Pondering Holiness

"Follow holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord"
Hebrew 12:14

Points to ponder........

Submission is the only way into God's holiness. Without holiness, we wont see God's presence in our daily walk, our family, our witness or our ministry. He watches over our struggles to be holy with great patience. Only God has the power to keep us holy, we can never accomplish it in our own strength. Which brings me back full circle..... Submission is the only way into God's holiness!

Such a simple concept to grasp, but easier said than done. Im trying, I really am. I take great comfort in knowing my Savior understands my feelings.

Added bliss:
My daughter sings in her sleep. Once in a while, I can hear her singing songs we've heard on KLOVE. It touches me so deeply to hear her singing to our Heavenly Father while she is sleeping. How sweet is that?!?

Be A Light Unto The World

Somewhere in the middle of a very casual conversation the other
night a young adult began to pour their heart out to me about
their childhood. You see, she was raised in "the system". I
have to tell you that the story of her life just broke my heart
into pieces. Anyone who really knows me, knows that I have an
absolute weakness when it comes to children. If I could, I would
gather all the hurting, broken kids that I come into contact with
and just bring them home with me.

This conversation was so difficult. I was mad and screaming
on the inside at her circumstances, but I knew that it was
very important that I just quietly listen without reacting.
I just wanted to weep at how she talked so matter of factly
about the abuse that she endured on a regular basis.
As I sat there, The Holy Spirit spoke to me saying, "Just
love her, she will be mine, just love her".

The Lord instructed me to get this person a Bible. I prayed
over this Bible with another prayer warrior before giving it to
her. God heard our prayers. The first time she opened this
Bible to read it, the Lord took her to a verse that He chose
just for her. She found healing and comfort in that verse
and turned her life over to God!

What an awesome God we have. What an awesome
responsibility he has given each of us to shine His light
to the world. We are called to Love others as He has loved
us.
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sidenote:

The alarm rang at 6:30 am. I threw back the covers and got
up for work as usual. I made my side of the bed. I went out
to the kitchen, turned on the coffee pot, checked on the
kiddo sleeping and then went back to my room to get
ready. I went into the bathroom, washed my face, brushed
my teeth and got dressed. I walked back to my side of the
bed to get my purse off the floor and noticed 2 shining coins
sitting there where I had recently been sleeping. I thought,
"WHAT IN THE WORLD?" How did they get there?
There is no way that I could have slept with them there
without them falling. It is even less likely that I could have
made the bed with out noticing them or disrupting
them, yet there they sat side by side. I woke John up to
see if he had put them there. He didnt. He thought I
was crazy.

I wonder if God was trying to get my attention, maybe He
wanted me to blog today. Maybe someone else will be
blessed by something He would have me write. Maybe
I AM crazy, but I decided to share this story anyway.

Reflections

Someone referred to me as "old" the other day. They came up behind me and made a wisecrack and then stood there waiting for my reaction. I think I disappointed them when I laughed and said "Im old and I own it baby!"

I love being middle aged, or over the hill or whatever they call 46 these days. I would not want to be twenty years old again, or thirty something for that matter. I would not want to live any moment of my life over again, because you see, what most people dont know about me is that my entire life's journey has been completely UPHILL!!

Most people know that I am somewhat quiet in public, but the truth is Im quietly rebellious. I have had to learn every single lesson in my life the hard way. I am strong willed but I have also learned great patience.

So yeah! Im old if old means finally reaching a plateau in my life. I dont miss the uphill struggles. I dont mind the even ground one bit. Life is good and God is great!

I dont believe I will ever really get old. I fully believe that we'll be in glory long before I am able to tap into my social security benefits. You may disagree with me on that point and thats your prerogative, but I'm keeping my lamp trimmed and burning anyway.

I know I must be homesick

Lately........ all I can think about is going Home. I read about it in scripture. I dwell on it throughout the day. I imagine that I see glimpses of it in the sky as Im making pictures. I dream about it sometimes at night.

Lord, your will be done but come quickly. I long to see Your face.

Oh!! That's what that ment!

I love 'light bulb moments' concerning the Bible. I was raised in church hearing The Word preached 5 times a week by our pastor. He was a fire and brimstone Pentacostal preacher who loved God. I respected his preaching and accepted his authority as the leader of our flock. We all loved brother John.

As an adult, however, I have found (on more than one occasion) that I am confused by some meanings of some verses in the Bible. I read the scripture. I re-read the scripture. My brain goes into a dialogue with itself. I reason and argue with myself. How can it mean one thing when my whole life I have believed it to mean another based on what I was taught.........in church?

I am just so thankful to be surrounded by sound Bible teachers at this point in my life. As I read and study The Word, so much more light is being shed on the Bible's true meaning.

Now dont laugh, but I just realized that when the Bible says that "All men shall be judged" it was reffering to the lost being judged for their sins and God's children being judged to be rewarded. Rewarded?? I was taught and always thought that even tho we are saved we will still have to answer for things we have done. In Bible study I was told that when I sit in judgement I will be given my rewards!!!! I was blown away. I dont need to be rewarded!!! Just let me enter in to the kingdom, that is my reward. Just let me pitch a tent in the backyard of someone else's mansion. Let me trade each jewel in my crown for the soul of someone I cherish so that they may enter the kingdom with me. The Lord died for me. What reward could possibly mean more than that?

There is just no measure of the depth of the Father's love for us.

All who 'wonder' are not lost.

I have a very annoying habit that Im trying to get a handle on. I sit down at my computer with every intention of JUST reading email, but then a yahoo story catches my eye and I CLICK on it. It always turns out the same way....... the oneliner (bait) that they hooked me with is always the most interesting part of the story (and.... they've reeled me in!) Then its off to check the local weather (hmmm, I wonder what the weather is doing in Hawaii right now......"click") I check my bank activity (hmmm, I wonder what the stock market is doing.........."click")Then to my favorite Prophecy websight to read about Isreal, which leads me to wonder what people have written on the facebook link to it and then I check my blog and, and, and, Im left thinking..."What a waste of time that was!!!"

With a "click click here and a click click there, here a click there a click everywhere a click click" I get completely off track! Its a curse! I have a very inquisitive mind.

Am I alone here? Or does anyone else have a wondering mind?
**********
Lord...I pray that You help me get lost in You and all Your wonder and amazement.

Life is good but chocolate is better.

Things have calmed down considerably this past month and we are settling back into a comfortable little groove as the days get longer and warmer.... er ah.... we have a promise of warmer days ahead, I mean summer will arrive eventually!! Right??

We've made a few postive changes as a family. We're trying to eat a little better, trying to get out and move more. We joined a Tuesday night Bible Study and....(drumroll please)
We finally gave up CABLE TV! Ive been talking about it forever, but we finally pulled the plug.

John is still in withdrawals and I promised to reconnect it again in time for football season, but for now I am so grateful not to come home to a blarring television. I really detest it most of the time. Im more of a music lover. I enjoy renting a movie once in a while and I enjoy watching football (yes, I really do! ha ha) I understand the sport and I like having something to share with John, but other than that, Im good.

So.. life is good, my evenings are quiet and we are Blessed.