As I listen to the news I am at a loss for words- Please pray for these people. We have a God that can make a way when there seems to be no way and that is what these people need right now. A way to receive water and food and medicine. A way to receive shelter and electricity in the cold temperatures. Father, restore that the people may be able to use their cell phones to call for help and also to let family know they are ok. Sustain them Jesus on the little water and food that they have.
God is mighty, God is loving, God is bigger and stronger than any earthquake or tsunami. God, you are faithful and we know that you are there! You have a strong hand and you lack no resources to help these people. Oh Father, open up the windows of heaven and pour out your resources on these people. Oh Father, may they know that is is you, Jehovah Jireh, their Provider that is making a way for them.
Through this tragedy may people know that you love them and that you are there. Oh Father, please provide. May we unite and find ways to help them, may we be generous at this time in both our treasure as we give and our time as we pray for these folks. Dear citizens of Japan, may you experience the love of Christ and may you find some comfort in knowing that there are so many people across this globe praying for you and looking for ways to help you. I love you with the love of Christ and I am faithfully praying for you. More importantly you are so loved by the Creator of the Universe and the One who created you. He is there.....reach out to Him in prayer.
Isn't life so fragile. People are just going about their day, unaware that in just seconds they would find themselves in the middle of a very deadly earthquake and trying to escape the tsunami that was to follow. Some survived, others injured or dead. Many grieving the loss of life and treasures, and things we often take for granted like water, electricity and shelter.
As I watched the videos that revealed the unbelievable horrific scenes, all I could do was pray. So many still yet to be rescued as the storm has isolated them and the rescuers are having trouble reaching them. So many can only look around them and see what once was.
Yet this one thing we know, God is in control.
Heavenly Father
Please wrap your loving arms around those who are suffering, those who are scared and especially around the children who lost parents, whose little minds are unable to understand all that is going on right now. Thank you that you are in control. I believe that even this can be used for good, to bring people to a saving faith, to grow all of us as we awake today to find we appreciate life a little more, we hold a little tighter to those loved ones around us, we drop to our knees a little more frequently, we find our eyes spending more time gazing upon the One who holds the entire world in His hands. We take our eyes off the things that don't have eternal value. May we draw closer to you as we, this entire globe, grieve with those in Japan right now who are suffering and those around the world who have friends and relatives over there. You are a faithful, loving God who makes no mistakes and we know that you are the healer, the healer of bodies and the healer of hearts. We love you.
This is perhaps the most precious lesson I learned from my dogs that I will share. I am frequently reminded of this lesson but I will always remember the first time I learned this lesson through an "aha" moment.
In 2003 I lived in the Miami area....oh that was a taste of heaven! : > I would walk my dogs around this lake that was essentially in my back yard. There was a path around the entire lake and after the sun would set, providing us with a tad cooler temperatures, I would put the leashes on my dogs and off we would go for our walk around the lake.
If you have spent any time with my dogs you would see that my dogs have very different personalities. I have one dog that has no problem keeping pace with me. She doesn't have a desire to run ahead and she doesn't have a desire to lag behind. She loves to stay pace with me. However......I have another dog who is just the opposite! She always wants to be about 20 feet in front of me. She seems oblivious to the collar around her neck and the leash that is attached to it. This leash is only about a 5ft leash. She can go no farther than that for my hand has a tight grip on the leash and I maintain control of that leash during the entire walk.
Well, as you can probably imagine, my dogs come to the end of their walk, one dog energized, and the other dog, well she looks like she just finished the Boston Marathon! Why? One dog didn't try to race ahead or lag behind. She understood her limitations of the leash and she was content keeping pace with her master. My other dog, however, she is worn out and ready for a long nap. Why? She was not content with the limitations the leash had placed on her. She desired to go beyond.....even though her master is stronger and kept control of the leash, she just kept trying and trying to get ahead. A little tug on the leash to remind her of her limits was to no avail. She felt the little choke, coughed a little and was at it again, striving to get ahead.
Let's look at this and what the Lord said to me that day. Both dogs with the same master in control of the leash, walking the same trail....the dogs are the same age and just about the same size. At the end of the walk one dog is energized, the other one is exhausted. Why? One was content keeping pace with the master, the other one was not. This was a "aha" moment for me.
I am on the path of life that has been laid out by my Master. The gracious thing about my Master is that He has a leash on me for my own good. I keep a leash on my dogs for their safety, not mine. Without that leash, they risk getting killed- they don't understand cars and how running out in the street can be lethal to them! God loves me enough to keep a leash on me. He knows I don't fully understand everything and I can get myself in trouble if I am left to run as I please.
I must learn contentment within the limitations of the leash and I must be content to keep pace with my Master. I can try to get ahead of my Master but He is stronger than I and He is in control of the leash. He has a plan for my life and within that plan is a timing in which His plan for me will be carried out. If I try to speed it up, I will not get ahead and will only get exhausted.
At the end of the walk, I have one dog that is content and one dog that is exhausted. One enjoyed her walk and the other one is ready for a long nap........the Lord spoke clearly to me here.
He longs for me to enjoy my walk with Him. He has provided the means by which I can enjoy my walk. He has a leash on me that gives me some freedom but also provides me with safety. He is with me on the walk, leading the way, holding the leash. He never leads at a pace that I can't keep up with. Although He may lead me in paths that seem a little scary or a little tough, He is there, He is leading, He is protecting me.
I don't want to come to the end of my walk with the Lord exhausted and joyless. At the end of the day or at the end of my life, I want to look back with joy on my walk with the Lord. Essentially it is up to me. If I am willing to keep pace with the Master then I will experience joy. If I spend my time fighting my Master all along the way, trying to get ahead, trying to go places I don't belong, then I will come to the end of my walk exhausted, and the level of my joy will be low, possibly unmeasurable.
How are you doing in your walk? How am I doing? I will be quite transparent with you. I am at a place in my life right now where I would like to run ahead of where God has me right now. Yet, God has a hold of the leash and He is not letting me get ahead. Why? As hard as this is for me to say, God has set my pace through this particular trial. I can try to rush through it but He is holding the leash and I will only add to my exhaustion when I try to fight against the leash. I am reminded that I must keep pace with the Master- He always leads us THROUGH the valley of the shadow of death, never leaving us there.
Exhausted? Perhaps it's because you're fighting to get ahead of your Master. May we walk each day singing and more importantly believing that "It is well with my soul". The joy of the Lord is our strength. We must know that God desires we walk the path He has laid out before us with joy. Count it all joy! Pray for me....I will be praying for you.
To God be the glory!
Welcome back to my current blog subject of what the Lord has taught me through the lives of 2 precious dogs. Today I want to talk about "Anxiously awaiting the return of my Master".
My dogs are so funny and bring me such joy. One way that they have brought me joy is through their watchful eye just waiting for me to walk through the door each day.
Through the years my dogs have spent some long hours without me home (12 hours is the longest). I never like to leave them that long but sometimes my job left me no choice. They got used to my schedule and so as they saw my routine and my final move of putting on my shoes and grabbing my bags, they would (and still do) let out this sigh and lay down with the saddest looks on their faces. I walk over and give each one a hug and a kiss and a bone that will keep them busy for a while and go on my way. After a long day at work, I have to say I have always had an anticipation on the drive home of opening the door to find them waiting for me right there. It's as if they can smell me! As I near my door, I hear their little noses sniffing and I hear their little cries of excitement. I open the door and feel like a movie star getting mobbed by her fans! The excitement goes on for several minutes.
Well, at first I can remember thinking "all this is going on because I was gone for the entire day" But, it this is their behavior when I am gone for 12 hours or gone for 12 minutes! They sit at the door, just waiting for me to enter. My husband tells me when I am gone and he is at home with them, they still sit by the door waiting for me. It's not that they don't love my husband, but I became their master when they were six weeks old. While they do obey my husband, they understand me to be their master.
I believe the Lord showed me a lesson here. He spoke to my heart one day, reminding me that He is returning one day, (sooner than we probably realize). Will He find me watching, anxiously awaiting the rapture of the church. That once in a lifetime moment (for real) when we who are in Christ will actually meet Him in the air and be taken up to our new home and far from the wrath that will soon come upon the ones who rejected His offer of salvation! Will He find us watching?
Unlike my dogs, this anticipation of the return of my Master, my Heavenly Father, does not mean that I can sit on my duff and just do nothing. My dogs can do that and get by with it because....well, because they are dogs!! However, the Lord has told us to "Occupy till I come" (Luke 19:13 KJV) Or, as we read in the New Living Translation, "Invest this for me while Iam gone". God has given each one of His children a job to do and we are to invest it, planting, watering, or being a witness to the harvest, we are to do His work as we anxiously await His glorious appearance.
May the Lord find me watching and working while I watch and may He find this true of you also! Thank you Father for what you have taught and continue to teach me through 2 precious pups!
To God be the glory!
Yesterday I began a new blog topic. I want to spend some time talking about my precious dogs and how the Lord has used them to teach me several things about my relationship with Father God. Today I want to talk about the lesson I've learned about following close to the Master.
One thing that my dogs have done since I brought them home at the young age of 6wks, (they are now 11) is follow me everywhere I go. They crack me up. I can get up from the table to get something to drink and even though I am still within their vision, they get up and come into the kitchen with me. If I get up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, they get up from their sleep and come into the bathroom with me.
My husband will take them outside and as soon as they come in from their walk they fly up the stairs and sit by my side acting as if they hadn't seen me in years, they are so anxious to come back to my side. At night time they will sleep right up against me. I feel like the creme filling of an Oreo cookie! I am trapped in between my husband on one side and my dogs on the other! ( I'm not complaining!) I have awakened on some mornings to find my one dog laying right on top of me just staring at me , waiting for me to open my eyes.
When they were young pups they wanted me to carry them everywhere I went. I would pick them up and carry them around- they were so content in my arms. Today that is impossible to do since they both weigh about 37 pounds!
What has God taught me through their behavior? Glad you asked! He has used their example to show me how important it is to follow close to my Master, my Heavenly Father. God wants me to follow Him everywhere He leads me- Even if it requires me to leave my comfort zone. Remember I told you how my dogs would awaken from their sleep and hop off the bed to follow me into the restroom- Sometimes my following God will require that I awake from my slumbering life, hop off my comfort zone and follow Him even though I may not yet understand what He is doing and where He is taking me.
It's funny, I have never taught my dogs to follow me so closely. I don't have to call out their name several times or go searching for them- I always know where to find them.....they are right beside me.
That is how I want to follow my Master, my Heavenly Father. I don't want God to have to chase me down or call my name a dozen times before I show up. I want the Lord to always know where He can find me, right by His side.
The precious thing about God is that His arms are strong enough to carry me. I can no longer carry my dogs around, they are too heavy. However, God's arms are strong and in those times that I am so weary that I need God to carry me, I will always find His arms open and strong enough to carry me through.
Are you following your Master closely?
To God be the glory
Luke 9:23 (NLT)- Then he said to the crowd, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me."
We can read the Old Testament and learn of how God spoke to His servants in that day. We can read the New Testament and learn how God spoke in New Testament times- In many ways different than how He spoke in the Old Testament.
We can listen to testimony of our Christian brothers and sisters and how they heard from God.- But we cannot predict God, meaning how he spoke to others may or may not be the same way He will speak to you and me. Therefore we must have our ears open to God, not a method or an other's testimony- doing so may cause us to miss what He is telling us.
I want to talk a moment about a way God has repeatedly spoken to me- it is not in the way I expected. There was a time in the 1990's when I spent a lot of time on the road. I was single at the time and my frequent traveling did not allow me allow me to develop close relationships with people. Quite often I came home to an empty quiet apartment. This season I speak of taught me how to enjoy quietness and solitude. At the same time, I did experience loneliness.
I am such a lover of dogs- therefore, in 1999, I decided that I would get a dog to love on and have to come home to. Well I ended up with 2 dogs - It wasn't what I planned but when I held 1 puppy from the 2 left in the litter, the other one began to whimper and when I picked up the whimpering one the other one began to whimper, They succeeded in capturing my heart and I brought home 2 precious puppies.
What has transpired in these 11 years with these dogs was not what I expected. I was looking for companionship- but God gave me more than companionship. Through the years these dogs have been my disciplers, and God has taught me many lessons of His love, His character and His rebuke at times- all this using 2 little dogs. I want to take time in this and following blogs to just share the lessons God has taught me.
1.) Dependence on my Master- One thing that will never change is that my dogs are dependent on me. I have to feed them- they can't cook or grab a snack from the pantry. If I don't give them water they will not get any for they cannot turn the faucets on and fill their own bowl.
Children are dependent on their parents for a time- but sooner or later they grow up and they no longer need us to cook for them or pour drinks for them, they are independent. However, dogs are unique in that as they age they never gain that independence. I will always have to feed them, I will always have to supply them with water to drink. They are dependent upon me and they understand that, and not only do they understand it, they are content with this dependence.
God showed me (and reminds me so often) that I am dependent on my Master, Father God. I must look to Him to be fed by the Word of God, I must look to Him to satisfy my thirst through His springs of living water. I have no other place to go- for there is no other name by which I can be saved.
Just like my precious dogs, I can never expect to become independent in this area. I will not "grow up" and find that I can now feed myself. Until the day He calls me home, I will be dependent on Him to meet my needs.
There have been times that I have accidentally left a bag of treats within their reach and I will come home from work only to find a trail of shredded wrapping. I soon learn that my dogs have decided to take things into their own hands (or paws!) and they have shredded the bag with their teeth and eaten every treat that was in that bag! Ultimately they did get fed, but they make a mess in the process. Why? They did not wait for their Master to give them food.
You and I belong to a Master, a Heavenly Father who is willing and desiring to feed us. In fact, it was Jesus who said "man cannot live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord."
We have a Master who longs to satisfy our thirst- In fact, It is our Master who gave the invitation "Everyone that is thirsty,come! It is our Master who said I will pour water on him who is thirsty.
We can choose to satisfy our hunger and thirst on our own- kind of a "self serve" life- God will not force Himself or His ways upon us. He will let us go our way- in order that we may see that when we attempt to serve ourselves, apart from Him, we (much like my dogs) will make a mess of things. But, praise God, He is always willing to accept us back with loving arms and teach us more on what it means to be dependent on our Master. He never makes a mess and He never lets us starve. He has a perfect track record!
Who is feeding you? In your hunger and in your thirst, turn to the only One who can truly satisfy your needs. What a timely post the Lord placed on my heart tonight- He knows that right now I need to just trust and depend on Him and be content with where He has me at this time,
Ephesians 3:20 (NLT)- Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.
oh my !! My story is evidence of the truth of His Word. It is my God at work in a moment that I shall never forget.
It was Jan 11,2007 when I had surgery for uterine and ovarian cancer. During my treatments that followed, (February) I received word that my father had died. I flew home for that time and my mom drove me back to the airport 10 days later. On the way home from the airport, she was instantly killed in a weather related accident. I got home only to hop right back on an airplane and head home for that.
At the end of April, the Lord began laying on my heart to move to the Los Angeles area. When I was a little girl I had always said I would live there one day because I loved the mountains and the ocean. But you see, now I am quite a bit older and I had pretty much given up on that dream. I couldn't figure out why the Lord pressed upon my heart to move to California at that time. I had just gone through some tough moments and was finishing up some treatments. Why would I leave my doctors and my friends to move so far away? Yet, the Lord did not change His mind. I packed up and began my move across the country to California. To be honest I was not excited about it....the timing was just too scary for me. All the way to LA I talked aloud to God. One thing I kept on saying to Him was "Well, Father, I guess this seals the deal on me never getting married, after all I'll never find a good Christian man in Los Angeles!" But at the same time, I wasn't angry, I just felt like this was something I was surrendering to Him. After all, I would rather be single than be married to the man that God did not choose for me.
I was scared! Scared for my physical health, scared for my finances....you name it, I was a little nervous about it. Yet, in my heart I knew that this was a God thing.
I arrived in Los Angeles and began driving around looking for a church. I saw this one church that was part of the denomination I was raised in. But, this church from the outside just looked dead! I did not want to go to that church. I kept driving around, looking but God kept bringing me back to this church. Again, I was not sure what God was up to and at times wondered if I was correctly discerning His voice.
I attended that church. My second or third Sunday there, I met this man. He had stood up in church to announce that he and others met for intercessory prayer during the second service and it was open to anyone. I love to pray so I thought I would check it out. (At this time, I wasn't even thinking about who this man was...I knew nothing about him) I went to check it out and guess what. I was the only one who showed up that day for the intercessory prayer, other than the man who announced it! We began to talk a little and learned we shared a heart for the same ministries (evangelism and discipleship). We prayed and it ended. Over the next few months we began to spend more time together. August 19th, 2007, we knew we were in love. We got engaged Dec 24, 2007 and we were married March 1, 2008. Today we serve the Lord in a different church and we continue to grow closer to God and closer to each other.
Who would have guessed what God was up to?! Certainly not me! But one thing is for sure....just when you think you've got it all figured out, God surprises you! What a wonderful man He gave me. Happy Anniversary Baby!~ Thank you Father, that you constantly are looking out for me, and You've got it all under control. Help me to trust you.
To God be the Glory! I dedicate this song to My Heavenly Father and my dear husband
