Trial Duty

Shouldn't that title be 'Jury Duty'? No, but let me explain...

Like a multitude of other families, we live in an area severely affected economically. This has hit close to home now to the point where I realize we are truly going to have to walk by faith in order to continue paying for what are considered 'basic bills' here in America--water, electricity, gas, home-health-auto insurances etc. Oh, and let's not forget groceries!

This is not something entirely new to me. In the very first year of our marriage, I was forced to stop working early due to a car accident resulting in the premature birth of our first child. (I share this story and the harrowing tales of my other two pregnancies in The Mommy Manual. Click here.)

Financial help was short in supply and our own auto insurance company was trying to pin the blame for the accident on us so that they wouldn't have to pay us! (The other driver was a minor who ran the light and smashed into us at high speed totalling our car. It was a miracle Tom and I and our unborn survived.)

The thought of having to live through a time similar to that pulled me down into a dark place--a place I did not want to go. Like David in Psalms, I poured my heart out to my Heavenly Father. I was led to read in I Corinthians beginning in Chapter 9, but kept reading the next chapter. A verse that had been of great encouragement to me in the past was there like an old friend to greet me again~

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man:but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 KJV

This verse if powerful once you better understand the word 'temptation'. It was translated from the Greek word peirasmos and means 'trial, proof'. What a promise!

No trial will come upon you that any other person hasn't already gone through. God is faithful and will not allow you to be proved beyond what you can bear and will make a way for you to come up out of the trial, so that you may be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 LOV (Lyn's Own Version)

As I write this, I am remembering two specific things the Lord did for us that difficult year. I received a check for $200 unexpectedly from the State with a note claiming that I had overpaid my taxes. This was the exact amount we were short that month in order to pay the rent! Another incident was that we found groceries sitting outside our apartment door, although we had not told anyone of our plight.

Again, like David, I am thankful to remember how my God is faithful. He has delivered us through the fire before, so I know I can trust Him to come through for us once again.

[Note: The LOV is based on studying the words according to the Young's Analytical Concordance.]

I Am the New Year

I Am the New Year

Author Unknown

I am the new year. I am an unspoiled page in your book of time.

I am your next chance at the art of living.

I am your opportunity to practice what you have learned about life during the last twelve months.

All that you sought and didn’t find is hidden in me, waiting for you to search it out with more determination.

All the good that you tried for and didn’t achieve is mine to grant when you have fewer conflicting desires.

All that you dreamed but didn’t dare to do, all that you hoped but did not will, all the faith that you claimed but did not have~
These slumber lightly, waiting to be awakened by the touch of a strong purpose.

I am your opportunity to renew your allegiance to Him who said, “Behold, I make all things new.”

I am the new year.

Christmas--Lost & Found

My sister sent me a Christmas card as usual, but this time she wrote a comment that struck me. "Hey, doesn't this look like something Grandma B. would have sent?" Sure enough the angelic print trimmed in gold resembled the old fashioned Christmas cards our grandmother sent us when she was living.

Lately it has really hit me--the pain of loss many, many folks experience at the holiday season--the loss of loved ones who are no longer with us for various reasons. This year I realized that I have no mother, no father, no grandmothers, and no grandfathers to celebrate the season with. No uncles and no aunts.

Instead of dwelling on the loss, I decided to recall favorite memories, like the one my sister shared with me. I have the old--I mean really old--Christmas songs that my mother would sing to us when we were children like 'Here Comes Suzy Snowflake' and 'Hurrah for Captain Santa Claus'. The words and melody just crop up in me and I begin to sing them no matter where I am or what I am doing. And I have old ornaments and holiday decor. There's the corroding silver ball ornament with my name and birthdate that my Mom painted onto it with red nail polish the first Christmas after I was born. I still remember that my husband's mother gave us the golden-haired angel with the flowing crimson gown.

Our Heavenly Father has a way to redeem all loss. Some losses are redeemed in this earthly lifetime. I was witness to such a thing recently.

I have a sweet neighbor who lost her husband and her long-haired dachshund this past year. My daughter Rachel and I visited her a couple of weeks ago. Knowing how lonely she must feel I asked, "Have you been thinking about getting another dog?"

She smiled and said she had put a few calls into places looking for a small dog but that it was difficult to find one that was not a puppy. She didn't have the strength to train a puppy. "Somehow I think this dog will just come to me," she admitted with a shy grin.

Later that week, Rachel went out to the mailbox and spied a small white dog trotting down the street. The poor thing looked wretched with its matted coat wet from the day's rainfall. "Here, puppy," Rachel coaxed. But the dog scurried away in fear.

Two days later another neighbor called me and told me how she had trapped a small runaway dog and was going to take it to the groomer and the vet. On her way home from the vet, Gloria came by to see me. In her arms was the cutest little dog I have ever seen with red and green plaid bows tied to her ears.

As if reading my mind, Gloria asked, "So who wants her?"

"My daughter Rachel just reminded me that this little dog would be perfect for our neighbor acrossed the street!" I exclaimed and gave her a few details. Gloria's mind was made up when I repeated my neighbor's comment, "And she believes this dog will simply come to her!"

Tears sprung to my eyes as I watched Gloria ring the doorbell to my neighbor's door. "Oh, Mighty Father! How good You are that You would do such a thing to bless this dear woman at this holiday season!"

I decided to wait a couple of days before poking my nose in and seeing how they were doing. "Thank you so much," she said when I called, "And thank Rachel too for thinking of me! I've named the dog Holly." She shared more of Holly's story with me. I was so happy for her...and for Holly!

May yours be a Christmas of Holy Redemption!

There's No Place Like Home

...Consider the lilies of the field... Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, [shall he] not much more [clothe] you, O ye of little faith?Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?... - Matthew 6:28-31 in part KJV

This is one of those nights when I just don't sleep well. I'm not always certain whether it is the Spirit of the Lord waking me or simply the result of 'getting to that age'.

I look around my room and see a picture we never hung and I know there's another one in the finished basement. We don't hang up all our pictures, I think, because we don't feel at home. I don't think I have ever felt at home anywhere on earth. Ever.

This world is not my home

I'm just a passin' through

as the song goes. Oh, Father God, how I long to go Home.

I wait--will He speak comfort to me?

I charge you to go forward, Daughter, fearing nothing. For truly I have a plan for you and truly My word does not fail. The days are dark and will be darker. But I would not have you to fear for I AM is with you. I AM is for you and goes before you. So fear not.

Do I not take care of the lilies of the field and the birds of the air? How much more do I care for you, Daughter! How much more do I care for you!

...But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. - Matthew 6:33 KJV

Thank Who?

This morning as I was busy doing my webber net thing and copying down recipes for the upcoming Thanksgiving festivities, I happened upon this article.

It brought tears to my eyes...

The More Important Thing by John Paul Jackson

Several years ago, when Streams Ministries was still located in New Hampshire, I started hearing footsteps. Some of the time, it would be my editor coming into my office to tell me I had a phone call or something else, but at other times, no one would be there. I would hear someone enter, but the office would be empty.
Well, this is strange, I would think.

The Busy Body of Christ
All of us have experienced different seasons of busyness in life. I don't mean periods of time when we are swamped for a week or two; I mean entire months and years of busyness, when we don't have time for God because we are trying to do things for Him. In this story, I was in one of those seasons. I had not slowed down in a long time.
One day, I was in the office by myself. I heard someone come into the room and assumed that my staff had returned. I was on a roll, so I kept working, figuring they would tell me what they needed.

But no one said anything. The steps stopped right behind my chair, and the next thing I knew, I felt arms around me. The physical presence was so real that at first, I thought I was being hugged. But when I looked down, nothing was there.
I began to weep, overwhelmed by incredible love and compassion. Conviction dropped over me like a blanket. In a moment, I knew the Lord was showing me that I had gotten too busy for Him. I wasn't giving Him time to touch me.

No Substitutions
We can have phenomenal experiences in God: visitations, translations, transportations, trances, dreams, visions, etc. We can learn to recognize His voice and have angels bring us messages of profound revelation. We can have extreme prophetic gifting and direct the courses of nations. But none of these things can act as a substitute for Him. Doing what God has called you to do is an excellent thing-but not when it takes His place.
Obviously, walking in our calling is very important, but we can't ever forget why we are walking in our calling-why we wanted to take this road in the first place. Our focus can easily shift from God Himself to being busy with what He has given us to do.

Practice the Presence
Around the time of our move to New Hampshire, it seemed like everyone wanted a piece of my attention. I felt constantly pulled on. I love people and I want to help them, but that day in my office, I felt the Lord was letting me know, "John Paul Jackson, you've gotten so busy working for Me that you don't have room for Me to touch you. You don't make time for Me to touch you, like you used to."
It may seem like an oxymoron, but sometimes we are so busy going after Him that we fail to wait for Him. As Isaiah 30:18 declares, God moves and acts on the behalf of those who wait for Him. They give Him time, and He responds.
No matter what happens in our relationship with God, what level of gifting we have, where we feel God has placed us in His body, the influence we may or may not have-we need to keep our gaze on the more important thing: God Himself.
Throughout our lives, there will be times when God calls us to hard work and other times when God calls us to rest; in both seasons, He is here. Where are you? Learn to hear His voice. Seek Him out. Let Him touch you. Practice the presence of God and grant Him the desire of His heart.
From: identitynetwork.net jpj article
Oh, how He loves us!