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“Trapped!!”

Trapped!

Have you ever felt trapped?  Maybe you feel trapped in an unhealthy marriage, friendship, family, or even your job.  What can make the difference?  We can’t always get out of situations that we are in but we can change how it feels.

I am reminded of something that just happened recently at my parents.  My mom called because a Bluebird had managed to make its way down their chimney into their stove.  Dad, who has a really bad shake, needed some help to get it out.  Mom is no help when it comes to things like this.  As a matter of fact, we told her to go outside while we did it.  She gets so freaked out.

My daughter (14) and I went over to help.  We took a plastic bag and taped it around the door and then opened the door with the bag.  We wanted to try to draw the bird into the bag.  But because the bag had to be black, in order to be big enough to go around the door, there was really no light to draw him.

So my daughter used the bag to go in and try to grab him.  The interesting part was that he did not try to fly all over to get away.  We thought that maybe he was injured or near death because he was not trying to get away.  It took a little bit because she could not see what she was doing, but she finally was able to get him.

Anticipation

We carefully closed the door and untapped the bag, closing it carefully in case the bird would get out of my daughter’s hand.  I was anticipating that we would have to maybe care for a bird that was injured or not well.

When we got outside and opened the bag and immediately he flew to the nearest tree.  As he flew out of the bag he started to sing.  Then he landed on a tree branch and sat there and sang and sang and sang.  We felt as if he was thanking us for helping him.  We realized that he had felt that we were trying to help him and that was why he cooperated with us.  And then to have him thank us with his singing was such a delight.

It made me long for heaven and the connection we will be able to have with the animals.  What it will be like to swim with the dolphins, pet and lay with the big lion, ride a horse without a saddle or reins, and even be able to have any bird sit on your finger or shoulder and sing and sing and sing.

Analogy

The trapped bird reminded me of how some of us feel trapped.  It doesn’t matter what it is.  It could be a debt hanging over your head, maybe you are trapped in yourself and can’t seem to reach out to others, but whatever, whenever, or where ever you feel trapped there is a solution.  Your situation may not change immediately but how you feel about it can.

Many times we are in the situations we are because of our own choices.  We may be in a bad marriage because we did not seek or even listen to the Lord or Godly counsel.  It also could be that we married before we gave our heart to the Lord and our spouse did not give their heart to God as we did.  Most of the time debt comes from our own bad choices and we have trapped ourselves in the “stove” of debt.  But even in our bad choices, there is a Helper.

When that bird went down the chimney she didn’t just happen to stumble in.  It has a special spark arrestor on the chimney so the bird would have had to actually go into it to fall down the chimney.  There are many times that we do the same thing.  We are walking along in life and we see a job, person, things that we feel we need or want and we don’t investigate thoroughly before we make the choice to dive in headfirst.  And then afterward, too late, we realize it was a big mistake, just like the bird realized too late.

There are other times that we are walking along and it is not something really obvious and we fall in.  But the solution for both is still the same.

I like to call it S U R R E N D E R

 

  • Start your day with God
  • Utter words in prayer
  • Read your Bible
  • Recite verses to memory
  • Encourage others
  • No criticizing words
  • Direct praise to God
  • End your day with God
  • Rest in God’s promises

 

The only way we can have success in our lives is to Start our day with God in Uttering words in prayer, Reading His Word, and Reciting His Word to memory.  When we have His Word in our hearts He can draw it to our memories in the day when we need encouragement or help with any temptation or decision.  Encouraging others always helps to get our minds off of ourselves.  And when we are speaking No words of criticism about people around us or even about ourselves, it draws us closer to God and away from that depressing feeling of being trapped.  It doesn’t help the other person or us when we criticize.  We should be Directing our praise to God each day for what He has done for us.  It may take some time for us to become grateful because we have been so negative but it can happen and what joy it brings.  Make sure to End your day with God.  Recite a verse you are memorizing and pray.  And then Rest in His promises.  If you do these things you will be able to sing a song of praise to God for His help of drawing you out of the “stove” (pit) of sin.

Excited

What I am most excited about is to be totally rescued from the “stove”.  Soon Jesus is coming to take us home, to take us out of this “stove” (world) of sin and sorrow.  When He comes and takes us to heaven that will be the ultimate joy.

I can just imagine myself singing as I ascend up to meet Him in the air, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.  Wherefore comfort one another with these words” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18.

And then when I am actually in the city the joy will be so overwhelming I will burst out with singing praises to the One that has made it possible for me to be there.  I will sing my gratitude of praise to Jesus, “…. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing” Revelation 5:12.   What a glorious day that will be.  And I don’t know about you but I don’t want the things of this world to destroy that moment.  I want to surrender all my life to Jesus.

Dear Father,

“Take my life, and let it be

Consecrated, Lord, to Thee;

Take my hands, and let them move

At the impulse of Thy love;

At the impulse of Thy love;

 

Take my feet, and let them be

Swift and beautiful for Thee.

Take my voice, and let me sing

Always, only, for my King;

Always, only, for my King;

 

Take my lips, and let them be

Filled with messages from Thee.

Take my silver and my gold:

Not a mite would I withhold;

Not a mite would I withhold.

 

Take my will, and make it Thine,

It shall be no longer mine;

Take my heart, it is Thine own,

It shall be Thy royal throne.

It shall be Thy royal throne.

 

Take my love, my Lord, I pour

At Thy feet its treasure store;

Take myself, and I will be,

Ever, only, all for Thee.

Ever, only, all for Thee.”

— Frances Ridley Havergal

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Surrender all to Jesus today.  He will help make your path straight and bring you joy and peace no matter what situation you face.

Love you all.

Do you have a nature story you can tell?  I love to hear nature stories.  Share what you learned from your experience.

 

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“Who Are Your True Friends?”

Have you ever really wondered who your true friends are?

Maybe you even question whether you have a true friend?  True friends seem to be hard to come by these days.  Then the question would be, what is a true friend?

I remember, as a kid having what I thought was a true friend.  Then one day someone came to visit our home.  And then we went to the home of my best friend and her family.  After this person visiting had said something to my best friend, which to this day I don’t know what was said, our friendship was over.  It was like it never existed.  I am sure each of us has gone through similar situations.

I was reminded this past weekend how important friendships are.  Our family spent Thanksgiving with some great friends.  Friendships are a blessing and we don’t want to lose them.

A Friend

Friendships are either like a two-way street or they can be like a one-way.  I think friendships can start out as a two-way street.  Your both going opposite directions, one is following Christ and the other the world.  We have these friends all around us.  They may not be our best friends but we still call them our friends.

Two-way street

The question is, what brought the two of you together as friends?  I mean your goals are obviously not the same.  Hopefully, they see something in you that they are attracted to, Jesus. And hopefully, you have a love for people and want them to know about the love of Jesus.  I would caution you here to be careful.  We need to build a friendship with people to reach them for Christ but we need to be careful that we don’t let their friendship drag us in the opposite direction that we want to be going.  We need to love them where they are at and join them in activities that are not displeasing to God.  But we need to stay away from the things that we know will get us on a one-way street going the wrong direction.

One-way street

One thing about one-way streets is that there is more than one lane.  And the other thing about one-way streets is that you can be going in the wrong direction.  Spiritually speaking one way goes toward God and His ways and the other way goes against God and His ways.  The best kind of friend to have is one that is traveling the same direction you are, toward God.  Now there is still more than one lane.  We are all on a different journey.  The Lord is working with each one of us differently so we are not all going to be in the same lane (growth level) but our goals are the same, to reach heaven.

When we have a best friend going in the same direction we need to accept them where they are and love them and we always hope they do the same for us.  This doesn’t mean at times out of love we don’t go to them and share something that we see in them that may need improvement.  But when we do we need to make sure our motives are right and God is leading us.  I would hope that my best friends would do the same for me.  We need to pray for one another as well.  We can be so close as best friends when our goals are the same.

The Best Friend

There is One Friend that is the best.  He will always love us no matter what we do.  He longs for that mutual love.  No matter what direction we go He will always be there prompting us to a better way of life but He does not force.  He wants to spend time with us but He will not join in anything contrary to His Father’s will, He will not join us in our sin.  But he is still there waiting when we come back.  He is a friend that will always lead us in the right direction.  But we have to choose it.

Our earthly friends may disappoint us but Jesus will never disappoint us.  We may be disappointed in the direction that He leads us. At this point, we need to examine our hearts.  Do we really love and trust Him?  Trust is a part of friendship and our earthly friends may not always be trustworthy but Jesus always is.  He knows everything about us. And He knows us so well he knows what is best for us.

Dear Father,

Thank You for giving Your Son.  Thank You that He is the best friend that we can have. He is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.  Continue to prompt our hearts to be on the one-way street toward You.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Make a commitment to be on that one-way road toward heaven.  The way is narrow but there is room for everyone that wants to go there.  Praise God!

Love you all.

Do you have a best friend?  What makes them so special to you?