Fog

Don't you hate fog?

I enjoy rain, I love snow, I can even handle sleet and hail but fog...I hate it!
There is just something about fog that completely destroys any sense of peace and good will I have and replaces it with a stifling, over-whelming feeling of claustrophobia.  Like the walls are closing in around me and I find it difficult to breathe deeply.  I really, really hate fog!

If you live anywhere near Republic, Missouri you know that around 8:00 last night the fog rolled in so thick you couldn't see your hand in front of your face (okay, maybe it wasn't quite that bad but close).  It had been a cloudy, rainy, dreary day that started with having to take our ten month old Shichon to the vet with an ear infection (did I mention that Graciegirl tends to get extremely car sick?) and ended with still another letter starting out "thank you for your interest in our recent position HOWEVER...".

So we were driving home from church in this dark, heavy, depressing fog which by the way, mirrored my mood completely. Dark, heavy and depressed.

I was having a very one-sided conversation with my ABBA FATHER that went something like this:

"GOD, what is happening here?"
"My life seems to be at a complete stand still."
"I really wanted that job!" (okay, so it wasn't at all what I wanted but I wanted them to want me!)
"Remember, I asked YOU to give me the words to say in the interview?"
"It's been four weeks and I've been really patient!" (Yes, I really did say that to HIM!)

I'd like to tell yout that GOD sent a ray of light cutting through the fog dispelling all my questions but HE didn't.  HE just smiled at me (don't ask me how I know HE smiled, I just know it) the way my mama use to smile at me (make that present tense, she still does) when I get overly dramatic and start taking life too seriously.

HE let me vent and complain and question and HE didn't speak at all.  Not through an angel, not a burning bush, not a prophet, not even a donkey.  HE was silent!  The fog remained and so did my inner conflict.

Then came the morning...

I woke to a clear sky, a bright ray of sunshine and the following devotional reading:

Thank ME

Thank ME for the conditions that are requiring you to be still. 

Do not spoil these quiet hours by wishing them away, waiting impatiently to be active again.

Some of the greatest works in my kingdom have been done from sick beds and prison cells.

Instead of resenting the limitations of a weakened body, search for MY way in the midst of these very circumstances.  Limitations can be liberating when your strongest desire is living close to ME.

Quietness and trust enhance your awareness of MY Presence with you. 

Do not despise these simple ways of serving ME. 

Although you feel cut off from the activity of the world, your quiet trust makes a powerful statement in the spiritual realms.

MY Strength and Power show themselves most effective in weakness.

(From JESUS Calling  February 16)



Is it possible, FATHER, that YOU have orchastrated the events of the past several weeks just so that I might search for YOUR ways more?  Have YOU called me into this season of my life to teach me to trust YOU more?  To lean on YOU and learn of YOU.  To move away from my own understanding and into YOUR peace that passes understanding.

How amazing is our GOD?  The King of the Universe loves me and desires to spend time with me.  HE overlooks my childish whining and tells me "I just want you to draw close and learn of ME".

"For I desire goodness, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of GOD more that burnt offerings."

                                                                                                                           Hosea 6:6

HE lovingly tells me to trust HIM with my future.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future"                                                         

                                                                                                                           Jeremiah 29:11

And best of all...my FATHER tells me of a time and a place without fog!!

"There will be no more night.  They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the LORD GOD will give them light." 

                                                                                                                           Revelation 22:5

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Blessings!

3:00 AM Musings

It's 3:00 in the morning...huh, interesting time to be up with GOD.  Somehow, it's easier for HIM to speak to me in the quiet of the morning...well, at least after I get a cup of tea, get Gracie settled by my side and finally find one of the twenty pairs of reading glasses I have scattered throughout the house...

So, what did GOD want to talk about here in the third watch of the day? Romans 10:12-16.

  "For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek: for the same LORD is LORD of all, and is rich unto all who call upon HIM: For, whosoever shall call upon the name of the LORD shall be saved."

Okay, now that is a wonderful promise tucked neatly away in the middle of the book of Romans and I might have gone beck to bed had HE not told me to keep reading...(uh oh, why am I thinking this is about to get alot more personal?)

"How then shall they call on HIM in whom they have not believed?  And how shall they believe in HIM who they have not heard?  And how shall they hear without a preacher?  And how shall they preach except they be sent?  Even as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good things."

So GOD offers salvation to whosoever calls upon HIS name but in order to call upon someone, you have to know that person. But doesn't everyone know to call out to GOD? Haven't most people we rub shoulders with in our day to day life heard of JESUS?
Perhaps.
But let's bring it down to our level...
I may know the name of a doctor (or several doctors) but if I'm sick I want to call a doctor that somebody recommends to me.  A doctor who has had amazing results treating the malady I'm experiencing.  A "miracle worker" if you will. And how will I find this doctor?  Someone I trust will "tell me about him"!

Well, my very comforting scripture in Romans becomes a bit convicting now.  We who know the doctor must tell of HIM.

But wait, isn't Romans 10:12-16 the scripture used when GOD calls people into the mission field? (I hear some of you saying "I KNEW IT, GOD, YOU"RE SENDING HER TO AFRICA!!) But is that really all that scripture is saying?

Yes, HE does call some out to serve HIM in faraway countries where HIS name is unknown to many.  I think of our dear friends, Rick and Cheri Moeller who served HIM faithfully for over thirty years in the plains of Africa. People that I feel humbled to even call friends.  They gave up everything including home, material possessions, friends and placed a world between them and their family.  And why did they do it?  Because "How shall they believe in him whom they have not heard?"
When health issues and country unrest prevented them from remaining in Africa they could finally come back home for some well deserved rest.  They could enjoy time with their friends and family.  They could get to know their little granddaughter, Ellee.  Rick could, at last, write the book he had dreamed of writing for years... so why, instead would they accept another mission in Scotland (One of the darkest places on earth)? Because "How shall they believe in him whom they have not heard?" 

So, like I said, isn't this a scripture used to call missionaries? YES! But who are the missionaries to be?  WE ARE! Believers in JESUS CHRIST.  Those who know the doctor personally and can attest to HIS greatness.  To HIS love and power.

And where is HE sending us?
He is sending us out to the sick and hurting.  To a lost world that thinks it has everything under control.  He is sending us out of the warmth and security of our comfort zone (wherever that may be for you) and into the world.  It may be HE's calling you to the other side of the globe, or the other side of the nation, it may be your surrounding area, your neighborhood or the next room of your house.  Wherever one of HIS children is waiting to hear about JESUS.  The doctor.  The Savior.
HE isn't asking for eloquent speakers or theology graduates, HE is simply asking that each believer take what HE has been given and give to another.

  "We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit of GOD, that we may understand what GOD has freely given us.  This is what we speak, not in words taught us in human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit..."  1st Corinthians 2:12-13

Well, my tea is cold, my Graciegirl is back asleep and all is peaceful and quiet.  How I love this special one-on-one time with my ABBA-FATHER, my heavenly DADDY.  How could I not want to share a love like this?

Blessings!

You Never Mentioned HIM To Me

"Have you no wish for others to be saved?  Then you are not saved yourself.  Be sure of that...The saving of souls, if a man has once gained love to perishing sinners and his blessed Master, will be an all-absorbing passion to him.  It will so carry him away, that he will almost forget himself in the saving of others..." 
"If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies.  And if they perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay.  If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for."   Charles Spurgeon

This quote began one of the most disturbing and convicting sermons I have ever sat through (and trust me, I was doing some major fidgeting in my seat!).
The main point of the sermon was that the church of America does not believe in hell.  Oh, we might give it lip service and if backed into a corner might admit that there is a punishment coming for those who don't believe in JESUS CHRIST but hell...
It's way more comfortable to believe that all roads lead to GOD.  That we might take a different road to get there but eventually we all end up at the same place.  While this is a comforting thought and one we'd all like to believe when looking at our family and friends who aren't saved, it just doesn't line up with GOD's Word!
The Word tells us that JESUS CHRIST is the only way to the FATHER.

~...being justified as a gift by HIS grace through the redemption which is in CHRIST JESUS.  Romans 3:24
~...for there is one GOD and one mediator also between GOD and man, the man CHRIST JESUS 1st Tim 2:5
~  You shall have no other God's before me. Exodus 20:3

So, the Bible effectively takes away that cushion of comfort and leads us back to the thought that continues to haunt me.  If my loved ones are not believers in JESUS CHRIST, they are destined to spend eternity in hell.
~Hell, where the fire is not quenched. (Mark 9:44)
~Hell, where we will be in agony and fully conscious forever and ever. (Luke 16:23)
~Hell, a place of utter darkness. (Matthew 8:12)
~Hell, a place of total separation. (Luke 13:28)
~Hell, a place of no hope and no release. (Matthew 25:46 & Hebrews 6:12)
~Hell, where we retain the memory of what might have been. (Luke 16:27-28)

How hard am I trying to lead others to the LORD? In my heart I believe that every word in the Bible is 100% inspired by GOD however do my actions support that belief?
If I truly believe all the Bible tells about eternity (both with GOD in heaven and without HIM in hell) am I doing all I can to lead others to the LORD? How much time do I spend worrying about my problems here in this life (which the Word tells us is like a vapor and then vanishes away. James 4:14) as compared with the time I spend telling others about the LORD? The answer to that question brought me to my knees in utter conviction. When was the last time I witnessed to a lost family member?  A LOST FAMILY MEMBER who I love beyond words. If I'm not witnessing to them, I'm certainly not reaching out to the stranger on the corner!
GOD, please forgive me and give me a holy boldness to share YOUR love with everyone I see.  Let me go "where angels fear to trod" in search of those who don't know YOU.  Use me, FATHER.  Let it never be that one day I would stand before YOU and hear another person say "you never mentioned JESUS to me".

"When in another land, before the bar we stand,
how deeply grieved our souls may be.
If any lost one there should cry out in deep despair,
you never mentioned HIM to me.

You never mentioned HIM to me.
You helped me not the light to see.
You met me day by day, and you knew I was astray.
Yet you never mentioned JESUS to me."               Dottie Rambo