Spiritual Lessons Gleaned From Ferns

Greetings Everybody,

Last night was fun.  We had thunder and rain and the electricity went out.  

I lit a candle, took out the iPAD, hooked up a speaker, and we watched silly ole TV shows that had I previously downloaded.

It was sort of like camping out, but WAY better.

No drippy tents.

No outside "facilities" lol.

Anyway, I got up this morning, and took my iPAD outside to get a photo of my ferns for you guys to see.
As it happens, my ferns are thriving this year.

Take a look...

I LOVE FERNS!

I love their flexibility.

I love the way they compensate for each other and allow each other to flourish and grow..

I love how they seem to thrive in each others company.

And I think that Strong Healthy Families are a lot like Ferns.

1.  They show flexibility.

2.  They compensate for each other and allow each other to flourish and grow.

3.  They draw strength from being together.

Not to put to fine a point on this concept, but as it happens, last summer all of my ferns died because there was no rain.

We watched them scorch, turn brown, shrivel and eventually my husband clipped away all the dead stalks and we thought that we had lost them forever.


Yet, here they are again.  They did not die completely.

They were just in a season of hardship.

Hmmmm....

I think that there might be an analogy here somewhere.

We already talked about how Healthy Families are like Ferns.

But what if God is sort of like the Rain that brings Ferns out of their seasons of hardship?

We have all heard of Showers of Blessing right?

It's not that much of a stretch to see this how God is able to restore us, just like rain restores thirsty ferns.

To further illustrate this analogy, let me share with you that this spring when the rains came, the ferns sprouted right back up.

And they have flourished more and more with each subsequent rain.

My Ferns Have Been Renewed.

Now let's tie this back to the discussion of how Ferns are like Families.


Every Family I know of, goes through times of "drought and hardship". 

They experience seasons troubles, trials, tribulations, and generally tough times.

But Families who are grounded in Faith seem to survive, no matter what kind of hardship comes their way....just like my ferns.

We all experience these "Seasons".

Scripture is very explicit about this.

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
-a time to be born and a time to die, 
-a time to plant and a time to uproot, 
-a time to kill and a time to heal, 
-a time to tear down and a time to build, 
-a time to weep and a time to laugh, 
-a time to mourn and a time to dance, 
-a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, 
-a time to embrace and a time to refrain, 
-a time to search and a time to give up, 
-a time to keep and a time to throw away, 
-a time to tear and a time to mend, 
-a time to be silent and a time to speak, -a time to love and a time to hate, 
-a time for war and a time for peace." 
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8


Clearly we all have seasons and some of them may be difficult ones.


But have been given the assurance that if we remain close to God, He WILL Help Us.


If... We avoid those who walk in the counsel of the wicked...
If... We do avoid keeping company with those who are choosing to sin...
If... We stop ourselves from mocking being mean to  others...
If... We delight in God, and His Words...(and btw I would be re-miss if failed to mention that "delighting in His Words" conveys ACTIVE Obedience to His Will as well.)


Then...We will be BLESSED.


We can endure the seasons of troubles, trials, tribulations, and generally tough times...


Because we know that God has also prepared seasons of renewal, restoration, rejuvenation, and rest. 

God, Thank You For The RAIN!

So there ya have it:
Spiritual Lessons Gleaned From Ferns.


Be Blessed!


In Him,
Grace

Strongholds, Life-storms & God: A Correlation

Greetings Everybody,
This blog entry is dedicated to one of my new blog-friends who is dealing with some upcoming Life-storms.  
Her name doesn't matter, she knows who she is.
I hope this blesses you and brings you courage.


So...Ok...Let's talk about Strongholds and Life-storms, and God.


The word Stronghold appears in scripture more than once, but let's start out with a verse from the book of Nahum.
" The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; He knows those who take refuge in Him" Nahum 1:7


Now I am aware that there are people all over the world who may be reading this lesson, so let me make sure that they have a good understanding of the word Stronghold before I go any further. They might need a working definition to really understand where I am going .


So here ya go, as per www.thefreedictionary.com

stronghold  is a noun that has 2 meanings.

1. (Military / Fortifications) a defensible place; fortress

2. a major centre or area of predominance

[from strong + hold¹ (in the archaic sense: a fortified place)]

Now let's apply those words to something that we can understand a little bit better.
Let's take a look at a stronghold that I personally have been inside.

Castillo de San Marcos. Construction started in 1672. It is in St. Augustine, Florida and it was a stronghold /fortress designed to protect and defend the town from attacking ships.  Tourists can walk on the roof and view the antique cannon positioned there.

                                   aerial photo found at  www.nps.gov/casa/index.htm 


Just like the definition states, a stronghold is a place of safety...but it is also a place that by definition was able to both protect AND defend. 


Strongholds were not designed to be mobile. 
They were built solid, stationary, and strong. 
The stronghold didn't go to the people, the people went to the stronghold.


And there were three kinds of people who came to the stronghold: 
1. Those who needed protection.
2. Those who served to defend the stronghold and those within it's walls.
3. Those attacking the stronghold and seeking to destroy all within it's walls.


There are strongholds located all over the world.
Some ancient.
Some modern.


They were and still ARE built in areas considered to be vital for security, protection, and defense. 


In the days of old, people knew that when enemies attacked, the best place in the world to be was INSIDE that fortress.


Soldiers and Peasants alike knew to get inside the stronghold when times of trouble came.


It was simultaneously their place of safety and of strength.


When enemies were on the march, or advancing in approaching ships, everybody who was able, would run with all of their might, to get inside the stronghold before those giant doors were closed. 


And they would remain inside the stronghold until the time of trouble was over. 


Now history reveals that over the years many strongholds eventually fell to the enemy.


They were man-made and as such were subject to flaws. 


They used a trial and error system in building them.


They learned from the mistakes of others.


Sometimes those in the stronghold would perish because they put their faith in these structures built by men.


But there is a stronghold that is impenetrable 
And that stronghold is GOD himself.


Consider David of the old testament.
Over the course of his life, he was a shepherd, and a warrior, and he was a king.


He knew a thing or two about military wisdom, and he knew what a stronghold was.


And he called God his stronghold.
"He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me." Psalms 144: 3


But pay close attention to the very next verse because here David expresses the awe of knowing that GOD actually knows him.  David was astonished that God, the creator of EVERYTHING, was HIS STRONGHOLD, and that God actually KNEW him.
"O LORD, what is man that you care for him, the son of man that you think of him?" Psalms 144: 4


If you will allow a very loose paraphrase, to me, those two verses come across like this : "God, you are so big and I am so small, yet you KNOW me and my needs. I trust you and know that you will protect me and bring me to victory. And BTW this whole concept of YOU, the creator of Heaven and Earth, knowing ME, a shepherd-boy- turned-king just kind of blows my mind."  


Pretty Cool Huh!


When we stack the words of Nahum & David, we get strong precedence in calling God our Stronghold.


Nahum 1:7 " The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; He knows those who take refuge in Him" 

Psalms 144:3-4 "He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me. O LORD, what is man that you care for him, the son of man that you think of him?" 

And now let's bring this discussion into the New Testament and discuss Jesus for a minute.


But before we do, let me just say that from here on out you will sometimes see me refer to God as our Stronghold and other times see me refer to Jesus as our Stronghold. 


I don't want to confuse anybody so let me just take a minute and say that I believe that Jesus is a part of God and God is a part of Jesus. 


And here's the scripture that serves as the basis for this belief.
These are the words of Jesus...
"Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves." John 14:11

Ok...that having been hopefully cleared up, let's keep going.

Do you remember the story of Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee?

"Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him.Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!” 
Matthew 8:23-27

I submit to you that there is a great correlation between the weather-based storm that Jesus stilled and the life-storms that we go through today.

We often hear people talk about waves of troubles crashing over them.

We often hear people saying that they fear that they will be overcome by their hardships.

I think that if we examine Life-storms, using the paradigm of the Real Storm that was happening in the story of Jesus calming the sea, we can glean some pearls of wisdom to apply to our lives today.

Let's take the story in the order that things occurred, step by step:

First, He (Jesus) was in the boat with several guys and was sleeping during a raging storm. (lol Apparently he was  QUITE UNAFRAID.)

Second, the guys in the boat woke Him up, and were crying out for help from Him. (Clearly they WERE afraid.)

Third, He spoke to the guys in the boat: 

A.  commenting about their little faith and

B.  asking WHY they were afraid.
This is really kind of a huge thing. 
-Did they Under estimate Jesus' Power? 
-Did they Over estimate the power of the storm? 
-Did they do both? 
-Or was it that they didn't KNOW HIM well enough to totally TRUST Him?

Fourth, He stood up.

Fifth, He spoke to the winds and the waves.
(He interacted with The OCEAN and The WIND.

These are two HUGE and POWERFUL forces here on Earth.

And at His Command...both the ocean and the wind lost all of their fury.)

Sixth, it got completely calm.

Seventh, the guys were astonished.

Now I think I am safe in saying that the guys in the boat, reached out to Jesus, their Stronghold, and that their Stronghold protected and defended them.

Pearl of Wisdom #1
-I am thinking that I do NOT have a problem that is more powerful than the combined forces of ocean and wind.


Pearl of Wisdom #2
-And if Jesus can control both of THOSE things...every thing else must be pretty much within his "scope and sequence" too.


Pearl of Wisdom #3
-If I have Faith in my Stronghold, I too can "Sleep In the Boat" regardless of the raging life-storms. 

So lets bring this all together now:
-Life-storms are inevitable.
-They brew up and come at us full force all the time.

-Man-made strongholds are useless against Life-storms.

-The only real Stronghold is God and His Son,Jesus Christ.
-But we have to be IN The Stronghold to get the protection.
-We must come to KNOW the power of our Stronghold.

-Our Stronghold Already Knows Us .
-We can Totally Trust Him. 

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." 

Isaiah 41:10

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline." 2 Timothy 1:7

Fear Not!

In Him,

Grace

A Blessing Before War

Greetings All,
This Morning I sent an email to my former student who is about to ship off to Afghanistan.(You might recall that I have mentioned her in two other posts)


I sent her my blessing.


                                           I didn't cry when I wrote it.
                                     But perhaps this will explain how I feel.

I am aware of the weight of the words I left on that page.


Those were the words that I want her to remember when she is in the midst of explosions, screaming, all sorts of carnage, and looming death.


I pointed her toward God.


That's the ONLY and the STRONGEST thing I knew to do.


She is about to run headlong right into the face of the biggest ocean of evil & destruction she has ever experienced in her life...and I had to make sure she was carrying her SPIRITUAL LIFE RAFT with her.


She is NOT my daughter.


I did NOT raise her.


But I am being impacted by her life and can not imagine how the actual parents of our military troops must feel.


Some are vested in generations of military life and have become accustomed to the emotions of sending off loved ones to war.


But how do you REALLY ever get accustomed to sending your baby...the one you nursed, changed, rocked, and held for so many years....how do you EVER get accustomed to sending them into a war?


She is NOT my daughter.


I did NOT raise her.


But the weight of the words I left on the page this morning was significant.


I gave her the words I want her to remember forever
...and the words I wanted to say to her NOW...in case she dies.


It was a long email.


But it boiled down to this....


-I wrote down my pray over her life...and asked God for some specific things for her.


-I told her a few things I wanted her to remember about God and what to SEEK from Him.


-I told her that I was Proud of Her.


-I told her that I Love Her.


After that...what else is there!


We make life so very complicated...but it pretty much comes down to this:


Act Justly
Love Mercy
Walk Humbly With Your God

Micah 6:8 "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. 
   And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy 
   and to walk humbly with your God."
IN HIM,
Grace

"I Would Like You To Speak At My Funeral"

Greetings Everyone,
Got so many things on my mind and have come to the conclusion that it will take several posts to get what is on my heart expressed.


But for now...let's start with ONE of the things that happened today.


Before I do that, let me take you back to something I posted last month.
It was titled "Student E and Afghanistan"...perhaps you remember it? 


For those of you who did read, it, I suspect the rest of this story will make more sense.


Let me ease any concerns you might already have....she is alive and well.


She will ship out soon.


The Military has been putting those who are about to ship out, through their paces.


And today, during my lunch, she sent me the following email...5 minutes before my next class would walk in the door.


"I leave in 10 days give or take a day. little nervous now. but I know ill be ok. 


love you.  


also, I put you in a packet of information with your number and gave
it to my mom. 

if I were to die, I would like you to speak at my funeral. 

I know its a morbid subject but it had to be done. :] "

She prepared to die TODAY! 

She wrote her "If you are reading this I am dead." letter to her parents TODAY! 

This War is real.

But it got MORE Real for me Today.

Teaching is real.

But the knowledge that I impacted her life got MORE Real for me Today.

And it humbled me.

It was God Almighty who placed that babygirl in my class to begin with.

And it was God Almighty who opened the door for me to help her.

And I am humbled to know that I was used by The King!

God, Please Keep Her Safe and Bring Her Back Whole In Every Way.

BTW... I agreed to speak at her funeral.  Of COURSE I agreed to speak at her funeral.

But I had a hard time teaching my next class with this on my mind.

In Him,

Grace

Welcome 2012

Greetings Everyone,
Every morning, I sit down and have some time in prayer. 
Actually it turns out to be about an hour.


Didn't plan it that way, it has just evolved into that routine.


Originally it was a lot longer, but then there were some gigantic troubles in my life when I first started prayer journaling and as those burdens eased, the prayer time just kind of morphed into about an hour time slot each morning.


It takes about a hour for me to get all of my Thank You's and Please Help's itemized.
And that hour is the most precious part of my life now.
Every corner of my mind gets swept clean...all the fluff, all the darkness, all the cobwebs.


God, listens to it all, and in return...
He gives me PEACE.
And He gives me JOY.
And He gives me ENERGY.
And He gives me a zillion other things I need to get through each day.


I've been doing this for a number of years...and it is simply "a part of me" now.


Along the way, I have gleaned a few crystalized thoughts.
And I cherish them.


Every morning, I ask God for the 5 things that are listed below.
And He is faithful.
And My GOD Delivers!


Today, I am going to post one of those thoughts in the form of a Blessing to those of you who are reading.


Yes these are my original words, I am the one who penned them...but it was
"The Great I AM" 
who gave me these words...I'm not this smart on my own.


I hope this touches your life in some way.

A Blessing for 2012


May The Lord God Almighty,
PROTECT You, 
PROVIDE for You, 
PREPARE You, 
PURPOSE You, 
and POSITION You.


Welcome 2012!
Come on in, take off your coat and stay a while.
We've been waiting for you.


In Him,
Grace

The Blessings of December 29, 2011

Greetings Everyone,
Woohoo...and I have Happy News.


1. My sister in law has made amazing progress since yesterday.
She is still in the Neurological ICU and still has a feeding tube, and still has an infection, but she is lucid.


She sat in a chair for an hour today.
She turned down pain medication today. 
And she wants the blinds left open so that she can see the sunshine outside.


This is an answer to prayer.


2. My daughters fever has broken and she is feeling better today.  


She said that Little Man still has a cough and a stuffy nose, but that he seems happy.


And so far... my son in law has not caught the cold that his wife and child have.


This is an answer to prayer.


3.  Hubby feels better today.  


The cough is better & the diabetes is in control today.


We had our breakfast date today, ran some errands, and then made the long trip to go see his sister in the hospital (where as I mentioned, we found her tremendously improved).  


Hubby's heart was lighter on the drive back home.


This too is an answer to prayer.


Let's just say we have been rejoicing and that the Ole Family Grapevine has been working overtime today.


Let me also say that OUR Family gives ALL the credit for these blessings to God Almighty. 


We prayed in faith for healings.


He responded with a YES on all counts.


His answer isn't always YES...but today it was!


Sometimes He says NO, and when he does, we have to remember that His Grace Is Sufficient...just like PAUL.


2 Corinthians 12: 17-19 "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."



But today, His answer was YES.


Ephesians 3:20-21 " Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.


We CHOOSE to BELIEVE in HIM.


Joshua 24:15 "But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."


But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.


It does make me wonder what would happen if America would really claim            2 Chronicles 7:14
" If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."


What would happen IF WE AS A NATION HUMBLED OURSELVES AND PRAYED?
I believe with all my heart that HE WOULD RESPOND WITH A YES!


...just a little something to ponder...


In Him,
Grace