Have you ever felt the excitement of knowing you were right around the corner from the biggest blessing of your life???
That is how I feel right now!!!!
i wrote a blog thursday night after church, which I hope you will enjoy...oh! and last night at the shelter we had 6 women!!!!
Praise God
I realize this will be long...but I hope that God will use it for someone that needs it. That is the point of our existence right? To worship Him, learn about Him, love Him and show others the LIGHT!
"I am a corpse"
Today was my mom and her twin's 60th birthday. The fact that I get a 'two-fer' with them makes it nice. The way they laugh so goofy makes me laugh and the fact that I don't seem to look like them is surprising (i take after my dad's mom's folks...the Trueloves). But that laugh...that, I seem to have like theirs. I love to hear them laugh, I can hear my grandma when i hear them...i miss her. She would have been 99 on Saturday. it still hurts...
But that isn't what I am writing about. Susie and I had 'church' at home tonight after I got back from dinner with 'the twins'. I like when God speaks and it doesn't matter if there is just one...or one hundred thousand...all that matters is if one got something valuable. We talked about how we have the mind of Christ, how our minds must be renewed, transformed, how the enemy lies to us...his plans are the opposite of God's. God promises to prosper us, for good and not evil, He promises to give us hope and a future. The enemy's plan is the exact opposite. his are counterfeit...always. they may look right, but something is off. he canNOT create the correct duplicate of what God has...but his will be similar but so WRONG! how many people marry the counterfeit? have the counterfeit job? etc? I have to say that I am holding out for the GOD REALITY!
if he can't get you with the counterfeits...immediately (or ever) he tries to attack to wear you down.
Where does he attack the most? Well, for me: MY MIND!
Jesus was crucified on a hill called Golgotha. Golgotha means "place of the skull". hmmm...I believe that in every part of His life and death and subsequent resurrection, there was meaning to save us...from everything! If He was crucified on a hill that meant "place of the skull", His Blood ran on that hill...His blood that saves us, restores us, breathes life into us, heals us, gives us authority over all of **** and all of the enemy's strategies...that same blood was also specifically meant to protect, restore, heal, calm, renew our MINDS!
YEAH!
Most of my life I have dealt with the **** of tormenting thoughts in my mind: you aren't good enough, not worthy, fake, whore, loser, fat, ugly, stupid, dreamer, pathetic, psycho, crazy, no body likes you, your own father hates you, he always said you wouldn't amount to anything, your mother doesn't care about you, she let people molest you, she didn't save you when you were abused, you are worthless, idiot. you think you can preach? who the **** do you think you are? no one is listening to you. you suck. there are only 3 people here. you are doing nothing but spinning your wheels. seriously pointless. you are not good enough to love. God doesn't care...He isn't real. some aliens put you here as a test. the bible is a joke...slob. lazy. *****.
those are just a few. It's funny that most of those now are so obviously false to me that I hear it and laugh. Even if I get caught in listening, I can shut it down. I talked to a wonderful new friend in Abilene (rudy) a couple of Saturdays ago and mentioned the voices. he told me, "you know who that is...shut him down" and when i told him the voices had just gotten heavier in the past week since I had been in NM, "well, that is obviously the enemy and you are suppose to be a part of this and he doesn't want you here". He offered to pray for me and i so appreciate his generosity!
but it's the other words sometimes that i actually second guess and wonder if it's my 'rational' mind telling me that i am crazy! some (most-actually) of the stuff God tells me to do and places He tells me to go, FEEL CRAZY! They go against most EVERYTHING i was ever taught to do. it makes no sense...in the world. But I am NOT of this world...i am just in it.
Rudy gave me something solid...confirmation. He helped me to see, when i felt out of my comfort zone, that I was walking on water. The miracle isn't the water walking, that's the easy part when you get the faith. The miracle was that God places people in my life to shed light!
So, tonight...as i sat in front of 3 people talking about God. Showing scripture and explaining what they wanted to better understand...I saw light.
When we become children of God, born-again disciples of Christ, we die to ourselves. I am dead to my flesh...my sinful desires. Ok...heard all of that before. HOLD ON! How about this???? If we are dead...how can the enemy torment us?
When was the last time you saw a corpse sit up and cry because someone kicked them? Or said something mean? Seriously!!!! HAVE you ever seen a corpse get his/her feelings hurt? DID that corpse doubt his/herself?
Ok...so, impossible for a corpse to feel. A dead person cannot be taunted and antagonzied...right?
Are you dead to sin, but alive in Christ? huh? ARE YOU DEAD TO SIN? yes...ok. How can you let someone taunt you, irritate you, make you doubt God's plan for your life if you are DEAD?
Tell the imp to shut up. He can't effect you. You are dead to him. you are alive in the ONE that gave you life, that has a plan and a purpose for your life that is good and not evil.
You were made with a purpose. It may be that no one in your family understands, it may be that no one around you does, but I can guarantee that God does. He has a plan for your life. He has a plan for your blood line. He knows that you will see the fulfillment of all that He has placed within you. He may have meant for your parents or grandparents or some other ancestor to do this...and they failed. YOU WILL NOT FAIL! He will see to it that you succeed. First, you have to die to yourself...(metaphorically speaking of course-you put your desires down and take up his) and live in Him. Ask Jesus to be LORD of your life, to take over. LET HIM! All it takes is asking Him and then stepping aside to allow Him.
I promise that if you LET Him take over...your life will be so much easier...He takes all of your worries, you just have to GIVE them all to Him. He created you...He knows what is best. He has a plan and a purpose for your life...for good and not evil, for hope and a future. All you have to do is to daily allow Him to lead. Die to your selfish desires, those ugly, tormenting words in your head and allow HIM to live in you.
And by the way, God will give you the desires of your heart...it just may be that those desires CHANGE when He takes over. my whole life has changed. He changed my life. I am no longer climbing that corporate ladder, being Miss Independent, trying to conquer the world. I am climbing His ladder, have become Miss Dependant on God and helping to change the world. I love my life and am thankful for the peace that I have...the simple knowing that HE has me in the palm of His hand and His plan will succeed. I will have that happy family I joked aboutwanting as a kid. I am healed and restored. And I get the incredible joy in seeing lives restored, people healed, marriages restored and children rescued before the abuse begins. I get to see people walking and living in peace...families...In Jesus name!
And don't get discouraged in small numbers. The bible says that we should not be. It's the small beginnings that grow. It takes ONE seed to make a tree that gives countless more seeds. because susie bought the vette that needed work-Rich came around us and was interested in what we had in Christ - he started coming to our little 'church' aka bible study. NOW, he and his wife are working on their marriage. It was over, so they thought, when he first started coming around. She is still trying to figure out how he "found God" by working on a car. lol...
Just remember, you are a light...and you may be the only light someone sees.
I love you.
Peace.
p.s. be careful to those you are around. every person is going through something...be gentle. just because they don't think as fast, move as fast, or whatever...doesn't make them less. BUT if you treat that person less...it makes YOU less.
Glad you found us! Yes, it will always have "Christian Encouragers" in the title of the thread.
. We've been helping at church getting ready for next week's VBS and ended up painting posters, which I have never done before and these were very large (one of them is taller than I am and no short jokes from any of you!) & detailed with lots of color shading. Now, I'm taking a day off and we may go to the pool for the afternoon, so I can
and the boys can
. I finally get to wear my new-size-18-not-30 swimsuit
!
I'm making mini muffins and mini brownies (using mini-muffin pan) so that I have something to munch on. Boca's go great on the grill, so I'm all set there.
