One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,
other times there were one set of footprints.

This bothered me because I noticed
that during the low periods of my life,
when I was suffering from
anguish, sorrow or defeat,
I could see only one set of footprints.

So I said to the Lord,
“You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you,
you would walk with me always.
But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life
there have only been one set of footprints in the sand.
Why, when I needed you most, you have not been there for me?”

The Lord replied,
“The times when you have seen only one set of footprints in the sand,
is when I carried you.”

-Mary Stevenson)

Some things never get old, cannot be rewritten, and bear repeating. He's carried me a lot.

(Pics taken by me at Folly Beach, SC)

Ipad fever!

Fingers crossed and prayers sent up, I am hoping to win an Ipad 3 tomorrow! Oh, places I could go with that electronic devise from Heaven! Did I mention I'm like the ONLY one without an Ipad?! All the kids are pointing and laughing at me!

All shameless begging aside, go sign up. I don't want to drool & hope alone!

 http://www.mcpactions.com/blog/2012/05/16/ipad3

MCP Actions is an awesome site for free and for sale actions for Photoshop & Lightroom. I love to read their articles and posts on Facebook. They are helping promote Sticky Albums which, for you lucky dogs reading this on your ipads, is an excellent app for viewing and sharing your photos on the ipad. My face is so green with envy right now!!!

So, go, check it out. And pray I win ☺

Stirred up!

Yesterday's post has stirred me up to fight. 

Not fight a human, who is only being guided by the spirits he yields to, but against principalities and powers, demons from Hell, bent on destroying souls. My family's souls. 

And not to fight with weapons of mass destruction, or guns, swords, or knives...but with the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God; it's sharper than any two-edged sword and has the power to destroy demon spirits.

Funny how it seems like words in black ink on a piece of paper to some...but it's literally the words of God, given to us by inspiration of the Holy Ghost, as a weapon. And what did He promise about weapons? No weapon formed against us shall prosper! And what else did He promise? "Be of good cheer, little children, for I have overcome the world." 

We are literally fighting from victory, not to it! He has already won this war, He's just letting His children fight out the victory.


I just read the story of David and Goliath this morning. As Goliath cursed David by his many gods - like that would accomplish anything - David calmly picks up his 5 smooth stones and prepares himself to fight. And when Goliath laughs at David's feeble weapons, David responds by telling him, I don't fight you with a spear, shield or a sword, but with the name of the Lord of hosts...and today the earth will know that there is a God in Israel!

Listen at little David, approximately 17 years old, standing up to a giant! I think that's where I am today. The spirits that are in this world seem to be giants to me. They look almost impossible to overcome. They make me long for Heaven. But there is a fighter rising up on the inside and He's telling me, You can do ALL things through Christ Jesus! And, Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world!

I'm realizing it's up to me, and you, to fight these things that are attacking our children, keeping our loved ones in mental torment, or filling their minds with untruths. Telling them sin is right and right is wrong. Telling them God is love so there is nothing He hates...which is a lie from the devil. God is love, but He hates sin. Not the sinner, but SIN. 

So, yes, I'm stirred up to fight. I'm tired of hearing the world's point of view out of my children's mouth. And I'm ready to fight it.

Watch out, ya'll...the sleeping giant in me done woke up and joined up with the LORD's Army! 

I am not ashamed!

Yesterday one of our southern states, North Carolina, voted against legalizing marriage between two men or two women, defining marriage as being between a man and woman only. And immediately, our President (I had to make myself capitalize that word) went on record on national tv as supporting gay marriage. Meaning, he disagreed with the state of North Carolina. Like we didn't already know that, but apparently now he is willing to say those exact words in one sentence, instead of always beating around the bush.

And I kept my mouth shut. 

And then I got on Facebook, and started reading all these rants about how close-minded North Carolina and the south is. How bigoted, ignorant, and just plain MEAN Bible thumpers are. 

And I kept my mouth shut. Because, really, who cares what they think. I know I'm right. I know the Bible says about homosexuality. So, why should I care who disagrees?

But then I read some things that made me mad. Righteously mad. Indignant. I read Christians using the Bible to defend their "equality for all" stance. Preaching a God of love that hates no one and no thing. And I got mad.

So, I posted the following on my facebook status, after a quick, and one-sided, prayer to God that He help me shut my mouth. Instead, I think He anointed my fingers, because I couldn't stop.

A very good friend asked me to post this to my blog so she could share, so I have condensed my "rant" just a bit, taken out the personal replies to friends who commented. I read through this just now and I don't even know where half of this came from. It poured out of me against my will and I can't add one word to it, except the part at the end. This is my heart:

One day we are all going to be judged on what we voted for or against. Why? Because it's a loud statement on what you believe, deep down in your heart. And if you support something that God hates, well...how you think that's going to end for you? So, yes, vote for all the equality you want...but you won't be judged on how equal minded you were...but on whether you followed HIS laws, HIS commands, HIS heart. And telling someone the truth in love IS love. Going along with something that will lead someone to hell is NOT love. And it is possible to love someone and tell them that.

You know the only time God allowed one of His chosen tribes to be almost completely wiped out? Read about it in Judges 19-21. The tribe of Benjamin lost all but about 600 men, because of homosexuality. But because of His great love, even then He had mercy & compassion...read the story! That's just ONE story of how He feels about it. So yeah, it matters if you support it.

I'm so tired of non-christians telling Christians how quiet and loving we're supposed to be, and how to support sin so that we don't offend. YOU support it and look God in the face and tell Him why one day. Honestly, you cannot "decide" what to believe because it feels good, or your uncle is gay, or you want everyone to be happy & equal. If you are a Christian, it's supposed to be based on the Bible and what God says. Or why be a Christian? People are making up their own gods and religion and calling it Christianity. 

What a scary time to be on the face of this earth. I dread what is going to happen to our nation as a result of the past few years of policy that's been made against God's laws.

I am not shocked by the world. I'm shocked by other Christians. Who in the world is going to be the LIGHT in these dark times? The Christians are all falling for the same lies as the world! 

This is why we have a Holy Ghost, a Spirit of Truth, to lead & guide us. If it was so easy you could just make the decision based on the facts in front of your face, we wouldn't need a spirit of truth. But these choices are hard, they involve people we love, so we HAVE to follow truth...or you'll fall for a lie.

And if you fall for a lie, who is going to help your family and friends? You're down in a ditch with them! So for goodness sake, be strong, Christians! Know your Bible, KNOW your GOD...and stand up for truth. Yeah, you won't be popular...but when did it become more about being liked than it did about winning souls???

My kids are growing up in this world. A world that doesn't want a RIGHT way, they want all ways to be right. That sounds great but it doesn't get you to Heaven. Truth offends. And they offend me DAILY with their propaganda. You know it's not wrong to offend someone by standing for truth. That's not hate. That's love.

  

I'm for equal rights in that you can believe whatever you want. But just like you have a right to tell your truth, I have a right to tell THE truth.

Every time a vote goes against something that extremely affects Christians, we are touted as ignorant and close minded. Who in the world made THEM the open-minded group? And if that's the case, call me close minded. To me that means I base my morals on convictions on something besides myself and what feels good.

  

Which means, tomorrow, the next day, 10 years from now...my morals are the same. Cause I didn't make them up. I didn't base them on what someone said would be the more "equal" thing to do. I've tried to base them on the Bible.

And I'll add this, which I did not put on Facebook, but it keeps coming to my mind right now:

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth..." Romans 1:16

 

An Unlikely Hero...Part 6

Okay, I'm going to wrap this up today if it takes me ALL day!
So, Gideon now has an army of 300. THREE HUNDRED. Let that sink it. It's a soaker, as my dad likes to say, lol.
The enemy has a cool 135,000 but we're not worried because God is on our side, right?

Riiiiiight. Gideon's scared to death. 

They're camped out, waiting for the signal to attack, and God knows Gideon is still having some trust issues. So, once again, He calms His child down. He tells Gideon, Arise, go fight the Midianites, for I have delivered them into your hand! But....just in case you are still afraid...take your servant and go listen to what they're talking about. THAT will make you feel better!


So little Gideon 'neaks down (sorry, I have a 5 yr old with a "s" blend problem...it works it's way into my vocabulary from time to time ☺) into the enemy's camp in the middle of the night and overhears two soldiers discussing a dream.

The one man tells his dream:


A loaf of barley tumbles into the camp and knocks a tent down.

Now, I would have said, Boy, you been eatin' too much lamb pizza! 
But his companion says, Yep, we're all gonna DIE. It's just a sign that Gideon & His God are going to kill us all.

How's that for faith?! He had more faith in Gideon and the God he served than Gideon had himself!

I love that God let him hear that dream. I love that He took Gideon's insecurities in to account and, instead of rebuking him, He calmed him. Tell me He doesn't love us! That He isn't for us, and won't help us!

So, Gideon and the 300 men surround the camp in 3 groups of 100 men each, with only a trumpet in one hand and clay pot in the other, covering up a torch. Now THAT takes faith. And from here on out, Gideon has faith in spades. No more hand holding by God, no more running scared, afraid to do what God called him to do. From that night onward, Gideon chases down the enemy one by one till they are wiped off the face of the earth. Just as God called him to do.

The highlight of Gideon's story for me is in chapter 8:

Gideon comes to the city of Succoth and asks for food & water to help his tired & hungry men on their chase of the two kings of Midian. The elders of Succoth say, Are the kings in your hand, that we should give you bread? So, basically, no kings, no bread. They had NO faith in Gideon or God to complete the task. To which Gideon replies:


I'm going to chase down and capture the two kings, then come back here and teach you a lesson! And he does.

Man after my own heart ☺


He comes to another town and they respond the same way and he tells this town,
"When I come back in peace, I'm going to tear down your tower!" And he does.

Listen at that faith! Not if, but when!

Gideon is a changed man. He now has the confidence in God, and himself, he needs to get the job done. What a transformation!


A lot of people think Gideon went out of kind of a low note, but I disagree:

When he returns from battle, the men of Israel ask him to be their king. Rule over them, fight their enemies, be their leader. He turns it down and says something I love:

"...the Lord shall rule over you."

But he makes a rookie mistake. A human mistake, if you will. He knows he did good. He wants a little something, a token, to remind everyone what he and God just accomplished. So he takes some of the gold jewelry they recovered and builds a statue of an ephod, a short vest the priest wore in service to God.

I think he had good intentions. I don't think he turned down the position of king and proclaimed that God was their king and leader, only to turn around a build a statue to worship. Remember, they usually built a pile of rocks as a memorial when God did something for them. I think he wanted a memorial for all to remember what God had accomplished for them; he just went about it the wrong way. 


So he erected this statue in his hometown and, while it does not say that Gideon himself worshiped the statue, the Bible says it became a snare to him and the Israelites and they began to worship the memorial, the statue, instead of the One the statue was built in honor of. Maybe he did, I don't know, but I like to think his heart was in the right place when he made it.

That still goes on today, by the way: people love to worship nature, instead of the One who formed it and controls it. Or worship a human being, another creation of the Master Creator. I've said it before in church...it's like worshiping a light bulb when you have the sun. The light bulb is a wanna be sun. 

 
Okay, so I'm done with Gideon!!! What did we learn? God is loving and patient with His people. If He has chosen you for a job, He'll equip you. He often chooses the least likely and able, because He then receives the glory when they succeed. And He holds our hand. He's a loving Father, a parent, who does not leave us on our own but holds our hand and walks us through each trial and fight. He's on OUR side! And if God be for us....who cares who is against us!


I wish you'd comment if you read this story on Gideon and give me your thoughts. Or if you agree/disagree. Or if you hated it, liked it, couldn't finish it...whatever! I feel like I'm typing to the wall sometimes. ☺

God bless!

An Unlikely Hero ~ Part 5

I am so sorry it has taken me so long to finish this! I'll do better, give me another chance! ☺
Okay, we left off with Gideon and his fleece before God, in Judges 6:36-40.

By the way, I got so into this story of Gideon that I taught on it for the adult Sunday School a couple of Sundays ago. Somehow I managed to wrap it up in 45 minutes or less, lol, so I'm going to try to wrap this up today. Or tomorrow ☺ I'm having so much fun digging into Gideon, I don't want it to end!

I want to briefly mention something that happens in Gideon's story, though, before the fleece. Back up to verse 34 in chapter 6:

"But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered after him."

My Bible notes say that the Hebrew for this text is literally translated as: "The Spirit of the Lord clothed Himself with Gideon..." WOW. I don't fully comprehend all this entails, but I have a feeling that I'm making a mistake by asking God to fill me with His power...instead I should be asking Him to take over completely, just put me on as a cloak and do whatever needs to be done in my stead. I don't know. I don't fully understand this, but I'm telling you, that's crazy!!! God clothed Himself with Gideon. He didn't "fill" him up, He didn't "anoint" him to do the work, necessary...He went even further. And I hope one day He explains what that means. Or just does it to me!

Okay. I'm distracted already, lol.

Now, Gideon calls his clan to war (the Abiezerites) and they align themselves for battle (Chpt 7 now).

Here's the fun part. God takes a look at the enemy: 135,000 men ready to fight. They have camels (I think it's the first time camels are mentioned as being used in battle ) and remember, the Israelites do not use horses. God has forbidden them to rely on flesh, including horses and chariots, like their enemies. They walked every where. Remember the walls of Jericho and all that marching? Yep...by foot. No horses.

So, here's the Midianites and Amalekites (but referred to from hereon as just the Midianites) with 135,000 soldiers. Then God looks at Gideon's men, all 32,000 of them, and says, There's too many. They'll win against the enemy and brag that they saved themselves by their own hand. Time to whittle down the troops.

First of all, in what war does 32,000 seem like they have a chance again 135,000??? But God commands Gideon to make an announcement: Any man that is afraid can go home. Now, I'm just a girl, but I can just image the dead silence after that announcement, and the whispers when the first man raised his hand. NOT his proudest moment, no doubt. 

All in all, 22,000 men left that day. 22,000 men said, Uh, yeah...I'm not feeling the victory in this one...I'm going home. 

God takes a look and says, Nope...still too many. 10,000 against 135,000 is just too unfair of a fight when God is on your side! I'm jumping up and down on the inside right now!!!

So, Gideon takes them to the water and tells them to drink up. 21,700 men kneel down and bend their face to the water, not bothering to pay attention to their surroundings. 300 kneel down and scoop water up in their hands, drinking it like a dog with their tongues, all the while on the alert. 

God says, by these 300 will I save you and deliver the Midianites into your hands. Send the rest home! Because, you know, 300 plus God against 135,000 without God is more than enough. Hmmm, reminds me of a song...☺

Now, here's what gets me. Those 22,000 men will sow their crops in excitement and reap in peace next year...all because of Gideon and his band of 300. And God, of course. 301 men will fight for the deliverance of 22,000 scared men and their families. 

Why does this matter? Because I think we can do the same. I just received a call about a friend in trouble. The truth is, I get aggravated with this person because they like to call and tell you their problems, ask for advice, and then totally ignore it time and time again. Then, by the 50th time of giving the same advice for the same problem over the period of a couple of years, I get weary with them. I'm done praying, I want to wash my hands of the situation. 

BUT GOD. 

My faithful, ever loving, long suffering Heavenly Father...He never gives up! He's married to the backslider! He's the excited father to the prodigal so!. And He never grows weary of forgiving. In fact, if he commanded us mere humans to forgive the same person 490 times in one day, what's the standard He holds Himself to? How many times do you think He's willing to forgive you before casting you off? 

I don't think you'd believe me if I told you! 


So, yes, I'm going to pray and fight and pray and fight for my friend. Because I love her. And better yet, God loves her. I'll just start with a prayer that He give me the desire to pray first. Yep. He'll do that too!

Is someone you know struggling? Are you tired of dealing with their drama, their problems, their inability to help themselves? Ask God to give you a desire to fight for them and see what happens!

If God be for you, who can stand against you?!