For others....

Ok, ok...I know it's been FOR-EV-ER since I've been on here. This place (blogland) is addictive! But life just pulls me far too much away from here. I think of many of you & continue to pray for those of you I know are struggling with something. And Paula, God help me, I got your e-mail today that you left on 8-18. I don't even check my e-mail very often. Being a single parent is tough. Then getting down to see my dad after his stroke in March every weekend for several months took its toll too. Then I tried to get landscaping work done outside before it got too hot. Then I was a painting fool getting several rooms in the house done. Then getting my son in football. Then he got injured the 1st week of practice so on to dr's appts. & now he's in his 4th week of physical therapy. Getting the kids ready to get back in school....now it's homework, etc. I've been swamped at work. My income decreased by $500/month, so trying to find another job. And just....just....(well, you get the picture)

At any rate, I watched an rerun once of Law & Order SVU. Not my usual thing, but I'm guessing God wanted me to see this particular episode. To make a long story short, this one woman escaped Congo after being brutally raped by soldiers. She described how those who raped her also raped her 5 year old daughter. I sobbed my eyes out listening to her describe that, and how many days it took her daughter to die. Every time I think of that episode, I cry.

So....as I'm praying this morning for those persecuted, this episode comes to mind & I find myself crying openly. And ranting at God as to how He could allow such a thing....and yes, blah, blah, blah, this is Satan's domain, etc. And then this indignation rises up in me & I say, "But YOU, Lord God, are the righteousness! YOU opened the sea & held back the waters for your people to pass through. YOU rained down manna for your people to eat in the desert. YOU placed every star in the sky. YOU know how many hairs are on each of our heads. YOU love each of us more than a sparrow. YOU can hear my prayer and my prayer is that you will place someone to intervene on behalf of those who are neglected, abused, malnourished, persecuted. YOU, Lord God, love them. YOU, will hear my prayer for them. So I will keep coming to you each day for them. I will stand in the gap just as Moses did for his rebellious people. Yes, there is much horrific evil in this world, but YOU will indeed be the light in that darkness. I believe that YOU will indeed open doors for people to help those in need. And I thank you, Lord, for hearing my prayer and weeping with me!"

I realized that I don't feel that there is much I can physically do to help those people, but I can bow down on their behalf every single day of my life. And I will do just that. I will never know those who have been spared, or even saved. But I don't need to, I just need to do what I can & what I know is right.

Join me, my BB's, in interceding for those who have lost their will to live because of that which they must endure.

C.S. Lewis writing

As I continue on in my Lenten Studies booklet, I realized I just had to share the entire message for Tuesday with you here:

Ask for Help

Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily when I call. Psalm 102:2

You must ask for God's help. Even when you have done so, it may seem to you for a long time that no help, or less help than you need, is being given. Never mind. After each failure, ask forgiveness, pick yourself up, and try again. Very often what God first helps us toward is not the virtue itself but just this power of always trying again. For however important chastity (or courage, or truthfulness, or any other virtue) may be, this process trains us in habits of the soul which are more important still. It cures our illusions about ourselves and teaches us to depend on God. We learn, on the one had that we cannot trust ourselves even in our best moments, and, on the other, that we need not despair even in our worst, for our failures are forgiven. the only fatal thing is to sit down content with anything less than perfection.

This entire message resonates with my very soul. I've been sitting on the following for a couple of days because I just have not had the time to get on here. Now I can see why. It was a "God-thing"....it simply wasn't time yet!

Psalm 23:6 ~ Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

with

Haggai 2:9 ~ ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the LORD Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the LORD Almighty.”

Hugs, my friends ~ Merana

Waiting...

Psalm 37:34 ~ Wait for the Lord & keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land...

That's the hardest thing...waiting...isn't it?! I've resolved to wait for where the Lord is taking me. It's not easy. I want what I want...and I want it now! But....that's just simply not how it works. And I'm trying my very best to keep his way. That's hard too. I'm not perfect....Lord knows I'm as flawed as the next person...yet...I try.

But, just like the Israelites going through the desert 40 years...He will still deliver us to the land we are to inherit. Each of us has a different "land", don't we? One person's may be a successful business venture, another's to conceive a child, another's for healing, another's to have their children safe, yet another's to find that someone special after so long alone (even if for mere companions).... The point is, everyone has a different land to which the Lord is taking us to inherit. We just have to follow the first part of that Scripture verse...WAIT for him & KEEP his way!

When I get frustrated & try to make things happen my way, as I've confessed before, the Holy Spirit always reminds me that it's HIS plans He speaks of in Jeremiah 29:11....not MY plans! So, until the time of my inheritance (at least of this world, before my true inheritance in Christ's Kingdom), I constantly pray Psalm 25:4,5 - Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long...and cling to this Psalm 37:34 with Romans 8:24b ~ But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?

I don't want to wander 40 years in the desert....or even one day...because I tried to do it MY way!

Join Spiritual Sundays for strength and encouragement!

Lenten Studies #3

C.S. Lewis again...2 days' studies combined in my thoughts.

"What would really satisfy us would be a God who said of anything we happened to like doing, 'What does it matter as long as they are contented?' we want, in fact, not so much Father in Heaven as a grandfather in heaven - a senile benevolence who, as they say, 'liked to see young people enjoying themselves.'"

I believe that is so true. We'd like to continue on our merry way & when we get in trouble, give a shout out to the God of the universe to come fix everything we just messed up. But what we should heed, is when Scripture tells us:

Philippians 4:11-13 (New International Version) ^{~ 11} I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Ephesians 4:22-24 (New International Version) ~²² You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³ to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Lewis then continues, "God is both further from us, and nearer to us, than any other being...He makes, we are made: He is the original, we derivative. Our life is, at every moment, supplied by Him: our tiny, miraculous power of free will only operates in bodies which His continual energy keeps in existence." Think about that. Yes, we have free will....so we could choose to turn our backs on Him. But He's still with us, He still loves us. The sheer fact that we're still alive to utilize the very gift of free will to turn our back, is itself because He is ordaining that to happen.

"WOW!!!" .... that's about all I can say!

Falling down...

Ok, so continuing on in my Lenten Studies & recently read C.S. Lewis comments about not being discouraged. We must realize that even at our best attempts to behave/be good, we are going to fail. Even with our best attempts, we are never going to achieve perfection...ever! But God is going to be there every single time we stumble, every time we trip, every time we out & out fall down...like the parents with outstretched arms encouraging the child to run to them.

We must remember, as C.S. Lewis says, "no power in the whole universe, except you yourself, can prevent Him from taking you to that goal" (of the perfection to which He is guiding us). Yes, only each of us, with our free will, can stand in God's way of bringing us to where we need to truly be. And to paraphrase Henri Nouwen, God is forcing us onward, upward, to a higher level by allowing situations where we must be more brave, more patient, and more loving that we ever dreamed of being before. To us, it seems unnecessary. That is only because we have no inkling of the tremendous person He intends to make of us, if we will just follow His lead. With that, I always go back to my Scripture prayer, Psalm 25:4,5 ~ Show me your way, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Yes, I believe it is wonderful to pray the Scriptures & this is one I do daily....several times a day.

Join in Spiritual Sundays for blessings & encouragement!

Artwork by Rick Hansen

Lenten studies....and learning #2

Ok, so I'm reading even further in the Lenten studies booklets I have that I referenced previously. This booklet, however, is a compilation of C.S. Lewis' works. Today's reading calls for "A Deeper Change", and it goes in line with what I posted on Friday. As I was reading it, the Holy Spirit reminded me of a line from Facing the Giants. Fabulous movie that is chock-FULL of on liners that stick with you forever, and that the Spirit uses to remind you of something & give you direction.

So the reading said, in part, this: "We are all trying to let our mind and heart go their own way - centered on money or pleasure or ambition - and hoping, in spite of this, to behave honestly and chastely and humbly. And that is exactly what Christ warned us you could not do." It then expanded, saying "If I am a field of grass, I cannot produce wheat. If I want to produce wheat, the change must go deeper than the surface. I must be plowed up and re-sown", then quotes 1 Corinthians 10:1 ~ So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall.

And the Holy Spirit reminded me of the line in the movie that is the one liner that sticks with my best friend the most. A young man is quite the soccer player. However, he & his father move to a new place & the school does not have a soccer team. He is debating going out on the football team as a kicker. His self-rejection fear holds him back as he says to his dad (& mostly to himself!), "What if I'm not good enough? What if I don't make the team?" To which, his father said, "Can you be any more not on the team than you already are?" WOW!!! It just demonstrates that if we are not willing to step out in faith to where God is taking us, we will never be able to see what He has in store for us come to fruition!

Yes, just like the picture above shows, we may face slippery situations, but if we are keeping our eyes on Christ & following where HE leads, He will light the way & be with us along each stepping stone....and also waiting with open arms on the other side of that path. But we certainly can never get there if we won't step out onto that next stone and follow where He's leading us.

Thank you, Father, for your guiding hand and love....and for wanting even more for me than I can even imagine that I want for myself!

pondering....

Why are people so dang afraid to just tell others how they feel about them? Really! Tomorrow is promised to NO ONE! Is pride or regret the greater motivator for them? Me.....I chose to live with little regrets! Can't change the past, except to try to make amends. But I can certainly change the direction of my future!