PERSPECTIVE ...

Good Morning!

I pray your day is off to a great start.  

My day – well it started several hours ago and it is only just past 6 AM now, if that helps put things in perspective.

YET – I amazingly do not feel tired

I feel energized as I’ve spent time this morning,

Praying and reading, reflecting and meditating.

My thoughts keep circling back to the amazing grace of GOD and,

The comfort that comes in knowing that the Creator of the universe is universally in control

In that process, there are verses and songs that keep flooding my heart

Earlier this week I shared a song entitled – Surrounded (This is How I Fight My Battles)

Well, there is a line at the very end of that song that says:

“Your blood puts everything in the right perspective”

That single line reminded me of something the LORD spoke to me many years ago:

“You have not yet resisted to the point of bloodshed” Hebrews 12:4

FACT

For all the challenges we face, we have not endured what Christ endured for us.

There has been no greater sacrifice – EVER

And nothing can separate us from His love.

The day the LORD spoke those words to me – all those years ago – I was feeling sorely overwhelmed with the situations of life. Having lost focus, I was well on my way to having a most profound pity party. But the LORD put a swift end to all of that as He charged me to keep things in proper perspective. It was then that I was reminded of all Christ went through in striving against sin and securing our eternal salvation. 

I am reminded – everything outside of that sacrifice is sweat and tears; and the only way those things will destroy me is if I make a conscious decision to let myself sit in it and drown.

I am reminded further – there is still much work to do.

I am reminded ultimately – there is NOTHING that can separate me from the love of God. 

As noted earlier this week, “Whether we live or die, we are the LORD’s” Romans 14:8

• Whether the relationship lives or dies
• Whether the career lives or dies
• Whether the finances live or die
• Whether our own health lives or dies

AND SADLY, YES –

• Whether the loved one lives or dies
• We are still the LORD’s and we can be comforted. I have comfort because I know that the particular loved one who stays in my thoughts continually – My Mom, SHE IS THE LORD’S AS WELL

KNOW THIS – The entirety of every situation and circumstance is in the LORD’s able hands. The earth and everything in it belong to Him. And He cares for that which concerns us.

KEEP STANDING! KEEP PRAYING! KEEP TRUSTING!  KEEP MOVING!

Praying You Have a Tremendously Blessed Day!

Zenobia

standing at the edge ...

Sitting here on my sofa ... enjoying the quiet of the evening. It seems the older I get, the more satisfaction I find in the simplest pleasures. Yet there is a small 'something' hovering in my mind and heart tonight.

You see, I have a very big decision to make...

And, if I am honest, it is times like this when being a single woman is most challenging. I have been saved long enough to understand the power that exists in agreement. Scripture tells us in Matthew 18:19, 'if two of you shall agree on earth concerning anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in Heaven.' Yet what is one to do when you have no one to come into agreement with ... no one to pray with ... to truly pray with? Please do not misunderstand me. I know I can pray on my own (and do), but it would just be nice sometimes ... to have some help.

I'm not nearly as strong as those closest to me seem to think I am.

As I talked to a good friend this afternoon, I was sharing how surreal it feels to be standing at the edge of something you've only imagined.

• Was Abraham pacing outside the tent as Sarah was being prepped for birth? What was going through his mind? What had been going through his mind in the weeks leading up to that moment?
• I wonder how Moses felt when he was finally able to see with his eyes (albeit from a distance) what I am certain he had imagined many times ... what had been promised.
• As Mary began to feel the pain of regular contractions, was the discomfort overshadowed by the excitement of what was about to happen? I mean the promise was real to her the moment the words were spoken, And, she carried the promise, feeling the flutterings and kicks. But what were those weeks and days and hours like just before she held the promise?

I cannot begin to count the number of times in my lifetime that I have heard the quote, 'If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.' And, if I am honest, I think it is causing me to hesitate. Yet deep down I know that when it has come to the best things that have happened in my life ... when it seemed too good to be true, it was usually God!

There is this strange feeling of expectancy mixed with something else that I can't quite put my finger on.


Even with so much standing before me, I know so much more will be required of me. To just grab hold of what is right in front me requires such FAITH. It will require a move a God, a miracle similiar to what He did for the children of Israel as they circled the walls of Jericho. Theirs was to take the steps of faith to enter the promise and to leave the results to God Almighty. I know my situation is not very different. There are still a couple of walls that need to come down and doors that need to swing open. Yet He remains unchanged, the same faithful God He has been ... forever. 

I so need to hear from the LORD ... directly ... with great detail and clarity.
Praying earnestly ...

Have a Blessed Evening!

 

help when you need it...

Even as I wrote about the process of one divine moment, I’ve been praying about the process where I now find myself.

With the publishing situation, I have now entered a new stage in the process. It is a stage which will require me to interact [heavily] with others – networking is what some call it. Yet whatever its name, it is something that I have never possessed a natural skill for.

It seems unnatural for me to just strike up conversations and coordinate meetings to increase name recognition. Please do not misunderstand me, I can carry on a conversation and connect with individuals very easily, when it is one-on-one and there is something substantive to discuss. But the thought of having to casually interact with large groups of people on a consistent basis is a little frightening to me.

I know – as a believer – I am not supposed to walk in fear.
‘For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.’ (II Tim. 1:7)

However, contextually speaking, that spirit of power, of love and a sound mind were spoken with respect to sharing the gospel. That would be easier for me – because it is focused discussion. Sing the praises of and market another, this I can do. Taking on the same task for myself will prove challenging. But, it is nothing that God cannot help me with. After all, I did not know the first thing about writing a book when I started.

I still do not have all the details of the individual answers of ‘how’ this morning.
But, I have an answer that addresses every question which will arise.

As I prayed this morning, I was led to read an entry from Faith’s Checkbook. It was a devotional from March 23rd – a date which is significant to me. You see 3.23.03 was the day I died and came back to life. I’ll share that story some day. But today, that entry from 3/23 encouraged me. It is my prayer – if you are searching for God’s direction today – that it will encourage you also.

Have a Blessed Day!

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A Sure Guide - from Faith’s Checkbook by Charles H. Spurgeon

“I will bring the blind by a way they did not know.” Isaiah 42:16

Think of the infinitely glorious Jehovah acting as a Guide to the blind! A blind man cannot find a way he does not know; even when he knows the road, it is hard for him to traverse it.
As to the future, all of us are blind, but the Lord Jesus will lead us even to our journey’s end. We cannot guess how deliverance will come to us, but the Lord knows, and He will lead us till we have escaped every danger.
Happy are those who place their hand in that of the Great Guide. He will bring them all the way; and when He has brought them home to glory and has opened their eyes to see the way by which He has led them, what a song of gratitude will they sing unto God! Lord, lead Your poor blind child this day, for I know not my way!
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‘I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, and not forsake them.’ Isaiah 42:16

He is help when I need it.
He is a sure guide and will direct my steps.
Father, do the same for my friend reading this today.
In the Matchless Name of Jesus I Pray! Amen