analyzing it some more. That’s dealing. Lots of that has been going
on in my life of late. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">One of the
things I’ve dealt with the last year is the issue of forgiveness. I used to be an
expert on the topic of forgiveness. I’ve been known to dispense great advice on
forgiveness. I could have given speeches and could have pontificated eloquently on
the subject (if anyone would have asked me to). I could have written a best seller
about it. </span><span style="line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">I've</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> touched on it from time to time in my blog. And all of my advice
and points and chapters would have been technically correct. But life has a way
of humbling you and showing you how little you really do know. So if you were
expecting to read here of my great spiritual victory on the matter, I apologize
but I have to keep it real. The truth is- unforgiveness has kicked my butt this
year. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I guess it’s
one of the reasons why I haven’t written much. I </span><span style="line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">didn't</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> feel that I could share
anything of value here with this unresolved issue still hanging around my neck.
Thankfully the Lord </span><span style="line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">doesn't</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> think like I do. As my son Max eloquently put it the
other day, we need to approach God more like a Father and less like a boss. He's a good Daddy who </span><span style="line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">doesn't shame or</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> disqualify His children when they are broken, failing and dealing with issues. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">And </span><span style="line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">I've</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> definitely been dealing with issues. Boy have I been dealing! </span><span style="line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">I've</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> gone over it in my mind a trillion times
and then have ‘given’ it to the Lord. </span><span style="line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">I've</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> tried to make that more real by writing
down the offense and then burning it up. In the past this worked. Not this
time. For the record: This still is a good exercise and I highly recommend it
if you’re stuck in unforgiveness. But I guess it all boils down to the fact that I've been reluctant </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">to let it go. Even as my offenses went up in flames,
my heart clung to them. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">So am I now
triumphant and that’s why I’m writing this to show you how to be triumphant too?
No not really. For once I’m actually blogging still shy of the victory line. But
I HAVE seen a glimmer of light at the end of this long dark tunnel </span><span style="line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">I've</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> been
in. Just a glimmer mind you, but the tiniest spark in the darkest tunnel is
most welcomed. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Okay, we
probably all know this passage of scripture I’m about to share and it’s nothing
new but please read it anyway. Don’t do like I do when someone posts a long
scripture (especially a familiar one) and I <strike>don't read it at all</strike> skim it</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">. </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Do as I say, not as I do. Read this scripture. Yes that’s right… the
whole thing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="reg" style="background-color: #fdfeff; line-height: 21px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 25px;">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="reg" style="background-color: #fdfeff; line-height: 21px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 25px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>"Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”</i><i>Jesus answered, <span class="red">“I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.<b> </b></span></i><i><span class="red">Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. </span><span class="red">As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him.</span> <span class="red">Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.</span></i><i><span class="red">At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’<span style="line-height: 14px;">T</span></span><span class="red">he servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.</span></i><i><span class="red">But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.<b> </b>He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.</span></i><i><span class="red">His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’</span></i><i><span class="red">But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.</span> <span class="red">When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.</span></i><i><span class="red">Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.</span> <span class="red">Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’</span> <span class="red">In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.</span></i><i><span class="red">This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” Matthew 18:21-35</span></i></span></div>
<div class="reg" style="background-color: #fdfeff; line-height: 21px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 25px;">
<i><span class="red" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">So, what’s
the glimmer of light I saw in this scripture </span><span style="line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">I've</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> read dozens of times?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">It’s simply
this: I need a fresh revelation that </span><span style="line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">I've</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> sinned much greater than </span><span style="line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">I've</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> been sinned against, and </span><span style="line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">I've</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> been forgiven of much more than I need to forgive. Of
course we all know that in theory and I’m not trying to get into a “I’m a worm
and not a man” type dialogue, but instead, what I’m really seeing here is the connection
between the Unmerciful Servant’s inability to forgive the much smaller debt
owed to him to his not recognizing the enormity of his own debt nor his
appreciation of the magnificence of it being cancelled. Have I been a Christian
so long that </span><span style="line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">I've</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> lost the wonder of the unfathomable, life-changing truth that
God has completely cancelled my debt? That He not only cancelled it, He paid
for it with His own life. He suffered and died in order to free me, so I could
live; He endured what I deserved so I’d get what He deserved. Before I was
repentant, before I received Him, before I was sorry, He endured the Cross. For
me. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">How could
such a wondrous happening not be ever before me, always in my thoughts? How
could someone else’s debt owed to me become more costly in my mind than mine
was to Him? I don’t know how we forget. But we do. Well yea I do know. It
happens when our eyes get off of Him and onto ourselves. Sounds pat but it’s no
less true. At least it’s true for me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">So where
does this leave me? Still dealing, yes. But dealing in a different direction.
No longer looking at myself and asking ‘How can I possibly forgive</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">,’ to looking to Him and instead asking ‘Help me
to see the enormity of the debt I owed, and to appreciate that You paid for it
all.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">I deserved
death yet He gave me life. Mercy triumphs over judgment. His for me and mine
for others. Every time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><i>"Forgive us our debts, as we forgive those who sin against us." Matthew 6:12</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">So back to dealing…</span>worshiping warriorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087425991784275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24138681.post-53105334656879297042014-09-05T02:04:00.000-05:002017-03-28T22:20:25.258-05:00Facebook Status on Steroids<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Dz9I01xjV-vtly4XmKmXonh6HyIzH5EE3O8Oz8iWz9dEbbHK-oZoOJoWZ8wdAh5GmV3nvI6l8ss-6OOEiCbkcBHtIjRLZ3bmqCyCkMXyB_JrEq6WuoOxIDQtr8aQIlSAk4Ia5A/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-03-28+at+9.35.59+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Dz9I01xjV-vtly4XmKmXonh6HyIzH5EE3O8Oz8iWz9dEbbHK-oZoOJoWZ8wdAh5GmV3nvI6l8ss-6OOEiCbkcBHtIjRLZ3bmqCyCkMXyB_JrEq6WuoOxIDQtr8aQIlSAk4Ia5A/s400/Screen+Shot+2017-03-28+at+9.35.59+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This blog
post started off as a Facebook status and it took on a life of it’s own. So I
decided to make it a blog post. I was due for one anyway. Not sure if it’s my
best one but it definitely convicted the heck out of me. So here goes:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I think sometimes
when God is working in our lives and revealing truth to us, our need for the affirmation
of others will cause us to run from the secret place to share it with the world
before it’s fully formed. Kind of like picking fruit before it’s ripened. The
seed that was planted, springs up as a tender shoot and we pull it out and
admire it and pass it around prematurely. But it never reaches it’s full
potential. It never has a chance to develop, to mature in the secret place
where no one sees it but it’s Creator. The anchoring roots of intimacy that are
developed over time in that lonely, hidden place are bypassed for instant
gratification. It may nourish a few, but it’s far-reaching potential is never
realized. It is consumed in it’s infancy so it’s impact is limited. </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I’m not saying that sharing our revelations is
wrong, don’t misunderstand. It's certainly valuable and usually beneficial. But our ‘public’ relationship with
God should be just the tip of the iceberg. What’s below the surface, what is
hidden from view, what is intimate and personal, should make up the bulk of it. If
what is seen is larger than what is unseen, then we're out of balance. Somewhere down the line, we
lost our first love and replaced it with a cheap substitute-the fleeting praise of man.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;">What is unseen will eventually impact what is seen.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It sort of reminds me of these reality shows. Where a film
crew comes in and films a couple and they live a form of their lives for a watching
world's entertainment. But sadly, all too often these very public relationships collapse when the cameras shut off. What will remain when there's no more audience? Is it real enough to endure?</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">These are questions nobody can answer but us. I'm asking them to myself even as I write it in this public forum. I'm preaching to the choir here. I've been guilty of bounding away from the secret place before the Lord has had a chance to finish planting the seed deep within my soul and have shared with the world what I've yet to partake of myself. Yuck.</span></span></div>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The bottom line is this: Relationships
are eternal. Our ministry will pass away. What people think of us won’t
matter one bit on that day. We'll stand before Him alone without the crowds and all that will matter is this: Did I really know Him for myself? Did He know me? </span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Keith and I aren't hesitant to express our appreciation for one another publicly or to share with others what we've learned from 30+ years of marriage. But who we are in public isn't all there is to us. The core of our relationship is derived in private, away from prying eyes. What the world sees of us is the result of that. It'd be pretty ridiculous if in our relationship, we were dependent on others' approval and opinions or if we needed a mediator in order to hear from or to understand one another. So why do we think it's that way with the Lord? After all, we were made for relationship because He made us like Himself. It was all His idea. And all of ministry, all other relationships, all fruit, flow organically from that secret spring of intimacy. Personal relationship is the source and it is also the goal. </span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And once again, I'm back to my all-time favorite verse which I could quote in a coma and which causes my children to roll their eyes and say, "We know Mom. We know." ;)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“Seek ye
first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (relationship). And all these
things shall be added unto you.”</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I’ll close
with this pithy thought I had not long ago. It is this:<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">'D</span><span class="usercontent" style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #141823; line-height: 115%;">on't pursue your purpose. Don't pursue your destiny.
Don't pursue your ministry. Don't pursue your dreams. But rather, pursue God. And on
that path of pursuing Him, you will run into your purpose, you will run into
your destiny, you will run into your ministry and you will run into your dreams.'</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="usercontent"><span lang="EN" style="color: #141823; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="usercontent"><span lang="EN" style="color: #141823; line-height: 115%;">Seek first...the secret place. Seek first... Relationship. Seek first... Him!</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="usercontent"><span lang="EN" style="color: #141823; line-height: 115%;">And all these other things, will naturally fall into place.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="usercontent"><span lang="EN" style="color: #141823; line-height: 115%;">The End. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="usercontent"><span lang="EN" style="color: #141823; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="usercontent"><span lang="EN" style="color: #141823; line-height: 115%;">(Can you imagine if this had truly been a Facebook status? Jeez!)</span></span></span></div>
worshiping warriorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087425991784275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24138681.post-50205235814415550062014-07-03T01:01:00.003-05:002017-03-28T22:28:58.266-05:00Storms<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtCPBT4MbrPtY14DJGSAx2zoDBf2yRTeO5JTAlxsWRo_Sz3PLA_CVF7s1LxAM_4EwPTJWvmZANR3GCze3nTQM4XdpfVzmRjwdtROO6_bKYObbSrP4eA8Zm3tGIB_ddkvlOy8pMJw/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-03-28+at+10.26.53+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtCPBT4MbrPtY14DJGSAx2zoDBf2yRTeO5JTAlxsWRo_Sz3PLA_CVF7s1LxAM_4EwPTJWvmZANR3GCze3nTQM4XdpfVzmRjwdtROO6_bKYObbSrP4eA8Zm3tGIB_ddkvlOy8pMJw/s400/Screen+Shot+2017-03-28+at+10.26.53+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> I’m
convinced that probably 95% of our struggles originate from a lack of trusting
God. Of course I cannot prove this and all I can go on is my own life
experience and what I’ve observed from people I have encountered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this seems to be the common thread and I’m
pretty certain that I’m right about this.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">You’d think
after a lifetime of seeing God provide, protect, touch, bless and guide my life
that I’d trust Him. But it’s when the storms hit that you really find out what
your faith is made of. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve all heard
it said that when you go through hard times you find out who your real friends
are. Well there’s just nothing that tests a relationship like trouble. There was one particular time when my relationship with God was tested like never before when I walked through
a storm that pulled the rug out from under me and left me hurt and angry for a
long, long time. I did everything I knew to do and that had worked before-
forgive, seek God, repent, pray, fast, repeat… But nothing got better and for the first
time ever, I feared for my faith and God didn’t seem to be helping the situation
with His silence and seeming distance. I was confused and depressed. I felt my
heart growing away but God didn’t seem to be doing one thing to stop it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wrote this to Him one day:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So what's wrong God? It
must be with me. But I'm trying. It's not like I don’t care. I really want to
be close to You. Since You're invisible I can't exactly rely on my natural senses
to see, hear and touch You. I have to rely on my spirit to see and hear You. So
is my spirit shut down? Has it been so damaged by all this that it's just gone
into hibernation? Is my body just going through the motions of Christianity
while my spirit takes a break and tries to heal? I just don’t know. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I just didn’t know. I
realize not everyone will relate to this or see the significance of my doubt; especially
if you weren’t raised in church or are new to the whole Christianity thing . But
from one who was in church as soon as my mom was released from the maternity
ward, I can say-I know this stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or so
I thought. I’ve predominantly and sincerely done the Christian thing the majority of my life except for
a few years in my teens when I backslid. And when I did finally return to God,
I set my face towards Him and I never looked back. That was almost 30 years
ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Life hasn’t been easy, don’t get me
wrong. We’ve had our share of struggles and failures. But I can honestly say, I’ve
not once doubted that I’d stick it out- until this particular storm.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It’s funny the things
that break each of us; the particular trigger-point that will, in one moment,
set in motion the destruction of the fortress within that took a lifetime to
build. What might be the undoing of me probably wouldn’t faze you and vice
versa. But this particular trial did a number on me. I didn’t know what I could
trust anymore. Because for the first time, the stuff I’d always
known didn’t seem to be working. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now if I’d been
counseling someone in my situation I know I would have asked them- “Have you
forgiven? Are you spending time with the Lord? Have you thought about fasting?
Are you in the Word? Are you spending time in praise and worship?” And those
are all very good questions and good counsel. I’d have probably prayed with them
and more than likely I would have told them to hang in there (and would have
undoubtedly quoted-“having done all, stand!”). I’d have exhorted them to trust,
reassured them of God’s love, and I would have shared that discouragement is
one of the enemy’s biggest weapons. I’d have told them to guard their minds and
to speak words of life. Again- these are all the truth. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(See I told you. I know this stuff. )<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But not gonna lie- if
someone had tried that with me then, I’d have probably punched them in the
throat. I could have written a book I knew this stuff so well- yet there I was,
knowing all that, and still depressed and disillusioned. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But it’s here I discovered
something I don’t think I could have learned any other way- for truth to do us
any good, sometimes we have to walk through the fire to get it. It can’t be
second-hand information, even handed down from trusted people. It has to be our own or it
has no real power for us. I’m not suggesting that we stop speaking truth to others (for fear of being throat punched) or
from listening to truth when we'd rather roll our eyes. For 'one sows, one waters but only God gives the increase'. Even a
half-hearted seed can change a life…But there are just some things that can only
be learned through experience; especially if you’ve heard it all before.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">During this storm I kept
praying, I kept fasting, I kept forgiving and I kept reading the word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One day when I was having a cosmic meltdown
at the kitchen table my husband spoke words that finally penetrated my “heard
it all” heart. It was simple but he said- “Honey, this is a trial. The Bible
talked about this. Right now you are like that tree on the riverbank the Bible
talks about. It’s a drought and you aren’t getting water in the usual way. Your
roots are having to go deep to find the water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You may not feel very spiritual or close to God right now but you haven’t
left and neither has He. You’re still seeking Him. You haven’t quit. Not
quitting IS winning. It won’t always be like this. Its building strength.” And
I promise I didn’t punch him. I guess I was ready to hear it then. Maybe, just
maybe during all those dry boring prayer times God HAD heard me. Maybe just
maybe, He would bring good from this storm I was in. Now I don’t for a second
think God created the storm. Never once in the Bible do you hear Jesus causing
a storm. Rather, He always quieted the storms He encountered. But He CAN and He DOES bring
good out of the worst things. Just as storms can test relationships, I found that they can also strengthen them.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There came a moment where
the Lord clearly showed me that I had a trust issue. I needed to put it all into
His hands and to let it go. (Cue the Frozen soundtrack). Sounds like an anticlimactic
revelation but it was exactly what I needed to hear. I’m used to fixing things
and I couldn’t fix this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a
moment when that reality sunk in and I’d never felt more helpless. But then the
revelation came that helpless isn’t hopeless. Helpless is saying- I cannot help
this situation. I cannot even help myself. I have to let it go. I had to trust
God to handle what I could not control. Like what was I thinking anyway? That I
could do a better job than Him? As easy as it may sound, really letting go and putting it into His hands was one of the hardest things I'd ever had to do. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I found that forgiveness also involved
trust- trusting that God had a plan and nothing or no one was going to thwart
that. I’m reminded of Joseph in the Bible. His brothers betrayed him and tried
to remove him from his place of favor and influence and in their efforts to
harm him and his destiny they actually placed him in a position to be of much greater influence than even
Joseph himself could have imagined. We know the end of the story. But when Joseph was
in the middle of this trial, he didn't. Yet while in prison, during his storm, he trusted that God still was in control and God
had his future in His hands and that He alone was responsible for bringing it
to pass. His brothers couldn’t stop God’s plan. Nothing could stand in God’s
way. So when the time came Joseph was able to forgive them. They hadn’t harmed him, they had
actually helped him. Forgiveness is saying, on the unresolved side of the story, 'God they did me wrong, and it looks like they ruined everything, but I am trusting You to not only bring me through this but to still fulfill Your promise in a greater way because of it. ' Only trust can say something like that. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Its an obvious fact that if we don’t stop
but keep going, at some point we won’t be where we were but we’ll end up
somewhere else. At the risk of sounding formulaic (that really is a word. Look it up) I kept seeking, kept asking, sometimes just going through the motions and kept at it until I walked myself out of the valley I was in. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And here’s the other side
of the coin of this tale- Just as I believe probably 95% of our problems come
through not trusting God <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(disclaimer: these
percentages are not scientifically verified). I also believe that the solution to
95% of our problems is a revelation encounter with the love of God. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Think about it- if we know God loves us… okay
lets stop a moment…. God… GOD…. The Uncreated One who created uh me and uh this
earth and uh the universe etc etc LOVES me. Loves ME! Can we pause and take
that in for a moment? Can you not see how the revelation of that should make us
the most secure people in the entire universe? And since most issues we face
involve things like insecurity, doubt, confusion, depression, fear and shame… would
any of that remain if we truly trusted God? How can we not trust someone who
loves us? Loves us so much to send His only Son who He really really likes a
whole lot to die in our place? No matter how awesome I think you are, I sure
wouldn’t give up any of my children for you. Sorry. And you wouldn’t for me
either. Yet I would lay down my life for my children. Why? Because I love them
more than anything. More than my own life. And that’s what God did. I don’t understand
all the reasons behind why Jesus had to die but I do know that it means He loves
us a lot. Wow. That’s a whole heck of a lotta love. And the revelation of that
life-changing love is the solution to everything. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now there have been
seasons where God was as close as my thoughts and I felt His presence and
pleasure all day long. But just like in the natural, weather patterns change
and sometimes storms come. It doesn’t mean God sent them our way. But they
do come. It’s inevitable. God DOES NOT change but the storms we go through can
alter the landscape in us. Like after a tornado passes through an area we may find that
the terrain has become unrecognizable. The old familiar paths have been washed
away. Some of those paths needed washing away. Others probably didn't and will
need to be rebuilt. After this storm passed through me I felt like I
found myself at ground zero of my faith. It was bare bones but it was finally
real and honest. Nobody looking, no religion, just me and God were left. And
now I know that God hadn’t gone anywhere. I
guess it's not really faith if we only believe when we see and understand. Its those roots, stretching deeper than they'd ever been required before to go to find that water and becoming more grounded and secure as a result. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span></span><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Before this storm blew through and dislodged so many things, there
was a lot that I thought I knew that I realize now I really didn't know
at all. But when the dust settled there remained some things I found that I did know and I DO know. I know that
He is true, I know that He is God and I know that I am His. I still believe His
ways are right and best and for my good, even when it doesn't make sense. And although I may not always follow or understand, I DO
know that He loves me and HE IS totally, truly and completely good. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> And t</span>here will
be moments in our lives when that’s the only star left in the sky to navigate from. But I
believe that’s enough and in time it will lead us home. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span></span><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">"Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders </span></span></o:p></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> Let me walk upon the waters </span></span></o:p></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> Wherever You would call me </span></span></o:p></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander </span></span></o:p></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> And my faith will be made stronger </span></span></o:p></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> In the presence of my Savior" </span></span></o:p></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Hillsongs</span></span></o:p></span></div>
worshiping warriorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087425991784275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24138681.post-77854738348033570922014-02-04T02:35:00.001-06:002017-03-28T22:51:24.227-05:00The Big Deal<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmqTZkVxJEykbzGX6lKPJ81Y_6YFH0XkmGgtmKwHKxAT1n444a4gckpFCS6YoMbHt0OJl0WqZNmXmp6DfSF351qtFxxm8iQGyaDjVzLDiSkcTRMSniD2ygvOUF3mBI9VBmMMCf4A/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-03-28+at+10.47.23+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmqTZkVxJEykbzGX6lKPJ81Y_6YFH0XkmGgtmKwHKxAT1n444a4gckpFCS6YoMbHt0OJl0WqZNmXmp6DfSF351qtFxxm8iQGyaDjVzLDiSkcTRMSniD2ygvOUF3mBI9VBmMMCf4A/s400/Screen+Shot+2017-03-28+at+10.47.23+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="line-height: 115%;"> 1 Cor. 13:2 "</span></sup></i></span><span class="text"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">And though I have <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">the
gift of</span> prophecy, and understand all mysteries and have all knowledge,
and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not
love, I am nothing."</span></i></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Spiritual gifts, doctrine and
faith, although necessary and valuable, are deemed meaningless if they are devoid of love.
Is it possible to know the Word, be theologically correct but still be terribly wrong because of a
lack of love? I think this scripture pretty much answers that question. This is something that has been on my mind a lot lately.</span><br />
<span class="text"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">I wrote this status on Facebook a
couple of weeks ago that seemed to really strike a chord with a lot of people.</span></div>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">I really hate religion but I love
Jesus. If the Church has hurt you please don't equate that with Jesus. This may
surprise you but Jesus isn't religious. As a matter of fact it was the
religious that were the most offended by Him. Jesus did proclaim certain
principles and truths that the religious also proclaim. But religion tells you
that to connect with the Person you have to do the principles. Where Jesus says
to come to Him as you are and He will teach you. Jesus values you. Religion
doesn't. Religion says "Do better!" And Jesus says "Believe in
Me". Religion rejects you if you don't agree with its theology, it's
emphasis on a particular truth. Just look at how the church is divided into so
many different denominations. But unlike religion, Jesus doesn't reject or
forsake. He says 'I AM the Truth'. The law came through Moses. Grace and truth
came through Jesus Christ. Truth isn't a doctrine. Truth is a Person. That
Person is love. And He wants us more than we want Him. He is so beautiful.</span></i><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">There’s a quote I’ve heard for some time that says “People
don’t care how much you know unless they know how much you care”. To me, that
says a mouthful. In the past, in my
pursuit for uncompromising truth I was often guilty of taking a Biblical stand,
full of my sense of ‘rightness’ but without a smidge of love or compassion in
my heart toward those who believed differently. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now don’t get me wrong, pursuing truth is
wisdom and digging into the Word of God is exactly what we need to do. I’m
definitely not advocating a soft Gospel or a departure from the Word. But what
I am now seeing is this: If gaining Biblical knowledge doesn’t eventually lead
us to greater love but rather causes us to separate ourselves from those who believe
differently, then we are missing the greater purpose of truth.</span></div>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">“But knowledge puffs up while love
builds up.” I Cor 8:1b</span></i><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
<span class="text"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Knowledge itself isn’t bad. We are commanded to walk in truth. But we
know our knowledge has become puffed up when someone’s beliefs become more
important to us than the person themselves. Ouch. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Jesus definitely preached righteousness but if you look into it, the
majority of who He was preaching to was the church people. They are the ones
who got Him riled up. But He ate with prostitutes and thieves. As far as we know
He didn’t point out their sin to them when He was with them. He could’ve I
suppose but it’s not recorded. I imagine there probably were some lively conversations around those tables that we aren't privy to. But what we do know is this: whatever took place there,
changed them.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">One example of this is when Jesus up
and invited Himself over to the notorious crook Zacchaeus’ house for dinner. By
the time the meal was over old Zack was a changed man, giving half his wealth
to the poor and paying back those he’d stolen from four times over. Notice that
Jesus didn’t first ask Z if he was keeping the law or what his stand was on
certain issues before dining with him. He didn’t take him aside and tell him
all he was doing wrong (and there was plenty He could have pointed out) before
entering his home. But rather, the holy King, the Uncreated Creator of the
universe just hung out with this flawed man on his own turf and it was that
uncondemning love that changed his heart that day.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The words Jesus spoke to the woman caught in the act of adultery are also
telling-</span></div>
<em><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” “No,
Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”</span></em><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span><span class="text"><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Notice the order of His words. He didn’t say-“Go and sin no more and THEN
I won’t condemn you.” No, His unconditional love came first. Her encounter with
His forgiveness, despite her sin, made the second part of that sentence
possible for her. ‘Go and sin no more’. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">It’s His grace that empowers us to say no to
sin. It's His kindness that leads to repentance. No she didn’t deserve it and neither do we. But He gives it to us anyway. It
doesn’t make sense. But He is good like that. And He wants us to likewise have
grace for people. It doesn’t mean ignoring sin. He wasn’t ignorant of Zacchaeus’
or the adulterous woman’s sin. He was well aware of it.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><strong style="font-family: inherit;">But their sin didn’t keep Him away</strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Our country is awash with immorality. I get that. The church is called to
be salt and light. I get that too. I understand the frustration
that in a culture where ‘anything goes’, Christians aren’t allowed the same
freedoms of expression. But what do we expect? The Bible was pretty clear that
it was going to get worse for us as the time draws near for Christ’s return. That’s
no big shocker. Do we keep speaking truth, studying and declaring the Word and living morally regardless? Yes we
do. But in our stand for truth we must ask ourselves, how much of our ‘stand’
is based on love? Because I can promise you, God doesn’t see issues. God
sees people. It's the whole point and a pretty big deal. And I think a big part of the church is
missing that point. I’ve missed it too often myself with my moral outrage, my love of doctrine more than people and
some of my past indignant posts on this same blog. But guess what? God doesn’t
need me to defend Him. He’s not up there with His feelings hurt hoping His children
will stand up for Him. He’s GOD for heaven’s sake. But what He <u>does</u> want from
me is love.</span><br />
<span class="text"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><em> </em></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><em>If I can fathom all mysteries and knowledge... <strong>but have not love</strong>...I am nothing."</em> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Jesus said that the world will know we belong
to Him by our love and sadly the Church has often gotten a bad rap because too many in the church in their righteous stands have rejected former
friends and family members because of their differing doctrinal, personal and
political views. That's just not the heart of Christ. Here's a good quote: <i>"A true friend is someone you can disagree with and still remain friends. For if not, they weren't true friends in the first place." </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Author: unknown</i></span><br />
<br />
<span class="text"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="usercontent"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span class="usercontent"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">
<span class="text" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Sadly, we Christians are notorious for
shooting our wounded. I recently read an article that a former well-known
minister who embarrassingly fell into sin wrote. He told about his wanting to
commit suicide at the time of his very public fall. He said that it wasn’t his
sin that made him want to die, but rather the words spoken to him by his fellow
‘brothers’ in Christ. This breaks my heart.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm really not trying to bash the church here in this post. There are so many ministries out there that ARE reaching scores of people through sacrificial love. I think of Heidi Baker's ministry whose main message is love, love love. Scores of children are being rescued and people healed and saved all from a message of love. I've never even heard what Heidi's doctrinal views are on things but I have heard about her love and the people who have been changed by it. Heidi has said, </span><em style="font-family: inherit;">”Yes, God wants you to do signs and wonders. But the love of God manifested through you is what people really need. So you first must see His face. You must become so close to His very heartbeat that you can feel what others feel</em><span style="font-family: inherit;">...</span><em style="font-family: inherit;">It’s not complicated. Just love the one in front of you.</em><span style="font-family: inherit;">” I am so thankful that there are many ministries in the Body of Christ like hers who get it.</span><br />
<span class="text" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="text" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Truth <u>is</u> very important and it does need to be accurately taught. But if we can’t speak the truth IN LOVE, we really just need to keep our mouths shut. </span></span><span class="text" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Been there. Done that. I thank God for the Blood of Jesus and that His mercies are new every morning. Most people recognize where they've screwed up so when truth is delivered without love it leaves them feeling rejected, wounded, shamed and confused. </span></span></span><span class="text" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">I recently heard a hurting Christian who was judged and then abandoned by other Christians say that they felt more loved by their unsaved friends than by the Church. I've heard of Christians encouraged by their leaders to stay away from other Christians whose doctrinal views were different. Really? How is that going to help anyone? Isn't helping them the point? That is so sad. I'm not saying that every Christian is this way but I'm seeing way too much of it in the western church. I've seen way too much of it in my own life.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">People who are in sin are hurting. They aren't lepers that we must separate ourselves from as if we might 'catch' something from them. They don't give a hoot about our doctrine. They need to see Jesus. And Jesus is Love. The world doesn't need to see the Church bashing other ministries who believe differently. That's not going to draw anyone to Christ. Only the Lord knows another's heart. Even if they </span><u style="font-family: inherit;">are</u><span style="font-family: inherit;"> off on this or that point, I can pretty much bet that we're off on some points too. People need to see Jesus. And Jesus is Love.</span><br />
<span class="text"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="usercontent"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span class="usercontent"><span class="text"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
<em><strong> </strong></em></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<em><span style="font-family: inherit;"><strong>"</strong>By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have <b>love</b> for one another.” John 13:35</span></em></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="usercontent"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span class="usercontent"><span class="text"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; mso-spacerun: yes;">
<span class="text"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>I want to end with this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Paul, after concluding his teaching on</span> the importance of the various powerful spiritual gifts for the Church in 1 Cor 12 made this profound transition into his teaching on love- “But now...Let me show you a <strong>more excellent</strong> way”. </span><br />
<span class="text"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="usercontent"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span class="usercontent"><span class="text"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>
<span class="text"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="usercontent"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span class="usercontent"><span class="text"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; mso-spacerun: yes;">Love.<br /><span class="text"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The more excellent way.</span></span><br /><span class="text"><span style="line-height: 115%;">It’s a pretty big deal.</span></span><br />
<span class="text"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="text"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="usercontent"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 115%;"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="usercontent"><span class="text"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><em><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="text"><sup><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">1 Corinthians 13:13<br />“</span></sup></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">And now these three will remain forever: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these… is love.</span>”</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></em></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>worshiping warriorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087425991784275noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24138681.post-64682690765315408182013-11-11T00:35:00.001-06:002017-03-28T23:09:26.809-05:00Who Do You Think You Are?!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRc8ihaCqY5dIV_a8XolQCzm-aZrD6yRERkXms_kaoMDWmAaX4TaFzQkE4wRMHb8dQiDUXGb20D3n_M8yeUjCb9NCCA7jzUeVHoUIPmfY9QEhyphenhypheneijFG2zFvMVYH2Ag1oyNrZPAkA/s1600/Blog+stock+photo-+surfer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRc8ihaCqY5dIV_a8XolQCzm-aZrD6yRERkXms_kaoMDWmAaX4TaFzQkE4wRMHb8dQiDUXGb20D3n_M8yeUjCb9NCCA7jzUeVHoUIPmfY9QEhyphenhypheneijFG2zFvMVYH2Ag1oyNrZPAkA/s400/Blog+stock+photo-+surfer.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<em style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“For the
creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed…”
Romans 8:19</span></em><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><em><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></em></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Who do you
think you are?! God knows who you are. The enemy knows who you are. Creation
even longs for you to know who you are. But do you know? Do I? And what would happen if we did? How would we act? What would our lives look like?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When we
really boil down most of our struggles, problems and needs it usually comes down
to the question of our identity and value. It's been the question that's been asked since the beginning of time. A sense of identity and value was lost in the Garden when Adam and Eve entertained the doubts posed by the serpent about God's goodness and they believed the lie that the Father's way was inferior and His motives were suspect. They acted on that lie and chose their own path apart from His way and were driven from the presence of the One who created them, who knew them and who defined them. Thus began the search for identity and worth apart from God. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When Moses
was commissioned by God at the burning bush, his first thought was to doubt his
abilities and his worthiness for such a task. It’s almost as if Moses turned
around to see if God was talking to someone behind him with a, “Who me? Are You sure You got the
right guy?” He questioned God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the
Israelites out of Egypt?" Moses practically begged the Lord to send someone
else. He just couldn't seem to believe that God had picked the right guy. God
conceded in letting Moses' brother Aaron speak for him but it was obviously not His first
choice. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when Moses finally
approached Pharaoh, Pharaoh fanned the flame of Moses' insecurity by asking him, “Who do you
think you are?” every time Moses approached with his request. Moses’ worth and identity
were attacked and questioned by Korah and Dathan and even his own brother and
sister. But at some point Moses must have come to grips with it. Because there is no leader (other than Jesus of course) in Biblical
history more respected than Moses. He had challenges and he had opposition but
at some point in his regular conversations with God, Moses got His heart and he accepted God's calling and walked it out. And in the end, the world
had no doubt about who Moses was and what God thought of him. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It’s what the
enemy has always been afraid of us finding out. He is terrified of us knowing
who God has declared us to be. He is terrified of us finding out our tremendous
value to the Uncreated One and about the inheritance that’s ours NOW and the purpose and
authority we carry in Christ. And he will pull out all the stops and plant
thoughts or use people to speak his lies over us. Lies that we are failures, we
are worthless, we’ve made too many mistakes, we are hopeless, we aren’t good
enough, pretty enough, smart enough… you fill in the blank. He causes us to
question our identity so that he can lead us away from God’s plans for us. He’s
afraid of God’s plan. When Jesus was in the Garden, with each temptation the
devil intoned “IF You are the Son of God”, “IF You are the Son of God.” It’s
the button he always pushes. It’s the target he always aims for. It’s the
question that’s always raised- Who are we? He doesn’t want us to know so he
attempts to place doubt and confusion. If he tried it on Jesus, we can be sure that
he’ll certainly try it on us. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I want to
know who God says I am. I want to stand firm and not budge when my value is
questioned or I’m told the opposite. I want my default to be God’s opinion
above mans and to be so rooted and grounded in His truth that nothing or nobody
can shake that sure knowing. This is a challenge living in a world populated by
imperfect people who are often wrong and who say stupid things. And the enemy
will sometimes use the most unlikely people to speak his lies over us. He
doesn’t just use wicked deviants in back alleys because they’d be too easy to
spot. But he has been known to use parents, pastors, bosses, authority figures,
loved ones and friends as his mouthpiece. And if we’re honest we’ll admit that
there have been times he’s even used us because let’s face it- we have ALL at
some point been stupid and have voiced things to others that aren’t consistent
with God’s truth or His heart for them. </span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Who do you think you are?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Bill
Johnson, pastor of Bethel Church in Redding California says it like this “I cannot
afford to have a thought in my head about me that’s not in His.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">What is in
His head about us? How do we find out? There are enough voices around us eager to express their
opinions but I encourage you to really know for yourself and not just because someone told you so. You are valuable and precious to Him. But don't take my word for it either. There comes a time in our lives as Christians that we need to find out for ourselves. Ask God and read
the word for yourself. God does give us teachers and pastors to guide us and this is good but
their instruction was never meant to replace our own personal journey of discovery.
Shepherds help by leading the sheep safely to the good grass but they don’t
then chew it up, spit it out and spoon feed it to them. The sheep feed
themselves. If you have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you, you are fully
capable of hearing from God. You may not be an ordained minister but you did not receive a smaller portion of the Holy Spirit when you believed. You got the full package!</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Years ago,
we were faced with a decision that affected our family. We fasted and prayed, got Godly counsel and after a while
Keith and I both were certain about the direction God was leading us in and we proceeded in that direction.
However, our pastor at that time and his wife met with us and basically told us
that they knew what God’s will was for us in this matter and that we were wrong. Now understand,
this wasn’t the type decision where we were wondering if we should engage in
a life of sin or not. Rather, our decision involved personal choices like- Do we take this
job or go to school? Do we move to this state or to that one? Since we had been
so rigorously taught about the importance of respecting authority and to never ‘touch God’s anointed’, that after
their conversation with us, we were honestly confused for a season. But with
the exception of what they said to us, every single thing pointed to the fact that we had made the right decision and time proved it to be so. But during my period of confusion I shared the situation with an older saint who had walked many years with the Lord and she
confidently said to me, “Kayla, you and Keith are
perfectly capable of hearing from the Lord yourselves. And nobody’s going to
hear clearer than you and your husband about what concerns your family.” Now
that’s wisdom! Every one of God's children is capable of hearing from Him for themselves. Don't let anyone tell you any different. Kind of off the subject of identity but concerning this sort of thing that happened with our former pastor- years ago we heard a series of messages by Dean Sherman and something he said really stuck with me. It was basically this- </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><em>Authority has its
jurisdiction. On this earth there’s governmental authority, there’s church
authority and there’s family authority. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A policeman has authority over you in regards
to the law but in your own house, were a police officer to come in and tell you
what to cook or how to run your home, he’d be out of his jurisdiction. Civil
and pastoral authority doesn’t usurp a husband or a father’s authority unless he’s
a danger to his family. Anyone who attempts to do that, has crossed the line of
their assigned jurisdiction and has moved into control and manipulation.</em> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><em><br /></em></span></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">All of
that to say this: If you are a child of God, you are capable of hearing from
Him yourself, period. Don’t doubt that. Authority is God-ordained for our
protection and guidance, but never as a substitute for God’s voice. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Know God for yourself, know His word and know who you are in Him. Everyone misses it sometimes, but anyone who consistently encourages
dependence on a person to hear God for you or your family,
then that voice is not speaking truth and should be ignored. Don’t minimize the power of the
Spirit of God living inside of you. We must know for ourselves, who we are.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I know I have
only scratched the surface here but the importance of knowing what God has
declared us to be is a pretty big deal. I think it’s ground zero for every
single Christian and until we have a revelation of our value to God and our
identity as His dearly loved children, then we are building on a foundation of
sand and it will affect our entire perspective and alter the course of our lives. Just imagine how really knowing who you are (that you are a son/daughter) would change everything. A son is going to approach his Father differently than a servant. He <em>knows</em> he is a son and nothing or nobody can convince him otherwise and there is no hesitation or shame in approaching his Daddy. A beloved daughter knows her wise Father's plans are for her good and not for her harm and so she trusts Him and is eager to do what He says- not in order to earn His love, but <em>because</em> she is loved. Children who <em>know</em> they are treasured will likewise recognize the value of others and will view and treat them as they've been treated. A Ruler's son <em>knows</em> his Dad is stronger than his adversaries. He will face his enemy with confidence <em>knowing</em> His Daddy and all the power of heaven have his back. The King's daughter <em>knows</em> her Dad is rich and generous and that He delights in giving her good things. And she gives no thought to the absurdity that He would not meet her every need or provide for her. Knowing. Changes. Everything! </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Determine to
know who you are. Set your heart on a pilgrimage. We start by seeking Him, He
answers by revealing Himself. Most of us could quote the scriptures about His
love for us, about being seated in the heavenlies with Christ, about being the
righteousness of God in Christ, us having the mind of Christ, being co-heirs
with Christ etc. but are we living like we believe it? Has it permeated our
entire life and become our reality? I’ve had some good teaching in my life and I’m thankful for it,
but I’m not taking anyone’s word for it, I’m finding out for MYSELF. I’ve had
some defining God-moments of revelation that have definitely affected my life,
but I want the truth of my parentage to permanently alter my course. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So who do you think you are? <i>"As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is." (Proverbs 23:7)</i></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">God thinks some pretty great thoughts about us and has some amazing plans, much better than we could imagine. But we must start thinking like Him. If it takes an entire lifetime, I'm determined to know who I am. Even the creation waits eagerly for us to realize that we believers are sons and daughters of the living God-complete with all of the inheritance afforded, value attributed and authority given to a dearly loved son or daughter by a loving and good Father. When we really truly know for ourselves, the sky is not the limit. It's just the beginning.</span></span><br />
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worshiping warriorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087425991784275noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24138681.post-27520937663547631062013-10-06T20:00:00.001-05:002016-01-20T00:48:19.207-06:00For God's Eyes Only<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI3_rZtLNvUC7zMeNBqQmn9rjsUfY9uk6r-jICEBoGnI2gET9vxutZF8ztdXjm5QYPgeKo3fGajlWZ_SH-dnmlg4i-6WBzC4WkcgaBvqU8oEuxrI7-GME5uCBxmt7SLtdlgIg0Vw/s1600/moses+journal.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI3_rZtLNvUC7zMeNBqQmn9rjsUfY9uk6r-jICEBoGnI2gET9vxutZF8ztdXjm5QYPgeKo3fGajlWZ_SH-dnmlg4i-6WBzC4WkcgaBvqU8oEuxrI7-GME5uCBxmt7SLtdlgIg0Vw/s320/moses+journal.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My cat Moses being a literal writing block</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt;">
<i style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens...a time to be silent and a time to speak." Ecclesiastes 3.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I may not
have written in a long time on this blog but despite my absence, I do write. I
write A LOT. Every day. For hours. And I
have every day for nearly THIRTY years! I’m not trying to infer that I’m
somehow more awesome because of this fact because to be honest, it’s as much of
my life as putting on my contacts every morning or bathing every night. I’d
even say it’s as necessary to my life as breathing, but that might be a tad dramatic.
I suppose if I lost both hands in a horrific chimp attack I wouldn’t die from not
being able to write but I do think that not only would writing be the thing I’d
miss the most but it would affect how I process my emotions. Well God willing I
won’t lose my hands anytime soon, so every day, come hail or high water, I
write. It is not just a hobby or a habit, it is a vital part of who I am and
how I tick. It frankly keeps me emotionally sound. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It’s a very
unusual morning that will not find me, pen and coffee in hand, hunkered down
over my simple spiral notebook. I seriously should own stock in the Mead
company. Heaven to me would be to own the perfect fluid writing pen with a
cushioned grip and enough ink to survive an entire notebook. I go through at least
one pen a week. Maybe it's the pen company I should own stock in. Anyhow, you’d
think with all that writing I’d be more proficient and have plenty of profound words
to share with the world. But to be honest, the daily words I pen are for mine
and God’s eyes alone. I’ve often told Keith that were I to kick the bucket
suddenly that he probably needs to burn my boxes of notebooks. I don’t exaggerate.
I have BOXES of them. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I started journaling in my early twenties. I
read a book by Catherine Marshall (the author who most impacted my life) about
how she wrote prayer journals to the Lord for years and years. I decided to try
it, just pouring my heart out to the Lord- the good, the bad, the ugly. It’s
the bad and the ugly parts that make me want them destroyed in the event of my
demise. Because I don’t hold back from talking to God. I figure He knows it all
anyway, so why not just be brutally honest? It’s not like I can shock Him. So I
pour out the things I’d not share with anyone- my frustrations, my joys, my
worries and fears, my jealousies, my greatest longings, my failures, sometimes
my fury, and often my praise. Through my talking to Him all these years, God
has become my confidante and my friend. He’s a safe place to vent. I’m not
going to influence Him or cause Him to stumble. He listens and hears and cares
and then when I’m spent, He gently walks with me through my tangle of emotions
and He leads me to see the whole picture, not just my narrow-minded, emotional
view. When life happens, sometimes suddenly taking my breath away, I
find myself running to my notebook to write it down. It helps my scattered mind
to focus so I can get down to business with God. Although yes, it is a place to
unleash my thoughts and feelings, my motive and desire in these writings is to
seek truth, to seek God’s perspective. And if I truly want it, He does give it.
I know not everyone needs to do this and I suppose I would have still grown up
to be a responsible adult had I never journaled. But it’s a tool I stumbled
upon years ago and I never would have imagined that thirty years later I’d
still be writing every single day. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There are
the rare days where I’ll not fill an entire page. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But more often than not the words spill unedited out of my pen,
page after page after page. Then there are the dark days when I tear through epic
amounts of paper and ink until I fight my way through to the light. It can get
intense and ugly sometimes, but He is safe. He knows what I mean. And He always
leads me home. Especially in the processing phase, His word and Spirit’s
influence in the secret place are vital. When our hearts are in a fragile,
malleable place, the careless opinions of others can confuse our path. In such times, I guess I
am extra careful what I share and to keep my thoughts for God’s eyes only.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I was raised in a different era. It was a time when, for
the most part, certain things just weren’t shared or talked about and often things that should have
been discussed were shelved or swept under the rug and kept to oneself. But as with most things,
when something swings to one extreme we can over-compensate by swinging to the
opposite extreme.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Either way it remains
out of balance. And today, conversely our kids are being raised in an uncensored culture
where nothing is left to the imagination and too much is shared. Today’s social media and reality
shows are shaping this generation in such a way that discretion is becoming a
thing of the past. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I use social
media a lot and I’m not saying it’s bad, in and of itself. It can be a very
useful and enjoyable tool. But the easy access to being heard by an opinionated
audience can prove to be too big a temptation for some. Any random thought that
occurs to us can be instantly shared seconds after it arrives in our brain. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can get feedback immediately and be
influenced and persuaded and heading down a particular path before we’ve fully
processed or filtered the thought. Before social media, when we got aggravated,
we would just mutter to ourselves, complain to our spouse and pray until we got breakthrough. By the time we
actually saw someone, we would have had time to sort it through and to come to our senses before we had the opportunity to speak about
it. But not so anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Today's</span> unfiltered, premature sharing
is like serving a cake half-baked or delivering a baby before it’s due. Social
media’s encouragement for individuals to expose their tender hearts and
uncensored thoughts to the masses is tainting this generation's
understanding of the need for discretion. </span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And in the
area of entertainment, particularly with reality tv, there is nothing sacred or
kept private anymore. There are some harmless, fun reality shows that I love to
watch. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this generation's constant exposure to the shameless
voyeurism into the secret lives of other people for sheer entertainment is corrupting their understanding of the
need for dignity. </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I've succumbed all too often to the culture of over-exposure and have shared things I wasn't ready to or I shouldn't have. We all have done it. And there IS a time to speak. There's a time to testify and to proclaim. But especially when our hearts are in that fragile in-between place, before it's found it's way home, there needs to be a journey into the secret place where Gods perspective and heart are sought. It's wisdom to process our thoughts through His word and Spirit before we unveil them raw to the world. But even in times of strength, God's secret place is necessary, safe and beautiful.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "courier new";"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><em>"Here it's You and me alone God; You and me alone<br />You've hedged me in. With skin, all around me<br /> I'm a garden enclosed; A locked garden<br /> Life takes place. Behind the face". ~ Misty Edwards</em></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "courier new";"></span><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Some things
are private and just not appropriate to be shared. Some things are not safe to be shared except with
certain trustworthy people. Some things are just not ready to be shared until they've had time to be sifted through the Truth. And some
things are just for God’s eyes only. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Like my
notebooks. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>"O my people, trust in Him at all times. Pour out your heart to Him for God is our refuge." </i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Psalm 62:8</i></span></span></div>
worshiping warriorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087425991784275noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24138681.post-52375733122547417122013-06-25T10:01:00.000-05:002018-06-25T09:47:23.690-05:00A Love Story<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBrNtVEjUTIpL5AJG1Z0cs7tL3FBE1TLTNeh4YKhNGYIE6CfK1rsO2LNcyvqFDi_K-eWm-kkodnPmbWSa85jO58cioRbwGsrRAEmOlvam6k17w7njVu06pmbz0JpOR-hvYHCEhEA/s1600/6040_97258854660_7791223_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBrNtVEjUTIpL5AJG1Z0cs7tL3FBE1TLTNeh4YKhNGYIE6CfK1rsO2LNcyvqFDi_K-eWm-kkodnPmbWSa85jO58cioRbwGsrRAEmOlvam6k17w7njVu06pmbz0JpOR-hvYHCEhEA/s320/6040_97258854660_7791223_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our first official date</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I actually
heard Keith's voice before I ever saw him. I was nine years old and my family had
just moved to Ruston, Louisiana and we were visiting area churches. That
particular Sunday landed us at Emmanuel Baptist Church on Farmerville Highway.
I had already started fourth grade at Hillcrest Elementary and I didn’t see any
of my new friends there so I was suitably unimpressed</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> But during a rousing rendition of
'How Great Thou Art' a melodic, distinctly masculine voice from the pew behind me
reached my ears. I nonchalantly turned my head and in my peripherals I beheld
the most beautiful sight my nine year old eyes had ever seen. He was tall, he
was tan with dark tousled hair, and he was extremely handsome. And I was immediately and soundly smitten.
But he was a sophisticated THIRTEEN year old in the eighth grade, much too old
to take notice of a bespectacled, skinny, brace face in grade school. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;">Well my
parents did eventually join Emmanuel and I didn’t protest a bit. Our parents even became
close friends much to my delight. And better yet, my cousin became his best friend which put him at our house
on a regular basis. When my cousin allowed it, they let me tag along after
Sunday night church for pizza. Thankfully Keith wasn't unkind. He included me. He teased me. He gave me a
nickname- Bug. That’s all he ever called me. I absolutely loved it. I wrote his name on the back of my
school notebooks and then drew pictures over them. But I knew what was
underneath. And I never quit hoping. Every bit of attention paid, every
perceived flirtation, all my tender young hopes of romance were wistfully
penned in my diary. My dream of one day marrying Keith Johnson never wavered. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;">Well, the years passed and he joined the Navy when he was
nineteen. Before he left, he hugged me and called me my name, not Bug. I
wondered if he was finally seeing me as a woman (after all I WAS sixteen years old now). But life took us in opposite directions. I had high school to complete and the Navy took him
far away so what might have begun at that time was delayed. He got into
relationships. I got into relationships. He was stationed in Florida and then South Carolina and
I was stuck in Louisiana. But one Christmas he came home on leave and I finally caught
his eye. And although I had a boyfriend, we started writing each other letters. He called me one
day when I wasn’t home and although I wanted to, because I was in a
relationship, I never called him back. Then on the very day I broke up with my boyfriend,
I finally returned his call. And we talked. And we talked. And we talked some
more. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We talked so often and so long
that Keith eventually had to sell his truck to pay his phone bill. My dad knew
Keith and his family and he knew he was a catch. At that point in my troubled young life I'd made enough wrong choices that my dad was nervous I might miss this golden opportunity (He needn't have worried). He viewed paying our
enormous phone bill as an investment in my future and he did it without TOO
much grumbling ;). For four months we talked every day for hours on end. I was a
senior in high school and many a night I reluctantly hung up the phone an hour
before my alarm was set to go off. Keith often showed up to work red eyed after
talking to me all night long. Then oh happy day- he finally came home on leave. By our
second date, we were engaged. He flew back home once more before our wedding in the spring to attend my
senior prom with me. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span></span><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I graduated high school in May and a month later on June 25, we married. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMa7FJMttCJlOLxPANQam3ljzG2ak3XM20SaJlugX4l_-VHjjFstjJIbTCUwQkQKOvqMTef3XL3adFF6-2XrkAU1aRKXEedHpfpn8lVr9o3DMsS7LIZy6rW8Q_JXN_KVTpx9fz3g/s320/marriage.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="272" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">June 25, 1983</span><span style="text-align: left;">And here thirty
years later, I have no regrets.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I can truthfully say that I have spent the last
three decades with the man of my dreams and my best friend and it has far exceeded my girlhood expectations.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; font-family: calibri;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-ppxTKvfAXvQ_TtJElaHzYHZtOsD0Cus3LzBr0nFK2HFlQU7XRgPdD9OJvQI8Uc3ED8eYIQIpENbhmf2naCPLwhPx2eRT6mF8KI3xSCrACAwN1PG7768SddFl8oMiKcaAUsJqfw/s1600/6040_97244234660_2101265_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-ppxTKvfAXvQ_TtJElaHzYHZtOsD0Cus3LzBr0nFK2HFlQU7XRgPdD9OJvQI8Uc3ED8eYIQIpENbhmf2naCPLwhPx2eRT6mF8KI3xSCrACAwN1PG7768SddFl8oMiKcaAUsJqfw/s320/6040_97244234660_2101265_n.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Stationed in Scotland</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">We’ve been blessed to travel the world with the Navy, to have four beautiful
children and now a grandson. <br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">
</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">
</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">
</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">We've lived in South Carolina, Florida, Hawaii (twice), Connecticut (twice), Scotland, Louisiana and now Missouri. We've moved more times than I can count. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">
</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">
</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">
</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsn7Wsm3-w5Qln4Upg25hwSaUR3AzKzGEhIB6eXLEWMtlQnMuQ92UbHCI2DXZlYWlHsm9hGq0hjfy1v_5Ne19K54OYfXQag3Xk2ZMYfSqgx7c_Z8yDKdcwIGhszPc4ArAvhEUECQ/s1600/6040_97302294660_1333369_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsn7Wsm3-w5Qln4Upg25hwSaUR3AzKzGEhIB6eXLEWMtlQnMuQ92UbHCI2DXZlYWlHsm9hGq0hjfy1v_5Ne19K54OYfXQag3Xk2ZMYfSqgx7c_Z8yDKdcwIGhszPc4ArAvhEUECQ/s320/6040_97302294660_1333369_n.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Hawaii</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But maybe the most beautiful thing has been discovering
and journeying together in our pursuit of God. We’ve grown up together. We’ve
gone from foolish and worldly to curious and hungry, to ultimately determined
that ‘as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord’. We’ve laughed a lot,
dreamed a lot, loved a lot and have prayed a lot. Now don’t get me wrong. We’ve
made our share of mistakes. We’ve had disappointments and failures. We’ve
suffered loss and rejection. We’ve walked through a lot together these many years.
But I can stand here thirty years later and say that we are profoundly blessed
and I wouldn’t change a thing.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />There's not another person i would rather do life with than Keith Johnson. There's not another person on earth who understands me and sees me as I am yet accepts me and loves me and honors me. And there's no other who I respect like I do him, nobody who can make me laugh like he can. He's a man of great wisdom. There's a high level anointing on his life to preach and prophesy. The authority he carries bring a sense of peace wherever he goes and young people are drawn to the shelter of his daddy's heart. He has selflessly provided our family with a protective covering and a loving foundation. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Our relationship has matured and evolved over the years. It's amazing what God has done. There's so much more to our love story that is locked away in the secret places of our hearts but our beautiful story is still being written and I look forward to many more decades of love, laughter and adventure together.<br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-kiMmvjjQLBaCI7KjFqYHyMUVUpfM__o6ufVXB193kapehB7z2aqrhwfz4zuWKpVQgWd_iNSRgNIoU7Dk_AjMoE5kONYyi2SkMlhmonyPKWtdZir3PiBuMlrgmh87MlNmwBhwgA/s1600/gabey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-kiMmvjjQLBaCI7KjFqYHyMUVUpfM__o6ufVXB193kapehB7z2aqrhwfz4zuWKpVQgWd_iNSRgNIoU7Dk_AjMoE5kONYyi2SkMlhmonyPKWtdZir3PiBuMlrgmh87MlNmwBhwgA/s320/gabey.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Our beautiful grandbaby Gabriel Michael Ortego</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So today on the anniversary of our marriage, I want to honor this man who caught my eye when I was nine years old. I've loved you since I was in fourth grade, Keith Johnson. We've come a long way! I am blessed among women. Happy Anniversary honey. You still are my sunshine!</span></span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; font-family: calibri;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP38QDBM3oqBxYrHLSXoMq90SabDNWwytVyqK1FXn5d6VfErS95o_U_n7-LoKkfdiaA6J8-4ghKIWq5DSEO4RVEJWQd37ob5LPWzVJqAwAHMDmpoECSL0BrnzqwjIeqxYHZzyJgA/s1600/us.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP38QDBM3oqBxYrHLSXoMq90SabDNWwytVyqK1FXn5d6VfErS95o_U_n7-LoKkfdiaA6J8-4ghKIWq5DSEO4RVEJWQd37ob5LPWzVJqAwAHMDmpoECSL0BrnzqwjIeqxYHZzyJgA/s400/us.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">From two kids who married in 1983 has come this beautiful anointed family. God is indeed good!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<o:p></o:p> </span></span></span></span>worshiping warriorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087425991784275noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24138681.post-78127631077509526022012-03-11T16:41:00.007-05:002017-03-28T23:13:45.429-05:00The Impact of One<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9esKfvotn1LlofwnhFSYz0NMKuIlfoNuZfDCvDUczEUlF7sBWjiMeSliZXRVt86_eMlTW0ffTCk1tSUmrizc37Z29F_mUR6tbR1FXEql_73AHEuriYPcYpubSvPvEHtU156VnEg/s1600/haley%252C+aunt+bobbie%252C+gabe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9esKfvotn1LlofwnhFSYz0NMKuIlfoNuZfDCvDUczEUlF7sBWjiMeSliZXRVt86_eMlTW0ffTCk1tSUmrizc37Z29F_mUR6tbR1FXEql_73AHEuriYPcYpubSvPvEHtU156VnEg/s400/haley%252C+aunt+bobbie%252C+gabe.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This past week our eldest daughter and first grand baby traveled to Louisiana<br /> and he got to meet his great, great aunt Bobbie! :)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Approximately twenty-seven years ago, Keith and I, newly married and backslidden as can be, landed in Hawaii to begin his three year tour of duty with the Navy. For this immature girl who had hardly ever been out of the South, it was a dream come true. I had always wanted to travel and Hawaii was definitely on my bucket list. <o:p></o:p></span> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">
</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">So here we were, on the other side of the world from home. But as God would have it, He had a divine connection planned for us. As it turned out, Keith’s uncle, Andrew Herbert Johnson (Uncle Herb to us), who was a Navy chaplain, Commander and former fighter pilot and his wife, Aunt Bobbie, were also stationed there the exact same time as we were. And this ‘coincidence’ changed the course of our lives forever. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Keith and I had been raised in church and when we were young we had both made a ‘profession of faith’. But as adults, we weren’t living it. Actually most of the Christians we had known hadn’t seemed to be very happy and there wasn’t a whole lot of ‘Life’ in their Christianity to attract us. So we had sort of unconsciously resolved to have as much fun as we could while we were young and we figured that we’d settle down and act responsibly when we were older. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">
</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Then we met Aunt Bobbie and Uncle Herb. There was something different about them. At the time, I was 21 years old and Aunt Bobbie was 50-something yet I looked for every opportunity to be around her. I know I must have gotten on her nerves sometimes tagging along but if I did she never once showed it. She just loved me, short skirts and all. Yes she just accepted me. She spent time with me. She invited me along shopping with her. She welcomed us into her home every Sunday and any time in between. She cooked delicious meals for us. (Her rolls themselves were reason enough to keep coming back!) But she spent hours of time with me. Just letting me hang out with her. She and Uncle Herb were there for us. They made us feel like we mattered.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">
</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">It wasn’t so much of what she said, yes she would answer my many questions, but it was mostly just what she lived. She and Uncle Herb just lived love. They reached out to some of the most unlovable people on the base and invited them into their home. I would sometimes feel jealous at not having them all to myself. But it just flowed out of them. And when Aunt Bobbie or Uncle Herb prayed, we felt something we’d never felt before. We couldn’t quite put our finger on it at the time, but for some reason we were drawn to them. We just felt Good when we were with them. A hunger began growing in my heart. I had seen LIFE, and I wanted it too. They weren’t just Christians in word, they had someONE living in them. I knew this because I felt Him every time I was with them. And I wanted what they had. For the first time in my life I realized, there was more. Christianity as I’d experienced it wasn’t all there was. Jesus was really real. He was current. He wasn’t boring. He was fun. But nobody TOLD me this, I just KNEW it, because I knew Aunt Bobbie and Uncle Herb.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">
</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Now Aunt Bobbie wasn’t perfect. But she was real. And what a sense of humor she had! She would sometimes get tickled in church and couldn’t stop giggling. This was my kind of lady! She had fun and joy just bubbled out of her. Almost more than anything, this intrigued me. I guess I had thought Christians were dour, boring old sourpusses. But Aunt Bobbie was a hoot! That, I could relate to!<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">
</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">She and Uncle Herb invested in me and Keith. They didn’t preach at us, they just loved us and lived an authentic life, full of LIFE in front of us. We didn’t change right away. A lot of what was sown into our lives at that time didn't bear fruit for years. Actually it was so gradual that I don’t know if they were even aware of the impact they were making then. But something was definitely taking root in us. And it literally changed the course of our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">
</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Now years later, we have raised four children and our family has grown to include a son-in-law and a new grandbaby. I am very proud of my family. I look at my husband and children and how they love and serve the Lord and I am so grateful. Actually that doesn’t even come close to expressing how I feel. I am BEYOND grateful if there is such a thing. We’ve had people say how much they admire our family and they ask us what we’ve done. And I find that astounding. I really do. I’m not bragging, it’s just one of those things that happens repeatedly and I’m always left, like Mary, amazed and pondering these things in my heart. </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Because I honestly didn’t have a clue what I was doing 24 years ago when I became a mom. And 24 years later its still a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants operation. I guess all I had was an intense desire- stronger than anything I’d ever felt before holding my firstborn in my arms- to do this thing right. And a revelation that I didn’t have what it took to do it. But I did have a God who did. There are no formulas and I don’t understand it, but God has blessed our family. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">
</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">But one thing I do know- the blessing on our family today can be traced back approximately 27 years ago to a little speck of an island in the vast Pacific Ocean. The fact that my children are serving God today and impacting the Kingdom can be traced back to the influence of one simple couple, who saw value in two disillusioned, immature twenty-somethings and who chose to sow time, love and life into us. I will be forever grateful to them for the harvest we now enjoy. As I look into the face of my precious grandson, knowing how his parents will raise him in the presence of the Lord, I just want to weep with gratitude and to somehow repay them for what they gave us. But I know one day, that their reward will be handed to them by the Lord Himself and it will be eternal. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
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</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">So never under-estimate the value of investing into one person's life. You may not see the fruit immediately. But it could have eternal and generational impact. Our family is proof of that. My children can thank Aunt Bobbie and Uncle Herb (and God of course ;) that they know Jesus. One life impacting generations and the Kingdom of God.</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Blessed be the name of the Lord!</span> </span></span></div>
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worshiping warriorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087425991784275noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24138681.post-35061151858904712012012-01-01T18:59:00.012-06:002017-03-28T23:15:52.209-05:00Pursuing The Uncreated in 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9i3UX7XmacIJqK7W7UVYewNqqgr8_xn8JHpstQFlx2d6f2IV9OXGvmh97jIj5YCSI9xAzqkH_WFv6-nszAHLuLd0Ox86KvbTOWTsFozdLAIfxs4YkFvqwJNsntiy23xGe9mKFvQ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-03-28+at+11.01.56+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9i3UX7XmacIJqK7W7UVYewNqqgr8_xn8JHpstQFlx2d6f2IV9OXGvmh97jIj5YCSI9xAzqkH_WFv6-nszAHLuLd0Ox86KvbTOWTsFozdLAIfxs4YkFvqwJNsntiy23xGe9mKFvQ/s400/Screen+Shot+2017-03-28+at+11.01.56+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Last night as I saw 2011 draw to a close, I listed to the Lord, my desires for myself and my loved ones in 2012.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">To begin with- More of Jesus and less of me</span><br />
<ul><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">To be more in the Word and for the Word to be more in me</span></li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">To trust more</span></li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">To love more</span></li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">To have wisdom and revelation</span></li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">To see more healing and to have more freedom</span></li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">To walk more in the fear of the Lord</span></li>
<li>To have less fear of man</li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">To carry more of the presence of the Lord wherever I go</span></li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">To recognize and invest in God-ordained relationships and for them to be defined by God</span></li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">To truly pursue and to diligently seek God</span></li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">To be less distracted and more focused</span></li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">To have more discipline</span></li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">More fruitfulness</span></li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">More faithfulness</span></li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">More selflessness</span></li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></ul>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">To end with- Again...More of Jesus and less of me. Everything in my list is summed up in that one desire. And what more could we ask for?</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As we seek first His Kingdom, all these things will be added… Everything we need is found, when we get our eyes off the thing that we need and instead we seek… Him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is more than enough. Everything we need, we will find when finding Him. Whatever you are facing, you will find the answer in more of Jesus. And the more we know of Him, the more we want Him. We could spend eternity exploring the many facets and glories of Jesus and never fully exhaust them. He is infinitely beautiful. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I recently found this that I had written a few years ago and thought it worthy of a repost.</span> </span><br />
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</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><em>As I've been reading Tozer, I have had this thought mulling about in my head today- the self-existence of God. Have you ever thought of that? Children do, when they ask, “where does God come from?” Whoa! It really staggers me to the core and twists my brain into knots when I think of this. It’s an uncomfortable thought. </em></span><br />
<em><br />
</em><span style="font-family: inherit;"><em>Like eternity. </em></span><br />
<em><br />
</em><span style="font-family: inherit;"><em>This concept used to scare me as a child. With our human existence dictated by time, by beginnings and ends; the thought of no end, of eternity, was (and still can be) overwhelming and unsettling. No time; no beginning, and no end. Unfathomable!</em></span><br />
<em><br />
</em><span style="font-family: inherit;"><em>Yet we are created in His image. In HIS image- the Uncreated, Eternal One. No other creature has this distinction. What an honor. Definitely we are the created and not the Creator since we have a beginning- but what a staggering thought. Those who had the privilege of gazing into heaven and beholding His throne and likeness (Ezekiel, Daniel, Isaiah, John the Revelator, etc), described Him as best they could using words based on their experience… “He was LIKE this or that”, “in the likeness of…” Yet their experience of Him was still so far above anything they'd known in the created realm. Finite human words could not express the exactness of Him. Although He was similar to this or that, still He was not EXACTLY like anything their human senses had ever experienced or could put into words.</em></span><br />
<em><br />
</em><span style="font-family: inherit;"><em>A.W. Tozer says in THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY (which I highly recommend), “’What is God like?' If by that question we mean ‘ What is God like in Himself?' There is no answer. If we mean ‘What has God disclosed about Himself that the reverent reason can comprehend?' There is, I believe, an answer both full and satisfying ...That God can be known by the soul in tender personal experience while remaining infinitely aloof from the curious eyes of reason constitutes a paradox best described as, ‘Darkness to the intellect but sunshine to the heart’.” </em></span><br />
<em><br />
</em><span style="font-family: inherit;"><em>But doesn't the self-existence of God just take your breath away? Does that not just cause Him to be magnified in your mind? The more I think on this, the more I want to worship Him. Not because I understand it, but because I do not! He is SO far above what I can even imagine. As high as the heavens are above me, His ways and His Being are just so much higher! Who am I to question such a God. He is no god, He is GOD! Who am I to doubt Him, to not trust Him, to not walk in complete confidence and security. He is GOD! He is MY God! And oh the wonder of it, I am His beloved child. Whoa! The Uncreated One…! May we, His children, bow before Him in holy fear; with amazement and gratitude. Wonder of wonders- He, the Uncreated, loves us; and we who have believed on Him, who have called on His name, the created, will live eternally with Him. Unfathomable, unthinkable! Yet gloriously beautiful! </em></span><br />
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</em><span style="font-family: inherit;"><em>I wrote this song several years ago with the thought of the Uncreated majesty of Jesus in mind: If you'd like to hear the song click on the "View My Complete Profile" link and then click on the audio clip there. </em></span><br />
<em><br />
</em><strong><span style="font-family: inherit;"><em>“Here we are gathered in Your name.<br />
We long for more, to never be the same<br />
Moving towards the Uncreated One<br />
<br />
Overwhelmed as You invade our space<br />
Take us in, to that Holy place<br />
Purify, consuming flame<br />
We love Your name<br />
<br />
You are awesome and frightening<br />
Beautiful God<br />
Consuming fire and lightning<br />
Holy One<br />
Enthroned, eternal Love<br />
You are Good; and we bow<br />
We bow down”</em></span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">May God bless you with more of Himself in 2012. Draw near to Him and He promises to draw near to you. The Uncreated delights to draw near to His creation. How beautiful. Happy New Year!</span>worshiping warriorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087425991784275noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24138681.post-73652150021981914022011-12-14T01:52:00.014-06:002012-02-09T23:35:17.138-06:00My Christmas post :)<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip2eFtVvhdMTXWAYV66gUOVni6Kp1-YTS5-X9e0cVbnz_-gh7NwJhfDbNBB3qwPyR0daTgpJ0BfY4NQsH6HMWKqxZs7U5BQU_VJ3DIj6UVMX-YyjZSvt7PgiyCmqN2Qxc870yHCw/s1600/041.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip2eFtVvhdMTXWAYV66gUOVni6Kp1-YTS5-X9e0cVbnz_-gh7NwJhfDbNBB3qwPyR0daTgpJ0BfY4NQsH6HMWKqxZs7U5BQU_VJ3DIj6UVMX-YyjZSvt7PgiyCmqN2Qxc870yHCw/s400/041.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In historic St Charles with my beautiful mom.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Merry Christmas! How on earth did it get here so fast? I wanted to blog a post at this most important time of year so here it is, such as it is. (But don't get too excited :/). </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfJAFPCym8LasMZcQWYYmWxvsvECdvw9C6dZc3NfmoYJHdobtT3WyfLjvXJDDRZspCo6-v6V7dY1RcOV41VpnE8OdyFZLcjVlqTCdOuq8m2GRbvVWDr4ZUvxZc2TjvSXrlQBoSJQ/s1600/Gabriel+sleeping+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfJAFPCym8LasMZcQWYYmWxvsvECdvw9C6dZc3NfmoYJHdobtT3WyfLjvXJDDRZspCo6-v6V7dY1RcOV41VpnE8OdyFZLcjVlqTCdOuq8m2GRbvVWDr4ZUvxZc2TjvSXrlQBoSJQ/s320/Gabriel+sleeping+1.jpg" width="191" /></span></a><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Well its two weeks until Christmas and the annual eleventh hour panic is beginning to set in. Last year I had nearly everything purchased by Black Friday but a November grandbaby kind of distracted me this year. ;) Don’t think I’m complaining though. I’ll take having our lives completely turned upside down and eternally enriched over proficiency and organization any day. He grows more dear and beautiful every day and we are falling deeper in love with him. I love how his smell lingers on my clothes after I’ve held him. Makes me not want to throw them in the washer (I do though in case any of you are worried :). I love the expressions and movements he makes. These things were once such a huge part of my life when I had newborns but I didn’t even realize how much I’d forgotten until it all came back with my grandbaby. The other day I found an article my Dad had written when Haley was born called “Bear with me, I’m a first-time grandfather”. I now know exactly how he felt. So bear with me when I gush about my grandbaby. He is just so wonderful and amazing!!! I can’t help myself.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2NPMQLyyMBLQ_xwtgyMwAdHKx3lUfhNeus1gJPFrEms5UlR1AAVK57uWvI1llTpU6Nb9QIoj4Xq3L2B6rVeyWT_uNprb8kr-Q8KA1TNcTW98YKvdIqcUZTwS2jf2y6KDPBwsTOw/s1600/Christmas+living+room+St+Charles.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2NPMQLyyMBLQ_xwtgyMwAdHKx3lUfhNeus1gJPFrEms5UlR1AAVK57uWvI1llTpU6Nb9QIoj4Xq3L2B6rVeyWT_uNprb8kr-Q8KA1TNcTW98YKvdIqcUZTwS2jf2y6KDPBwsTOw/s320/Christmas+living+room+St+Charles.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">This is our first Christmas in our new house, in our new state, in our new church. So far I’m having a blast. The crisp, cold weather, the family close by, the novelty of decorating a new house…it’s all combined to give me the Christmas cheer in a concentrated dose.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now let me tell you about another new thing we got to be a part of here. Each Christmas our new church, Faith Chapel does something called the Advent Conspiracy. The concept behind it is to substitute our culture’s consumption with Christ’s compassion. Where instead of being swept up with the commercialism of Christmas, we make a choice to spend less and to give more. The cause our church chose this year to give to was Samuel’s House. Samuel’s House is a ministry that rescues abandoned children in Caracas Venezuela. They have eight homes with house parents for these children. Last year at Christmas, the generosity of Faith Chapel helped to build one of these homes. This year, Faith Chapel’s Advent Conspiracy project was to give each of the children of Samuel’s House a great Christmas. Families and individuals sponsored each of the 38 children housed there. We were given their sizes, hobbies and interests. Every child at Samuel's House was sponsored by someone in our church. We were so blessed to be here this year to participate. And on Christmas morning this year, each of these precious children will open up brand new presents picked out just for them for the first time ever. A lot of these children were rescued from the streets and the garbage dumps of Caracas. Many have never had anything new before. What blessing to be a part of a church that prioritizes the Kingdom during this materialistic season that is really supposed to be all about Jesus. I’m so thankful to have been a part it. It made Christmas seem like Christmas this year for the first time in a long time. If anyone is looking for a good cause to give to this year, Samuel’s House is a great ministry that is really doing the work of Jesus here on this earth. Check it out by going to </span><a href="http://www.thevenezuelareport.com/index.php"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">http://www.thevenezuelareport.com/index.php</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> and clicking the “Giving” link. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><><><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span> </>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgUOfahLPQ1JEy2ikGCmxh1UGCFwh4EL4FMyn5rIkqrr8sRrypuGTOOdg-xGVkBZ1BMHKTUFamH4AoPpJsLfMDEEkm_nrdTR-m44dHw2RURspq7AsLmj8-nYjw7YLojfsH7_TeXA/s1600/037.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgUOfahLPQ1JEy2ikGCmxh1UGCFwh4EL4FMyn5rIkqrr8sRrypuGTOOdg-xGVkBZ1BMHKTUFamH4AoPpJsLfMDEEkm_nrdTR-m44dHw2RURspq7AsLmj8-nYjw7YLojfsH7_TeXA/s320/037.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Four Generations</span></td></tr>
<><><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></></tbody></table><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Also this month, my Mom came the week before Thanksgiving to stay with us for three weeks and she just left today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all miss her. I declare we gained 5 to 10 pounds having her here. What’s with Mommas wanting to feed you all the time? But trust me, none of us complained about this. We just shoveled it in and kept going back for more. It was fun showing her around and showing her off. She really was able to relax and just enjoy being here at home and worshipping with us at church. Watching her see her great-grandson for the first time and seeing all four generations together just made me step back amazed with gratitude at the goodness of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> The Lord has done so much in our family. The righteous sowing of prayer , worship and repentance has led to a harvest of blessing. He delights in blessing the generations when we obey. When tempted to sin, if nothing else will get my attention, when I think of how sin opens a door that will affect the generations after me, I am stopped in my tracks. </span></span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdONqA5r-7fkZ4lNmdVPnM9ALvkbqVLkYvps30ZLRRL6VMPfV3gGaOTGvhAyGKOadB_VW5wwQe0VcFEPipbd1ogXpomtmvZosOgSr82yMbXSDule1_PXsOTJ3nov4ZsW-1QwSFQ/s1600/pecan+pie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdONqA5r-7fkZ4lNmdVPnM9ALvkbqVLkYvps30ZLRRL6VMPfV3gGaOTGvhAyGKOadB_VW5wwQe0VcFEPipbd1ogXpomtmvZosOgSr82yMbXSDule1_PXsOTJ3nov4ZsW-1QwSFQ/s200/pecan+pie.jpg" width="120" /></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Oh did I mention that my Mom taught my husband to make her famous pralines and fudge? I’m afraid we’ve created a monster. We shall be fat I’m afraid. But although we’ve moved North we are still cooking like Southern folks. Tonight Keith whipped up a Sauce Piquante that would make you want to slap your Grandmaw. Just this month we have had Seafood Gumbo, Shrimp and Corn Bisque, fried chicken, fried okra and hot water bread, plus the best pecan pie on earth and of course the ever present pralines and fudge… I think my husband missed his calling. He so could be a chef or at least a Cajun caterer. There just might be a market for that up here in the Midwest. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We just love food way too much. And like my dad used to do, Keith photographs his food. So I will add a tantalizing photo for your viewing pleasure and you can have pity and not judge me when I have to buy new jeans.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Well unfortunately I haven’t totally avoided the seduction of materialism and commercialism this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Again I've spent way too much and (as mentioned above) have eaten way too much. How sad but prevalent it is to forget to invite Jesus to His own birthday celebration. </span>But thankfully some Venezuelan orphans and a sweet grandbaby have helped to refocus me on Jesus. I told Haley one day when Gabe was still in the NICU… just think how careful they are with sanitation and how worried they are about viruses and germs yet Jesus was born in a barn. I think we glamorize it a bit. My manger scene on my bookshelf looks quite inviting and sterile but in reality our God left the glories of heaven to come to this earth clothed in human skin as a tiny baby boy and born in a dirty, stinky barn. He was born helpless, dependent, vulnerable. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its quite amazing when you just sit and think about it. How He loved us to do this. But despite this reality, for many, Christmas is a sad time, a time of stress and anxiety and loneliness. The enemy can’t change what Jesus did by coming here to earth, being born to die for our sins, but he can try to corrupt our celebration of it by making it into something ugly. He always comes to steal, kill and destroy. He steals the focus from Jesus. He kills joy causing depression and suicide to become rampant during the holidays. He destroys finances through gross materialism and over spending. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But everything he destroys, he does with our help. Our pastor’s wife Beth Riley said it best. She said, “Satan’s agenda hides in the disobedience of God’s children.” Ouch. But its true. We have a choice. When we “Submit to God and resist the devil, he WILL flee.” Without our cooperation, he doesn’t have a whole lot of ammunition to use against us. I've definitely given him plenty throughout the years with being caught up in the worry, strife, stress and materialism during what should be a simple joyous celebration of my Savior's birth.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">But its not too late to stop and refocus. It's never too late for Jesus. Let us determine with what is left of this holiday season to not get caught up in the world's shallow, corrupted Christmas. Instead of focusing on the procurement of the latest must-have gizmo or gadget (which will probably be obsolete by the end of next year) may we primarily pursue and invest in the eternal One we are supposed to be celebrating-- Jesus. The Lord once spoke to my heart in the midst of a financial struggle to stop grieving over finances and possessions because these things are temporary but relationships are what is eternal. Only our investments in a relationship with Him and with others will endure and bear fruit in eternity. </span><br />
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</span><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I pray that in the midst of the chaos, the noise and the clutter of what has become the Christmas season that He would be found<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as we seek Him above all else. May the peace and presence of Jesus invade our homes this year and transform our lives. Merry Christmas guys and God bless you, every one!</span> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span>worshiping warriorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087425991784275noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24138681.post-20425324132311599702011-11-29T09:31:00.002-06:002011-11-29T23:35:18.450-06:00Beyond the Walls<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8oOCNiutkdNvV05iRrI3WslgU1gT45J_jLp6cG2fOT-zZfAWzHDybnEBVRzekaa_GTvBRdTrxLcms38yGXqAIS4lKCGhQ9rE4q21z7bxyqn5i7Oim789bkZRm80xyOF-gm_3BzA/s1600/crack-in-the-wall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8oOCNiutkdNvV05iRrI3WslgU1gT45J_jLp6cG2fOT-zZfAWzHDybnEBVRzekaa_GTvBRdTrxLcms38yGXqAIS4lKCGhQ9rE4q21z7bxyqn5i7Oim789bkZRm80xyOF-gm_3BzA/s200/crack-in-the-wall.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>I was looking back through this blog at some very old posts and I found this one that I had forgotten I had written. It really jumped out at me as something I needed to share again. So I am resposting it in part. Here it is... :)<br />
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<em>God is purifying me! And wow am I seeing lots of dross! Too much it seems sometimes. At times I want to say, “Stop! That’s enough! Don’t show me anything else!” But thankfully, HE knows when to stop! Praise Him for that! I’ve definitely seen some walls coming down in my life. Okay, maybe not all of the way down… I’m not sure the state of the walls… but I DO know that some mighty big cracks are showing. You’d think that would make for an exciting, joy-filled time, wouldn’t you? Ha! As walls come down, they EXPOSE what’s behind them! When Jericho’s walls came down, the Israelites didn’t just throw a party because the walls were down and then that was it. They had to go in and continue the conquest of Jericho. They had to put to death the inhabitants of the city. The Lord showed me this but I wondered how to fight, and Pastor shared the answer the next Sunday- We don’t battle with natural weapons, we put those things to death through the cross--through dying. The walls ARE coming down (hallelujah), but I’m seeing ugly things behind those walls. Things in me that need to die! And they’re not dying easily… Some of them are fighting to live on! But I am determined! I will not go round this mountain again. I will not jump off this altar again. Jumping off may give me a temporary reprieve, but rest assured- I'll be back at this same place one day again if I do not remain and let God finish what He's begun. <br />
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I believe there is an anointing, RIGHT NOW, for breakthrough- to deal with deep-seated strongholds we’ve dealt with for years. Strongholds we’ve become so familiar and comfortable with that we’ve ceased to even fight them. Yes, we hate them, but it’s easier to live with them in the land than to fight them and put them to death. I’m reminded of so many of Israel’s kings who may have been good and who destroyed the idols of the land, but who left the high places… or left some of the inhabitants in the land and didn’t deal with them. And those inhabitants are still a thorn in Israel’s side to this day. The descendants of the children of Israel are today, battling those same enemies who were not dealt with back then. If I continue to leave the high places in my heart and life, if I continue to leave certain strongholds and open doors to the enemy- am I not hurting more than just myself? Am I also leaving that door open to my children? My grandchildren? My great-grandchildren? This go-'round, I feel a determination in my heart that I’ve never felt before when I’ve faced familiar strongholds once again- This time I will not stop fighting and dying until the walls are down and Jericho is conquered. This is the last time I will face this. Because I am going to not only face it, but conquer it in Jesus name! If I won’t do it for me, then I’ll do it for my children; for my generations. As I said before- there is an anointing for breakthrough <strong>right now</strong>! And it’s not just for me. It’s for everyone. Perazim- breakthrough! Yet we have a choice. Will we respond to Him in this season? Or will we jump and run before He’s done? Lord, help us to remain in the flame! (That sounds like a song! :^). So if I've seemed not myself lately, just know, I am in the fire. It hurts and it isn’t fun. But I have hope in my heart that after the breakthrough, there will be more of Him! What more could I ask!? HE’s gonna be worth it all! <br />
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</em><strong><em>"Purify our hearts<br />
Cleanse us from our sin<br />
Open up the doors<br />
And let the King of Glory in"</em></strong>worshiping warriorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087425991784275noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24138681.post-9580777579351907612011-11-17T00:27:00.002-06:002011-11-17T00:31:02.512-06:00Gabriel's birth<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh86Plh2T-OfioXf13n8DWskDb06QphRHCs_IXl0c-ee1jFm3fqXHaou65nN-qyz9LYOYTJlDGS_qMKKG_rik_E5mcZ3uE9Z6IAD3AkbEZ4Qefvg-FYVFhrZ7yIjiLKjvBHQAsS4Q/s1600/Bright+eyes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh86Plh2T-OfioXf13n8DWskDb06QphRHCs_IXl0c-ee1jFm3fqXHaou65nN-qyz9LYOYTJlDGS_qMKKG_rik_E5mcZ3uE9Z6IAD3AkbEZ4Qefvg-FYVFhrZ7yIjiLKjvBHQAsS4Q/s320/Bright+eyes.jpg" width="191" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Isn't he just beautiful? :)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><em>As promised here are the details of little Gabe's birth... but rather than me telling it, I will instead give you his mom's perspective. Here's a beautifully written post my daughter Haley posted on her blog at <a href="http://haleyeortego.blogspot.com/">http://haleyeortego.blogspot.com/</a>. </em> <em>I have been so impressed by the maturity, the faithfulness and selflessness my daughter and son-in-law have displayed throughout this long week. They have stood together in unity as they've tirelessly put their baby's needs before their own. Needless to say, little Gabriel is very loved. Anyway, here's the story, in Haley's words:</em><br />
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I would like to officially announce and update you on the birth of my sweet little boy. Gabriel (God is my strength) Michael (Who is like God?) born November 11, 2011. (11/11/11!) He weighs 8 lb and 7 oz and is 23 inches long. He is definitely the cutest thing I have ever seen, with dark blue eyes and good bit of dark brown hair. He is so handsome!<br />
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Labor was long, 24 hours, but it was also the most amazing experience. I felt God's hand on Josh and I through the entire progress. I know there were a lot of people lifting us up in prayer and I could feel the covering of the Lord. Like most things in life, things never go quite you like you plan. I've been thinking and dreaming about those first few moments and days with my son for 9 months. It didn't quite go like I had planned. Here's an update on the events of our lives over the last few days...<br />
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Gabe: Upon arrival, Gabe was having some trouble breathing. At first it was no big deal, seemed to be pretty standard for him to have trouble catching his breath. After several minutes of labored breathing they called the house pediatrician to take a look at him. She wasn't initially concerned, but after awhile of the same labored breathing she ordered X-rays of his chest. X-rays revealed what is called a Spontaneous Pneumo thorax ( a pocket of air between the lung and membrane wall) or collapsed lung. Gabe had two. Apparently this occurs in 2-5% of babies and usually corrects itself with no therapy. She consulted with a Dr at St. Louis Children's Hospital and was advised to send him to the NICU there. One of the pockets of air in Gabes lung was large enough they used a small needle to remove the air to prevent it from expanding and causing any pressure. After running some more test they also discovered that his white blood cell count was high. Over the next few days, all of Gabes X-rays and test came back great. Due to the initial results of the blood test though they have decided to keep him at Children's until Thursday. They want him to finish up his antibiotics just to make sure he doesn't end up back at the hospital. I absolutely appreciate the caution of the Doctors and as a parent definetly want to use wisdom...but I do know that Jesus healed my little boy. It's just kinda hard to explain that to a doctor. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTza0Gs_h1a98HWatMuWKPbYVeqxd9hwgZ01ZatVkj0ZzlNhzbFihXdGusiFgdsEmfaRCmHydVO69dtGWpXgpUPC9B4EeHJrsNwoJgg95qmJhpK0mfR18g6uP-vdypnsjESYakag/s1600/Gabe+and+Josh1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTza0Gs_h1a98HWatMuWKPbYVeqxd9hwgZ01ZatVkj0ZzlNhzbFihXdGusiFgdsEmfaRCmHydVO69dtGWpXgpUPC9B4EeHJrsNwoJgg95qmJhpK0mfR18g6uP-vdypnsjESYakag/s320/Gabe+and+Josh1.jpg" width="192" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In Daddy's arms</td></tr>
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Josh: Is amazing! I didn't think it was to fall deeper in love with my high school sweetheart..but I did this weekend. He was so incredibly supportive. He never left my side through the whole long process. He must have told me how awesome I was doing 25,000 times. And even though I didn't always feel so awesome, having him believing in me and cheering me on made all the difference. Seriously, the guy that can still call you princess and beautiful when your in the worst pain of your life, throwing up, and experiencing all the other glamorous aspect of labor is...a liar, and totally worth marrying and keeping forever. :) I got to meet a new side of Josh this week, the part of him that is now a Daddy. When they took Gabe from me, to a hospital almost an hour away, I was beyond devastated. I had such reassurance in knowing that Gabe went with the presence of God and with his Daddy riding right beside him in the back of the ambulance. Josh was going on 72 hours with 5 hours of sleep, but he never left Gabe. Going through things like this as a couple will either make you or break you. I am so thankful that Josh and I both carry the presence of Jesus Christ, and in moments like these I just grow in love and respect for the man of God that he is. And oh my goodness! Is there anything cuter than a man and a baby? Josh is so smitten its not even funny. I love to watch him fall in love with that smooshy little baby. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguTB5So0ayPyYqYznE3zYUkFgUM6w0PQY9btEjINecPvKoKSTp0IINppTw2JM2FZJAq21v9h3ixw40c2LGrYR0c5G8TPtqHd0pXbIVt0DmreJ6lDPtH_nCnTnXVGybAYS8aVtXPw/s1600/Haley+and+Gabey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguTB5So0ayPyYqYznE3zYUkFgUM6w0PQY9btEjINecPvKoKSTp0IINppTw2JM2FZJAq21v9h3ixw40c2LGrYR0c5G8TPtqHd0pXbIVt0DmreJ6lDPtH_nCnTnXVGybAYS8aVtXPw/s320/Haley+and+Gabey.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mom and Gabe making eyes at each other</td></tr>
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Me: Well...needless to say the last several days have been emotional. Never in a million years did I imagine that I would spend the first day of my baby's life almost an hour away from him. I was seriously devastated. I knew Gabe would be ok. I kept saying, "I know my God, and I know he is a healer." The real struggle was just not getting to connect with my son. I got to hold him for about 15 min before he left. which I was very thankful for...but of course it was not nearly enough. So since my arrival at Children's Saturday afternoon, Gabe has hardly been put down. I don't think you can spoil anyone with love...so we seize every cuddling opportunity possible. He is just so good at snuggling...oh I could just eat him!! I just love being the momma of Gabriel. Words just can't express how in love I am with this beautiful, sweet, screaming, bright eyed, squishy boy. I speed shower and rush through eating so I can get back to him. As hard as this week has been...probably the hardest I've ever had to go through...I know God is our author and finisher, and he is so faithful. Without realizing what i was singing, i realized this morning I was singing the line, "You are faithful, from generation to generation.." God has never failed us and he continues by showing such faithfulness to Gabriel. Josh and I had the opportunity today to pray with three people who had babies in the NICU. One has been here for over 7 months. I know so many of you have been keeping Gabe in your prayers this week. Words can't express our gratitude. We've been so blessed by all the text, messages, and comments we've received. As you pray for my baby, would you please also take the time to lift up little Christian, Josiah, and Mitchell...all three little boys who have been here entirely too long and need a touch from Jesus. The NICU is such a sad place to be. Thankfully the presence of God goes with us even into the most dismal places. I pray that if for no other reason God used us here this week to show love to a hurting heart. What an honor it is to be chosen and used by God in those moments. So we count it all joy :)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA9X3j7sAZtD26rvq1O-kYnQTQYdKgoD2QUH8D-ALTOMQ_LaPjEolKp7ggyQXzRJT0Oy2ESAmakV-1rHJiu9Iaa15Pj2kzjzWQGtRhPANRc8AdztNSikqJzpkGycIX9JAdwdVsEQ/s1600/Gabey+baby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA9X3j7sAZtD26rvq1O-kYnQTQYdKgoD2QUH8D-ALTOMQ_LaPjEolKp7ggyQXzRJT0Oy2ESAmakV-1rHJiu9Iaa15Pj2kzjzWQGtRhPANRc8AdztNSikqJzpkGycIX9JAdwdVsEQ/s320/Gabey+baby.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baby Gabey</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>worshiping warriorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087425991784275noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24138681.post-24015004885572857932011-11-15T23:40:00.007-06:002017-03-28T23:18:15.514-05:00Indescribable Love<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb2QzLXaCHU7_Er6B8BD_5-5t3VkXzGLVZmuzyH_Tk-6CorbGJeZxZU3h-VfajkMdM34ZlpKA6FVtbPQOQfDP7UQjj3qNoxqSQKv7hGt_ZUL1NOVwEFS2m2Thl6FuIirSEGFK5Cg/s1600/Gabe+and+MiMi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb2QzLXaCHU7_Er6B8BD_5-5t3VkXzGLVZmuzyH_Tk-6CorbGJeZxZU3h-VfajkMdM34ZlpKA6FVtbPQOQfDP7UQjj3qNoxqSQKv7hGt_ZUL1NOVwEFS2m2Thl6FuIirSEGFK5Cg/s400/Gabe+and+MiMi.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and my grandson. So in love...</td></tr>
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When I first found out, I was concerned about what I'd be called. People tried to tell me it wouldn't matter when the time came and I don't know if I quite knew what they meant... But now I do.<br />
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Gabriel Michael Ortego has made me a grandmother. He was born this past Friday night. Yes on 11/11/11 at 3:01 am weighing 8 lbs 7 oz and 23 inches long. <br />
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I guess he'll call me Mimi. But he can call me whatever he wants because I love him. I just want to get this down and out there while the emotions are high but although he isn't even a week old and I've only held him once, I love that baby more than life itself. I would lay down my life for him, no questions asked. Gabriel cannot yet speak, show me love, do anything for me. Heck, he can't do anything much at all right now but eat and cry and make dirty diapers. He's totally helpless and dependent. So why do I love him so much already? How can this be? Just because. He's my grandson. Just like I love his beautiful mother and each of my children. Just because. They are mine. And just like that, I begin to sort of understand Jesus' unexplainable love for us. He loves us... just because. He did give His life for us and He longs every day to be with us. He doesn't 'need' us and we can't really do one thing of ourselves to even come before Him... But He paid the highest price, because we were priceless to Him. He made a way because He loves us. I think I am kind of getting it now. <br />
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We love Gabe. The love on Haley and Josh's faces for their baby is just beyond beautiful to me. I love watching them with him almost as much as I love to watch him. Its like a whole new layer has been pulled back off of my heart and I feel love at a new, raw, holy level. He's absolutely priceless to his parents and to each of us who are blessed to be a part of his family. Our lives have each been forever changed by this tiny little soul that my beautiful daughter and son-in-law blessed the world with.<br />
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There's much more that I haven't found expression for and more details about his birth which I promise will come at a later date. But right now I am almost speechless. Hard to fathom I know :). And if you haven't been there yet, I'll tell you like they told me...one day you will understand. But you probably won't be able to explain the emotions any better than I just have :). It's indescribable.<br />
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So here's some pictures of our precious baby boy. You gotta admit... he's pretty dang cute! :D<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr6NbDI7dTtq1tFpbJqd_WBqdVYhVqt_lKEqtSIYHQD5ElctNvOhlqF2StIxQD7ELFjk3NztWULU-jkCnJv_gOiv_GRGLGRXrR4aA_srypL2YQ-0IX24zqIxUzRhuil0PGX01gdQ/s1600/Gabe+and+Haley1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr6NbDI7dTtq1tFpbJqd_WBqdVYhVqt_lKEqtSIYHQD5ElctNvOhlqF2StIxQD7ELFjk3NztWULU-jkCnJv_gOiv_GRGLGRXrR4aA_srypL2YQ-0IX24zqIxUzRhuil0PGX01gdQ/s320/Gabe+and+Haley1.jpg" width="192" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gabe and Mommy</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqBI68udsKVOamw8H5Vj2pZhwn6lMqARBtNU8-SIDe-WxyYfZd0a1fiOpKLfK0TkBQWeTKlDevJhW2wZ0Nk_tNsvimVX2IYEqmSHzzoGjgfQZI9PbmJzGt4g_NEWHb74LNSQ_xJQ/s1600/Gabey+baby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqBI68udsKVOamw8H5Vj2pZhwn6lMqARBtNU8-SIDe-WxyYfZd0a1fiOpKLfK0TkBQWeTKlDevJhW2wZ0Nk_tNsvimVX2IYEqmSHzzoGjgfQZI9PbmJzGt4g_NEWHb74LNSQ_xJQ/s320/Gabey+baby.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I will still and quiet my soul like a well fed child with his mother.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPQjfR5pCmXe-2-V2vxWkIFpMEvo317ZsS2w1v1XTQkJUVfmGsCEopzEVhDFb8xAUbe0X5UF1hcyKan1VbtrqfYH8GiydGRLfG1NCg_fqlEfa3LjQmwyp-VJsmy5dLXYcPktWQkA/s1600/Gabe+bright+eyed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPQjfR5pCmXe-2-V2vxWkIFpMEvo317ZsS2w1v1XTQkJUVfmGsCEopzEVhDFb8xAUbe0X5UF1hcyKan1VbtrqfYH8GiydGRLfG1NCg_fqlEfa3LjQmwyp-VJsmy5dLXYcPktWQkA/s320/Gabe+bright+eyed.jpg" width="191" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bright eyes</td></tr>
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<br />worshiping warriorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087425991784275noreply@blogger.com5