A Busy Week and a Grateful Heart

I'm so tired! I'm going to bed but I really need to post this. Something has sidetracked me two or three times this week.

You've had a busy weekend and a busy week. 

You are amazing. I've felt so good and just so....I don't know even know. Mentally and physically. I've just had a wonderful week. Able to get things done without a lot of pain or stress.

You're welcome, but you did all the work.

I couldn't have done it if you had not helped me. Did I say thank you?

Several times in the car today and every day this week. You must keep your eyes on the road, you know.

Yeah, yeah, I know. But suddenly, I was just so excited and elated. You know how I get. What a week!

I do. Still, try to focus on your driving. I can wait till you get home.

I couldn't! You're really amazing, and I'm just so grateful. 

Get to bed. 

Right. Good night!

#ConversationsWithHim

The Battle Belongs to the Lord

Sometimes we stress over things that are not in our hands. It is the most awful feeling in the world to watch someone die while you try to save them. The pain and anger afterward is unbelievable. You spend years wondering why you couldn't stop it. And you die a little as well. 

It hurts just as much when you're watching people you love die spiritually. Often, you beat the floor or the walls and scream for God to do something. You sit and wonder what kind of prayer you can pray that God will hear. You wonder why it is taking so long. Sometimes you're praying for your loved one and trying not to pray for the party responsible for leading them astray, or at least not to pray for a bolt of lightning to smite them where they stand. You feel totally helpless and that is the most awful feeling there is.

Sometimes I have to be reminded.   

Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God's. 2Chronicles 20:15

But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me. Micah 7:7-8

Then I read of how God deals with our enemies with no help from me.

... Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise up against me;  deliver me from those who work evil, and save me from bloodthirsty men.  For behold, they lie in wait for my life; fierce men stir up strife against me. For no transgression or sin of mine, O LORD, for no fault of mine, they run and make ready. Awake, come to meet me, and see! 

You, LORD God of hosts, are God of Israel. Rouse yourself to punish all the nations; spare none of those who treacherously plot evil. Selah 

Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city. There they are, bellowing with their mouths with swords in their lips— for “Who,” they think, “will hear us?” 

But you, O LORD, laugh at them; you hold all the nations in derision. 

O my Strength, I will watch for you, for you, O God, are my fortress. My God in his steadfast love will meet me; God will let me look in triumph on my enemies. 

Kill them not, lest my people forget; make them totter by your power and bring them down, O Lord, our shield! 

For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride. For the cursing and lies that they utter, consume them in wrath; consume them till they are no more, that they may know that God rules over Jacob to the ends of the earth. Selah Psalms 59:1b-13

And I realize that God don't play. 

Where Were You?

 

Where were you all this time?

What?

Where were you all this time? Things were bad. No, strike that. They were absolutely abysmal.

Oh, I've been with you.

What? No. No, you weren't.

But I was. If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

Oh....

Yes. Oh. Psalms 139 

1.O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.
2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.
5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.
14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
19 Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.
20 For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.
21 Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

{sigh}

Well, I didn't mean to make you cry. I was only answering your question. 

I know. Could you maybe make a little noise though? Just in case I forget. 

#ConverstationsWithHim

Lost Lessons

 

Power in Praise

The book arrived a couple of days ago. 

I saw that. You started it.

Yes, but I was doing a review read for two different authors and needed to finish those. I still have to write the reviews. But I'm reading it. I'm about 16 pages in.

And....

.....

AND...

I know. I know. So, I kind of messed up. 

Messed up?

Well, I forgot the formula.

I think we were previously talking about your shirt. You know, the praise shirt you needed to put on.

Yeah. I got that. See, I thought I'd been doing that. 

Hmmm...

But apparently, not really. 

Uh-huh.

Well, really, but not in everything. Some things ... well, you know.

I do, but I'd rather you admit it.

Oh, come on. You KNOW. 

.....

{sigh}

.....

All right! Some things I wanted to you fix. I wasn't praising you for the way they were because I didn't want them the way they were. So ...

That's enough. You got it. So, you got that in 16 pages? I'm impressed.

Not really. I feel stupid. Prison to Praise and Power in Praise, by Merlin Carothers, were two favorite books of mine in the 70s. They had a tremendous impact on me as a teen and stuck with me for years. I lost my copies, and they went out of print, I think. That was before Amazon, but I didn't forget about them. It truly worked then. Somewhere along the way, I forgot about it. Well, I stopped practicing it. I realized it as soon as I started reading it this week.

Finish it.

I will. But I have to tell you, I recognize I'm different now. I'm not the teenager with rosy glasses. I'm finding it harder to see how I can do this. In everything, praise you. That sounds great. In theory, it shouldn't be difficult. It wasn't difficult when I was 16. Life took a hard, several hard turns. Still sounds great, but it feels nearly impossible. 

You are 16 pages in. There is a lot more book before you evaluate things. 

I need to succeed here. This is a lesson I learned and lost, and I need to regain it. 

Let's do it.

#ConversationswithHim

Never Again

As I read my morning devotional about a week ago, I ran across a scripture that made me pause. 

I like it when that happens because it is a sign that God is calling my attention to something important. 

I have to tell you, for a while, I've been struggling spiritually and emotionally. You have only to read the blogs, my Facebook page, or have longer than a 2 minute conversation with me to know. On average, people don't talk to me much. Really. No one. Those who do talk to me, like me. Those who don't get a little intimidated. I probably needed braces when I was a child, because my smile just terrifies them. That or I smell bad. 

I digress.

When I paused over the verse, I made a mental note to come back to that scripture and read more of the text so I understood the context. Of course, as often happens, I moved on and forgot. Mostly because I didn't make a written note. 

The verse in question is in Genesis 8: 20-22. Verse 22 is the verse that got my attention. In these verses, God is repenting the destruction of the world by flood. We've all heard that talked about in Sunday School. This was this was the first time I noticed he also repents for cursing the ground when Adam and Eve sinned! Do you remember anyone preaching on that? 

He harmed the earth, his beautiful creation, and he regrets it. He doesn't reverse the curse because he can't. It's already done and the effects of that curse are already working. Verse 21 is one of the most heartbreaking verses I've ever read. 

 Gen 8:20  Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

Gen 8:21  And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. 

The creator is sorrowing because he cursed the earth and destroyed every living thing. He realizes how horribly corrupted his children have become, and it is tearing his heart apart. Their actions caused his response. He can't fix what they did or change his response to their actions. And it is so very painful for him. We've all been there as parents, in some fashion or other. Haven't we? We've all hated the teacher who punished the entire class for one student's actions. 

In this verse, he expresses his grief and his regret. And he issues a codicil to his will. He adds a promise to the curse to atone for what he did to his lovely planet and the flora and fauna living there. He promises never again will he destroy everything because of human actions. 

Did you get that? He won't ever destroy the earth and all life because humans are evil from birth. In fact, he promises the natural order will continue as long as there's a planet. 

Gen 8:22  While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” 

The state of the planet has been worrisome for many of us. I look around at what is left and think how beautiful it is now, but imagine it in its perfect state. It breaks my heart, too. 

I don't care what science touts about greenhouse gases, global warming, glacial melting or anything else. Nature will do what it was designed to do. This earth will continue the natural processes until God sends a fire and purges it of the corruption that runs rampant. We're living in the beginning stages of this now.

 At the end of that conflagration, there will be a new earth. I suspect the fire will sanitize the earth. The seeds in the ground and animal life will return robust and free of the scourge of corrupt mankind.  How wonderful it would be to see that. Yet, without redemption, we're doomed as human beings. Never to see the sun rise on a pure green sea or over a blooming meadow. 

What Happened?

 Something happened. 

I know. I can tell. Do you know what? 

Absolutely not. But I don't care. I'm just glad it did. I don't really know how to explain it either. 

Then don't try. Just enjoy the change. 

I want to understand. 

Of course you do. When have you not?

Well, that's how we learn, you know. And don't forget, learning leads to growth.

True. So....

{sigh} I don't know. I can't put my finger on it. I just know something changed. It is as if someone turned on the lights. No. That's not it. There was this darkness. 

Yes?

But now it isn't?

#ConversationswithHim