Some Day My Prince Will Come

I love Disney movies, especially when the girl, the damsel in distress, is rescued by a prince (or handsome guy) on a white horse.  Some of the movies that come to mind are Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Tangled and Frozen.  These movies are loved and enjoyed all over the world for several generations.

We recently took a vacation to Florida and visited The Magic Kingdom. My 17 and 10 year old sons enjoyed our time there, but probably not as much as the little girls all around us. So many of them were dressed in princess dresses, twirling and giggling with glee.  I love watching the innocence of childhood and catching a glimpse of a little girl who believes she is THE princess waiting for her prince on a white horse to come and whisk her away to a fabulous castle and live happily ever after.

So why the white horse?

The idea could have been taken straight from the Bible.  Several verses in the book of Revelation describe Jesus returning on a white horse:

Revelation 6:1-2  "The Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. There before me was a white horse.  It's rider held a bow, and he was given a crown. He rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest."

Revelation 19:11 "I saw Heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True.  His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns."

Revelation 19:14 "The armies of heaven are following him, riding on white horses.  On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords."

Snow White sings a song of hope in her movie:

     "Some day my prince will come

      Some day we'll meet again

      And away to his castle we'll go

      To be happy forever I know"

 

That's my song of hope, too.  Some day MY prince will come on a white horse. His name is Jesus and away to the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, we will go.





The Sound of Rushing Waters

What is it that draws me to the ocean? What pulls me to the place where sand meets waters edge? It's not just the beauty of white capped blue waves. It's not just the miles of sand to feel beneath my feet or squish between my toes. It's not the seashells or the sea gulls.

              IT IS THE SOUND.

The melodic sound of the ocean does something for my soul. It soothes and calms and takes away the stresses of life, if only for a moment.

I believe it is The Lord who draws me there. Ezekiel 43:2 says, "and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory ".

In the book of Revelation, John describes the sounds he heard coming from heaven as 'rushing waters' three times: 1:15 "His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of rushing waters"

14:2 "And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder"

19:6 "Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters..".

The sound of rushing waters calls me to the ocean now. It is also the sound that will call me home to heaven.

mamapossum

Hem Me In

I love Psalms 139:5 "You hem me in behind and before, you lay your hand upon me".

During these last few hectic weeks of school, I often pray for the Lord to hem me in, but what am I really asking for?

A hem in sewing is where the edge of a piece of cloth is folded narrowly and sewn to prevent the fabric from unraveling.

I've never thought about it this way before, but that is exactly what I want. I'm asking the Lord to help me hold it all together, to keep me from unraveling.

I have several friends with graduating seniors facing a sea of the unknown.  They are so consumed with events commemorating the season, they barely  have time to face their emotions.  I'm certain when they do they fear the unraveling. 

Hold on sweet mommas of the 2015 Graduating Class.  I'll be praying Psalms 139:5 for you.

Sowing and Reaping

This week I have seen proof of Galatians 6:7 "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."

Some may call it coincidence, but I believe in the truth of God's word.

Our dog, Ginger, is terrified of thunderstorms and was outside when one hit unexpectedly this morning.  Our gate was inadvertently left open, so Ginger apparently ran when the storm rolled in.  I received a call during the storm from a lady telling me she  had Ginger.  She found her on busy Glade Road.  She said she passed Ginger and several cars were stopping for her.  She watched in the rear view mirror as Ginger crossed the road.  She was on her way to work, but decided to turn around and see about the wet collie in the road.  I am so very grateful she did.  Ginger is 11 years old with seizures and arthritis in her back legs.  She is a retired therapy dog and faithful friend and companion to our boys.

I do not think I can count the number of times I have stopped to rescue a stray dog, with or without a collar.  Some made it safely back home, while others were placed in a shelter.  It took time out my day and I may have been late for work a couple of times, just like the lady this morning. 

On Sunday, Adam's wallet fell out of his pocket at a local restaurant.  We were in separate cars and he called to see if we had seen his wallet.  We went back to the restaurant and it was not at the table where we ate.  He went to the front and someone had turned in his wallet with everything still inside.

I have always turned in wallets, purses, and credit cards that I've found.  I have taught my boys to do the same.

These are very tangible examples of reaping what you sow, but the principle applies to every area of life.  Pay attention to what you are sowing today....kindness, love, patience OR bitterness, strife, and unforgiveness.

For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Faith & Works

James 2:14 says, "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?"

Deeds or works, as us Christians call it, can trip us up sometimes.  For many years I had the mindset that works should be something big like feeding the homeless or building houses for them, taking in an orphan or opening our own orphanage, traveling the world preaching the Gospel and digging wells for clean drinking water at the same time.

I have often had the attitude of "If what I'm doing today isn't making a difference in someone else's life 'right now', then I don't want to do anything", and I don't do anything--anything BIG.
I go through my life day-in and day-out.  I seek the Lord every morning before I start my day, before the kids awake and the crazy begins.  I pray for them, my husband and God's will in my life.  I pray about other things, too, but these three are constant.  I also give thanks to the Lord (even when I don't feel thankful) because the Bible tells us to and it makes a difference in my attitude.

So what about those works?  James goes on to tell us about Abraham's obedience to the Lord when he offered his only son Isaac on the alter.  He also talks about Rahab the prostitute offering the spies lodging and sending them off in a different direction.  Abraham and Rahab weren't out there looking to do something big for the Lord.  They simply obeyed the Lord right where they were. 
This is what I strive for. 

I love the second part of verse 18 "Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do."  He goes on to say in v 22 "You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did."

Sometimes the Lord will call us to do the Big things, or what we consider big.  But he may be waiting for one little thing, one small act of obedience that leads to another.

The Assigned Task

You know how you feel right when you wake up from a dream?  You're full of emotion. Whether it's fear or terror; happiness or joy, it stays with you for a while.  Last Sunday, I woke up from a dream feeling empowered, loved and encouraged.  My dream took place in a summer church camp setting.  The camp director came over to me and said, "Come with me.  I have a job for you."  I went with him and we began hauling off huge bags of trash.  When that job was done, I was put to the task of cleaning a small apartment.  It was a real mess with dirty clothes and dishes all over the place.  As soon as I started cleaning it was time to go to chapel.

 

Chapel was held in a simple room with several rows of metal folding chairs.  The music played and everyone in the room raised their hands in worship.  It was infectious as the presence of the Holy Spirit filled the room.  I raised my hands up to heaven, closed my eyes and sang at the top of my lungs.  Tears began to fall as my soul was elated with emotion.  When I opened my eyes, I noticed all of the seats on my row were empty.  Disappointment started to creep in, until I took in my surroundings. Everyone had circled around me and began laying their hands on me, lifting me up to the Lord in prayer.  I felt empowered and encouraged.  Knowing there are people out there fighting for me on their knees, just as I do for them, is enough to give me strength to do the task God has assigned to me.

 

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  (Philippians 4:13) 

Gorilla at Granny's?

3:47 am
I woke up after having a weird dream.  For some reason I was at my Granny's house.  She has passed away, so no one lives there.  The house is dark and dirty.  Granny has been gone for a long time.  It's like walking through the woods in late fall.  Dead leaves litter the muddy floor, still damp from recent rains.  My feet feel heavy as I walk through the house.  I go to the garage and stand in the doorway.  Sitting in the driveway, just outside the garage, is a gorilla with his back to me.  Terror strikes my heart as my body surges with adrenaline.

In an instant I am outside.  The house sits on an acre of land and I am standing at the edge of the property line on the right side of the house.  It is dark out, but I can see things in silhouette.  The gorilla is now standing on the dirt road that runs in front of the house.  He spots me!  My heart races as he comes after me.  I start to run, but I know he can catch me and maul me to death.  Deep inside myself I call on the name of Jesus.  Courage and strength emerge. I turn and face the charging gorilla and scream the loudest animal like scream.  Then I wake up.

This was one of those dreams that doesn't allow me to go back to sleep.  I get up, make a cup of coffee and open my Bible.  I turn to Lamentations and read in chapter 3 the following verses.

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.  I will remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.  Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Lamentations is a short 5 chapter book in the Old Testament.  Jeremiah mourns the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians.  He does not question God's justice in allowing the suffering.  Jeremiah is appalled at the severity of Jerusalem's devastation.  At the same time he still trusts God's faithfulness and unfailing love.

I don't know what the gorilla represents, if anything at all.  I do know that I trust in The Lord enough that my soul cries out to him even when I'm not awake.

He loves me, He loves me not, He loves ME!

He loves me, He loves me not, HE loves ME!

 

Yesterday we celebrated Thanksgiving with my in-laws since we will be out of town on Thanksgiving Day.  My husband did all of the cooking, for which I am very grateful and lucky.  Therefore, I had time to sit down and write.  As I was writing, painful memories began to surface.  Tears started flowing and soon I was crying so hard I had to stop.  I took a break with Facebook.  One of my friends had posted the following Bible verse:

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.  For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.  I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you.  Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life.  (Isaiah 43:2-4 ESV)

It was as if God was telling me, "You are precious in my eyes, and honored, AND I love YOU".

I am precious to the Lord.

I couldn't write any more.  I decided to listed to some music on the Praise and Worship station via iTunes Radio.  The first song to play was "Vision of You" by Shane & Shane.  I couldn't believe it!  God got my attention with this song before, so it has great meaning for me.  I wrote about this experience as well and will add it my blog for those of you who do not know the story.

I finally felt God's love for me.  Deep inside, I felt it.  It's almost impossible to describe in words because I was so overcome with emotion.  I cried and cried.  I'm crying right now as I struggle to share the experience.  I have always known God loves me, but to feel it and crumble inside because of it is something entirely different.

If you don't know the Lord or are far from him today, I encourage you to call on Him, right where you are.  Ask Him to be the Lord of your life.

Taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. (Ps 34:8)

I will walk through the fire and not be burned because I am precious and HE loves ME!

 

 

 

 

To Forgive or Not to Forgive?

I had a very interesting discussion with a friend of mine on the subject of forgiveness.  We were talking about the book The Shack  written by William P. Young, which is about a man's journey to forgive the man who brutally murdered his 5 year old daughter.  My friend's view of forgiveness lies in Luke 17:3 "...If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him."  The problem I have with this viewpoint is the murderer clearly is not a brother to the man, whose daughter he killed and repentance is highly unlikely.
On the other hand, my view of forgiveness lies in Matthew 6:15 "But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."  Colossians 3:13 says, "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you."  It seems to me Luke and Colossians are addressing brothers in Christ forgiving one another and may not apply to the murderer. 
Delving further into scripture, Matthew 5:44-45 says, "Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in Heaven."  Lastly I look to Romans 12:17-19, "Do not repay anyone evil for evil.  Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.  If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.  Do not take revenge my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: 'it is mine to avenge; I will repay' says the Lord."

We are called to forgive.  We don't forgive for the one who hurt us. We forgive for ourselves.  We forgive to let go of bitterness, hurt, anger and fear.  We forgive because that's what the Lord calls us to do.  If we are Christians and the Bible is a lamp for our feet, the light shines on forgiveness.  Otherwise, we are left in the dark.

Unopened Gifts

Every one of us has been given a gift.  Think about Christmas Day. You have gifts under the tree waiting to be opened. Imagine your excitement, wondering what your gift will be and what you can do with it.

What if, for some reason, you never opened your gifts? The excitement you had disappears.  The imagining of how you could use it ceases.  Perhaps a tragedy occurred on Christmas Day and you left your gifts under the tree intentionally. The thought of opening them is too painful.  The gift is the same.  The attitude towards it has changed.  The gifts may be put away in a closet or under a bed somewhere.  Someday, they will be found again unexpectedly, while searching for something else.  The excitement returns....

What could it be?  Don't leave your gifts unopened this time.

Romans 12:6-8 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.  If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.