Walking His Call

There is a worship song whose lyrics state, "You won't relent until You have it all...".  It alway makes me shudder a bit, because I know there are still parts of me that aren't His, and I'm reminded that while He is a loving Father, He is also a jealous God.  He wants all of me - not just the bits I want to give over.  The song goes on to say, "my heart is Yours", and I have to ask myself, "Is it really His? All of it?" I know I miss the mark, at times. My human nature demands its own way. It wants to do what it wants to do, and I struggle to hear the still small voice of God. So, what do I do?  I feel certain that the 1st step is to "Be still and know that He is God." (Psalm 46:10)  our God wants us to know who He is...really know Him. Know that He wants all of us.  Then we have to be willing to let Him "search us and know us." (Psalm 139:23-24) Let Him search us, know us and show us the things that aren't His. IF we t...

Matthew 16: 24-25 Then Jesus told His disciples, "If any one would come after me, let him DENY himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake WILL find it. (emphasis mine) You cannot be in right relationship with God if you refuse to lay down your rights; even to the point  of laying them down when you've been wronged - been offended.  [Offense means, something that causes a person hurt, anger or upset.] Carrying around an offense does not injure the one who offended you; it does, however, deeply injure you.  It keeps the wound open, it drives a wedge between you and God, and it makes your heart hard.  The only way, in my experience,  to begin to heal is to repent (yep, that's the word/action needed here) of your faults in the matter.  "What faults?!?", you ask.  "I was the one who was injured!", you say.  Your fault, dear one (and I speak out of my own exp...

Deuteronomy 6:4 " LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart...soul...strength" The word love here, when taken back to the original Hebrew, means to have affection for. Affection means a tender attachment. Attachement means to have strong feelings of loyalty for someone. We are commanded to LOVE the Lord with our whole being; not SERVE Him with our whole being. We, very often, get the two confused; thinking we are loving Him with our service, and very readily slip into that - as a comfort zone - rather than truly loving Him.  So, how do we truly love Him with our all?  By drawing near to Him, and walking with Him. We allow Him to speak into our lives; revealing to us both good and bad.  We tell Him about our day, and allow Him to be a part of every detail. These things allow a strong bond to form, which inevitably will create a strong sense of loyalty to Him. This, dear ones, is loving God with your ALL.

I wrote this right before my firstborn (at age 17) left for the Navy.  The grief of that time hit me like a ton of bricks, and I’ve never experienced anything like it before.  Today, three and a half years later, I find myself in a completely different, grief-laden experience.  As I read these words again, they still ring true so I’m sharing them with you... In the midst of our happiness and making of memories lurks the knowledge that something dreadful is about to (or has already) happen. It is always there, that deep grief, reminding you that it has not gone away and will not go away. It strives to steal the joy out of every moment, leaving you with a pain that is unique and abiding. As it peeks at you, from its hiding place, you are presented with a choice of what to do. Will you continue to gaze at it and allow yourself to be sucked into its darkness? Or will you turn your face away, slip your hand into the hand of your Father and keep walking forward. I'm...

I started this blog several years ago, and have not kept it up; I'm going to try to be better about this, because I have a lot to say.  We'll see what happens. Everyone needs a place to share their voice, and blogging is a perfect way to do that.  You may write for years and no one ever read a word, but you've gotten out of your system what you were processing and that is huge. I'll share on Facebook when I write something new - feel free to ignore it or share it.  That is entirely up to you. We'll "chat" again soon!

Psalm 118:5-9 In my distress I prayed to the Lord,and the Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear.What can mere people do to me? Yes, the Lord is for me; he will help me.I will look in triumph at those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in people. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes. Where have you placed you confidence? Is it in the people around you? Sometimes the ones closest to us are the ones using us for target practice.  Placing our full confidence is people sets us up for failure.  Every person is a human being; quite capable of letting us down. The Lord is FOR is.  He truly has our best interests at heart. He will NEVER let us down.  He is the only steadfast, concrete part of our lives. Place your confidence where it will be well cared for - in Jesus!

1 Peter 5:8 8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. I got this in living color yesterday!  We most definitely have an enemy looking for a way to knock us out of the fight.  As a lead worshiper, I, along with the rest of the worship team, am on the front lines of the battle.  Yesterday morning (Sunday), I was being "punched" at every turn.  Never once was I able to gain a "firm stance".  Every time I turned around something else was going wrong.  This all started during worship rehearsal, and extended through our first service.  I had trouble singing, and things were tilted.  There was a kind-of stillness in the room like I've never experienced before - the calm before the storm? Perhaps. At the end of worship, first service, one of my team leaders approached me and said. "We need to pray for you before the next service starts".  That sent my mind in a bit...