I Don’t Want Anything!

The Lord is my Shepherd and I shall not want.  Why would I want?  He gives me everything I need and more.  He even provides the desires of my heart.  So many times I have seen Him do that for me.  Knowing this as His sheep I feel content.  We have to have the confidence to believe He will supply our needs.  It may not be the way we thought or expected, but He will provide and it will be good.  His ways are beyond our ways, and His ways are better than ours.  Wanting can be covetous, and is something we should never do.  We just need to trust in the Lord and He will surprise us with many blessings, and unexpected gifts.  Isn’t that what any good father would  do?

Big Bang? I Don’t Think So!!

It never ceases to amaze me the resistance of people to believe that the Bible is a workbook of life from beginning to end.  There is nothing to figure out.  It is written.  God created everything.  When I encounter a person like this  I love  to use the fish in a fish store, or an aquarium.  They are so wonderfully beautiful and so very very different from  one another. Like the one above.  I took this photo at the Seattle Aquarium.  You can see Gods handy work all over this fish.  It is not possible that there was a big bang and this fish just dropped out of the blast.  Do you agree?   Why is it so  hard to believe in a creator when we have  so  much evidence around us?  I love your creation Lord and all the little critters I can see as I look thru the lens with you.

Thy Word

The Word of God is life to us.  The Word is Jesus.  John tells us that first there was the Word, and the Word became flesh.  That flesh is our Lord.  So when we let the Word guide us we are walking with the Lord on the path that He has set before us.  The Word is alive and is speaking to us today even though it was written many years ago.  It is Gods powerful voice to us, full of wisdom and direction for everything we may encounter in life.   If we walk with the Word, He does shine a light on our path, it is our compass.  Thank you Lord for your Word that is God breathed and infallible.  It was inspired by you. 

Rainbows Revelation

This is a continuation of my previous post about my Dad.  As time passed Dad became sicker and sicker.  I talked to Him regularly on the phone and comforted him on his journey.  I had a gift shop in Garden Grove, Ca. and Dad was now in Tucson, Arizona.  I remained very strong as I talked to Dad, but when off the phone I would collapse in tears. I could not even imagine loosing my Dad.  I  had lost my mom at a young age, and as a result of that I clung to my Dad through thick and thin.  It was killing me to not get there when he was really  sick.  I had gone there many times but for what ever reason, I couldn’t get  away from the shop  at this time.  Then the day came when I was  at the shop and I got a call  from the hospice he was in, that if I wanted to see my dad, I better come now.  He was  suddenly failing fast.  We just closed the shop,  and the next morning at the break of day headed to Arizona.  My husband and I, me crying and he comforting me.   We had reached the desert and as we drove I looked out the window to my right and there was a rainbow in the  sky.  Not  one cloud, no rain just this rainbow.  I had Jerry look, and we both were amazed.  Suddenly as we drove a thought rushed through my head and I said Jerry do you think that rainbow is the Lord trying to get my  attention?  We prayed and I heard the still small voice of  the Lord saying let Him go.  I asked Jerry ,do you think the Lord wants to take Dad right now?  He calmly said I think so.  I now prayed and told the Lord to take my Daddy, I didn’t want him to suffer anymore.   I asked Jerry what time it was, and he said. “7:30am”.  We drove on, but I had a strange new peace.  I felt like I was going  to be o.k.  Prior to that, I just couldn’t even think of it without my heart breaking.   We finally arrived in  Tucson, about 6 hours later.  My Jerry said let me go in first, fearing that I would collapse if faced with bad news.  He came out a few minutes later and said “your Dad went to be with the Lord”. I asked what time, and he replied,”7:30am”The Lord promised us comfort, and care, that he would never leave or forsake us, and truly he was there for me with the Revelation through the rainbow.  The rainbow  in the photo is one in Kauai,  Hawaii.

Who Do You Look Like?

I look a lot like my Dad,  I act like Him too.  Mom is in there too, but I actually feel like I have Dads ways.  My Dad died of cancer, and the weeks prior to His passing I was able to talk to Him many times on the phone.  He called to tell me that he was going to die, and said what are we going to do now?  I said Dad, we are going to get ready for heaven now.  He had some fear about what it would be like to die.  Said he wanted to die while he was sleeping.  So we prayed that the Lord would take daddy in his sleep.   I got books on heaven and read excerpts from them to him on the phone.  He was very relieved and thought it all sounded pretty good.  I was able to tell my Dad and thank him that I am who I am because of him.  He was fearless and had the gift of gab.  I know I have the ability to stand in front of people and tell them about Jesus because of dad.  Mom was shy.  I will tell just about anyone about the Lord if given the opportunity.  I love my Dad,  I look forward to seeing Him in heaven.  Oh and the Lord answered our prayers.  He took Dad in his sleep.   

Father God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,  shines in our hearts to give us the light of knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  The Glory of God is in the face of Jesus.  He looks like His dad.  God has shined light in our hearts so that we may have knowledge, and see Jesus as He is, and now we are like Him.

The photo below was taken at Dads home in Bahia Kino, Mexico.  He lived there for many years after retirement.  Pelican Island at Sunset on the Sea of Cortez

 

 

 

Bear

Bear!  I got to take a photo of this wonderful bear.  If you look carefully, you can see that she is standing on a salmon.  I was able to get close because she was so focused on the salmon that she didn’t even look up.  There were actually two bears, her and her cub.  For me it was a very special gift from the Lord.  I was elated to get that close to the bears.  This was at Lake Tahoe.  Silly to say, but I so badly wanted to use this photo, that I used the scripture with the word forbearing in it.  It is ok though because it really is a lesson to be  learned.  We should always bear with one another, and forgive one another.  If you have difficulty forgiving, take it to the Lord, and  ask His help in the matter.  The Lord works on our heart and makes us able to forgive, even when we can’t.  Remember, He forgave us, we have to do the same for others. Thank you for the bears Lord!!!

Depart From Evil

When evil stares you  in the face get on the highway of the upright and depart from it.  In the day we live it is hard to avoid evil, it is around every corner.  There is an easy escape however, just turn your back on it.  Don’t take it in.  Don’t give any time or attention to what the enemy of our souls may conjure  up.  When I have a  nightmare, It is evil.  I don’t try to figure it out or stay paralyzed in fear.  I turn my back  on it and rebuke the enemy in the name of Jesus.  We have choices, we can stay in the evil place or we can turn from it.  Evil can appear tantalizing and draw us in, and we will then be snared by the evil one.  We have to turn from t.v. shows that are evil, books, signs, people and even churches and religions that are evil.  It is a time where we have to put on the full armor of  God and cover our  self  with His word.  The Lord has given us everything we need to turn from evil but it is a choice.  Please Lord help to make the  right choice.

The Journey Continues

As many of you know from previous writings, I am on the Journey of my life.  If it were not for the Lord this Journey would have ended a long time ago.  I have stage 4 advanced metastic cancer.  I am terminal in the sense that the cancer I have is incurable.  I know I am only terminal, when it is time for the Lord to take me home.  A little refresher, I started with kidney cancer-(renal cancer).  My kidney was removed and I was cancer free for two years.  On the two year cat scan there were tumors in my lungs.  Two in each lung and my lymph nodes were also filled with cancer in that area.  There were dark days at first when I got the news.  Fear is such a strong force against us.  I knew this and asked the Lord to take that darkness from  me. He is faithful, and the sun began to shine again in my life and my journey. When I came out of the dark place it was like a new beginning, full of hope, joy and an appreciation of the Lords care.   I went through two Chemo treatments, the first for 9 months and the second for 10 months.  The first one was very hard, and I was very sick but the Lord was with  me every step of the way.  Then the second was an easier one praise the Lord .  All of them have been every other Tuesday.  With cat scans every  three months.   I am involved with a new community of people,  all have cancer, or care for those who do.  It’s crazy to say, but I feel strongly that I am right where the Lord wants me to be.  I have an excitement each day when I wake up.  I feel like there is so much the Lord would have me do in my new position in life.  I just want to be faithful to serve Him even more than ever before….Are you serving our  precious Lord with fervency?  Listen for His still small voice, I am sure He has something for you to do. Something that possibly only  you alone can do.  Don’t miss the chance!!!  Count it all joy when you have different kinds of temptations.  Temptations to give in to fear and live below the life the Lord has for You.  I now count cancer Joy and I am letting the Lord work thru me where I am now, as my journey continues. 

Lessons From A Bird

I am a bird lover, or should I say a creature lover.  I feel so honored when a bird decides to make their nest in our yard.  I think the birds like it too because they frequent our yard every year.  This was last years brood in a pine tree in our back yard.  Two baby morning doves almost ready to leave the nest.  I had the blessing of watching them leave.  Sad, but sweet, they went together.  This year we were blessed with our 3rd family of Robins on our front porch.  It was so great to see them again.  Have to believe it is the same mated pair.  My husband is ill as many of you know and is pretty much house bound, but from his chair in our office he could watch the preparations and the birth of the baby birds.  This year there were four.  They all flew the nest successfully except for one little bird.  That baby cried and cried when everyone left, and I grieved over it, helpless to do anything.  Two days passed and the baby still sat alone. Three days, and still there.  I began to worry it was going to starve to death.  Day four he stepped to the edge of the brick and flapped his wings and in the process almost fell off.  The nest is on the top row of bricks, about ten feet high.  He caught his balance and got back in the nest.  Day five came and I went to the window as soon as I got up to see if the babe was gone.  To my dismay he was still there.  Right by the front door, so they were quite used to out coming and going.  Early Friday evening I was looking out the window with my husband, and there came Mom.  She went on many trips and filled that little tummy up.  By nightfall our baby bird peacefully slept.  Day six, I raced to the window when I got up, and the baby had flown away.  What I learned from this was we are all progressing on our own time frame.  We can’t look at someone and think they should be doing this or that for the Lord.  I think its possible for any of us to jump out of the Lords nest prematurely and really make a mess of things.  We need to be fed and grow before our time to go out and serve the Lord.  There might be something special to be learned for the task at hand.   I have seen many in my years serving the Lord that try to jump ahead of the Lord, and they fall flat.  If that baby would have gone before today, he would have been a sad splat on our porch.  That Mom had to feed him and build him up to conquer his fear so He could fly.  Sometimes  we expect too much too soon, we need to be fed by the Word and the Lord.  When we are ready, we will fly! It is all in the Lords time.

True Vine

This beautiful vineyard is in the Napa Valley, and such a wonderful visual aid for the vine and the branches.  Jesus is the vine and we are the branches.  He goes on to say, “He that abideth in me, an I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; or without me ye can do nothing.” John 15:5.  The vine and the branches look the same., you cannot tell where the vine ends and the branch starts.  When I saw that I thought it was odd, it all looks the same.  But as I took a closer look, I could see the True Vine, intertwined with the branches. We should be so immersed in Him that we look the same, no separation.  Without the vine, the branch has no life. I can’t imagine life without Him.  Jesus also calls us His friends. “Greater Love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.  Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” John 15:13-14.  Not only is He our Lord, and the vine but He also wants to be our friend.  He wants to share everything with us. If we will follow Him ; “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what His Lord doeth; but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” John 15: 15.  Jesus wants to share the good and the bad with you.  He wants to laugh with you, and talk with you just as your friends do, He wants to nourish you and grow you as the vine..and share His Kingdom with you.  He wants to call you friend. What an honor!