Whatever It Takes

Have you ever prayed ~ Whatever it takes Lord, just bring that person to you. To my shame, I’ve never had the courage or even the faith to pray that..... before now. About 2 months ago ~ in desperation ~ I begged God to bring one of my family members back to Him ~ whatever it takes. That was so tremendously hard to do. I had fought doing that for so many years. If you are a momma ~ you can likely imagine my greatest fear in praying such a prayer ~ yes, that’s right ~ the loss of a child. And yet it wasn’t until about two months ago when I had reached the end of my rope that I finally begged God to do whatever it would take to bring this person to Him.

It wasn’t until a month later that I realized that two other people had prayed the very same prayer about this person. I can thankfully report that all of my children are very alive and well at the moment. It appears that God was not going to choose my greatest fear to accomplish His will after all ~ at least it appears that way. And yet I find myself walking in the darkest of valleys. I actually thought it was pretty dark before but I am here to testify that things can get darker than we had even fathomed. I know my Lord is with me - walking each step that I walk. Oh how I have claimed Psalm 23 in its entirety -Lo I walk through the valley of the shadow of death ~ I will fear no evil~ thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Balm for my soul indeed.

This "whatever it takes" prayer is bringing many changes to my life and the lives of my family. I will after 24 years re-enter the work force ~thank you Lord that I have my teaching certificate to fall back on; I will discontinue home schooling ~ after fifteen blessed years ~ and that is such a heart break because only three more years were needed before graduating our youngest daughter; I will relocate to my hometown that I have not lived in for over 30 years.

I must confess that I would never ~in a million years ~ have suspected that these changes would be connected to my prayer of "whatever it takes." It is so many changes to handle simultaneously and they aren’t changes I would have chosen but I must keep my eyes on the Lord and off the circumstances and know that God will work all of this to good. He will be victorious. He is doing whatever it takes to bring this person back to Him. I’ve had to remind myself of that a whole lot lately. So dear friends, keep me and my family in your prayers. God can do the impossible ~ but hearts have to be open and willing. May this heart I speak of get to the point of being open and willing.

It's A Beautiful Morning

He Arose!

He Arose!

Hallelujah Christ Arose!

~Happy Easter~

The Tree, The Cross, The Savior

I am writing on Thursdays for the KJV Blog. You may go there for today's devotional. Happy Easter to all. He is risen!!

A Lesson in Bambi ~ Fly When You Are Supposed To

One of the first movies we bought for our daughters was Bambi. We watched that movie again and again and again. One scene that is ingrained in my memory is when "the hunters" enter the forest and the birds and wildlife scramble. There is a conversation between two pheasants as they are hiding and basically one bird is telling the other to be quiet and "not fly - lay low and keep your cover." Often times I have used the line "Don’t fly ~ whatever you do, don’t fly" to encourage myself and others to wait upon the Lord. Don’t fly until He tells you to. This morning when I was reading in Isaiah 40 and 41 (two of my most favorite chapters in the entire Bible), I was once again comforted with these words ~ He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength [40:29]. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles;they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint [40:31]. Fear thou not; for I am with thee; be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the hand of my righteousness. [41:10]. For I the Lord they God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee [41:13]. That little pheasant in Bambi was faint and weak. He didn’t wait ~ for if he had his life would likely have been saved. I got to thinking about this application this morning and it is more than safe to say that we humans are notorious for flying when we shouldn’t and not flying when we should ~ and often fear comes into play keeping us from doing what the Lord wants us to do. We grow faint ~ feeling as if we have no strength ~ as we wait for the Lord to show us His perfect will. And yet He promises that He will increase our strength. What a precious promise to claim! The Lord also promises that if we will wait on Him we won’t be weary, and we will no longer be faint. And so, like the little pheasant, we need to wait ~ wait upon the Lord for whatever He needs us to wait for. Be not dismayed ~ He says ~ for He is our God. He will strengthen us and help us. And on top of it all He will hold our hand too. Oh what a comfort!

Loose Lips Sink Ships

A recurring theme in Proverbs is the use of our tongue. Have you ever heard it said "what is in the well of the heart will come up through the bucket of the mouth." Eventually the mouth will reveal what is in your heart. So often we speak when we shouldn’t. Then we try to cover our tracks by saying "I was just kidding." Sometimes I have even heard others say "there is only an element of truth to what I’ve said" ~ in other words they "sort of" meant it. Yet other times, Christians will blame God for their ill-chosen words ~ implying He burdened them to speak frankly. Our mouths do give us away - revealing what we are harboring in our hearts.

Proverbs 4:24 says Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. I looked up froward and perverse and they mean contrary, obstinate, cranky, stubborn, etc. We’ve all had a contrary and stubborn day here or there - God says to put this type of talking "away." In chapter 8 and verse 13 of this great book, God says He hates the froward mouth.Chapter 10, verse 19 says In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise. When we are not wanting this means we have plenty. So this verse is saying many words = plenty of sin. Usually it is best to just let things go - not get into an argument with someone. Because if we refrain our lips (which is to hold back or curb our speaking) ~ God says we are wise.

The tongue is a powerful weapon ~ it is described in James 3 as a fire, a world of iniquity, an unruly evil. In Proverbs 12:18 God’s Word says There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health. Have you ever said something to someone in anger and even you were surprised with the words that came from your mouth? I know I have. It is kind of like toothpaste ~ once out of the tube it can’t be put back in. People can accept our apology and forgive us but the damage that we have done with our tongue can take much time to get over. satan gets great joy from replaying the words again and again in the minds of the erred - hoping we will remain angry, become discouraged, and that the stream of bitterness will begin to flow through our veins. This is why God warns us to hold our tongue.

So how will we know when to speak and when not to speak? Well, chapter 10 and verse 32 says that the lips of the righteous know what is acceptable; but the mouth of the wicked speaketh forwardness. We need to stay in God’s Word, stay "prayed up" and walk as close to God as we can . And while we may not always speak what is right we know what is right, don’t we. For as soon as that which is not righteous has exited our lips we know.I believe the most affective approach is found in Proverbs 15:1 A soft answer turneth away wrath; but grevious words stir up anger. I have been on the giving and receiving end of "a soft answer turneth away wrath." And I’ve also been on the giving and receiving end of "grevious words stir up anger." When we speak softly to someone’s anger, things calm down almost instantly ~ or if we are the angry one we will calm down (kind of like throwing a wet rag on a small fire). And, as well, if we speak grevious words to someone they can immediately get their ire up and fight back ~ or we can get our ire up very quickly when someone speaks in an unkind or ungodly way to us (like throwing gasoline on a fire).

It isn’t rocket science - just remember a soft answer, a soft spirit, a kind word is going to shut down someone’s anger almost immediately. I’ve seen it many times over the years.We know what is acceptable and unacceptable to speak. And we know what to do when someone speaks unkindly or angrily toward us ~ soft words..... It sure makes life a whole lot easier.