You'll sale out in a second!

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I was watching a movie (a DVD) that we had just gotten in the mail with my husband on Saturday. We have greatly anticipated its coming. We were so excited to see the package. It isn't out in theaters yet; but it's a low budget film, a Christian movie, and they are pre-selling the movie now so that they can raise money to advertise it.

I could quote a whole slew of things that were said. But for this moment, just one. In the movie Satan was enraged and was spewing his raged venom to all those that were sitting in the courtroom. He said, "I can tempt you with a candy bar and you'll sale out in a second!"

Ow!

Oh!

He's right.

He can!

I don't think it ironic that I was texting a friend earlier that same day. And as I typed "plate" on my cell ("I've got a lot to do on my plate today"), T-9 suggested the word "slave"!

Ow (again)!

I've noticed that before, but I had forgotten it. But woe, how harshly it hit me again seeing it a second time. It is sure hard sometimes not to be a slave to our plates!

I've been dieting. Yuck, not fun. So food seems to be my mind's focus. It was about 11:15 the other night when my daughter was headed home, she texted me asking, "I'm stopping by Taco Bell. Want anything?"

Mmmm!

Yum!

YES!

I DO!

I texted back, "Mmmm! Yum! Yes. But no. My enemy is not against flesh and blood, but my enemy just now is against food! Food's crouching at my door. It desires to have me! BUT, I must master it."

I know my daughter thinks I'm weird. I know my answer was more than she bargained for. A simple yes or no would have sufficed. But it's how I felt. And I was greatly trying not to "sale out in a second" and hate myself later because I did.

Our "plates" might not be food. We can have too much of anything on our plates. And too much of anything is always too much... and its purpose and hope is, indeed, to make a slave out of us. Whatever it is that we fall for, its desire is to "have us"... but we must master it!

It's a good reminder to remind ourselves of.

Don't be so quick to sale out to whatever's tempting you to!

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Oh, that my words were printed in a book! :)

.

That's what Job once said (Job 19:23), "Oh, that my words were now written! Oh, that they were printed in a book!"

And oh my! Guess what? Mine now are! :)

Okay. So it's not for real, for real. And I suppose it's just something a bit silly. But I had fun doing it! And it really is my words. They really are in a book! And not just one book, mind you. I made me two!

1st one: Sharon's Just sayin'.... in 2009.

And 2nd one: Sharon's Just sayin'.... in 2010.

They capture all of the blogs that I posted in those years. What fun to see them on paper and bounded together!

Hmmm.. back to Job. I can't help but wonder, what words did Job wish to write? Interestingly (though he never knew it!)... they were!!! And they're here for you and I to now read!!! They've been handed down year after year after year. Oh, dear Job, your wish was granted!

Wonder what exactly it was that he wanted written?

I wonder maybe if it was the following words that he said after that he had wished that his words could be engraved and permanently recorded for all to hear them? For even after all that he'd gone and was still going through (the loss, the pain, the horror, the anguish) Job said (which obviously were later written *smile*), "I KNOW that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth."

Wow!

I KNOW that my Redeemer lives!

I KNOW!

I KNOW!

I KNOW!

And that's what Job wanted written!

Good for him! Me too! I've been redeemed. I KNOW the Redeemer lives! The Redeemer. The one who redeems... buys back, repurchases, gets back, frees from what distresses or harms us, frees from captivity by payment of ransom, extricates from or helps one to overcome something detrimental, releases from blame and debt, clears, frees from consequences of sin, changes for the better, reforms, repairs, restores, makes good, atones for.

We're told to "say" (as I've included on the header of this blog) "Let the redeemed of the LORD say..." (Ps 107:2). We're told to tell about it. We're told to share what our Savior's done for us. And so, I have been saying sense! And now, my words (like Job's) have been recorded. My words, too, have been written in a book. :)  Not the ultimate! Not The Book that his were. But still, it's a really fun feeling.

.

AUTHOR. What's your word?

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A girl wrote to me:

"The Lord, has been soooooo working in my heart... simply loving on me BIG TIME!!! How I am being SO FILLED, Sharon, my heart is SO FULL that is it almost bursting!!! (I mean, I am literally feeling this!! and the JOY!!!) Do you know??? I know you know!!! :) He is taking me deeper... O, the LOVE of our Father!!  Along w/ that.... I've been thinking on a word for 2011.  And the word that found me was LOVE. I'm meditating on love Scriptures I already know, I will memorize new love Scriptures, and praying on and seeking more of the Lord and His ways of love....looking forward to seeing what He does and what He teaches me. Do you have a word for the year? If so, what are your thoughts...directions on it?"


Hmmm... Do "I" have a word? :)

What do you think?

A word? Of course, I've got a word!

I wrote back to her:

Dear Brenda,

Oh my! I do know that FULL-to-about-to-burst FILLING/FEELING! Praise God that things are going so GOoD for you and your husband and those in the ministry that ya'll are doing! Praise Him, He is doing a thing all over His planet. I told a young girl (21 yr old) yesterday, God is the funnest Life you'll ever have! Even when it's hard.

LOVE!

I like that! A perfect word!

A very GOoD word!

It's a word that I would use to sum up my last year. LOVE! And the Pursuit of Love! How love acts and reacts. And what Love does!

What word is God showing and theme-ing in my new year thus far?

My word would be this:

AUTHOR!

Author of my Story! Author of my Life! Author of my Salvation! Author and finisher of my Faith!

"Everyday ordained for me was WRITTEN in His book before one of them came to be."

There is a song that plays constantly in my mind right now (for those of you that read my blog very much, you already know what it is). The words start, "Author of my story. Shepherd of my heart. You take every season to show me more of Who You Are!....."

I love that! We learn more of who He is in every season He places us in!

"From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and HE determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this  so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us." ~ Acts 17:26-27

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.... I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet THEY CANNOT FATHOM what God has done from beginning to end." ~ Ecc 3

He is the Alpha and the Omega. The Beginning and the End. And every second in between.

Perhaps the following Scriptures are a must to give a glimpse of an example?

I can't tell you how much I say these scripture back to God. These Scriptures tell my story! They are my story. And they are also a kind of proof of Him being the One authoring and writing it, "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey Your word.... It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn Your decrees.... If Your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. I will never forget Your precepts, for by them You have preserved my life" (Ps 119:67,71, 92,93).

Ow! Yes, sometimes God uses affliction to turn us back toward Him.

Then those verses remind me of 2 Sam 14:14, "God does not take away life; instead, He devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from Him." And, don't forget, He KNOWS the plans He has for us (Jer 29:11). It makes me think of the lost sheep, and the Good Shepherd that goes to look for him in order to bring them back home. It reminds of God walking in the garden to ask Adam what he'd done. It reminds me of God warning Cain to fix his face and master the anger that enraged him or it would overtake him. It reminds me of His encouraging Abraham to keep the faith of what He had told him, that he would indeed have a son. It reminds me of God not letting Moses' murder get in the way of what He had planned to use him for after he'd done it.

Woe! He's all into and all over our business! We rebell and mess it up; He ransoms and restores and redeems it. And writes it to "work out" for good! Don't you dare mistake it, He is, indeed, the Author of our Stories! History.... Hi-S-tory.. It's His-Story!

Just think of how many times Jesus said, "It is written...." ~ And we all know Who the Writer is that wrote it! Or the times it reads, "as it is written" after a prophesy had been fulfilled. Think of the Ten Commandments that God once engraved on stone Himself with the very finger on His Own hand (Exo 31:18; Deut 9:10)! And Jesus who stooped to write in the sand. And His hand that once wrote words on a wall. Our God is a Writer-Downer! The Author of all.

Wow! Look at what Moses (Exo 32:31-33) once said to God after God's people had sinned against Him, "So Moses went back to the LORD and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book You have written.” I definitely don't want to be blotted out of His Book! At my salvation though, I KNOW that my name is written there! The Lamb's Book of Life!

He's written a Book of Law (Jos 1:8; Deut 30:10) often called the Law of Moses, which now consists of both the Old (Law) and the New Covenants (Testaments). He inspired men to write and chronicle the kings. Do we bother to read the Book here that He's written? The one God-breathed and recorded for all these ages? Remember what King Josiah said when he found God's book after it had been lost for eons? "“Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the LORD’s anger that burns against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.”" (2 Kings 22:13) Do you read it to know what you're to do that concerns you?

To those that are His, He's written our names in the palms of His hands (Is 49:16). He gave His prophets visions and told them to write it down. He told Moses to write things after they had happened so that after he had gone others could still remember it. I love that it's not just that every day ordained for us was written in His book before even one came to be; but that also there is a Book of Remembrance (Mal 3:16). He wants it all kept and read and meditated on. And the greatest thing, those words... all those words He's written, they are alive. They're active. They have power to heal. They have power to strengthen. They have power to divide. They have power to defeat our enemy!

I'm sorry. I got a bit carried away here. But yes, I do have a word. This year's word is: AUTHOR.

And now I wonder too, if you (the one right now reading this), do you have a word? What word do you realize that God is magnifing, revealing, and theme-ing to you this year? Oh, dare we not miss it! A word! Rhema! Oh Lord, may every word You speak be magnified around us!

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I see him seeking.

 

"Then

you will call upon Me,

and come and pray to Me,

and I will listen to you.

You will seek Me

and you will find Me

when you seek Me

with all your heart.

I will be found by you,”

declares the LORD..."

~ Jer 29:12-14a.

I once did a Powerpoint as a gift for a friend. In it I started with a video of footprints being made in the sand with the words appearing on the screen "Seeking my Savior".... because it was Him that I spent my days seeking. To my complete and sudden surprise (without premeditating and preplanning it), I ended the Powerpoint with the same animated picture and again those words, " Seeking my Savior"... and then almost accidently (but surely Divinely on purpose) these, "and See~ing my King".

SeeKing my Savior... and Seeing my King!

i.e. See-K-ing.

Do you see the play on the word?

That was years ago. But because of its impact, I never forgot it. Today, I was reminded of it all over again. For I see another guy seeking. And I, for one, can hardly wait til he SEES!

He's a friend of mine on Facebook. He messaged me. Here's our converation:

Facebook friend:

I believe in God absolutely no doubt in my mind. I spend a lot of time outdoors, mainly on the Tallapoosa river, usually by myself. I love it, it's how I connect with God. Just watching the wind blow through the trees or listening to a creek, the pretty blue sky, even a bad thunder storm is amazing to me, the animals everything I see. There's no way all this happened on accident. God is real, he's with me and he watches over me, not a shred of doubt there. I'm a caring good person, but going by everything I've read and studied, I'm not saved. I want to believe Jesus died on the cross to forgive our sins, I have a hard time time with it. I think a lot of the time people say they believe because that's what they think folks want to hear. I don't think saying it means anything if you don't believe with all your heart. Not sure what to do, when I pray I tell God the same thing, help me believe it all. It's not happening. Kind of odd to believe so much in God, but not all of the bible. Anyway there are times I believe I'm going to heaven just because I live right and have a good heart, then there are times I wonder? Pretty tough question I know, I'm open to any suggestions. I really think I'm the only one that can figure this out, so don't feel bad if you don't have an answer. I been reading your post and thought why not just ask her? Thanks.

___________________________________________________________

Me:

Oh wow! That's a lot! :)

I love how you wrote of the wonder of God and how He shows Himself in all of His creation. He amazes me. I, too, am awed at the beauty He's made, even in the tiniest of things. Silly example, but my cat caught a mouse one night (not so funny, in my house). I took a picture of it because I was so amazed at its beauty. I was so awed and overwhelmed at the extent that God went to in the minutest of details in such a hated creature. He's beautiful up close when you really look at him. What kind of God do we have? Yes, I understand what you're saying about seeing Him in the wind, in the trees, in a creek, in the skies, or even in a fierceness of a thunder storm.

That's God. And then, there's Jesus. Though He's one with the Father, He's still His own self. I think (though I didn't know it at the time) that most of my younger years was spent believing in God and believing in Jesus, believing Jesus was Who we're told He is, but (though I thought I did) I didn't know Him. Now, how do I know He's real? Because He lives in me. I'm different than I used to be! He's the realest thing I know. He's changed my life. He's given me peace. He's calmed my storms... even when the winds still rage. He's filled me with love... even for those I used to hate. He is seriously my biggest thrill! Nothing compares to Him! I love my family like crazy... my husband and my children, my parents, my sisters, my brother..... but no one can rock my world like my Savior can! No one can bring me greater joy! I guess that's the difference. Before I knew Jesus as the God-man we call "Jesus." Now, I know Him as my Savior, because He's saved me from so much... and saves me still! I know Him as my Healer, because He's healed me from my hurt. I know Him by so many different names, because I've needed Him in so many places and He's been faithful to help me in all of them.

Here, too, is another difference. I used to read the Bible because I "was supposed to." That's what "Christians" do, right? I'd read enough just to say I read, so that I wouldn't feel guilty that I didn't. But I'd read however little that I thought I ought to, then put it down and grab a 'good book' to read that would captivate me for hours. What's wrong with that? His Word had no life to me. It was just words. HE wasn't living in them.

NOW.... I can hardly put it down! I spend hours (literally hours) delved into His word each day. It's that good!!! It's that priceless! It's that fun! It's the most precious tangible thing that I own. Yesterday I spent my whole day studying, reading, aweing over what I was seeing and learning. Even a harsh word is welcomed. I may not like what He's said, but I know He's right and His truth resonates inside me and makes me want to do what He's said. He speaks to me there. It is no longer just words, it's Him, my Savior, Jesus, talking to me. It breathes. I don't have words to know how to explain it. But I didn't only spend all day yesterday, but I was so wrapped up in it, so enthralled, that I stayed up all night studying more.

One thing that made such a huge difference to me was when I saw someone with a fire in her bones for God and His Word. Her love for Him was amazing. I had never seen anybody like that before. I wanted what she had. I wanted that passion. I wanted that fire. I honestly prayed that God would speak to me in His word. That He would let me hear Him. That He would bring it to life. That He would reveal what He's wanting to say to me in it. I prayed that He would make me crave His word, to hunger for it, to thirst for it more than any other thing. I literally prayed that He would make me crazy for Him (because I wasn't). My children were little. I prayed it so much that even they started praying it for me without me even asking them to, "God, make my mom crazy about You." It was so sweet! I cried when I heard it.

And guess what? Over a time He did!!!!!!!! Now? It's what I crave more than any other thing. And yes, I am now so crazy about Him that I am sure sometimes without meaning to I can be obnoxious to others.

I can't tell you how many times I want to post, "I LOVE MY GOD!" on Facebook. But I'm sure the redundancy would get too redundant. I feel like I'll burst if I don't holler it from the rooftops. I don't do that either, because I'm sure that that wouldn't be helpful to anybody. It's just that I'm that full.

I know that there is nothing I can do to get myself into Heaven. Only Jesus' grace and what He's done for me will get me there. After all that He's done, how could we not believe in Him? And that's just the thing, our only part is to believe. Really believe Him and Who He is and what He's done. And after that, His Spirit comes to live inside us. And little by little (or sometimes a lot by a lot), He begins to radically change our minds, our moods, our attitudes, our passions, our actions, our thinking.

My oldest daughter is recent proof of that. She turned 20 in Sept. She was known as a party girl (much against her mother's teaching). But wow, Mike, when God got a hold of her, her whole world turned upside down... or rather right side up. She's a totally different creature! I wish I could sit with you and just tell you part of her testimony. It's so wild. But the whole 2010 year God radically pursued her... and now she is radically (and I do mean radically!) pursuing Him!!! She, now, can hardly stand to put His word down! She laughs and tells me that she is becoming just like her mother. :) ... Which, when she says that, only makes me want to become more like Him.

It's real, Mike. I'm not pretending. He's changed my whole everything. Like I said earlier, He's made me different. I used to live in mad, and now I no longer live there anymore. I've done things I so hate that I did and didn't know how to quit doing them, but I don't even have a desire (or even a small want or longing) to do them anymore. He's captivated me. And I've never had such joy. That's how I KNOW Jesus is real! I (as my daughter says) am living proof!

He is evidently working on you..... pursuing you too... or you wouldn't care and wouldn't stop to ask these questions. You wouldn't pray the prayers you've been praying. He is definitely doing something. And though you're at the great divide of wondering right now, I don't think it'll be very long until Jesus has pulled you to His side.

I just finished studying the book of John with some prison girls at Tutwiler. I wish you could have sat there with us. We had the best time. And everyone of us was blown away by His goodness.

I will pray for you. And too... if there is anything I can do, if I can ever answer a question (even if I have to tell you that I don't know), if you ever want to talk (I could talk your ear off, can't you tell), if there is something you need just let me know. And I will help in the best way I can. The Jesus journey will be the wildest ride of your life!

.... And hey... thanks for asking. ;-)

_____________________________________________________________

Facebook Friend:

I'm framing that and reading it again and again, wow I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes. Seriously. I want to think about it and read it a few more times before I respond, thanks.

_____________________________________________________________

Me:

I'm crying now while reading it again myself. Crying in awe of a God who sent His Son to save me! Crying that He's that good. Crying because He's powerful enough. Crying that He'd bother to. Crying because He'd actually want to. Crying at the extreme that He went... and crying over the extreme that He sometimes still goes!

I've had the most incredible day! I just got home from eating with a new friend. A young girl (21) that God has recently pulled from the pit. Her excitement over Jesus is contagious. We talked 90-to-nothing the whole time we were together of our Savior. I left soaring. And crying (again) over His goodness!

I've been a puddle of tears today. One thing after another had me crying again. (Could four hours of sleep in the last 48 hours could have contributed to it??) I had planned to take a nap sometime today, but couldn't tear myself from His feet long enough to make myself do so. I was listening to one lesson after another that so spoke to me in my very moment. I could hardly keep myself pulled together. It wasn't sad tears, but tears of awe, tears overwhelmed by His greatness. And then... I got a note from one of the workers at the school where my daughter goes, and he told me of his spellboundness in watching her today (while she didn't know he was watching) while she worshipped her Lord. He said that he was so moved by how moved she was. THAT is the kind of Jesus I'm talking about, dear friend! That is the kind of Jesus I serve! His wonder is contagious! And... He'll make your heart sappily tender over everything.

He'll make you WANT to change, because you'll want to be just like Him! What am I talking about? It's HIM that changes you! He makes you see things differently. Feel things differently. Hear things differently. Speak differently. He puts love inside you - to love those you can't. He makes you willing to forgive, because you've been forgiven of so much. He gives you the mercy and grace to give others, because of all of the mercy and grace that you've needed yourself. I could go on and on and on.... but frustratingly, no amount of words can say what I want to say, what my heart feels, because of the FILLING that He's filled me with.

Psalm 107:2 tells us to, "Let the redeemed of the LORD say..." And, truly, I cannot keep myself from saying!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Big smile!

Let's read it again:

"Then...... you WILL CALL upon Me..... AND COME...... AND PRAY to Me,...... AND.... I.... WILL.... LISTEN  to you...... YOU WILL SEEK ME and FIND ME when YOU SEEK ME with all your heart. I W~I~L~L  BE  FOUND  BY  YOU,” declares the LORD..." ~ Jer 29:12-14a (emphasis mine).

Today, I see my friend Seeking his Savior.... And soon, (See-K-ing)..... Seeing his King! Our Jesus is wooing him, pursuing him,.... and wow, at the magnitude and beauty of that pursuit!

This is the sweetest part.

All the while that we think that it is us that seeks our Savior... it's really Him that puts it in our hearts to. For our Savior (our Shepherd) is out seeking the lost (His sheep), because He longs to save them... to hold them.... to love them... to mold them.... to change them.... to make them into His image..... to use them for the Display of His Splendor.... and perhaps mostly, to one day bring them Home.

I see him seeking............ ;-)

[Disclaimer: Posted by permission by the person I was conversating with.]

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Ut-oh! Mad at someone?

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"This is what the LORD says, "For three sins of Edom, even for four, I will not turn back My wrath. Because he pursued his brother with a sword, stifling all compassion, because his anger raged continually, and fury flamed unchecked"" (Amos 1:11).

Woe! 


God's wrath was raging.... It was raging against Edom.  And it was raging (God said) because of four different "sins"... four different transgressions... for different rebellions. There were "... because he [Edom] did... 

1. pursue his brother with a sword, and 
2. did cast off all pity, and 
3. his anger did tear perpetually, and 
4. he kept his wrath forever."  

Another version, "... he maintained his fury forever."

God doesn't take it lightly when we pursue our brother, especially when we pursue him in anger, or when we pursue him in our anger with a sword... or even with any other thing for that matter. Some actually do take a sword. Some take guns. Some simply take words. All can be fatally damaging. God isn't happy with any of them.


Nor does He take kindly to our lack of compassion, our lack of mercy, our lack of pity, toward the one that we're angered at. We're told to "be angry and sin not." And that "vengeance" is not ours, but His!

The wording here is interesting to me. It says here that Edom "stifled all compassion." He "cast off all pity." If he threw pity off... If he stifled it... Does that mean that pity came to help; that compassion rose to aid him; that mercy popped up to possibly change his mind; that love tried to peek out to tender his feelings, his thinking, his heart, his actions..... and that he "cast it off"... "threw it off"... "stifled" down such reasoning before it could take some affect?


He "kept his wrath forever".... "he maintained his fury forever".... "His anger raged continually"..... his "fury flamed unchecked"......... Wow. Do we think our anger can continue its fuming and continue its raging, and that all the while that it does, that it goes unnoticed? Woe! We can deduce here and now, that He notices!!! He watches! He's aware of it! He cares! And............... He does NOT like it! And we'll be in trouble for it! What might you still be angry about that happened... ah, how long ago now? Maybe this scripture encourages you and empowers you, too, to lay that anger down before God decides to deal with you over it!


You know... I don't know.... I'm just saying, if you're mad at somebody.... and if you've been seething in that anger for years.... if your fury is still flaming.... if you've "kept" and "maintained" your wrath..................................... Hmmm? Maybe? Just maybe? After reading just that one scripture, you perhaps would like to rethink it and let it go? If any kind of compassion or mercy or love or pity of any sort conquers up inside you............ I'd think long and hard before stifling it down or throwing and casting such feelings off. It's a gift, grab hold of it and let it do it's merciful work! And then, cry out for a bit of forgiveness and mercy for yourself! In other words, do as James says, "accept the word implanted in you which can save you".... "Do not merely listen to the Word, DO WHAT IT SAYS"!!.... all before God's wrath comes to get you!
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Turn the page already! And color you a new one!

"Move on. It's just a chapter in the past.

But don't close the book. Just turn the page!"

~ Anonymous ~

Above is a quote that I found tweeted by my youngest daughter, Sabrina. Wow, I thought when I read it, that's good!

I wonder at how often we fail to move on from the chapter of the past we're still in. We're still stuck on the same page, with the same hurt, singing the same song, pitying in the same party. Failing to heal from our wound, because we continue to scratch its old scab. We won't allow it to heal, because we continue to make it bleed. It's become infected now, because of our continuing to pick at it.

What is it about us that gets stuck in a chapter? I think if we listen to the advise of the quote quoted above we just might could learn something.

We are often our own worst enemy and get stuck in our yesterday's chapter. We refuse to move on because we're too mad, we're too hurt, or we simply stay stuck because we're simply too scared to. All the while, we're blaming the people or the event or the circumstances or situations around us. I think that sometimes we need to realize that it's our man in the mirror that is our greatest obstacle. We could move to a new chapter if we wanted to. Problem mostly is... is that we say we do, but we really don't want to!

I was discussing with the inmates the other day in one of the prisons and I asked, What is it about us that captures an event, a hurt, a wounding, an offense, and keeps it close by us? It's as if we took a snapshot of it on the day it happened, and we've been looking at that same old picture for how many years now? We've been looking at it every day now, since the very day it happened! Then to top that, we've been carrying it around with us and showing it to every person in our path that we can possibly show it to.

It's old. It's worn. The page is torn. And it's silly looking to everyone we know (though nobody says so.... or if they said, we'd argue and fail to listen). "LOOK!" we say as we show them the picture that still stays in our heads, "This is why I am like I am. This is why I act like I act. This is why I'm bitter. This is why I rage a lot. This is why I hurt. This is why I'm mean. This is what happened to me. This has changed my life forever."

When nooo. It's not changed it really. It's stayed it. But you're the one that decided to let it!

This was hilarious.

I was talking to a girl on the phone last night. She was frustrated with her "X" and didn't mind saying so. She told me several things that he had texted her eons ago. And then she said, "I've still got them! It made me so mad, I saved them!"

What???

WHY, pray tell, do we do that???

"Quit looking at it!" I wanted to say.

"Delete the thing! Get rid of it! Throw it away! Don't save old messages that are saved for the very reason to help you remember and to continue to make you mad!"

Aren't we so silly (crazy) sometimes in what we keep?

Another crazy thing is how we'll let someone slap us into yesterday with them in the split of a second. And we'll stew, or fume, or rage, or sulk, or pity, or cry, or fight, or become more embittered, or whatever, once they've slapped us back to that yesterday's year. We've reverted to that old us back then. And we find ourselves living in another era while trying to modern-day dress the realm of our past.

What chapter are you in? What pictures do you show?

"Turn my eyes from worthless things,

and give me life through Your word....

... Open my eyes that I may behold

wondrous things out of Your law."

~ Ps 119:37 ~

What do you be-holding? Where are your eyes turned? And what's its affect?

Our childhood song still applies. Sing it again with me and learn, "Oh be careful little eyes what you see........."

Jesus' advice was, "If your eye offend you, pluck it out!" But surely we don't have to go to such an extreme. Close your lids! Throw it away! Delete the thing! Bury it! Put it behind you! Or simply TURN YOUR HEAD!

Where's your focus? And might you need to change your lQQk?

.

Oh wow! I can't wait to watch!!!

The Grace Card!

"This is where the healing begins.... with forgiveness."

And...

"It's not justice we need. It's grace."

Wow, I can hardly wait until this movie comes out.....

Am I the answer to my prayer?

I had a friend send me a message on Facebook begging my prayers and my help, too, if I were able to do so. She wrote:

Sharon, I just sent out an eprayer to our church and thought of you just now. I know you have been helping Tammy a LOT and for that, I thank you. Then I remembered how you took a lady to get on a bus in the prison ministry. Well, here is the problem. One of the homeless ladies that has been staying at the Salvation Army, her name is Ashley. She was pregnant and had her baby Sunday night. Tammy is trying desperately to get the mother, Ashley, into rehab, but there could be hrs. or even a day before Ashley gets approved and they get an open bed for her at the rehab center. She is being released tomorrow from the hospital. The state already took the baby into custody. It is the mother we need help with. She CANNOT be left alone, because if she goes back around those other crack addicts that are there, she may use. This facility has a requirement of being drug free. I am just telling it like it is to you. I did not word the eprayer request the way I am telling you. But, if you can see the problem. Tammy desperately needs someone to take Ashley from midnight tomorrow until Thur. or as soon as she can get in the facility. Ashley will have to be watched VERY closely. She could get in your medicine cabinets, ya know......it's sad, but it's the way it is. Do you work? Or do you know anyone that might be willing to take on this task? It is not going to be easy, but it should be short term. If you have any ideas, call Tammy.

My reply to her was this:

"Oh wow, Dianna, bless this girl's heart. Can you even imagine her feelings??? And bless that baby! I do work on Thursdays. And I don't know of anyone off of the top of my head. I will pray tonight though that God will make a way, and provide someone that He knows can and will help. Perhaps during the night He'll give me an idea or remind me of someone? Meanwhile, I will pray that God will work all of this out for good for both this mom and her baby in bringing them both to Him. Oh mercy!"

She wrote me back to thank me. And then, because of the continual nagging inside me, I wrote her again. This time saying:

"You can't imagine the guilt I feel. I just wrote today about Love, That Love doesn't just say it loves, but love does! I feel like I'm failing this girl. I've got lots to pray about. God will show me what to do... and if I need to. Not only that, but my big beef lately has been that we're often good about praying for the need of others, when sometimes it's US that is the answer to our own prayer that we're praying! We're often praying for God to send someone... when God's answer to us that we don't want to hear is God saying, "You're asking Me to send someone when it's you that I'm trying to send!"

Ow!

And how often is that true?

It's easier to give money to a cause, than to get our hands dirty. It's easier to go and hand out clothes, than to bring someone home with you. It's easier to wish a person well, than to nurse them through it. It's easier to tell someone you'll pray, than be the one who does it.

I don't know if I am the answer to this girl's prayer or not. Sadly, I had a bit of a bad experience recently with helping a homeless man. I don't know that it's the smartest thing ever to bring her into my home. But isn't that what Jesus would do? And didn't I begin my earlier today's blog with "Love casts out fear"? That Love thinks and is concerned for others, instead of being concerned for self?

Oh Lord Jesus, tell me and lead me to know what I should do and make a way possible for me to do it if it's me that You're wanting to "love" as You told us to! I ask for wisdom and discernment, not guilt. Give me clarity and guidance, I seriously need Your help.

Love

Love casts out fear.

Love doesn't think of its own safety, but Love thinks of theirs.

Love thinks and is concerned for others, and not for self.

Love puts others first above themselves.

Love doesn't shrink back, Love reaches.

Love is determined.

Love is persistent.

Love doesn't mock, doesn't ridicule, doesn't persecute, doesn't throw rocks.

Love is patient and always hopes.

Love doesn't backbite, gossip, slander, devour with words; but Love gives and speaks Life.

Love is sacrificial.

Love is kind.

Love isn't just a feeling, Love does feel, but Love also works; Love doesn't just sit, Love does.

Passionately pursuing.

You turn.

It's all about turning. If you've turned. And what you're turned to.

What are you turned to? What are you pursuing?

I was reading in Matthew today. I can honestly say that I am enthralled by just about anything right now that my Savior has said. I wish I could swallow His whole Word in one sitting. I long to hear more! I am a glutton for the feast of His manna. I cannot wait (even though I've read it before) to hear and to see what next He has to say!

Anyway. Back to Matthew. I was reading in chapter 3 where it talks to us about when John the Baptist came in on the scene. It starts as saying, "In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.""

"Repent."

For the kingdom of heaven is near.

In the commentary notes from the version I was reading I read this: "To repent is to have a change of mind issuing in regret, to have a turn in purpose."

We know that. Most of us have been taught that repenting is a change of mind. It's a turning. But for some reason the way it was worded just hit me deeper today. To have a change of mind, regretting the way you had been thinking and living before. And because of that change of mind and that regretting you not only turn completely from the path you were going, or turn from the things you've been doing, but you also have a turn in purpose. Your purpose has changed. Your purpose is different. You no longer have the same purpose anymore. Your purpose now is on God and the kingdom's business.

I like that. A turn in purpose. If you will allow me to ask: What is your purpose turned toward?

The notes went on to say, "In John the Baptist's preaching, repentance.. involved making a turn for the kingdom of the heavens. This indicates that God's New Testament ecomony is focused on His kingdom. For this we should repent, change our mind, make a turn in our life-pursuit. The goal of our pursuing has been other things; now our pursuing must turn toward God and His kingdom."

It's those last two sentences that I liked the most. Those last two above that said (and because I liked it so, I shall repeat it again!), For this (His Kingdom) we should repent,... change our mind,... make a turn in our life-pursuit. The goal of our pursuing has been other things;... but now... our pursuing must turn toward God and His kingdom.

Wow! What is (or has been) your life-pursuit? What do you spend your life, your everyday, pursuing? And are you seriously, intentionally, purposefully, focusedly pursuing God or, like most of the world, truthfully pursuing something else entirely and completely different?

I guess one reason that it struck me so powerfully is this.... In our last year (2010) I watched my God radically pursuing my oldest daughter. His pursuit of her was so over the top, so powerful, so major, so radical, so bold, so obvious; everyday left us blown away and awed by it's wildness. And then, because of His pursuit, I watched my daughter turn and radically began pursuing Him! I know what those words are speaking of. I've done it myself. And  I've had front row seats this past year watching our God and my daughter and the passionate pursuit between them!

What about you?

Where did you spend your last year? What was your everyday life's purpose? What pursued you? And what did you pursue in return? What will you spend your this year pursuing?

If you'd answer and say it was God, I still wonder: do you only spend time with God in your "spare" time? Or, was/is He your primary purpose in life? Your life's passion? Your desire? Your longing? What you think of most?

We are all pursuers. We're all being pursued and all are purposefully (whether we realize it or not) pursuing something. What is your pursuit? Some are pursuing their education. A job. A man. A woman. A status. Popularity. Beauty. Family. Friends. A drug. A drink. An addiction. Freedom from one. Accolades. Significance. Food. Clothes. Shelter. A thinner body. A toner body. A tanner one. A more youthful one. Money. Possessions. Talent. A career. Health. Happiness.... 

Pursuit is a serious thing. I want mine to be Jesus alone!

Oh yes, God does!

I meant to post this earlier. Time got away from me. Then I simply forgot about it. Until today when I was reminded of it again. Can I just say that I know she's mine, but I was so proud of my daughter?!

For those of you who don't live in the South and might not know, a week and half ago Auburn won the BCS National Championship. It was an exciting win for us! A lot of controversy has gone on. But still, we've enjoyed it (Not the controversy, mind you. But the win)! My daughter posted her excitement on her Facebook page the minute the game left us a winner. She wrote about her enthusiasm and then quoted Cam Newton's (our quarterback) statement made afterward. She wrote: 

Prissy: ...and AUBURN WINS THE BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!!! I love the Auburn family, WAR EAGLE BABY!! Cam: "It's just a God thing... and I'm just His instrument."

A less enthusiastic friend posted back to her:

Scotty: Didn't you go to bama? And I don't think God uses thieves as his instrument.

I was blown away by her reply back to him:

Prissy: Honey, you are very wrong. God does use "thieves." God uses "thieves", murderers, adulterers, and SINNERS! "...All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!" John 8:7

And then she added:

Prissy: God uses our past as His platform! He uses our testimony for His glory. And I'm living proof!

And yes, indeed, He does! He uses thieves! And as she said, murderers and adulterers and sinners! He uses abortioners and drug users and drunkards and gossipers and bullies and backstabbers. He forgives as quick as we ask Him to. And doesn't keep throwing our downfalls back at us after He's done so. He ransoms us! Heals us. Restores us. Redeems and uses all of the yuck of our past. Not for evil. Not for shame. But for good. Perhaps He doesn't do as we would do, He not only forgives our wrongs, after He's redeemed them, as Prissy pointed out, He uses our testimonies to bring Himself Glory.

Wow. What kind of a God do we serve that does that! I am proud to be His servant and the instrument He'd chose to use after all that I've done.

A picture is worth a thousand words

I wrote about them just recently. And though I apologize for writing about them again. I can't help myself. These words of a song keep echoing inside me. I constantly hear their ringing. I consistently hear them singing. "Author of my story. Shepherd of my heart. You take every season to show me more of who You are."

I suppose one reason is that I dearly love the song. Another reason is that I love the drum beat that plays in it. Mostly though, I love the picture it portrays to me. Yes, that God is the Author of our Stories. Yes, that He is the Shepherd of our hearts! (Oh, how we need such a Shepherd.) And yet it is the He takes every season to show us more of Who He is that keeps its singing!

Everytime I hear the words I keep picturing a puzzle... and I keep picturing Jesus placing the seasons (adding another puzzle piece) showing us more of the picture of Him.

How will we ever know Him as a Savior until we need Him as one? How will we ever know Him as a Redeemer until we need to be redeemed? How will we ever know Him as Faithful until we see Him in our faithlessness? How will we know Him as our Refuge until we've needed a place to run? How will we ever know Him as our Strength until we've felt fear in our weakness? How will we ever know Him as our Joy until we've suffered in our mourning? How will we ever know Him as our Salvation until we know our need to be saved? How will we know Him as our Strong Tower until we've fallen ensnareed to our own stronghold? How will we know Him as our Deliverer until we need to be delivered? How can we know Him as One Who Sets the Captives free until we need freeing? How will we know Him as the Healer until we need His healing? And the list goes on and on.

Don't miss the season and what He is showing you. He is incredible in every part! Yes, again like the song says, He's the Author of our stories... He's the Shepherd of our hearts...... But He truly is taking every one of our seasons to show us more of Who He is and what He does! 

Oh... at the beauty that He paints before us!  Oh, at the beauty and the splendor of our Lord!

We left her in a barn.

I've not had time to write much lately. And in the time that I have? Words fail to come. As they do so often, they're too feeble. How do you convey the heart?

We took our oldest daughter off to an adventure with her Savior. She will be spending the next several months sitting at the feet of Jesus with 24 other students learning more of Him and His Word and His wonder. The jouney was so obviously Divinely appointed! God so plainly and unmistakenly invited her! During His radical pursuit of her, He was also preparing her for it! Then to our overwhelming amazement we watched Him also provide the payment for her to go, we couldn't have done it without Him! She very much feels specifically and individually chosen! And in these months that she will spend away from the distractions of this world (family, friends, Facebook, Twittering, Internet, working, shopping, Cell phones, etc), she is seriously being set apart very radically! Set apart on the mountaintop with Him. Wow! How priceless is that! What an adventure and journey with the Prince of Peace, the Lord of all lords, and the King of all kings that she's begun! A child alone (with other siblings) with her Father! For what He alone knows He has planned for her.

We left her in a barn. That's where she'll be living. Jesus was born in one. How appropriate for Him to bring her to one to birth new things inside her. To plant more of His seed. For more growing. For more of a greater transforming. The room that she was placed to sleep in with another girl used to be the Prayer Room! Can you even imagine the knees that have knelt on that floor? Or the focus of our Father's face in that space there while so many others were praying? Surely the room is doubly anointed! Surely it has a special fondness. Can you fathom the tears that were spilled? The hearts that cried out? The tendering? The pleading? The begging? The thanking? The awe-ing? The praising? Wonder at all of the words that were said? Words spoken, whispered, cried, said to our Savior?

In some of her last couple of Facebook status' before she left she said,

"Buhhh-byee facebook, cell phone, friends, and family... Peace out world! I'm going to hang out with my Savior for 7 months! See ya'll in August! LEGACY! -- "..."Follow me,” Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed Him." - Luke 5:27-28

I love that! She's going to hang out with her Savior! Jesus simply said, "Follow Me"... and people did! They got up and truly left every thing. "Every thing" doesn't compare to following Jesus. And wonderfully, that's what Prissy's done and is doing.

Another thing she posted was some lyrics to the End Of Me song, "Once upon a time the story goes I laid it all down and let it go, to lose it all... Took a step of faith and said goodbye. And everything I had, I left behind to find true life! When all I longed for, I found finally, at the end of me! - LEGACY IS FINALLY HERE.""

"Once upon a time......... " indeed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woe! I wonder what God's got planned for her in her dot, dot, dot now that her "end of me" has come???

And.. the very last thing that she wrote before she left was the words to another song, "We will use the words we know to tell You what an awesome God You are. But words are not enough to tell You of our love, so listen to our hearts..... if You listen to my heart, every beat would say, Thank You for the Life, thank You for the Truth, thank You for the Way."

Amen! I feel the same! Words are not enough... to tell Him of my love... so listen to my heart! She told me before she left, "I am so excited, mom. Is this real life? Is this really happening? I am so excited to finally DIE! And live as Christ!" I love her enthusiam! I love her excitement! I love the pursuit of our Jesus who loves us and wants the best for us!
 

I couldn't resist. I posted this picture for her on her page and I told her I love her!
 

I had to laugh. She wrote that she's just like me. And she is! She posted her own picture on my page to tell me that she loves me bacccck!
 
Lord, thank You so much for loving us! For loving our children! Thank You for our salvation! For Your pursuit! Your preparation! Your plan! Your provision! And thank You for Your Word! How it leads us, guides us, heals us, equips us, and empowers us. Thank You for all that You do in our lives that we often overlook or fail to give You credit for. Thank You now for the obviousness in this set-apartness of our children for whatever it is that You've planned for their lives. Open their eyes and their ears and their hearts. Show them Your Glory. Reveal to them Your Word. Give them revelation and discernment and understanding. I know I don't even have to ask. I know You already are and that You already will. Lord, seriously, I cannot thank You enough! I know that You're with my girl! And I love how already much my girl loves You! I am awed in the knowing that before this set-apart-time is finished of how much she'll love You more! Thank You for lighting the fire for You inside her! And for consuming already what she used to be to make her someone new. Thank You for planting that passion. Thank You for captivating! Thank You for changing. Thank You for thrilling! Thank You for all that You do! Like the song says, words are not enough, I'll never be able to thank You as I wish I could.

Unnecessary Anguish & A Futile Attempt

Despite the "should" I've suffered the anguish. I've tossed in the turmoil. I did sleep. But I sure rose early! I've been up for hours. I've prayed. I've sought. I've asked. I've knocked. I've begged. And finally I noted a little of what I thought that I was meant to be sent with. Though the message was good (powerful!) still... (as usual), I trembled with the terror. "Oh Lord, give me the words to say. And help those I am being sent to to hear You and not me. To see your face and not mine. To be left impacted and impressed with Your message alone. Let them leave whoa-ing in your wonder and what You have for them. Light a fire (or flame one) with a greater desire for You inside."

Then, washed and painted and doo-ed and dressed I walked to my vehicle confident (kinda), but fearful.

The weather's been bad, so I kept anticipating the call, or an email or something, telling me to stay home. Sadly (but not so secretly to my Father), I kept hoping I'd get one. I didn't. I might as well go now, I thought, it won't be any easier the next time. I keep thinking it will... hoping it will... but I've almost given up on that, because it hasn't yet.

Sitting in my car waiting for my frozen window to unfreeze I decided (just in case) that I'd better call rather than show up making an idiot of myself hollering up to the officer that man's the Guard's Tower at the men's prison. I dialed the number (which I should have dialed earlier) and asked the Sargeant that answered if the Pre-Release Program was still scheduled as normal or if (because of the weather) it had been cancelled?

Guess what?

It had.

"Lord," I said, "You knew that! All of this readying and anguishing for nothing! You knew that long in advance. It would have been nice if You'd told me earlier."

I think He smiled and shook His head... Sometimes though I think He'd probably like to shake me.

Siesta Scripture Memory ~ 2011

I am hoping to join the Siesta Scripture Memory Team with the Living Proof Girls for 2011 this year (see here LPM). I failed to find out about the adventure until really late into the season the last time this sweet challenge was put on. But I dare not want to miss out on the journey this time around.

I am so anxious to see what God's got planned for me. I am anticipating the verses that He will weigh on my heart to memorize for this year's journey each month. I don't doubt the chosen scriptures will have its own reasons! Planned in advanced and purposed precisely for what now only God knows.

Oh Lord, show me more of You this year! I want to be even more smitten by my Savior. More mesmerized by my Messiah. More whoa-ed daily with wonder by the Glory of my God. More overwhelmed and awed by overwhelmization and awesomenesses! His grace and His goodness constantly amaze me! Continually amazed me more! How I love You, Jesus... may I seek to serve You as my Savior. And may I live to praise You, Lord, and live to declare Your Glory and live to be the display of Your Splendor! Only by the power of Your Spirit may I honor You, Lord!

I don't know what this year will bring... or even if my God has plans for me to live through until the end of it or not ("In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps" ~ Prov 16:9).... but if He wills, I hope to fill these dates up with verses as this year plays out.

"And God said, "Let there be light," and there was....."  :)

2011

Jan 1 ~ “You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in Your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had past, ” ~ Ps 139:16 (NLT)

Jan 15 ~ "For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." ~ Jer 29:11 (NLT)

Feb 1 ~ "But as Scripture says: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined the things that God has prepared for those who love Him." ~ 1 Cor 2:9 (God's Word Translation)

Feb 15 ~ "For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." ~ Eph 2:10.

Mar 1 ~ "From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and HE determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us." ~ Acts 17:26-27

Mar 15 - Dec 15 ~ 
   "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings. 
   Consider it pure joy, my brethren, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 
   If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave in the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. 
   The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business. 
   Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those that love Him. 
   When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
   Don't be deceived,  my brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all He created.
   My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
   Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what is says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, nor forgetting what he has heard, but doing it - he will be blessed in what he does.
   If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." 

~ James 1

.

Author of our Story...

Author of my Story?

Wow!

Can you imagine?

The Creator of the Universe and all that is in it... the One Who says "be" and it "is"!.... the Maker of man and Who breathed His very breath into him.... He knows the plans HE has for us...... and EVERY DAY (every single day!) ordained for us were WRITTEN IN HIS BOOK before even one of them came to be!

WHO can fathom?

I love a song that Ronnie Freeman sings (that is also a favorite song of my daughter's), 

From Glory to Glory

Author of my story

Shepherd of my heart

You take every season

to show me more of who You are

You are perfect passion

Heaven’s holy fire

You are Father, Sovereign

who satisfies our deep desires.

Chorus

From glory to glory,

Lord, You lead us Home

From glory to glory,

faithful through it all

You are my Song;

You are my Light

You are the Love

leading my life

From glory to glory

You’re my Rock, my Refuge

A sacred hiding place

I know You are for me,

so I don’t have to be afraid

A constant invitation

To know You and believe

You fill my every longing;

Your love that won’t stop drawing me

You are my Song;

You are my Light

You are the Love

leading my life

From glory to glory......

You are my Song... You are my Light... You are the Love leading my Life...... YOU are MY Song.......... You are MY Light.... YOU are the LOVE LEADING MY Life..... Wow! From glory to glory!

Author of MY story!

Shepherd of MY heart!

You take E~V~E~R~Y SEASON to show ME more of WHO YOU are!

I know that You are FOR me so I don't have to be afraid!

Woe! Who is like the God we serve that loves us so and is so into our lives? Who cares like He does? Loves unfailingly with such perfection? Is ever Faithful, even when we're not?

God's plan is already in place. What He's ordained is already written. We have the sweetest privilege (even when hard) to walk it out. Seriously! It's already been written... and now we watch and participate as it plays out! Kind of wild to think of it, isn't it!

Author of My Story!

And when God writes the book….. His script is always full of adventure, anticipation, and wonder… and it’s written so that it all things (no matter what they are!) work out for good for those that love Him. God is so GOoD at working ALL of our ALLs and EVERYthings out for GOoD and for His Glory if we're willing to let Him! There are such rewards in the suffering if you look to see them! He'll use any and everything. NO-thing is in vain! How’s that for an Author of Life and the One that created us! He KNOWS... while we mostly speculate.

I haven't a clue what lies ahead for 2011. I'm amazed already that God has written me in it! And I know He knows. And I know that it all has purpose and reason. I pray today that I allow Him to use all the part that has me in it all to His Glory. May I praise Him and honor Him and worship Him with all of my being!!! May I BE a skin that Jesus lives in and that shines everyday displaying His Splendor!

"And God said "Let there be light," and there was" - Gen 1:3. Oh Lord, may there be Your Light in me!