Two Opposites. One Truth...Every Morning

"It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." ~Lamentations 3:22-23

I woke up crazy early this morning, and, while lying in bed, hoping to fall back asleep (fail), was thinking about some things I read yesterday, that, while opposite in their approach, both shared a similar message very well....

It was out of this World...........
I was shocked, confused, bewildered
As I entered Heaven's door,
Not by the beauty of it all,
Nor the lights or its decor.
But it was the folks in Heaven
Who made me sputter and gasp--
The thieves, the liars, the sinners,
The alcoholics and the trash.
There stood the kid from seventh grade
Who swiped my lunch money twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor
Who never said anything nice.
Herb, who I always thought
Was rotting away in hell,
Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
Looking incredibly well.
I nudged Jesus, 'What's the deal?
I would love to hear Your take.
How'd all these sinners get up here?
There must've been a mistake.
'And why's everyone so quiet,
So somber - give me a clue.'
'Hush, child,' He said, 'they're all in shock.
No one thought they'd be seeing you.'

"What hope has hatred ever harnessed? What argument has ever been aided by anger? What problems have ever been resolved by revenge? You might be trying to consciously or unconsciously punish a brother or sister by not forgiving them. But who are you really punishing? Who carries that judgement with him wherever he goes? Your brother and sister are not what you perceive they did to you. They are not some frozen moment in time that like a brick, you choose to carry into the present. They are God's children on a journey..." ~James B. Cisneros

"To err is human, to forgive divine." ~William Shakespeare

If God's mercies are new every morning, how can we offer our brother or sister any less? If the thought of worshiping before God's throne in Heaven next to any certain person makes you cringe, that means there's a good chance you might not be there anyway. Is holding on to that judgmentalism or unforgiveness really worth missing Heaven over? From here on out I encourage you: Look at others through God's eyes...You might be pleasantly surprised what you see.

No Bullies Allowed!

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood..."~Ephesians 6:12

When I first began this blog it wasn't just on a whim, but it was for a reason....

I had recently received a very specific word, or rather command, from God, and the devil had immediately went to work trying to convince me otherwise. In essence, God said, "Walk through this door."; Satan said, "There is no door, turn around and walk away." And immediately my mind went into a whirlwind. But,in the midst of that whirlwind, I realized something: the devil has an agenda and God has an agenda, and I had a choice as to whom I was going to let win that war in my mind and whose agenda I was going to choose to follow. One voice said, "Give up, you'll never be able to do what God's told you to do and disobedience is a sin, omission is as bad as commission, so you might as well just throw in the towel now. But God...well, God's voice told me something very different. It said, "My ways are above your ways; my thoughts are above your thoughts.", "I will never leave you nor forsake you.", "I lie not."

So, I picked myself up off the ground and made a firm decision, not only was I going to do whatever God asked of me, and put complete trust in Him to make a way, but I was going to make the devil reeeeaally sorry for ever messing with me at all. I wasn't really sure where to start out in this endeavor, but I felt in this process that God was going to show and teach me a lot, and that it would be wasteful to keep the classroom all to myself. Thus, as a good friend of mine coined the phrase a few years back, creating this blog was my way of affectionately saying, "In Your Face Devil!!!" And every time I write something glorifying God that's exactly the attitude I write with. It's not my desire to waste my own, nor anyone else's, precious time with something not inspired by God, therefore I don't write on a regular schedule, but rather as I feel led. Sometimes this is often, other times rarely.

Since beginning it there have been a lot of wonderful things happen. I have received letters from people who have read just the right thing at just the right time and in turn it has helped them through personal situations they were dealing with in their own lives. I also personally have been ministered to, due to people who were formerly strangers contacting me, sharing just the right words at just the right time that I needed to hear. There have been family friends I hadn't seen since childhood, as well as others who formerly were strangers, who have followed it, and whom God lead to sponsor me as an AIMer. While I have purposely been very vague in sharing the wonderful things that have came from this small decision, due to wanting to honor others' privacy, many of these stories, in detail, are awe inspiring and God's fingerprints are all over them.

I have shared all that to say this....Has the devil been bullying you lately? Well, fight back! Through prayer. Through doing your own special thing to say, "In Your Face Devil!" This special thing could be anything that will bring God glory...from helping mentor a person in need of one, to volunteering to help with a ministry at church, to feeding the homeless, to visiting the elderly, to moving forward in doing something God's already told you to do,....to blogging.

John 12:32 says, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." Ask yourself, "What can I do to exalt God?", "What can I do to encourage His children?", "What can I do to please Him?", "What can I do to stand up and speak out and tell the devil 'No Bullying Allowed!!!'?"

As for me, I will continue to blog...I will continue to obey God and walk in His perfect will...and I will continue to proclaim, "In Your Face Devil!"

God Smiles

Perhaps you are or are not familiar with the phrase "God Smiles". To me a "God Smile" is a moment when God looks down on one and smiles, because He is pleased and desires to bless.

Recently I was blessed to be able to visit home, in Arkansas, for the holidays. During this time I also had the opportunity to attend the ministry conference, BOTT, in Alexandria and spend a few days with some of my dear friends on the ministry team in the U.K. while on my way home. Throughout this trip, which was a huge blessing, as well as a faith move, I continually saw "God Smiles" which brought great peace to me.

As a missionary, it is hard to feel content with "leaving your post", even if the break is greatly needed or if it is because you are trying to keep your ducks correctly in a row: 1st family, then ministry. When taking a trip anywhere, there's still a part of you that is asking "Was this the right decision?,Should I have waited?,etc." However, God has a way of speaking, bringing peace, and showing that a time of rest IS necessary and that God does bless it.

While I said there were many "God Smiles" along the way...A new sponsor here, a special donation there that in all equaled about the cost the trip itself(Praise God!), as well as a few other "divine appointments" that came to pass, there is one really big one that stands out to me....

One of my best friends and mentors, Kim Hall, and I were out having a girls day with her mom. I was the one who got to decide where we would eat. Seeing as we were all on a very tight budget, and, since living in Europe, Taco Bell had came to hold a very special place in my heart, we decide that was the restaurant of choice. Upon arrival at the restaurant, Kim & I were being our typical outgoing, boisterous selves, characteristics that tend to magnify when good friends get together. :-)

While ordering we were joking around, Kim swiping a handful of the peppermints, talking about how much she loved them. Me, acting like a starving person, probably more excited to be in a Taco Bell than anyone the cashier had ever seen. Alas, we'd made our grand entrance...for better or worse.

A little while after we had sat down and began eating, the Taco Bell employee, who had taken our order, walked by, dropped a pile of mints in front of Kim, and walked off without saying a word. We busted out laughing, then returned to making small talk and finishing up our meals. In a spur of the moment decision, right before leaving, we invited her to attend the statewide youth convention service with us that was being held at a convention center a few blocks away. She didn't give us a definate yes or no at that point, but we exchanged numbers, planning to touch base later in the day.

Later I began texting with her to see if she was coming. At first she didn't know. No skirts or dresses to wear and she'd been seeing so many of our girls coming in there looking all cute from the convention. (Pause and think about this...any one of them could have and should have invited her, but that's for another blog and another time. ;-) I talked her through that, then she said she didn't have transportation..."All she had was God and her job." I told her "done" that I would pick her up. When she made that comment I knew that this was a divine appointment and I was determined to not let her out of what God was determined to do in her life.

That night she came. She was nervous. She was indeed one of the few females not wearing a skirt...and She was at the right place at the right time for her "God Smile".

That night God reached down to my new friend and showed Himself to her in a way she had never felt Him before. Due to some unwise decisions in her life, she had lost everything, her family included, and had return back to her hometown to get life back in order. While in her hometown two daughters of The King, one who lives in Dallas and one who lives in Europe, "just happened" to be in town and cross the path of this hungry young lady who was trying her best to do right and who was looking to God for direction. And, that night at Youth Convention, God reached down and filled this young lady with the Holy Ghost.

Two night later, New Year's Eve,she rang in her New Year in worship with the saints of Rogers UPC and by the end of the night she had already declared it her home church. Two weeks later she was baptized in Jesus name. And now she is participating in Home Bible Studies with some friends of mine and is attending church faithfully.

"God Smiles"...That day we met this precious girl, God smiled on me, giving me peace that I was indeed in the right place at the right time. But more than that, He smiled on Her...

"Draw near to God and He WILL draw near to You."(James 4:8)

He Makes Me Happy

Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom....For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. ~Luke 12:32,34

A few days ago my sister-in-law shared with me a conversation she recently had with my nephew. She always asks my niece and nephew if they had a good dream, when they wake up in the morning. Usually my nephew tells her that he dreamed about Super Man or Buzz Light Year.(His two favorite fictional characters right now)That morning though, with his eyes still closed and a big smile on his face, this is how the conversation went:

Sis: Kaleb did you dream last night?
Kaleb: Yes, I did have a dream!
Sis: What did you dream about?
Kaleb: I dreamed about God!
Sis: Really! What was it about?
Kaleb: God!
Sis:I know it was about God, but what did God do in your dream?
Kaleb: He made me happy!

Everyday I, and I'm sure most of my family, pray that my niece and nephew will grow to love God and to have a close walk with Him. So when I read this part of the email that she sent me I cried tears of joy...God has already shown my 3 1/2 year old nephew that He delights in making us happy! He desires for us to live happy lives. When we are living lives pleasing to him, He desires for our lives to be blessed as well. And who, but God, owns "the cattle on a thousand hills"...and everything else! No one, not even the richest billionaire, could ever shower us with the extent of or the variety of the types of blessings God has prepared for His children.

Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. ~1 Corinthians 2:9

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
~Matthew 7:7-11

Now, for a personal story...Before moving to the Baltics I prayed for a piano. I already own a nice electric piano stateside that I like very much, and as already mentioned in one of my more recent posts, this is an instrument that I technically know how to play, but in which I desire to make much improvement. In large part this is due to wanting to be able (without being nervous) to minister in this way, if and when necessary. (I also just find it very relaxing. :-)

Anyway, I prayed sincerely and my motives were good, pure, and God centered. So, moving forward to my arrival in Latvia,where the apartment I chose to live in (basically by default) had a...(drumroll please)...upright piano in it. It didn't have any beds or hardly any other furniture...but it had a piano. An uuuugly piano, though it was probably quite beautiful at one time a loooong time ago. It is scratched up, has stains on the keys and has stickers stuck all over it. Oh, and NO soft pedal. Remember...I live in an apartment. Neighbors like soft pedals.

Upon seeing the piano I literally laughed out loud, thought, "God you sure do have a good sense of humor" and quickly began to ask the owners to please take it away. I had two roommates coming that summer who would be having to share that small room with that ugly piano, and I just didn't think it right to leave it there just taking up space. Well, the landlords claimed they knew someone who was going to buy it...but needless to say, those people backed out and the piano, 8 months later is still here. Through the summer it filled the roles of "shelf" and "table" for my roommates. Then shortly after they left, some AIMers here had to go home for a bit, so I had the keyboard they use at my apartment for a while...and that made me happy. But, then they came back, I gave it back, as planned, and then headed to the states for a visit myself, where I again got to enjoy my own keyboard for a while.

So why the huge drawn out story?..well, one night while home I was talking to God about this. I told him: God, I'm sure gonna miss this piano and I DID pray for one...what gives? God's prompt response: I gave you it! Me: What? God: Hello..that black thing in your apartment. That's your answer. I answered 8 months ago. Me: Oh...

(Don't laugh. I know you have the same kind of conversations with God! And if you don't, you should give it a try. ;-)

You see, it hit me. Usually, I pray very specifically about things, especially the big important things in life. Even things like my cars I have always prayed right down to exactly what options I wanted in them,etc...and God has always provided. However, when I prayed for this rather small thing, I don't remember ever being specific. Perhaps my faith wasn't as strong as it should have been. I dunno, but I didn't. So God didn't. Lesson Learned.

So, when I got back to Latvia, I happily flipped up the lid to that mostly in tune piano, and began playing. And I will continue to do so because I realize that I am never to toss God's blessings aside, but am to use them for all they are worth. It's like one beautiful cycle...We make God happy. He, in turn, desires to make us happy. Then, through good stewardship of the blessings He gives us, we continue to make Him happy...and the cycle continues.

God's perfect will automatically leads to God's perfect blessings.

HE makes me happy.

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
~1 John 5:14

The Gift of a Talent

For quite a few months now I have found myself thinking about the parable in Matthew 25:14-30, the Parable of the Talents. If you are not familiar with this story, I encourage you to click on the link above and read it before proceeding any further. Grant it, I realize this passage isn't literally about "talents" as we know them, but it is indeed applicable to anything we have received from God, whether it be finances, talents etc.

I'm not really sure what triggered my thoughts being strong on this passage as of late. Perhaps working in a church pioneering effort on foreign soil and the many various hats our team here has to wear has got me thinking about it. Logically, for every responsibility each person on the team here holds, there is a God given talent being used to accomplish it. And we each wear many hats, some weeks more than others. That said though, this hasn't provoked me to think, "Oh look at that, you got this talent and that talent, and...", but rather it has made me more strongly aware of those areas that I wish I were more skilled in, those areas where I wish I could at least offer to rotate out with someone or fill a void that no one else is either able to or has time to fill. (Since the amount of people on the ministry team here fluctuates, due to various reasons, sometimes most voids are filled, sometimes they are not..we do what we can with what and who we have, and trust God to bless our efforts.)

So, in light of these circumstances, and the extreme seriousness of the latter part of this passage, I have found myself praying for God to reveal to me talents He has given me that I may not yet be aware of. Instead, thus far, He has begun to remind me of ones I have had in the past, that I no longer use, or ones that I had begun developing, but had cast aside due to inconvenience, lack of time, (insert another bad excuse), etc.

And, I have decided to do something about it. This year, my "hobbies" will revolve mainly around strengthening my skills in an instrument I used to play (violin), as well as becoming more skilled on the piano, so that I no longer freeze up or feel like I am going to get sick every time I have to play in front of people. (I don't want to stop at being "good enough", but getting past the "freak out" stage will be my starting point.:-)

There are other things God has been dealing with me about.. for example a foreign language that I don't even want to think about how many hours, between high school and college, I have spent time studying, only to not have ever achieved fluency? My reasoning has been that I don't think I'll ever live any where that it is a national language, yet, with all the time I've committed already, why not complete the process? That language is French and one of my closest friends who live here in Latvia now is from France..I really have no excuses.

I could mention more things God has been speaking to me about, but I won't. My point is this: God created us. We are His. We, including our time and our talents, are His. So, are there any talents that you are neglecting in your life? What skills has God given you that you no longer use or that you have never finished polishing off? What is holding you back? How legitimate are your excuses?

Whether you have many talents or few is not the point, the point is, is there something you can be doing (or at least be able to do, should it be needed) that you are not doing? Is there something that you could be able to do with a little (or perhaps quite a bit of) work?

Maybe you fall in a different category. Maybe you are like someone close to me who has many talents, but their talents were abused, due to their not ever being able to say "no", when asked to be in charge of this or that. Eventually they did learn to say "no"...and never stopped. This is not ok either. We can each only carry so heavy of a load, however we must all do what we can as we are able.

So I dare you, ask God what talents you might have tucked away long ago or that you may be completely unaware of. Talents He gave you for a purpose. Whether God given-talents or skills in which He provided the opportunity for you to attain them, it doesn't matter. Discover them, then give those gifts back to God.

But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money... Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.