Are you holding too tightly to this world?

Precious handmaiden---whatever consumes you, whatever takes all your time, whatever pulls you away from following the LORD God Almighty, these things need your attention.  You need to review your life to decide what needs to be cut away. 

How long can you continue to live in your silent rebellion against the LORD?  Or is your rebellion not so silent? 

This is your day to decide to lose "the hook" the world has on you and "cut the line".  Change your way of thinking.  Don't be like the world in all of its lusts.  If you obsess, then obsess in His word.  Let His word be your food and your drink.  Realize He is the reason for your life. 

Let your children see how you have changed because His word dwells deeply in you.  Even though you may not believe this, they closely watch you and emulate your behavior.  Don't be a reason they stumble.

Let the world see how you have changed.  Let them be in awe at how you can love the unlovely, how you can smile even though in agony, how you continue to live for Him even though persecuted.

The LORD God Almighty is your Father who waits for you to turn around and repent.  Just as the prodigal's father waited, He waits for you.  No matter if you rebel from Him openly or rebel privately in your own heart.  So many saints will celebrate when they see you coming down that dusty road.

Begin to live fully in Him today!

"...Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours.  But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found."
Luke 15:31-32

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

1. O soul, are you weary and troubled?
   No light in the darkness you see?
   There’s light for a look at the Savior,
   And life more abundant and free!
   
   
   
   
   Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
   Look full in His wonderful face,
   And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
   In the light of His glory and grace.
   
   
   Through death into life everlasting
   He passed, and we follow Him there;
   O’er us sin no more hath dominion—
   For more than conqu’rors we are!
   
   
   Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
   Look full in His wonderful face,
   And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
   In the light of His glory and grace.
   
   
   His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
   Believe Him, and all will be well:
   Then go to a world that is dying,
   His perfect salvation to tell!
   
   
   Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
   Look full in His wonderful face,
   And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
   In the light of His glory and grace.
   
   
   Helen H. Lemmel

This is Pretty Political for me:

After hearing conservative news from our government's highest court just now deciding,

 unconstitutionally,

that they believe it is constitutionally legal to force each citizen to buy a product, right now being health care,
(and so what will stop them from mandating whatever these "Anointed" desire for us?)

to Germany making circumcision a child abuse crime
(although the baby could have been murdered in the womb--the ultimate child abuse. FYI: Already in the USA a city is working on this law.)

I was struck again with the fact that only God is our Advocate.  As this evil world slips at warp speed into ultimate evil chaos, we need to run to God and cling to Him.  He is already the Victor of the evil one of this world.  We may live here on earth, but we are not trapped.  We have been set free in Christ!  We are no longer a slave to sin!  We have the gift of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us!  We are more than conquerers!

So my precious fellow handmaidens of the LORD, stand up while you can in the truth of God, proclaim His truth to those who desire to know, reach out in Christ's love to those who are down trodden, saved or unsaved, and let the world see Christ in you and glorify His name in your everyday life!

1 John 2:26
These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.

Christ Is Our Advocate

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.  The one who says, “ I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;  but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:  the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard.  On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining.  The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.  The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.  But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake.  I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.  I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

Do Not Love the World

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.   For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.  The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.  They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.  But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.  I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.  Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.  Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.   As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.

The Promise Is Eternal Life

This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life.

These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.  As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.

Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.  If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.

To God be the Glory!

by Fanny Crosby

To God be the glory, great things He has done;

So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,Who yielded His life an atonement for sin,And opened the life gate that all may go in.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,

Let the earth hear His voice!Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,Let the people rejoice!O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,And give Him the glory, great things He has done.

O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,

To every believer the promise of God;The vilest offender who truly believes,That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,

Let the earth hear His voice!Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,Let the people rejoice!O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,And give Him the glory, great things He has done.

Great things He has taught us, great things He has done,

And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;But purer, and higher, and greater will beOur wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,

Let the earth hear His voice!Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,Let the people rejoice!O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,And give Him the glory, great things He has done.

Praising God for how awesome He works in our lives, how He weaves situations together for our good and His glory, for how He loves us!

1 John 3:1a

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

Don’t you have a job or something?

or, in other words:
The Most Magnificent Contribution Imaginable to Society

I am an enigma. I began my career blessed this way, and I am ending my career blessed this way.

Although we have had times when we had two incomes (one small), it was a rarity and never was it a priority.  My number one career has been to be a Homemaker.  Under that Title the subtitles are too numerous to count, and even more are added as life continues.

The world has never respected my career choice, and sometimes even the Christian world has not been nice about it.

After our first child and in a new town, we happily went to the local public library to receive our library cards.  When I signed up I was told I needed an ID.  A current drivers license was not good enough.  I pulled out two more which did not satisfy this angry civil servant.

“Don’t you have a job or something?”  I was incredulous to be treated so rudely, as if just being a citizen was not good enough to borrow taxpayer library books.  No, he wanted me to either be a student with an appropriate ID or have an employment ID.

Years later I had almost died of salmonella poisoning.  The company who owned the now defunk dairy sent out representatives to interview the victims.  I spent days in the hospital with two little children at home, my husband losing work, much less almost dying, but when the rep realized I was “just a stay-at-home-mom,” he said I wasn’t worth the same as a “working mother“.

Eventually my children were grown and I was expected by the world to get a "real" job--I still am to this day.  But my career choice continues.

The “women’s movement” of the ‘70s sometimes haunts my mind, and the thought of having extra money to just re-carpet the stairs and second floor right now sends me daydreaming.  Reality sets in pretty quick when I try to figure how to fit a job in to my already full schedule of keeping my home together and all the myriad of things which consume my time for others.

Why would I change how God has blessed me in my endeavors all these years?  Have I wasted my life?  Was my choice to pour love and knowledge into my children, and now into others, for nothing?

My career choice is
 “the most magnificent contribution imaginable to society“.

Proverbs 31:10-31
An excellent wife, who can find?
For her worth is far above jewels.
The heart of her husband trusts in her,
And he will have no lack of gain...

I have met many working mothers throughout my life who desperately wanted to be at home even when their children were grown.  The world pulls at them*, their in-laws chastise them**, their degrees hang on them***, their bills scream out to them**** and so they continue to work.

This is not one kind of woman against the other.  I am not judging who is better; working women or homemakers.  Mainly, I just grieve at what a waste we humans have created.  Throughout time it is only "The Anointed"  who are good enough, and they are the ones who choose what "good" means.

You, daughter of the Most High, are His and highly treasured by Him.  Don't let "The Anointed" of our time tell you what your value is.  Your value is priceless, bought with a price that no one could pay, but One. 


He is the King of Kings.

*you aren't good enough unless you have a real job
**some in-laws will not keep to their own business, but burden their daughters-in-laws with, "how can you make our son be the only support for your family?"
***The ever present, "I can't 'waste' my degree."
****understandable--life is tough.

We are all one in Christ Jesus

I love to go barefoot. It is my life in a nutshell.  Of course, this is when I am at home.  I am not walking all over the world barefoot.  I did that for about a week in a state park when I was thirteen, and ended up with a metal shaving sliver.  Not doing that again.  Plus, I just like to have clean feet.

Enjoying going barefoot can be taken for granted.  You never realize how complicated feet are until you have a foot injury, poor support in your shoes, knee troubles, hip troubles, stubbed toe, ingrown toe nail -- the list can go on and on and on.

When thinking about separate body parts, I am so often reminded of 1 Corinthians 12. It speaks of our spiritual gifts and the body of Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:12-21
For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

For the body is not one member, but many.  If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.  And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.

If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be?  If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?  But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.  If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body.  And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”

No matter who you are, you have a place in the body of Christ if you have accepted Jesus as your Savior.  We should live humble and obedient in the LORD God Almighty, and not concern ourselves on what gifts we have compared to each other.  We should just be obedient and do next things for Him.

1 Corinthians 12:22-25
On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need of it.

But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.

We are all one in Christ Jesus.  We must not think of each other as better or worse than each other.  Each one of us should always be giving great honor to each other.  Let’s not be like the world which only honors their own choice of people depending on what is popular.

Galatians 3:27-28
For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Getting back to literal bare feet… so what happens when you playfully kick at a balloon on the living room floor to please your giggling 2 year old, but instead, you end up hitting your big toe on the hard end-table?  You probably end up on the floor in great pain with at least a half week of pain in your walk because a little thing like a toe was stubbed.

Let’s now say “the stubbed big toe” is part of the body of Christ.  Some how “the big toe” is hurting.  The toe is hurting for any number of reasons.  Because the toe is hurting it cannot function correctly, and so the whole body should recognize it is hurting.  The whole body should come to help and comfort the hurting toe.  This is our job in the body of Christ.  The same goes for when the toe no longer hurts.  The whole body should rejoice.  Let us fulfill our part of the body of Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:26-27
And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.  Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.

What is at Risk is our Hearts and Souls

"Risky Sex" at View from a Point is an excellent post by Michael Hidalgo which explains what is true about the misnomer, “safe sex”.  This is a must read so we can be the light in our sex crazed and saturated culture. 

"...Make no mistake, sex is risky – and what is at risk is our hearts and souls. They are just as much a part of the act of sex as any body part is. That’s not only the risk – it’s also the beauty of sex..." 

Genesis 2:24-25

For this reason a man shall leave 

his father and his mother, 

and be joined to his wife; and 

they shall become one flesh. 

And the man and his wife were 

both naked and were not ashamed.

Handmaiden of the LORD, you may be the only one who is willing to open the eyes of someone in your sphere of influence as well as your own children and grandchildren.  May we be found faithful as we live for Him in this world that is not our home. 

Put on a Heart of Compassion

Ephesians 4:30-32

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

*

*

"Love lets the past die.

It moves people to a new beginning

without settling the past.

Love does not have to clear up

all misunderstandings...

Love prefers to tuck all the loose ends

of past rights and wrongs

in the bosom of forgiveness -

and pushes us into a new start."

Lewis Smedes

*
*
Colossians 3
...So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity...

Remember When: Happy Father's Day

Gentle Ladies...fellow handmaidens of God Almighty...


It is a day and it is a time to remember and honor and love the fathers in our lives.


Glorify our Heavenly Father for He is the perfect father.  Live your life for Him and then appropriately show you appreciate and care for the men in your lives who are fathers or men who represent and teach others like a father.


Proverbs 15:23
A man finds joy in giving an apt reply
 and how good is a timely word!


Life is a mist so let them know.


James 4:13-15
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”  Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.   Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”


For the many godly men in my life, I glorify God to have known them before glory.


For my earthly father, I am so thankful he cared and loved me as he could.


For my Beloved husband, words can not express how precious my life has been with him all these years.  I have experienced God's marvelous grace and mercy with this godly man by my side.


I remember when.. and it was all just like yesterday.
Thank you , LORD.

Remember when 

the sound of little feet was the music

We danced to week to week

Brought back the love, we found trust

Vowed we'd never give it up

Remember when

Remember when thirty seemed so old

Now lookin' back, it's just a steppin' stone

To where we are,where we've been

Said we'd do it all again

Remember when

Remember when we said when we turned gray

When the children grow up and move away

We won't be sad, we'll be glad

For all the life we've had

And we'll remember when

Alan Jackson

We are more than conquerers

It is true when everything in life is hunky-dory, we tend to think life is fun and easy. 

But when things begin to go wrong and even crash and burn, this life can become completely overwhelming.

Praise God!  for we have a real hope in Him! 

There is no condemnation for those who are in Jesus.  He has set us free from the law of sin and death.  He became the requirement of the Law for us.  We have had a deliverance from the bondage in which we were born. 

We could have been in that bondage, even when our lives seemed like it was hunky-dory, if we were not saved by His grace at that time.   But now set free, we are no longer under the obligation to be a slave to the sin that once ran us.  We can overcome sin because of the Holy Spirit who lives within us and leads us.

When life becomes overwhelming we must remember our HOPE in the One who raises the dead.  None of what is happening here on this fallen earth compares with the glory which will be revealed to us when we are with the LORD.  We have been saved in the hope which we can not see, but we know it exists and we eagerly await it.

How can we respond when life crashes and burns?   The Holy Spirit knows our inner most being and intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  What a comfort!  I do not have to try to figure out what to say!  Even if I cannot verbalize, "Abba Father!" it is already in the Father's ear.

What a victory we have in our grasp!  Not one earthly thing, not even the evil one can take this away from us! 

God works.  He is working always.  He is not too busy and certainly not forgetful.  He is on our side because we are His adopted children because of Jesus' death and resurrection. For those who are His children, He works all our things together for good and so we can trust Him even when we do not understand the "why".

No matter what overwhelms us in our lives; tribulations, distresses, persecutions, famines, nakedness, peril, sword....God is for us so who can be against us?  He is working.  We can trust Him.

Romans 8:37-39
But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer
through Him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor powers,

nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing,
will be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So with this knowledge we can find comfort as we are more than conquerers!  We can get up and do next things for Him.  Our whole being should be in a desire to glorify His name.  In our everyday world, whatever that looks like, we can live fully for Him even if our lives are overwhelming with struggles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=W5mbldTkruM

I Cast All My Cares

Psalm 46:1

God is our refuge and strength,

A very present help in trouble.

*

*

I CAST ALL MY CARES UPON YOU

I LAY ALL OF MY BURDENS,

DOWN AT YOUR FEET

ANYTIME, I DON'T KNOW

JUST WHAT TO DO,

I JUST CAST ALL MY CARES

UPON YOU

Kelly Willard

When I am weak, then I am strong

Life is full and busy.  Life can be tough, and we become weary. 

Praise God for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit!  Because of Him we can do things when our energy is spent.  When we can truly not think any longer, His strength envelopes us to give us the abiltiy to make one more decision that must be made.  When we can not handle one more thing, He helps us graciously do just that.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10
The LORD said to Paul concerning his weariness:
“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”
Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses,
so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults,
with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake;
for when I am weak, then I am strong.

I am continually amazed at our great God.  I may desire miracles, but me not receiving them doesn't mean I do not see His hand in my life or in other people's lives who are close to me. 

Thank you, my merciful Father, for Your grace is sufficient for me.  

How many Believers have suffered before me?  When I enter His glory I will know their testimonies and glorify His name more that math could ever calculate.  Even so, I personally have witnessed His grace more than I could ever deserve, except that I am His child and thus worthy.  How precious it is to be His handmaiden, His adopted daughter, His child. 

Thankful beyond words...

for when I am weak, then I am strong.

Isaiah 40:28-31
Do you not know? Have you not heard?  The Everlasting God,
the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not
become weary or tired.  His understanding is inscrutable.
He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might
He increases power.  Though youths grow weary and tired,
and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who
wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up
with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired,
they will walk and not become weary.