Merry Christmas!

"Heaven's Loss" by Ron DiCianni

I am an avid participator of Facebook ~ I simply love staying in touch with so many people in such a simple way. I get a lot of inspiration and encouragement from it also. Today is one of those days. It is my Mama's birthday but it is the 5th birthday she has celebrated with Jesus, so I am a little melancholy. That added with being desperate to get a job (think it has been about 9 interviews and 8 rejections thus far this summer!), some family health issues, other stresses... Anyway, you get the picture but then on Facebook, someone posted this scripture,

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55: 8-9, Amplified Version

The person was speaking about God answering our prayers but usually in a way that we never expect. However, what really got me was a comment from someone else. They referred to Jesus being born in a stable.

So I'm thinking, "Wow, the answer for all the world, born in a stable!" What a surprise out of nowhere; who would have EVER imagined our Savior being born of such humble beginnings?

But wasn't it perfect? The timing, the place, the parents, the multitude of angels, the shepherds, the star, later the Wise Men? Anyone can relate to Jesus because He has been through it all. And later we learn that He humbled Himself for this ... because He was truly worthy of only the best. A picture posted from artist Ron Dicianni captures my feelings about the loss that Heaven must have felt ... but what gain for us!

So I am going to start looking in the strangest places for my answers ... hum, where should I start? In my least likely acquaintance? In a job that I don't think I could do? Listening to someone I don't think knows much? Listening to my husband ... oh, where did that thought come from??? Anyway, I am on the hunt ... Merry Christmas!!!

Dear Jesus,
Thank You that You humbled Yourself to become my Savior. I am in awe of Your humble beginnings ... a place no one would have ever expected but that was the exact right answer for the world! I know You are working on behalf of all my situations and I know Your ways are higher and better and more glorious than mine ... I can't wait to see what You are doing! May I have "eyes to see and ears to hear" and give You glory for answers in unexpected places!

LAVISH

I am just convicted today; no funny words or cute. meaningful stories...

"For she has not noticed, understood, or realized that it was I [the Lord God] Who gave her the grain and the new wine and the fresh oil, and Who lavished upon her silver and gold which they used for Baal and made into his image. Therefore will I return and take back My grain in the time for it and My new wine in the season for it, and will pluck away and recover My wool and My flax which were to cover her [Israel's] nakedness."(Hosea 2: 8-9~Amplified Version)

Oh, LORD, how often have I attributed Your riches, grace, mercy, benefits, blessings to something or someone else ... called it "luck" or "fortune" or somehow, thought that I even deserved or earned it. Forgive me for not noticing, understanding, or realizing that You are the GREAT GIVER, for You daily LAVISH on me such richness!!!! And, oh, Dear JESUS, I humbly ask that You forgive me when I have taken Your blessings and used them to accomplish my will with my idols. May I have eyes to see and ears to hear Your Word and more than ever follow Your way. May I use Your example today and lavish people with love, praise, kindness, thoughtfulness, forgiveness, attention...May I be a giver patterned after You. I love You!!!

Sandy Shores

My family and I were blessed to have a short vacation at Destin Beach earlier this summer and I, oh, so badly, want to go back...not necessarily there...but to a beach somewhere...for awhile. Sigh, guess real life takes over and most of us can't live that dream life. But recently I was reading a scripture about sand...

Do you not fear and reverence Me? says the Lord. Do you not tremble before Me? I placed the sand for the boundary of the sea, a perpetual barrier beyond which it cannot pass and by an everlasting ordinance beyond which it cannot go? And though the waves of the sea toss and shake themselves, yet they cannot prevail [against the feeble grains of sand which God has ordained by nature to be sufficient for His purpose]; though [the billows] roar, yet they cannot pass over that [barrier]. [Is not such a God to be reverently feared and worshiped?] Jeremiah 5:22

And I'm thinking," Wow!" Do you ever gaze across the ocean or big body of water and think, "Wow, what an amazing God we have?" To think He created all of this and we get to enjoy it?

But what about the sand? Usually I like it for a few minutes and then it gets irritating, trying to get it off of you, out of your clothes and shoes, off your little ones, etc.? It is in the car, in the hotel room, in your hair, everywhere! You'd think there wouldn't be much sand on the beach anymore with all that we seem to cart off with us!

But this scripture, penned so many years ago, lets us know the real purpose for the sand: it's the boundary for the sea, an everlasting ordinance, so it will always be there, telling the sea how far it can go. Sure, the sea sometimes go over its "boundary" in floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, etc. but it ALWAYS retreats back to its boundaries.

So...doesn't "Mother Nature" truly teach us that there is an awesome, almighty Creator God? I think it does. We can call it by many names, but ultimately and truly, it is GOD!

And think about some of this verse ~ the waves toss and shake, the billows roar and yet they cannot ultimately prevail against the feeble grains of sand that are doing just what they were created to do. So when things are crashing around us, shaking and roaring, we can rest assured that they will not prevail. We may feel flooded and swamped, but it will pass. GOD has set boundaries in our lives too and the enemy cannot prevail against them! Even if our boundaries seem "feeble," remember the sand, how tiny, but, oh, so capable of doing just what our GOD created it to do!

Dear Creator God,

Thank You for the witness of the sea and sand. Thank You that everything is within Your control from the boundaries that You have set. I do stand in awe and amazement of You as I look upon the sea and the sand. You are a God to be reverently feared and worshiped!! Forgive me when I have feared the roll of the waves, when I have not had faith that YOUR boundaries are in place in my life. Today, I choose to trust YOUR boundaries and YOUR good plan for my life. Thank You for the sand!

Let...

"Do not let your hearts be troubled (distressed, agitated) you believe in God; believe also in Me...Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you, Do not let your hearts be troubled; neither let them be afraid." (John 14: 1, 26-27)

Editorial: "Let" is an action verb ~ You decide what you "let" happen, so do not LET your heart be troubled...

Instead, LET your heart, mind, etc... think on these things...

"...whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things...practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you." (Phillipians 4:8)

Um, that's a little embarrassing, Lord!

Ever had the Lord ask you to do something embarrassing? Mary and Martha did. Their brother, Lazarus had died. Jesus showed up four days later. They knew if He had been there, their brother would not have died. He wept (remember, shortest verse in the Bible - John 11:35) . We don't really know why He cried, some say out of compassion for the grief of the sisters. Maybe so for a few scriptures later it records He was deeply sighing and disquieted as He neared the tomb where they laid Lazarus. But then He gives this command,

...Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of the dead man, exclaimed, But Lord, by this time he [is decaying and] throws off an offensive odor, for he has been dead four days! Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you and promise you that if you would believe and rely on Me, you would see the glory of God?" John 11: 39-40 AMPLIFIED

Okay, I'm just sure I would have exclaimed also! I really love the way the King James version records, Lord, He stinketh! And I bet he did, remember that is kind of desert region over there? Perfume doesn't work that long!

But Mary and Martha finally did what He asked and the rest of the story was the biggest miracle Jesus had performed up until that time - Lazarus was brought back to life!!

Wonder what is waiting out there for me because I won't do the seemingly silly, embarrassing, unthinkable, distasteful thing Jesus is asking me to do? Is He asking me to turn around and help someone, pick up clothes off the sales floor that I didn't let drop (not my job, Lord, besides, it's job security for someone else), ask someone to church, tell someone about Him, go where I don't want to go, do what I don't want to do, and on and on it goes. Yeah, and I complain right along with Martha, you know, trying to tell the Creator of the Universe, what He already knows? Talk about silly.

Lord Jesus,
I praise You for knowing all things. Thank You that nothing is silly or wasted in Your kingdom. Thank You that Your timing is always right on time. You are never late; You are never early. Forgive me for fretting, fuming, spewing, worrying and making excuses. I pray for the boldness to be obedient while I am waiting on my huge miracle!