Posted on

“What is it?!!!”

The unknown!

Have you ever had something crawling on you and you had no idea what it was?  You brush it off and the next thing you know it is there again and again.

This is what happened to me recently.  We went to a creek with some newly made friends.  We were sitting there with our feet in the water when I felt something crawling on my foot.  I looked down and there was a rock on top of my foot.  Shoving the rock off, I went on listening to the conversation that was happening.  Then I felt something on my foot again.  I looked down and there was another rock on my foot.  And of course, I shoved it off again.  I did this a number of times.   You can see the video here:   IMG_1464

You might be saying, “Well, you have your feet in a creek and water is moving constantly.”  You’re exactly right.  As it kept happening I never gave it much thought but then I looked more closely.  I realized that it was something crawling up onto my foot.   We pulled out the rock and discovered it was not a rock at all, it was camouflaged like a rock but it was hollow inside and there was an animal in it.  I am not sure what it was but when it would come out it was black.  So it would go in to hide but when it thought it was safe it would start to crawl around on the bottom of the creek.  I could not believe how much it looked and felt like a rock.

Lesson

Camouflage can be a good thing.  God has made it a way of protection for creatures.  But there is a bad side to camouflage.  A creature can disguise itself so it is not seen and pounce on its victim when they are not expecting it.

So here is the question, is there a good side to camouflage in the Christian realm?  There are many Christians who just want to fit in with everybody else.  They will become like a Chameleon, act or be like whatever group they are in.  Being different is not what they want to do, they just camouflage right in.  They don’t want to stand out or be different because they are afraid of losing influence, friends, popularity, etc.  I think we have all been there at one time or another.  We don’t want to rock the boat so we just fit in.  What can make the difference?

There is only one thing that can make the difference, falling in love with Jesus Christ.  How can we really do that?  Spending time.  You don’t get to know someone without spending time with time.  You cannot truly fall in love without getting to know a person.  It is the same with Christ.  We have to spend time getting to know Him.  We need to realize what He has done for us.

Think of someone in your life that you would stand up for no matter whom you’re with.  You love them so much that when people start talking bad about them or just act certain ways, you would not just keep silent, and you would stand up.

The only way we can stand up for Christ and what He has done for us is to get to know Him and have such a personal relationship with Him that no one can tell the difference between us and Jesus.  We are camouflaged with Him.  When they have been with us they have felt as if they have been with Jesus.

Counterfeit

Then there is the camouflage we have to keep our eye out for.  The devil has the best camouflage for evil.  And just like this little creature kept creeping up onto my foot, the devil knows how to disguise things so that they look as innocent as the little rock looked to me, and it creeps in.  We start by reading, watching, or listening to something that is mostly good but just has a little taint of bad.  But slowly a creeping compromise happens and we are reading, watching, or listening to things we thought we never would do.

Getting back

Thank the Lord for the forgiveness that He has for us when we return to Him with a confession.  Confession is the beginning of getting back in right relation to Him.

We need to get back to the simplicity of God’s Word.  He makes things so simple but we complicate things.  A lot of times it can be because we just want to keep on doing the “little” things that we so enjoy.

What can we do?

  1. Spend a thoughtful hour each day contemplating the Life of Christ.  As we can come to realize what Christ has done for us so that we can spend eternity with Him, it can help to change our mindset.
  2. Spend time in prayer.  Having that communion with God is so important.  He longs to hear from us.  It doesn’t matter what, He wants to hear our worries as well as our victories or requests.  He is always there to guide us.
  3. Hide God’s Word in your heart.  It is always good to have scripture that we can draw from to guide us with our decisions each day.  Every time we need to make a decision about whether something we want to read, watch, or listen to is right or good, here are a couple good verses.  “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.” Psalms 101:3.  And another favorite is in Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

Dear Father,

You are our ever-present power if we will just reach out to You for strength to overcome.  Forgive us for all our shortcomings and help us to stay in Your Word.  Give us wisdom each day as we are on this journey of life.  Show us Your ways.  Thank You for always being there ready and able to help us as we allow You.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Give your life in full to Jesus today so that you can reflect His character.  Stay so close to Him that you won’t get caught off guard with the devil’s camouflage, but that you will be fully reflecting Christ.

Love you all.

What is the most unusual camouflage you have seen?  And what spiritual lesson can you share about it?

 

 

 

Posted on

“I Think I’m Going To Be Sick!”

Sick!

Have you ever had this feeling in the pit of your stomach that you can’t explain?  Maybe as a kid, you realized that because you just made a bad choice your parents have decided to cancel something they had planned for you.  You have this sick feeling in the pit of your stomach realizing that you just missed out on the most amazing thing.  Maybe you’re like me when I got out to my car from a store and realized my daughter wasn’t with me.  She was young, maybe 6 or 7, at the time and it was the scariest feeling.  Talk about a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

My daughter

It was around Christmas time.  Our family was in a store in the mall browsing.  We didn’t find what we needed so we headed out to our vehicle.  When we got there we realized our daughter was not with us.  After losing a daughter that we only had with us for 5 weeks, I was in a panic.  I did not want to lose another daughter.  We went into the store and talked to the workers and we all started on a search.  I don’t remember how much time passed but it seemed like forever.  Finally, one of the workers found her hiding in some clothes.

It turns out she had been skipping the squares on the floor and had not turned with us toward the doors.  When she realized she was alone she tried to go out one door and realized it was the wrong one so she came back into the store and hid in the clothes.  It was a very happy reunion.  I remember how frustrated I would get when we would go anywhere after that.  She was so afraid of being left behind she would hang on to my clothing.  It was hard for me to even walk through a store because she stayed so close to me.  I would say she did that for the next couple of years at least.  It was a very frightening experience for her.  I can imagine the sick feeling she must have had in the pit of her stomach.

The worst sick feeling

So what is the worst sick feeling that a person could ever have in the pit of their stomach?  I have given much thought to this more than once.  It makes me cringe to think about it.  We can so often go through life and not really realize the seriousness of it.  But if you really take the time to give it some thought it can be awakening.

When I think about the worst sick feeling that I could possibly think of, I think of not being ready for the greatest event in all history, the event of Jesus soon coming.  For me, the most sickening feeling would be to hear the words, “…I never knew you:…” Matthew 7:23.  That sick feeling of realizing that I am lost.  I imagine my daughter had the most horrible sick feeling in her stomach when she realized she was lost.  Just like I had the sick feeling in my stomach when I realized my daughter was lost, God has even a greater sick feeling.  He loves us so much and when we don’t choose Him and His ways He suffers.  He has so many children that His suffering is indescribable.

Fear

The great news is that we have a forgiving God.  If we have gone astray and gotten lost there is still time to be found.  Now is the time to come to Him asking for forgiveness and He is ever waiting and longing to forgive.

There is only one thing that we need to fear and that is separation and that separation only happens as we choose it.  God doesn’t bring the separation, we do.  Just like my daughter clung to me thereafter, we need to cling to Jesus.  As we cling to Him there is nothing to fear. We need to walk with Him hand in hand.  We cannot let anything come between Him and ourselves otherwise we will get lost.  He will be constantly searching for us but if we don’t want to be found He doesn’t push His way in.  And if we continue not to listen to the pleadings of the Holy Spirit, His voice will get softer and softer until we can’t hear it anymore.

Cling to Jesus

The answer is to cling to Jesus.  We need to stay in full connection to Him.  Here are some ways to stay connected.

  1. I look at prayer as a key in the hand of faith to unlock heaven’s storehouse, where are treasured boundless resources.  We need to be coming to God everyday and speaking to Him as well as listening to His voice.
  2. Be in the word.  We must be in the Word each day.  God’s Word is full of instructions and promises.  As we allow the Holy Spirit to teach us we can know which course to pursue.
  3. Memorize verses from God’s Word.  If we have promises memorized from God’s Word, we can bring them to mind when we are having struggles throughout the day or when we are tempted.
  4. Guard the avenues of the soul.  We need to guard our 5 senses.  Making choice that will keep us out of harms way.  We can protect ourselves from temptations by guarding ourselves.  We don’t want put ourselves in a position that will make it harder for us to stay connected.  My daughter was tempted to skip the squares on the floor and she took her eyes off of me and did not see me go in a different direction.  That is exactly what can happen to us if we don’t keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.

Dear Father,

Thank You for always being there through every circumstance in life.  Continue to prompt our hearts to keep our eyes on You.  And help us to be ready when You come.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Keep your eyes fixed on the One that can lead and guide you through every circumstance.

Love you all.

What illustration can you share today?  I would love to hear it.

Posted on

“Are You Aligned Or Do You Need To Adjust?”

Have you ever planned your day?  You have everything lined up exactly in a way that should make everything go smoothly.  But then things start happening and your day is falling apart.  It can be so frustrating.  It may be so disastrous that you don’t even want to start another day.

I work at a print shop and run the digital.  We often have a two-sided card, flyer, postcard, etc. to print.  Most of the paper I run is too heavy to duplex.  Besides, it takes longer to print when you duplex.  So I run one side at a time.  Now when you are setting up for printing it is very important that you have a gutter and crop marks.  This makes it a lot easier for the guys that have to cut things out.  We may be printing a sheet of business cards 20 up on a sheet and they need to have the marks to know where to cut.

Once I am done printing the first side I take the paper and replace it back in the drawer for printing the second side.  You start by printing one so you can check to make sure you put the paper incorrectly.  You don’t want the picture on the second side to be upside down.  On the most part I know, now, how to put the paper in so it is rarely put in the wrong.  There are exceptions when designs are out of the ordinary.

The other thing that I am looking for is to see if my gutter and crop marks are aligned.  I take a utility knife and cut the crop mark on the front and look at the back and see if it came through at the crop mark on the back.  If not there is a problem.  If I sent it back for the guys to cut without it being aligned right there would be things cut off the back side that should not be cut off.  It may cut off words, pictures, logos, etc and it would not be acceptable to the client.

If my crop marks are not aligned I have to go onto my computer and make some adjustments until they are perfectly aligned.

It made me start to think about our spiritual lives.  We need to be aligned with God.  I picture myself on one side of the picture and Jesus and His Word on the other side.  The gutter and crop marks need to be aligned.  If they are not then I need to do some adjusting in my life.  When I am adjusting the alignment in the print shop sometimes it takes a couple or more times to get it just right.  I think in our spiritual walk it is the same way.  We do some adjusting in our lives thinking that we are aligned but then we realize we need even more adjusting.  In our walk with God, we will be always adjusting as we learn more and more.

In the print shop if I were to send something back to the cutters to cut without those gutters and crop marks it can be disastrous.  But a lot of times they can cut things out if they realize to start with that they are not aligned.  It takes painstaking time and a lot of times the objects may end up a little smaller than planned.  In our spiritual lives if we don’t stay aligned with God He works to reach our hearts with means that may not be so pleasant.  There will be a cutting away process that is painful.  And we may come out a little “smaller” than if we would have chosen His route to start with.  There will be wounds that He wanted us to be able to avoid.  But often we go on in our stubborn ways and think we know better.

The question is, “how do I get aligned with God?”  It starts with having a relationship with Him.  We can’t get to know someone and build a relationship with him or her without spending time.  We need to spend time with God so that we can get to know Him.  We need to spend time in His Word and in prayer with Him.  Prayer is a two-way conversation.  We often pour our hearts out to God but we forget to be silent and listen.

  • Spend time in His Word with much prayer. Reading God’s Word is the way to get to know Him.  I recently ran across some information that I believe can be helpful to you on how to study your Bible.  This can make it easy and fun.  It is “How to Study the Bible With the 5RS Method”, by Alicia Michelle.
    • Read the verse. This is pretty simple you just read whatever verse you have picked out.  I think starting with the book of Proverbs may be a good place to start.  Pick a chapter and go for it, starting with one verse each day.
    • Rewrite the verse. Then you write it down.
    • Restate the verse. Here you will restate the verse using different words that still convey the same message.  You are just expressing it in a different way that may make it more meaningful to you.  You can do this by taking each of the words and finding synonyms.
    • Relate the verse. Take a moment and really think about what this verse is about and how it can apply to your life.  What are you learning in this verse that you want to put in action?
    • Respond to the verse. This area involves prayer.  Responding to the verse through prayer.  Asking God’s help with what action you want to make in changing your life.

These are some easy things we can do that can help us get aligned with God.  As we learn and follow what the Lord teaches us we will grow in Him.

Dear Father,

As we study Your Word send Your Spirit to enlighten our hearts.  Convict us on what changes we need to make so that we can be aligned with You.  Thank You for Your love and forgiveness.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Get into the Word today.  Make it a daily habit.  You will draw closer to Him and be aligned with Him as You study the light and take heed to the light.

Love you all.

What is your method of connecting with God and becoming more aligned to Him?

 

 

Posted on

“Well, That’s Just A Small Things!”

Have you ever felt that God does not answer your prayers?  You keep praying and praying about a particular thing but nothing happens.  At least we think nothing happens.

What I have found is that God is working every day in my life but I fail to see it a lot of times.  What we do is take for granite all the good that comes our way.  We don’t realize the good things are blessings from God.  We tend to look for big things rather than seeing all things.  If the blessing isn’t big we think of the blessing as just what life brings us.

On the other hand a lot of times we look at the bad things that come our way and whether it is a big thing or a little thing we tend to blow it out of proportion and the majority into the “big” category.  The devil brings the bad to try to discourage us.  God allows them to try to teach us to trust Him.  We are really such a stubborn people.

The other thing we don’t really want to think about is that some of the bad that comes into our lives we have actually brought upon ourselves.  We think that we can make any choice in life and God will make things turn out good, even though, we brought it on ourselves.  God does help us through our foolish mistakes but He doesn’t always remove the consequences.

I want to share what might seem like a little miracle that God did for our family.  This was something that I shared on Facebook a while back but it bares repeating.  Our family has gone through some really hard financial struggles.

“I debated whether or not to share this but I can’t help myself when it comes to sharing what God does. We have run into some hard times so we have been going to the food bank. My son, Caleb, was planning to make bean soup. He asked me if I thought I could get some greens after I went to the food bank, being one of the ingredients. I told him I would see what I could do. He proceeded to put the rest of the ingredients together. And as the Lord always works, when I got to the food bank looked at what was there they had just what we needed. I was able to get three big bags. There wasn’t much more food than that for what we eat but the Lord wasn’t done. I was just ready to walk up and check out when a whole bunch of other fresh things came in, lettuce, tangerines, and fresh-cut mango. I even had a lady come up and say can you use this orange juice. They were small containers. I said how many is allowed. She said just take this whole case. There were 24. They even had some vegan sour cream that Jeffrey had request for his birthday meal to go with burrito casserole, that we are celebrating this Friday. Some may call it chance but I call it God.”

Dear Father,

Help us to see You at work in our lives.  Prompt our minds each day with the blessings.  We can be such a negative people.  Help us to look at life through Your eyes.

Thank You for Your love and for all the things that You do for us each day.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

I would challenge you to get a blessing journal and start writing down the blessings that come your way each day.

Love you all.

What blessings has God done for you?  Please share in the comments.  It is the sharing the blessings with others that will help us grow as well as encourage others.

 

Posted on

“Does He Really Care?”

Have you ever felt like no one cares?  You may share something with someone expecting them to say something but they just sit and look at you or they start giving you advice rather than really caring for your heart?

It is true we cannot be like God but we can allow the Lord to direct our paths and we can be a blessing to others.

We have struggle financially for a while and have not just struggled but have been in crisis.  I was looking back on a story I shared on Facebook that I would like to share with you.  God uses people to bless us each day and I think sometimes we over look the blessings that He provides.

“The Lord is so good! My son needed some supplies for school and I don’t really have the money for it but it needed to be done. I called two different stores and they both had it but the one store I forgot to ask the price, but that was the store I seemed drawn to go to. We were in line and the line was getting longer so another cashier stepped in and said, “I will help who’s next.” It was us, so we went over. She checked the price for me and it was sixteen something. I was debating if I should buy it. She said, “we will do a price match.” I didn’t know any cheaper place cause the other store I checked was the same. She said “I know they sell this for ten dollars at ________so I will give it to you for $9.95.” Thank You Lord. He is always watching out for us if we just trust Him.

Dear Lord,

Help us to trust in You with all our heart and not to lean on our own understanding but in all our ways acknowledge You, so that You can direct our paths.

And help us to stay our minds on Thee and to trust in Thee and thank You as we do that we can have perfect peace. Thank You that as we trust in You we can have everlasting strength.

In Jesus Name, Amen”

Trust fully in Him today and He will work all things for your good.

Love you all!”

One thing that I have found to be a blessing to me is to write down the answers to prayer that come.  Or to write down answers to prayer that happen before I even ask.  I find that I am very forgetful.  I think writing them down and then looking back over them now and then is a great idea.  God cares even about the small things.

Do you have a story you can share about how God has answered a prayer for you?  I would love to hear your stories.  The stories that you share will inspire all of us.