The Stand

Daniel 3 Then Nebuchadnezzar in a furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Mesach and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, Is it true that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up?...If you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands? Shadrach, Mesach and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God, whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He doesn't, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.

Sometimes you must make a stand for something. And sometimes you must stand against something. And sometimes it is the same thing.

Our God is able to deliver us. But even if He doesn't we will be faithful to Him. That is not always easy. In fact, sometimes it is extremely difficult.

Thou He slay me, yet will I trust Him.

At this point in my life it is easy to praise Him. Easy to trust Him. Easy to talk about how wonderful He is. Because I am in the middle of the best year of my life. I have all I really need. My family is good. My kids are good. Life is good.

But what if tragedy struck? Again. What if something terrible happened? What if the worst happened? Is my foundation strong enough that I would not be shaken, even though the earth be moved underneath me? What if the winds blew? What if the floods came? Do I love Him enough that I could say, in the midst of the worst, Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.? Not just anything hurting me, What if He allowed me to fall into a nightmare?

God did choose to save the three young Hebrew men from the fiery furnace. But what if He hadn't?

What about you? Is God allowing the flame to touch you? Are the winds blowing? Are the floods rising?

Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for Thou art with me.

He has to be more than just words on a page when times get rough. There has to be a friendship there. There has to be a relationship. If He is just a story to you then it won't be enough. He must be with you. Thou art with me.

At the funeral last week, Billy's funeral, I saw his wife, Sue, during the church service. In the middle of her husband's funeral she stood, with hands raised, in worship to the God who could have saved him. If God had been willing He could have healed her husband. Instead, God chose to give to him a heavenly body. And Sue chose to make a stand.

She chose to stand FOR her Lord. She also chose to stand AGAINST death. She did both at the same time. By standing in worship to her God, during the most difficult time in her life, she took a stand and said, Oh death where is your victory? Oh grave where is your sting?

Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.

Father, I love You. Thank You for this time in my life. These months of peace and well being; times when all is good and praise is easy. I know storms will come. Build in me a faith that can stand like Sue's. In adversity. During pain. In times of trouble. May I be like the Hebrew children and say, He is able, but even if He chooses not to, I will be true to Him. He has done enough already for me to me to say, He is good. He is faithful. All the time.

The Weakness

I Kings 9 And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all Solomon's desire which he was pleased to do, that the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time, as He had appeared unto him at Gibeon. And the Lord said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before Me. I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put My name there forever, and Mine eyes and Mine heart shall be there perpetually. And if thou wilt walk before Me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and will keep My statutes and My judgements: Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel forever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel.

I Kings 11 But Solomon loved many foreign women...of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, You shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods. Solomon clave unto these in love....For it came to pass that when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart away after other gods.

We all have a weakness. What is yours?

What is the first thing that came to your mind? Maybe it was gossip, compulsive spending, pornography, some addiction or pride. Whatever it was; it may be that the Lord is dealing with your heart about a particular issue. As He is with mine.

As I was reading this story I thought about how many times there have been similar stories in God's word. From the garden of Eden, with the forbidden fruit, to the final defeat of Satan in Revelation, God speaks truth to us about the consequences of our choices and the risks of being disobedient to His will. And over and over we see the consequences of sin in the lives of God's people.

O wretched man that I am!! Who will free me from this body of death?

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!! How often would I have gathered thee as a hen gathers her brood under her wings but you would not!!

For if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed!!

Christ longs to set His children free. From sin. From addiction. From whatever it is that He brought to mind when I asked the question, What's yours? Only complete surrender to God's will in every area brings the joy of freedom. It is not about a list of things that we must not do. It is about being set free from anything that holds you captive. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead dwells inside of you, if you are a believer.

I pray for that power to sustain you and give you the courage to give it all to the One who died to set you free. Pray for me as well, that I would choose to surrender ALL to Him.

Father, I love you. I want my life to reflect that. Remind me that YOU dwell in me and that NOTHING is impossible for YOU. Awaken in me the power that raised You from the dead. Be strong in me. Remember that I am flesh and that I am weak and prove Yourself strong Lord.

Now to Him who has called us from darkness and delivered us to the kingdom of His glorious light be praise and honor and power forever. Amen? Amen.

The Bread

Mark 8 In those days when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, He called His disciples to Him and said to them, I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with Me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away. And His disciples answered Him, How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place? And He asked them, How many loaves do you have? They said, seven.

And that was enough. Enough for four thousand.

Do you know that what you have is enough. Enough that when Christ dwells in You that it is enough to accomplish anything that He calls you to. The lofty dreams that you have. The unreachable goals you have set. When God call you to anything, you have enough. From the earthly perspective, from the flesh, it may seem impossible. But just like the loaves and fishes Christ comes into our lives and takes what little we have, blesses it with His presence, divides it among the crowds and it satisfies His purpose.

If there had been four million people it would have been enough. And then some. He is more than enough. For you. For Me.

If you are hungry. If you are faint. If you are far from home. Sit before Him. Let Him bless you. Let Him satisfy you. Be found in Him; for He is always enough.

The Return

I Thessalonians 4 But we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord, Himself, will descend from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of a trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so will we always be with the Lord. Therefore, encourage one another with these words.

Today I am going to the funeral of a man of God. A friend of the family has died. Gone on to be with the Lord. Yesterday my brother in law called to give us the arrangements for the funeral. As I shared with him my condolences for the loss of his friend, he said to me, I wonder how much of heaven he has already taken in. And I had a sudden, unexpected rush of envy. It struck me so profoundly that Billy is with Jesus, in heaven. Right now. He has passed from death unto life. And in this moment he is seeing the face of our Lord.

II Timothy 3 But understand this, that, in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unapeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.

Sounds familiar doesn't it? There is a lot of talk these days about end time. From Christians, from scientists, even from Hollywood.

Matthew 24 But concerning the day and the hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.

Not Christians, not scientists, not Hollywood. But we can certainly see the signs of the end times given by Jesus, Himself.

Matthew 24 What will be the sign of Your coming and of the close of the age? And Jesus answered them, See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in My name, saying, I am the Christ, and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains....And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
The funeral today was more of a life celebration than any I have ever attended. While it is always sad to say goodbye, it is sadness mixed with hope. This is not the end. It is just the beginning.

Are you ready?

The Redeemed

Mark 5 Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you.

Psalm 107 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever! Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, who He has redeemed from trouble and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in: hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and He delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in. Let them thank the Lord for His steadfast love, for His wondrous works to the children of man! For He satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul He fills with good things.

As Thanksgiving approaches I am thinking more and more about all the things that I have to be grateful for, thankful for. As I look at this past year compared to the years of the past I am overwhelmed at what the Lord has been able to accomplish in my life....If you will give Me your life, I will make something beautiful out of it.....And He is always faithful. I have been given another chance, another life, another day, another heart.

It seems to me that God was pleased to crush me; that is my old will. And since I would come to Him no other way, He allowed me to choose the route that would bring me to Him. I would not come by pleading. I would not respond to mercy. I had no love of being wooed by Him. The road of sorrow led me to Him. I was too stubborn to come another pathway. He destroyed me. And that was the best thing for me. It was the road that led me home.

Over the last few years the Lord has been redeeming my life. My love for my mother, my children, my sisters, my extended family and finally, myself. Not that there is anything good in me, save the Holy Spirit, but He has taught me to value life, beginning with my own. He has graciously restored to me the relationships that I thought I might never have again. Slowly, and over time, because of the great devastation that I had created, He began a rebuilding process in me. Redemption.

It has been a long road, especially for my children, who suffered so much at my hand. They have been graciously learning to forgive me and I am trying to forgive myself. But this I know, God is in the business of restoration. Reconciliation. He is the Master Builder and the restorer of the breach. He began the work with the tearing of His own flesh and He accomplishes His will in us daily. Relentlessly seeking the lost and bringing them back into a relationship with Him.

That is the goodness of God. That is the miracle of who He is and what He does. And to this I say...Father to You alone belongs all praise. You alone are worthy to receive worship. You are the only God and I will adore You. With all that I have and all that I am; for You have redeemed me. From death. From hell. From the grave. From sin. Who but You, O Lord, could have saved someone like me? Worthless. Broken. Destroyed. And You became my good. My intercessor. My sin bearer. My life. You lifted me from the pit. You are my glory and the lifter of my head. You have made me glad. I cannot help but speak of the things that I have seen and heard.

Psalm 108 Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn! I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples: I will sing praises to You among the nations. For Your steadfast love is great above the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let Your glory be over all the earth!

I have been redeemed by the Only One who is able to do so. Let the redeemed of the Lord, say so!!!!

The Potter

Genesis 2 Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living creature.

Jeremiah 18 Arise and go down to the potter's house and there I will let you hear My words. So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hands, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.

Revelation 7 These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will shelter them with His presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their Shepherd, and He will guide them to springs of living water and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Suppose...The life you have now is not the life that was intended for you.

Just as in the beginning God, the potter, created man and placed him in a perfect garden, He created you in your mother's womb. And just as the first family was corrupted by sin, so were we all.

Has you been hurt by sin? By what your parent's did? Or strangers? Or life? Was sin introduced into your life?

Then come to the Potter's House and hear the words of the Lord. Even though your vessel may seem spoiled, He is able to rework you.

I have been thinking this morning about all the dynamics in my own family. Sin that caused the suffering of my children, myself and all those that I love. I believe that God had chosen a very different pathway for our lives when He fashioned us in our mother's womb. But just like Adam, sin was introduced into our garden as well. Sometimes by our choices. Sometimes by force. Sometimes by ignorance, laziness, selfishness or worldliness. But sin. Nonetheless.

God, in his infinite mercy chose to rework us rather than to toss us aside. He is choosing to rework me. It seemed good to Him to do so. I may not have been the person that He created me to be at the beginning but He redeemed me and reworked me into a different vessel. One that He could use.

Come to the One who formed you and let Him rework you. This life won't last forever. The pain you feel won't last forever. There is coming a day when all things will be made right. When there will be no more sin or no one to introduce it.

He who sits on the throne will shelter them with His presence. They will hunger no more....thirst no more....He will guide them to the springs of living water....God will wipe every tear from their eyes.

The Legacy

Matthew 26 Then all the disciples left Him and fled.

There are some roads that must be traveled alone.

Jon 16 Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it is here, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave Me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.

Or should I say, alone with God.

I Corinthians 15 O death, where is your victory? O grave, where is your sting?

Last Sunday my family and I attended a birthday party. A life celebration for a member of my sister's church. There was a typical church service with Sunday School, worship music followed by the preaching of God's Word. And then, like southern churches do so well, a country feast and a birthday party.

The fellowship hall was filled with people from all over the country who gave testament to the godly life that this man had lived. There was a slide show, laughter, tears and praise to the God who gives us all good things. And of course music. Beautiful harmony that, to me, is only found in the deep south. Rich, beautiful, from the heart harmony that comes naturally to southern gospel singers.

But to this celebration was a biting taste of bitter sweetness; for unless God offers a miracle, the life that we were celebrating may soon be no more. Without an intervention from God this man is going to God. A last journey.

And though he is surrounded by those he loves and who love him, he will make this last journey alone. With God.

Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, Thou art with me.

Thou. Not just anyone. Thou. And Thou alone.

There is a time when nothing else will do. There is a place where no one else can go. Thou, and Thou alone, art with me.

I tell you this, brothers; flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

Unless Christ returns we will all taste death. It is a certainty. A sure thing.

Do you know what has stayed with me since Sunday? The one thing I carried away? Because of this man's testimony, and his belief that this life is not the end, his life had such a profound effect on others, for good. For God. For Eternity. Even on his birthday two souls were saved. Maybe a final gift to the Lord or from the Lord. But the thing that lingers with me is this....What about my own legacy?

What am I leaving or not leaving? Will I have a fruitful legacy to leave with those I leave behind?

Maybe I should start building a legacy like Billy's. Laying up treasure in heaven and leaving good memories on earth.

II Timothy 4 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved His appearing.

Whom have I in heaven but You and on earth, besides You, I desire nothing.

O death, where is your victory?

Revelation 20 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it. From His presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne,and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyones name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

I Thessalonians 4 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to be with the Lord in the air, and so we will ALWAYS be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

The Loss

Philippians 3 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share in His suffering becoming like Him in His death that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

How do you measure your worth? Is it found in what you possess or in who you belong to? Is your focus on accumulating treasures on earth or are you concentrating on sending them ahead of you into eternity? Would we be willing to lose everything to gain Christ and to count all that we have as rubbish compared to being conformed to His likeness by the death of our selves.

For the last couple of weeks Ken and I have had the opportunity to experience a life very different from our own. For the second time in two weeks we are in the Carolinas with Ken's work. Last week we spent 3 days and 2 nights in a luxury golfing community and this week we have been 3 days and 2 nights at the Hilton Hotel. I have found that it takes very little exposure to wealth for me to want a lot of it.

After all, who wouldn't want to live in a gated community in a multimillion dollar home, play golf all the time, drive a convertible Mercedes down to the marina to launch your yacht in beautiful South Carolina? Who wouldn't want to have the very best of everything including shopping and lifestyle accommodations?

I am beginning to think that I wouldn't. Not really. In these last two weeks I have imagined what my life would be like if I really lived this life instead of just pretending to. And what I found is that I don't like my behavior as much. It's not quite as happy and content as I thought. My peace is not what it should be. Wanna know why? My focus is turned to the earthy. The temporary. And in doing so it has tuned, just a little, from Christ. I took less time out of my day to think about Him. To talk to Him. To worship Him. To read His words of life. I wasn't really doing anything sinful, just more shopping, more eating out, more sightseeing. But suddenly I find that I might just get used to this.

Maybe that is why God made me lowly. Because He knew that if I had a whole lot, I might forget who supplied it.

So this morning I am making a different choice. I am remembering Him, the Rock from which I was hewn. I will remember my first love. My desire. My Beloved. For nothing on earth can compare with knowing Him. Everything else can be counted as loss, rubbish to me this morning.

That I may know Him and power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffering becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Hour

Matthew 24 But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all way, so will be the coming of the Son of Man...Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night that the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Are you ready? Are you sure?

If Satan cannot convince us that the coming of the Lord is a lie, then the next best thing is to convince us that it is not happening today.

Eat. Drink. Be merry.

It is the American dream. Life. Liberty. The pursuit of happiness. It is our right as citizens of this country. But is it Scriptural? Is it the attitude of Christ in the life of a believer?

So today I must ask myself...Do you believe this? And does your life reflect it? Ouch.

The truth is that if I really believed that Jesus could come at any moment today and that there are people that I know and love that would spend an eternity in hell, that this would be a very different day. I would be asking the question to everyone...Are you ready? Are you sure?

But do we really believe?

Luke 12 The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops? And he said, I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for may years; relax, eat, drink, be merry. But God said to him, Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God.

Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at the table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants.

Awake, O sleeper and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

II Peter 3 Since all of these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening to the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to His promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

So....Are you ready? Are you sure?

The Place Prepared

Matthew 26 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus saying, Where will You have us prepare for You to eat the Passover? He said, Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.

Will you be prepared to serve Him when He calls you with a need?

What an awesome honor. The God of all the universe, the Messiah of the entire world, the Lord of Hosts, needs a place in your home to rest and have His last meal with His friends before He suffers. For you. For me.

One last peaceful meal. One last chance to share His heart. One last happy memory to sustain the Lamb of God through the torture to come. The wine. The bread. And the cup of suffering. Before the agony of the cross.

Who was this man who held a room in preparation for the Son of God. A place prepared. Waiting for the time when it's Master would have need of it. A common room. An uncommon purpose.

My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house.

The last time that the Passover Lamb would need to be sacrificed for the sin of the people. This time it would finally be sufficient to pay the debt. A perfect Lamb. Without spot or blemish. Pleasing and acceptable to the Father.

Do you have a place in your life that is prepared for your Master? Is it clean and swept and ready for his use? Is it waiting for the time when He will have need of it?

He is calling to us. He is calling to you.

Do you have the room prepared?

The Darkness

John 11 After saying these things He said to them, Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to waken Him.

Jesus alone has the power to waken us from sleep.

Just as God spoke, Let there be light and there was, He speaks to our hearts and light shines in. Before Jesus came to me, my entire life was lived in the darkness. My soul, my heart, my thinking, my habits. It was not so much that I chose this, but that I was unable to produce light on my own. We are in darkness until the light of Christ shines forth in us. And how would we recognize light unless we had walked in darkness?

The Bible says that when Jesus learned that Lazarus was ill, He stayed two days longer before returning to Bethany.

Why?

Then Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not here, so that you my believe.

This is a hard concept. Was darkness allowed in my life so that when Jesus shined His light into my life, others could see and God would be glorified? I believe that it was for this purpose. And sometimes I just cannot tolerate that thought. It is hard to understand. A loving God allowing tragedy in our lives so that it might allow Him to show Himself strong in us.

Maybe it is this...we can't see the final outcome and He can. We live in the here and now and He lives in the everlasting.

Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.

Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.

Do you believe this?

I do. I believe that bad things happen to good people. Life is hard. Sometimes tragic. I also believe that God is in control and that He is always good. I believe there is coming a day when He will finally and for all time, set things right.

The man who had died came out....Jesus said to them, Unbind him, and let him go.

The Shepherd

II Samuel 7 Now, therefore, thus shall you say to My servant David, Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over My people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over My people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house.

Do you remember what your life was like when God found you?

I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep.

Not leading or shepherding. Following.

I was thinking about my life as I read these verses. Our children are grown and doing so well. They are spending time together and becoming such great friends. Ken and I have a great marriage and a wonderful home. We travel and have a awesome life. Things are good. And maybe that is why these verses mean so much to me. There was a time when my life was very different than it is now. A world away from this. It was so hard. Heartbreaking.

And that is what God did for me. He stepped into my life and changed everything. My career. My family. My home. My life.

I would have thought that I had little in common with David, the King of Israel. But maybe we all have something in common as believers. We are redeemed by God. We are changed by knowing Him. We are saved from our old lives; from our old habits; from our old way of thinking. He takes us from the pasture, from following the sheep and builds for us a house.

Father, thank You for finding us. Where we are. How we are. And thank for you loving us enough not to leave us that way.

The Timing

Esther 4 And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Timing is everything.

It is amazing to me how God orchestrates the timing of my life. Perfectly. For his glory and for His purpose. When we left California in April and drove home to Tennessee, I had no idea what God had in store for me this summer. So much has happened, not only in our family, but in us. So many works of reconciliation. So much going on with our kids. One child got married, one got engaged, one bought a house. So much has happened with this blog and with the possibility of it being put into print. The trip to Israel and the hope of a future with that work. All a part of God's timing for me. For us. Divine appointments. Interventions of God's will on my own. God has so interrupted my life and, like always, improved it immensely.

How could I have imagined the wonderful works that the Lord would accomplish? He is always more than I expect. More than I deserve. More than I can imagine.

Today, we are in North Carolina, by the sea. It is beautiful. As I sit looking out at the changing leaves, the changing season, I wonder what God has in store for me next. Is this season of my life over as well? When we were driving home in April, spring was coming to life in the south and it was a beautiful thing to witness. It was as if I was seeing life come into being. I was unaware that life was awakening inside of me. Blooming. Blossoming life fed by the water of the Holy Spirit. This blog has been a documentary of sorts of the awakening of God in my life. It has allowed others to glimpse into the summer of my Pentecost. Life from death. Hope awakening.

Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

As the world prepares to sleep for the winter my prayer for you and for me is that Christ would awaken in our hearts. Fresh. New. A flaming fire. An unquenchable thirst. A longing. May we never be satisfied with just being saved from sin. I want all of Him. A consuming passion for His presence. A never ending longing for the Word. A living, breathing passion for the work of the Holy Spirit. Awaken in us Lord. Stir us up in our spirits. Fan into flame the spark that was placed in us at our salvation. Pentecost, Father.

The light of Israel will become a fire and His Holy One a flame.

For the Lord your God is a consuming fire.

The Room

Matthew 23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

At the beginning of the week I started a new project. I love new projects.

I emptied out the office where I am writing. I am turning it into a prayer room. A total makeover. I painted the entire room, hung new shelving and bought new furniture. I framed pictures from Israel and everything is looking fantastic. It is beautiful. I worked so hard all week to get it done as quickly as I could so I could get back to writing.

In fact, I worked so hard that I really didn't have much time for anything else. I found myself distracted during our Bible study this week; not really paying attention. Anxious to get to work so that I could get finished and enjoy my new space. After a couple of days I noticed that my prayers felt kind of flat and that when I would try to write it just felt forced so I would put it away thinking that I would pick it up later when the room was done. I attributed all this to being out of sorts since my place of quiet time with the Lord was under construction. I felt sure that when everything was back to normal that everything would be back to normal.

Yesterday the room was finished enough that I was able to move back into it. It looks great and I was so excited.

I sat down to write and....nothing. I read my Bible for a while; I prayed. Nothing. I thought, maybe I just need to worship, so I did. I wrote God a note about how awesome He is. I meditated on His goodness. I went to church today and, still, nothing from the Lord.

Until I read these verses. Scribes. Pharisees. Hypocrites. This can't be for me, can it? Lord I love you. I read, I pray, I worship. Not me, Lord.

And so He speaks....The writing was a gift Connie. A gift for my beloved one who was content to sit and listen. Who wanted ME. First. Foremost and above all. Do you still? Did I ask for a new prayer room? Did you even notice that I had gone as you breezed by Me every day? How long did it take for you to realize My absence? Two days? Three?

Oh Father. I am so sorry. And so foolish. How could I prepare a room for You while ignoring my relationship with You? You dwell in my heart, in my soul. Not in a room made with hands.

The prayer room is beautiful. And God desires good things for His children. Nothing wrong with that. But my heart was in the wrong place. My relationship with Him is above all things. It has to be my priority. Hearing from Him has to be my greatest desire. He is my portion. He is my prize. Not a room, a relationship.

I am writing again, obviously, but only after the Lord confronted me with these verses. And I agreed with Him. My cup looked pretty on the outside but the insides were full of greed and self-indulgence.