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Dancing in the Rain
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Jun 25, 2009 7:44 am
279 Views
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The LORD will call you back
as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit—
a wife who married young,
only to be rejected," says your God.
Isaiah 54:6
The warm rain spilled down my face today. It was a reminder of stronger times in my life, times I found the courage to face a very painful situation that led me to a class in Milwaukee.
An instructor in my home town liked to weed out students he felt didn't have potential to succeed. I was one he felt was too weak in computer networking.
Long story short, by the grace of God, a disability coordinator threw me over the proverbial fence to allow me to graduate. He found a class in Milwaukee so I could get around this instructor.
For 6 weeks, I drove to Milwaukee. An unexpected scholarship of $250 covered nearly all gas costs.
It was an uncovered joy in the middle of all my pain. I explored Milwaukee, watched sunsets and made new friends I never expected to know.
..And one day, a warm rain poured down. I embraced it full force, letting it drench me and run down my glasses.
I would have danced around, but I just settled for walking through puddles.
God is with us no matter what our circumstances. He can give us victory and security, no matter who is against us.
He gives us the ability to love the rain.
Thank you, Jesus!
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We're Enough..And This is Why
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Jun 23, 2009 5:19 pm
301 Views
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Dating is rough. Who we are becomes a commodity. People (emotionally) finger the fabric of our being, looking for flaws.
Dating is not for the faint of heart. That's why I avoided it for 8 years.
Here are some scriptures to remind you that you are God's and that makes you more than worth-while.
As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His Love.....
This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends...
John 15: 9-13
..But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
..Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day...For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
2 Corinthians 4: 2,16-17
You don't have to dance around trying to be enough anymore. You're already pleasing and perfect to the One who will take better care of you than anyone on earth.
He doesn't care who you know or what car you drive or what's in your bank account. He already loved you and provided salvation for you through Christ before you were even born. You've already been deemed enough.
All you have to do is accept it like this:
Lord, I'm not sure who you are or what this is about, but here I am. I need you. Come into my life. Forgive my sins and make me yours.
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A New Identity
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Jun 16, 2009 8:21 am
226 Views
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I don't know how many of you know Dennis Jernigan's story. He's a praise and worship songwriter who struggled for decades with homosexuality.
His devotional today is relevant for all of us who have things we'd rather not dwell on.
“…Bury what has died…”When I was set free and given a brand new identity, I not only believed God loved me but I believed He LIKED me very, very much. My days of performing for His acceptance and approval and love were over! I simply believed and received. Whenever the enemy would lie and try to get me to believe the old lies I was granted great grace to put on the truth of my core identity and remind him that the things he was tempting me with were part of my old lie…that I had buried the old man and was someone brand new now. My freedom came when I decided to stop looking to my past failures and began believing my present Savior. Many in my old life told me I had been brainwashed and that I would return to my ‘true’ old life. Reality is that I WAS brainwashed by the cleansing blood and power of Jesus Christ! I am who my Father says I am. I choose to leave the old man dead and buried where he belongs!
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. Romans 6:1-4 NASB
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What does grace really mean?
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Jun 10, 2009 1:17 pm
233 Views
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I read today the insert that came with my "Our Daily Bread" booklet for July. It's title was "The Trouble With Grace.." The author went on to explain that.
What caught my eye was inside. He brought up an excellent point regarding how sometimes when we grow older (especially in the Lord), we long to see more than just the law of God. We long for more than cries and vows of "no compromise".
We long to see God's softness, to understand more deeply the idea of grace.
A pastor here once pointed out that the Christmas Carol is one of the very few stories where the "villain is redeemed".
...Where hope is found for someone so decrepit and socially valueless as Ebenezer Scrooge.
I long to see such stories of redemption again. Signs again, of the grace I once felt; the joy of salvation, not this endless avoidance "no, no, no" mindset. Avoidance isn't what led me to Jesus. "No" didn't fix the emptiness in my heart. Just Jesus.
Just Jesus.
So, grace..where Barabbas goes free to kill again and an innocent man, Jesus, suffers in his place.
Muslims believe that Jesus was never on the cross, that God wouldn't put him through something like that, that it was a man who died.
Yes, in a way, a man DID die. A scapegoat to carry all the sins..because that's how much fellowship with God costs.
Jesus was a representation of man, yet carried within him God's power so that Jesus could be the bridge between man and God, to spiritually stand in a gulf so wide no human could cross it.
Our Bible says God is perfect and lives in a light so terrible that it would kill us to approach Him. We are unclean, born into it, created as such. We can't create it with our words, our actions or our deeds.
The only way God can forgive and have fellowship with man is to have a sacrifice take it's place.
Whether it was Ismael or Isaac on the altar, SOMETHING needed to take the boy's place. SOMETHING had to die to make things right in God. God is compassionate and merciful, so He created a sacrifice to hold our sins.
So, that's why Jesus had to die. He was the perfect sacrifice.
Why not just an ordinary man on the cross?
When the first sin was committed, we walked into a world that was beyond our ability to bear....when we knew the difference between right and wrong and had no ability to follow it. We were never created to hold the ability to create our own righteousness.
Only Jesus was that. Only Jesus can give that. On top of that, when we do something in line with God & His Word, we are simply reflecting the work of His Holy Spirit in us.
Wow.
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Makeup out of your kitchen cabinet
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Jun 6, 2009 1:17 pm
269 Views
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As promised to ladylightwalker, I KNEW there were homemade makeup recipes.
The best one so far is "An Indian's Makeup Blog" under "Indian Beauty Secret & An at-home DIY Face Mask Recipe". Some of the Indian facials are amazing, using ingredients from anyone's cupboard.
Here's one:
Chick pea (besan) flour facial
2 tsp. besan (chick pea..maybe another flour would do. Let me know!!)
1/4 tsp. tumeric (a natural anti-septic)
3 tsp. of milk.
Mix well and apply to the face for a good cleansing.
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So what are YOUR small graces in the Lord?
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Jun 6, 2009 12:51 pm
248 Views
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Many of us have had moments where something's happened to show us God really does care about our needs and how it feels as if He's really listening to our prayers.
Here's one of my own favorite faith-building moments.
When I came back to the Lord at 25, I was feeling pretty low. When I would go for long walks, I would gather wildflower a.k.a. weeds (:LOL to have some beauty in my apartment.
I remember one day feeling so low on my walk with my lack of feminine beauty and money to improve my looks (like even getting a haircut and buying a little makeup) and feeling like I just couldn't compete with the more feminine looking women.
I just burst out with, "God, if you love me, please send me roses."
I received at least 3 bouquets out of the blue that year.
....and I haven't received any since.
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Post your ministry
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Jun 4, 2009 9:04 am
928 Views
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What's your favorite ministry?
Feel free to post their name and their prayer needs here!!!
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Yes, they DO have gardens in India :-)
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Jun 3, 2009 3:36 pm
198 Views
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If you search under "Quiet Corner India", you'll find Mr. Thomas and Marykutty Samuel's story. They're wonderful Indians who decided to use their land to create a Christian retreat.
QCI has vast gardens, banana groves and more. At one point, they had to dig a huge trench to keep out the baby elephants attracted to the foliage.
They understand the importance of relaxation and rest, as well as ministry to those less fortunate.
If I remember correctly, their entire ministry budget last year was $10,000.
It's one of my favorite organizations to support, especially their sewing program.
One final note:
India isn't backwards at all. They're not "noble savages", surviving on so little. Some of the world's greatest scientific concepts came from India. Parts of it are as modern as U.S. cities. Others are heartbreakingly poor.
I don't want to idealize too much, but at least the poor in India don't have to sleep in bathtubs at night to protect themselves from drive by shootings.
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Enough to survive...
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Jun 1, 2009 1:37 pm
248 Views
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...the new Great Depression?
My mom and I had a laugh this morning. I realized I had enough eyeshadow to survive a loooooonnnnnggg time.
After her chemo for lung cancer, several organizations gave her free makeovers and makeup. She gave me several palettes.
What a hoot to praise God for that! It seems minor, but I'm (all of us all over the world) facing a lot of hardships because of the greed of Americans...and our failure to control our consumerism.
There'll be a lot of hardships to come, but the thing I've learned in my own past ones is that God is faithful and He understands even your need for small graces
.... like enough eyeshadow.
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Could I possibly be that shallow????
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May 28, 2009 4:34 pm
236 Views
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Made you look! :LOL: I'll explain in a moment.
Over the past 2 days, I've met a man I've known for 27 years. JD was in my church when I was 14 and he was about 24. He has had a severe seizure disorder, including grand mal seizures. Brain surgery FINALLY stopped them.
So, he's pulling his life back together without the major interruptions. Financially, he's very poor. He does work hard at several cleaning jobs that have given him the freedom to have his physical issues.
...And he's been single all his life.
Why have I been ruling him out as a potential mate? Man, do I feel shallow when I look at the reasons.
1) He's not very handsome.
2) The affects of his disorder and the major brain surgery are still evident.
3) He's not intellectual.
4) He's very poor.
I wondered today at that last point. "How can I support him when I can barely take care of myself" was what I thought.
Yet on the positive, he is a good Christian man. He works hard. He lives within his means. He's clean.
..So why am I still ruling him out as a potential mate?
Answer? Maybe because I AM that shallow.
Maybe it's more because I've been acquainted with him almost all my life. Well, that's what I'm hoping my lack of attraction is about.
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