skip to main |
skip to sidebar
"Then they will call on me, but I will not answer;
They will seek me diligently but they will not find me,
Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord.
They would not accept my counsel, they spurned all my reproof.
So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way
and be satiated with their own devices.
For the waywardness of the naive will kill them.
But he who listens to me shall live securely
and will be at ease from the dread of evil."
Proverbs 1:28-33
This was the meat of our SS lesson today. In a nutshell....WISDOM LISTENS.......but those who "hate knowledge" will end up eating of the fruit of their own deeds.
YIKES!!!!
If you want to get wisdom......then listen. Be willing to listen to godly counsel.....First and foremost, our God and His holy Word....then parents, grandparents, teachers, pastors......WISDOM LISTENS!! Those who seek their own desires so much so that they care not what the outcome is, must hate knowledge. Otherwise, they would listen.
Though my flesh screams out from under my very pores and cries for its' own way.....the God who has saved me yearns for me to listen to the voice of WISDOM..........WISDOM LISTENS.
I may not be wise to the world, but I want to be known to the Lord God Almighty as one who listened to WISDOM.
What a thrill to receive this wonderful copy of Thomas Nelson's "Greatest Stories of the Bible!" This is a big book, over 600 pages, of story after story from our beloved Bible. Not every single story from the Bible is covered, but each one that is, is verse for verse from the Bible. The stories chosen are usually only several pages long, which makes it perfect for family Bible time or personal devotions. Each story is easy to find with the topic of each story listed and the chapters it covers. For instance, on pg. 143, you can read the story entitled, "Goliath's Brothers Killed"........2 Samuel 21:15-22.
This wonderful Bible story book will be treasured and used as I share stories with my grandchildren. It is also perfect for gift giving, especially for a family with children. I am delighted with this book and it will be cherished for years to come. I highly recommend it to anyone, young or old.
Over and over these days, I say to myself, "WHAT CAN I DO???"
My flesh wants to "do" something. SURELY there must be "something" I can do Lord about my sister, my son and so much more.
Tonight in our small group lesson, we learned about Hezekiah. MAN, what a lesson!
In 2 Kings 19:14-18, we read his reaction to King Sennacherib's (of Assyria) insulting letter about Hezekiah's "God of Israel" and HIS strength. He mocked Hezekiah's faith and made life difficult for him. In our day, we'd say that he worked hard at wearing him down daily with insults and challenges.
When faced with the question....WHAT CAN I DO?????......Hezekiah was right on the money with his response.....
He picked up the letter and took it to the house of God (the Temple) and laid it before the Lord.
"And Hezekiah recieved the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord."
2 Kings 19:14
WHAT A LESSON! WHAT CAN I DO????? I can do exactly like King Hezekiah....take it to the house of God and lay it before Him. Hezekiah did not do what the flesh would boil up and want to do. No.....his foundation, his faith, his trust and his commitment to the God of Israel was too profound.....
HE TOOK IT TO GOD AND LAID IT THERE!
Oh Father God, let THIS story stand as one of the greatest lessons I shall ever learn...EVERYTHING, absolutely EVERYTHING....must be taken to the Lord, the God of Israel.
As we read on in the story, the angel of the Lord slew some 185,000 Assyrians in 1 night and in the end, Sennacherib was killed by his own sons. Hmmmmmm.....seems to me, God handled it ALL just fine on His own. When will we learn that that's what God does??
WHAT CAN I DO about all these situations in my life and in our world today? I can take them to the Lord God of Israel and simply lay them at His feet.
Enough said???
Some 61 years ago, a chubby cheeked baby girl was brought home from the hospital, SHE WAS THE SECOND BORN daughter, to what would be a family of 3 little girls. Her face was round and she had a head full of hair. SHe was adorable. It would be 5 more years before the baby sister would be born.
This 2nd born sister, is MY sister.....my sister Mary Lou. She has battled and won breast cancer some 20 years ago and now she is in for the fight of her life again as she begins the battle of glioblastoma, or brain cancer. Tonight, she swallowed her very first chemo pill, Temadar, with the first radiation treatment beginning tomorrow.
Please remember my big sister when you pray. God knows her name and I just want to make sure that you do also. Thank you and thank you Jesus. I anxiously wait on the Lord to see just what the future will hold. Knowing HE holds it makes all things well within my mind. May God bless you all.
I wonder if I could count the endless ocean full of times I have spoken these words....
"I CAN DO IT!!"
Yep, I CAN DO IT alright......but it's usually not done right when it's done within my own strength, power and abilities.
Little Titus wanted desperately to shoot the bb gun just like his big brother. He just KNEW that he could! But had we of let the little rascal do it on his own, someone would have gotten their eye shot out! With just a bit of instruction from Poppa, Easton "got it" and was able to shoot his little gun. But Titus, that's another story!
How often we stand up, shoulders flared back, eyes wide open, mouth aghast as we insist that I CAN DO IT! I am problably the number one worst person in the world who has tried this over and over, doing things on my own, and it's a failure each and every time. I have finally learned some hard lessons, but continue to have to learn them daily. I'll be honest....I don't want to learn them cause that would mean that I have to turn EVERYTHING within myself over to the Eternal One, Jesus. Then, that means that I don't have control anymore AND I JUST DON"T LIKE THAT!!!
But.......
I was never meant to have control over my life anymore than Titus was meant to have control of a bb gun at 2 years of age. It doesn't make good sense. I would even go so far as to say.....IT'S STUPID!
And so it is, I continue to learn through God's leading, that I CAN'T do it! I need Him every hour, every minute, every second.
God, help me to let THIS be the year that I STOP saying...."I CAN DO IT" because I know deep in my selfish prideful heart, that I cannot.
Looking back a few years, these slogans are fresh in my mind...
2007 - It's gonna be heaven
2008 - It's gonna be great!
2009 - Everything's gonna be fine!
But 2010.........last night as Darrel and I sat here together and talked, we spoke the words out loud that only if we "go with God" are we going to make it in this new year. Darrel's slogan was, "2010 - The beginning of the end."
Not so upbeat huh? But my dear friend Deb S. said basically the same thing as she was packing to hurry to her father's bedside in NC, with the diagnosis of pneumonia and cancer and a collapsed artery. She also said, this is going to be a difficult year.
And so it is I feel the same way in this, the first day of 2010.
THIS IS GOING TO BE A DIFFICULT YEAR. There is much I am facing on my plate in this new year, as there is with every single one of you. Illnesses, unresolved issues with family/friends, unresolved issues within ourselves that we continue wrestling with, lost family/friends that we are aching over and praying over, children/grandchildren whom we haven't seen or have none or hardly no connections with any longer, diagnosis of terminal diseases, financial problems, insurance problems, problems in our counties/states/government, sin is rampant and people are being hurt everywhere across the globe because of the actions/words that someone else has done or spoken about them. There are the lonely, the poor, the afraid, the hungry everywhere we look. Quite frankly, it is and can be overwhelming.
BUT.....THERE IS A GOD WHO KNOWS MY NAME ("Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, "The Lord knows who are His,"...... 2 Timothy 2:19a) AND HE KNOWS ALL OF OUR NEEDS! THERE IS HOPE, THERE IS A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL YOU ARE GOING THROUGH AND HIS NAME IS JESUS!
As difficult as 2010 looks as though it's going to be, THERE IS A GOD who cradles us in His loving arms and encourages us onward. I am so eternally thankful that I know and love Him and have given Him my life, my everything. There are those who seek to harm others, but I know that my GOD will fight for me in every area of my life.
"The LORD your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes,...." Deuteronomy 1:30
I need not fear and I need not retalliate. I will be silent and simply pray.
My friend, we will all choose this year whom we shall serve...
"If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." Joshua 24:15
I choose life....I choose JESUS in 2010....HE is all I have to cling to. Please know that those of you who read this, are in my heart and my prayers in this new year.
I have just finished reading Debbie S. and Angel R.'s blogs. Normally, I don't read anyone else's blogs just before I blog myself so as not to be influenced or be redundant of what someone else has said. But tonight, I must say, they both blessed my heart and I've just got to comment.
Debbie S. admitted some hidden truths. NO, they weren't anything of the "OMG CALL THE LAW" type or anything....just small stuff. But the "stuff" she admitted are things we all tend to hide or say don't bother us or deny that we do. Again, nothing horrible or anything, just small, even silly stuff, but truths about ourselves that we often don't want to divulge. I saw myself in what she wrote and it felt good.....you know....good like how it feels when you climb into bed between fresh newly washed sheets and pull your favorite soft blanket up over you. THAT kind of good.
And then there was Angel R.'s blog, filled with "what if's" about 2010. She blessed my heart with her boldness regarding her children and her yearning for more of Christ and what could happen if she spent more time eating His Manna. Gosh, it was good.
After reading their blogs, I'm FEELING NORMAL, which doesn't happen often for me!! FEELING NORMAL seems to be something I've never really strived for as I've always felt since I was a child that I "marched to the beat of a different drummer." I didn't want to look like or be like everyone else, I just wanted to be myself. I didn't care if I fit in or not, I just wanted to be me. I'm not sure who that drummer is or what he believed, but I KNEW he was, well......different and so am I. But tonight, for a few moments, I'm FEELING NORMAL and for a few minutes, it felt rather good to "fit in" with others who are "different" and have some of the same thoughts, feelings and hidden stuff just like me.
Thanks ladies....it felt good to be normal for a few moments! LOVE YOU BOTH!
Those of you who know me well, know that it is barely within my capabilities to think of any animal being killed.....and I DO mean, almost any animal. I don't know why and I refuse to try to explain it to those who do not understand me. It is as I have always been, all my life, an animal lover.
And so it is, that I find myself living in a house with a wonderful backyard that is overrunning with squirrels. I love watching them and nearly had one trained (at Mary's desire) to come within a couple feet of me for a peanut this past summer. But now, here we are with WAY too many squirrel nests, appearance of nesting in our attic, a "squirrel proof" bird feeder nearly ruined by their gnawing and little holes dug everywhere, including Darrel's tomato plants AND my orange trees. Even I, am not believing that I have agreed with Darrel that the squirrels have got to go. It still even seems very odd and sad feeling in my heart that I could/would say that, but it is true.
Darrel has been on high alert, watching for squirrels, sneaking out the front door and tiptoeing around to the back for a sneak attack. It was as I watched him creep around the back that I thought about this blog. "THERE IS AN UNSEEN DANGER," I thought, and the unsuspecting squirrels don't even know he's coming.
We may have the keenest eyesight on the planet, our hearing may be ultrasonic and our senses more perceptive than the smartest squirrel, but...
THERE IS AN UNSEEN DANGER.
It lurks behind every bush, hides in every corner and waits as long as is necessary to slay the unknowing. For the squirrels, the dangers name is Darrel, but for us....
His name is satan, the devil, beelzebub. He walks gently, quietly choosing the path of his steps to his unsuspecting victim. He preys on the weak, the lonely, the secure, the proud, the content. He waits and he watches until the moment is right, till the guard of his prey is let down and then he lurches with claws of steel and teeth of diamond sharpness. His grip is relentless and his intentions purposeful. He will attack and attack and attack.
THERE IS AN UNSEEN DANGER.......and he is lurking even now.
As I prayed for my sister today, I found myself saying the above words..."IT'S NOT FOR ME TO QUESTION WHY." But, still, I do. I know God is in control, but I am flesh and my mind wishes I could understand it all on this side of heaven.
Tonight, I ask those few of you who read these postings, to continue to pray for my sister. She will begin chemo a week from today, January 4. The radiation will begin the following day and it is my understanding at this moment that it will continue daily for 6-8 weeks.
IT'S NOT FOR ME TO QUESTION WHY but it IS for me to pray. I humbly ask those who read this, to do the same, if I may so humbly ask. Thank you and may God bless you. Also, thank you to Donna Y. for inquiring about my sister and asking for updates to be posted here. Thank you to all of you who love me and care about my family. I cherish you.
"I can't wait till it gets dark so I can go to bed and get up and go to church with my new BIBLE COVER."
Precious words spoken by my 6 year old grandson. I can see him in his home today, deciding what he was going to carry within the cover. His little tablet with pen, of course, had to go inside and whatever else he may have decided was most important for him to carry in it.
HIS BIBLE COVER brought a smile to his face that I shall long treasure. When he opened it yesterday, the grin stretched across his darling face....."It's what I wanted Yaya...remember when I told you??"
As millions of gifts were opened across this country yesterday and probably many many millions of dollars spent, one little boy was thrilled with HIS BIBLE COVER.
How wonderful that one little boy could be so thrilled with something so insignificant.
My heart is full.
