ON A WARM ROCK ~ Psalm 40:1-3 “I waited a long time for the Eternal; He finally knelt down to hear me. He listened to my weak and whispered cry.He reached down and drew me from the deep, dark hole where I was stranded, mired in the muck and clay. With a gentle hand, He pulled me outTo set me down safely on a warm rock; He held me until I was steady enough to continue the journey again.As if that were not enough, because of Him my mind is clearing up.Now I have a new song to sing— a song of praise to the One who saved me.Because of what He’s done, many people will see and come to trust in the Eternal.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There has been times my waiting for my Lord felt like a dark tunnel without a way out. Yet I kept going searching for his hand and hoping to hear his foot steps. Maybe even the wings of his eagle as it comes to my rescue.
Many times, in my low hours, I cried for him as I felt alone. He comes. Always comes.
I’ve felt his touch, his warmth, his whisper. The picture this psalm describes of the Lord finally kneeling down to hear, it is what I’ve experienced and still experience.
His hand is gentle, his pull is kind and places me oh so tenderly on his warm rock. That warm rock, I usually describes it as his embrace, his lap, his heart. I know without a doubt and with every fiber of what makes me, that my Lord has come to my rescue over and over again.
When he holds me, its just not for me to regain my step, no, it’s to hold my lifeless soul, my weak spirit and my dwindled heart. Once I’ve regain my spiritual balance, my heart strengthens as it holds to God’s promises and my soul is filled with the hope that carries one to tomorrow.
It is then when I walk with my Lord as we lock arms that my mind becomes clear. For I know he is with we as I continue in the darkness of today’s unknown. For it isn’t what I can see or understand, but the hope of what God is doing that gives me a positive outlook at a distrustful time.
Then a song comes, it always has and it sings my heart and feels my mood, but someone else wrote the word and played out the rhythm. Time after time, I’m still amazed how God works it out for the song comes on the radio, pandora, or someone sends it at that hour.
I worship a living God and serve a risen Lord and listen to a flowing Holy Sprit. No one can ever take my faith, my belief nor my hope from me. Because of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for me every season of my life, even today, I can say he rescues, teaches and guides. Everything the Scriptures say about my Lord, is who my Savior is and what he does for those who follow him and worship God.
I pray that if you do not know God, his Son and the Holy Spirit, that you come to trust in the Eternal and experience his majestic love, his forever forgiveness and his everlasting assurance.
WHAT’S NEW UNDER THE SUN? ~ Technology causes change which brings something new to our attention.
So why did Solomon said there’s no new thing under the sun? When obviously there is in our time?
What was Solomon talking about anyway to have come to this result?
Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep His commandments,
for this is the duty of all mankind.
— Ecclesiastes 12:13 NIV
When it comes to things of the heart, there’s nothing new. When it comes to living life their is nothing new. When it comes to perceiving there is nothing new. When it comes to emotions there is nothing new. When it comes to death their is nothing new. When it comes to humanity, there is nothing new.
As the world changes what is valuable for mankind shouldn’t change, unless the heart becomes deceived. Once it does; life will no longer be valuable; knowledge becomes futile; feelings are not worth validation; death is seen as emptiness and mankind becomes insignificant.
Keep a check on your heart for more than blood pumps forth to your mind, eyes, ears and mouth.
In order to see the value of fearing God, one must understand the fear Solomon wrote about. This fear is not the kind which causes your knees to rattle. It’s the one which moves the heart to kneel down before a king.
This fear is out of reverance for the heart of our Lord. He treasures us, our hearts, our life. Let’s not forget His death, his love for us.
Ask yourself, to whom do I give this type of fear? To who or what am I bending my knee? Whose commandments have we given our heart and life to follow?
Whose footsteps are you following? Who are you leaving your footprints to be followed one day?
You matter to God, to your family, and your friends. You matter to me.
May you follow Jesus all the days you breath. Once you leave this world, rejoice with Him.
Remember, as children when we got in trouble, we were sent to timeout?
As a parent, I would tell my kids to think about what they did wrong. While the child sat, they would have to stay there until they, themselves, identified their error and understood the correct manner of behavior. Which I had already explain to them, but they had to own their choice and decide to make better choices in the future.
Without knowing why, today, my soul was troubled, I had the urge to go for a drive and have a timeout. Expecting to learn the error of my ways I desired to find a place out in nature to listen to what God had taught me and seem to be trying to remind me. Eagle River, Alaska came to mind. Being a place where bears are cited, I invited a friend and off we went. (We didn’t see any bears, which we were thankful after learning that this was the time for brown bears and grizzlies to be passing through to feed from the salmon runs.)
My friend holding a mold of a grissly bear’s paw. Yikes!
Before leaving my place, I took time to read my devotional. As soon as I read the verses, I had the urge to leave, now. Without reading any further, I left with three questions packed in my heart. What should I be asking? What should I be seeking? And where should I be knocking? Eagerly I drove, expecting to hear definite answers from God at some point on the hike but, none came.
For those of you who know the passage, the verses were from Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” They’re familiar verses in the Christian community, but for me this time they had something new to teach me. I just didn’t know exactly what that lesson was, because I hadn’t identify where I stood with God.
Seating and pondering on my day in Eagle River, which I didn’t receive answers or clarity of these verses or my errored ways, I read the rest of the devotional. It reminded me to be persistent in asking and that Jesus doesn’t recommend for us to ask, He commands for us to ask. Now that’s something to think about for my future timeout from my day.
The devotional also said, that asking isn’t quite sufficient from Jesus’ point of view. He wants us to take it up a notch. We should seek out what we need from God and we will find it. Well asking is much less work than seeking, because one doesn’t have to do anything. While seeking takes our effort not just God’s. There are times, I just want the answer without much work on my part.
Do you remember asking your mom for something you know she could easily give you, but she sent you out to find it yourself and then get it on your own? Well I’m wondering if that’s what God was trying to tell me, when I rather for Him to just hand it to me. I still wonder, what is it that I truly want? I sense I must go on to the third question maybe I will receive clarity.
Knocking on the door is the final step. Well the devotional reference that the door is heaven’s door. It also mention that our asking and seeking takes us to the very doorsteps of heaven. Once there, we shouldn’t just stand there and wait, we should knock on the door. Well to tell you the truth, I’ve been afraid to knock on the door. Why? Because of what God has to offer.
What if God gives me my heart desire only to be taken away. Maybe, I don’t want to feel that pain again, so I will not knock, then I keep what I long for in the longing place of my heart. No wonder I felt like a timeout. I needed to see the error of my thinking and correct it with truth. It is better to have had it for a short while than not to have it at all. Besides, who told me that it will be taken again and why bother having it in the first place? Who have I been listening to? Whom have I followed? I’ve listen to the voices of Doubt, Disappointment and Fear.
They misguided me because of the troubles that have come and taken the good things my husband and I have been blessed with in Vancouver. We placed our house on the market and sold within twelve hours. We had to leave quickly that we didn’t have time to say good-bye to our friends. The move-out happened in less than two weeks from our return of our working travels. Our belongings were stuffed in storage and off we flew to Alaska to work again.
Now, we are homeless and have no idea where to plant our life and allow roots to grow. You see, I have lived in almost twenty places in thirty-five years of marriage which includes less than ten city moves and seven states covering from Texas to Maryland to Montana to Washington and now Alaska.
Do you see why I’m shy to knock and ask where should I be seeking residency? At the moment, we’re staying in an Airbnb in Alaska provided by my husband’s work. When he’s not working we’ll be staying with my daughter in Seattle, Washington.
I know once I knock on the door of heaven, it will be open. God will meet me and He will provide the answer. But, will it be the answer I seek? Or will He offer me the answer which is best to produce the fruits that are needed? I also know, that God will hand my husband and I not only what we need but gift us with more, with the purpose of sharing. All things do come from his storehouse and he will place the gifts into our hands for us and for us to share.
I understand. It’s not about finding residency, a house to call home or having a dwelling place. It’s about asking and seeking where does God want us, my husband and I to bear fruit. Like the devotional said, all of our persistent asking, seeking and knocking shows God that we are serious and sincere about our desire to bear fruits like John teaches.
John 15:16 “You have not chosen Me, I have chosen you. I have set you apart for the work of bringing in fruit. Your fruit should last. And whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you.”
Am I ready to ask, seek and knock? I am. I’ve recognize the error of my ways, listening and believing the voices of Doubt, Disappointment and Fear instead of the voice of my Shepard, Jesus himself. I should trust Him with our future, my husbands and mine as a couple and mine as an individual.
Father, In Jesus name I come and ask to show me the way my husband and I should go and where to plant our lives to bear fruit, so that you can feed those who hunger after your precepts and desire to draw closer to you plus, to learn about your Son, the one who saves, died and rose again, Jesus, who conquered our sins, who forgives without our cost. for He paid it all. Thank you for choosing me. In Jesus name I ask, seek and knock. And in His name I wait to find a home to share of what God has in store for my husband and me.
Life grabbed me by the seat of my pants, placed me on a boat in the middle of a river with no paddles or motor.
Cold rainy days and nights I’ve experienced with moments where I felt as if I was drowning.
Then the sky clears and the sun shines and God’s glory is seen.
When moments like this come my way, I smile as I float by.
Slowly I close my eyes as the view vanishes out of sight.
I then savor the moment, guarding my memory in my heart, for I don’t know what lies on the other side of the river’s bend of tomorrow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~❤~~~~~~~~~~~~~
IN THE FAR DISTANCE️
°
To grasp how big life really is, one must:
Drink oceans of understanding,
Climb mountains of insight,
Trench terrains of awareness,
Breath rivers of experience, plus
Soak -up starburst of heavenly enlightenment.
Or just go for a hike in the wilderness of Alaska.
I promise, your mind, heart, body, soul and spirit
will be drench with all the above that you
will sleep like a child, who’d played all day
and for most of the night.
°
🔹️🔹️🔹️🔹️🔹️🔹️🔹️🔹️🔹️🔹️🔹️🔹️🔹️🔹️🔹️🔹️🔹️
Alaska, I’ve fallen in love with your splendor and the souls who call you home.
And to think, I’ve never wanted to set foot on your land.
Oh, how naive I was about you.
Only God knew, you and those who i met would be good for me.
The first time my eyes set sight on Alaska’s mountains my soul grew wings and an invisible part of me reveal herself to me as she became free.
While I’m out among Alaska’s nature, I exist, I truly exist. It’s as if I’ve been submerged in water most of my life, holding my breath and only allowed to surface one or twice a month. But here, I can breathe normal all the time. Like, I belong here. No longer do I come out to take a quick breath and go back inside of myself. I can stay out and live like I was created to live.
Now, every time I fly into Anchorage, I feel as if I’m coming home. Yet, I’ve never lived anywhere in the state of Alaska.
My heart, my soul and my mind are in perfect harmony when I’m here. If only, I could stay, I would finally not only see the whole me, but be totally free.
Every time the plane descends for a landing, I get trigger happy and the collection of photos begin. Then I become exuberant, for I know what awaits me once I’m out of the plane and in nature, FREEDOM!!!
corazon181 