God is so awesome, and I know that He will provide in His way. This opportunity afforded me the chance to teach our neighbor (whom I’ve been witnessing to for over 10 years) a little more about the nature of God. He was really upset that “God had taken away my food” when I cook for him all the time, and help him so much. I just told him, “If He takes away, who can hinder Him? Who can say to Him, ‘What are You doing?’” – (Job 9:12), and Job 1:21″…The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!”

I used this example with my 10 year old daughter, while Mr. Cliff (my neighbor) was here, and he got it, I think. I told her that if I handed her a bag of oatmeal cookies, she would think I was the greatest mom ever. But if I saw that, for whatever reason, she would be better off without them anymore (she was getting a stomach ache, etc), and I then took them back, then she would be presented with a choice. She could either say, “Mom is so mean, she always takes things away from me” – forgetting the good, or she could say, “Mom knows things that I don’t, and if she took them away, she must have a reason, so I’ll trust that she has my best at heart”. We have the same choice. God blessed us with food all spring and summer, and now, even though we had a generator (the freezer actually died as well), we don’t have it. God has a purpose. He is still in control, His way is always perfect, and He will bless me in whatever way He decides to.

I mean, all of our children (including our 2 married daughters and their families) are safe, no flooding, no structural damage to homes, etc. We are blessed.

We have people just an hour east of us who are still under water, and have lost everything. (We live in Edenton, NC). There are people further north that are still under water, and have lost everything. Food can be replaced. I did call FEMA, and they have said that there are no emergency food stamps for our county. Most of the county had power back on Sunday, we didn’t have it back on in our little section of our neighborhood until yesterday around 4:30 pm. I don’t have the money to even replace what was in our fridge, let alone the freezer, but God is in control of that.

I’m working in the garden today to salvage what is left there.

Thank you all so much for your prayers!

The Lord REALLY blesses me EVERYDAY, but I want to share one way in particular that has given me a new perspective on things.

I met an adorable (again – understated!) little 4 year old girl yesterday on my morning walk.  Her name is Desirae. 

I was just walking briskly, when I saw her at the end of her driveway.  When I stopped to say, “Hi”, her dad (who was on the porch) told me that she HAD to come out to the road and say, “Hi” to her “friend”. 

I kind of looked around, not seeing any other children, I looked back at her father, and he explained to me that EVERYONE is her friend.  He told me that she saw me walking down the road, and told him that she had to talk to her friend.

So, there we were – perfect friends.

After 2 seconds of talking to her, I understood WHY everyone is her friend!  Know why?  Not just because she’s soooo loving and open (which she is), but because she seeks out the things that she has in common with you, and gets REALLY excited about these things.  Wow!  What an interesting perspective. 

The most obvious “common” for us came when she asked me if I knew Who Jesus is.  I told her, “Yes, I do, He’s my Best Friend”.  Her eyes lit up and she jumped up and down, and said, “He’s Mine, too!!!!!”. 

What if……

What if Christians could focus on the BIGGEST “Common Denominator” that we could ever have, and treat EVERYONE as our friend. 

WOW!  What a concept!

Here it is:

Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. – Joshua 1:8.

When I first read it, I read it like this:

Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.

But then, the Lord led me to re-read it. This time, I read it like this:

Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night SO YOU WILL BE SURE to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.

Do you see the difference?

Think about our kids for a moment. When you tell your child not to play in the street, they first think, “Oh, mom doesn’t want me to have any fun. She is being so unfair.” But if we explain that they can get hurt if they play in the street, and show them some of the dangers, they begin to understand, and it becomes easier for them to be obedient. Now, taken a step further, if we take them to meet someone who DIDN’T listen, and who DID play in the street and ended up in a wheel chair for the rest of their lives because of it, they begin to see, even more clearly, the wisdom in not playing in the street.

It’s the same with God’s Word. He has laws that are for our good. When we don’t understand them, we deem them unfair. When we study further into God’s Word and THINK about what we read, we begin to see the reasoning behind the law, and it begins to make more sense. But God goes the extra step in His Word. He “introduces” us to people who DIDN’T listen. The pages of our Bible are filled with people who knew God’s laws, and directly disobeyed them, and suffered the consequences.

God knows how he wired us. He knows that when we are truly wise, we’ll see that it’s much easier to learn from someone else’s mistakes than it is to make them for yourself.

The more we get into God’s Word and think about His ways, laws and precepts, the more they make sense, and the more we’ll abide by them.

When I was young, I had a debilitating problem.  It kept me from spending the night with my friends.  It kept me from going to summer camp.  It even made it difficult to participate in any activity that my family wasn’t involved in…girl scouts, school, vacation Bible school, etc.

The malady I faced was homesickness.

Anytime that I was away from my family for any amount of time it was almost unbearable.

I’m not worried about trying to figure this out, because God has shown me a beautiful truth through this issue.

You see, anytime that I started getting homesick, say at VBS, my teacher would try this…”I know you miss you mom and dad, you’ll see them soon.  Why don’t you work on something nice to give them when you get home.” This tactic would always make the time more bearable.  I also found that the more I missed my family, the more intent I was to make what I was going to give them the best it could be.

I still get homesick at times, not for a place, but for my family.  I miss them all, but have learned to live with it.

I also find, more and more, that I get homesick for my heavenly home.  This isn’t a depression issue, nor is it a suicidal one.  It’s simply a realization that this world is not my home.

This world IS NOT my home, BUT it is where I am right now.  So, in order to make my time here “bearable”, I’ve set my heart on working for gifts to take my Father when I return home.

Let’s take a look at some of the “gifts” or offerings that we all can “bring home” to our Father – God, both daily, and ultimately when we arrive home.

Now:

I can be covered by Christ’s blood so I can freely fellowship with God

I can be in awe of His splendor and holiness so I can worship God.

I can be filled with His Holy Spirit so I can live for God.

Homecoming:

Faithful servanthood.

Crowns that I can lay at Christ’s feet.

Other people that He’s shared with me.

Now, by living my life working on these gifts faithfully, deliberately and consistently, when I do arrive home it won’t be like moving into a “new” home.  It will truly be “going home.”

What does amaze me, though, is how casually a lot of Christians today treat His holiness.  We have heard “we’re just sinners”, that we’ve been living like sinners.

I’m not talking about being “holier than thou”.  I’m simply talking about an attitude against sin.

We need to think about how the mother of a child who is killed by a drunk driver then feels about the act of drunk driving.  Then we need to transfer that feeling of intolerance toward sin. 

After all, it was sin that nailed Jesus (our most precious loved One) to the cross.

When we start opening our eyes to the consequences of sin, it’s not that hard to do.

Sin hurts.  Sin kills.  So then, why do so many people not see this?  We do have a very real enemy, that’s why.

So many people say, “The Bible says that you can’t remove the splinter from your brother’s eye, because of the plank in your own.”  That’s not what it says (look it up – Matthew 7:4-5), and frankly so many people have heard that so many times that we’ve become desensitized to what it is actually saying.

Think about it a minute.  What would a splinter in your eye feel like (Buster, you know this feeling, right?)?  We would experience so much pain that it would affect our whole body, which in turn affects those around us….

If we look at this deeper, we see how, as Christians, we should look at sin.  Sin, like the splinter hurts, it hurts your body, it hurts your family, it hurts your Christian testimony, and it hurts your area of influence for Christ.

If we develop the love for one another that we’re supposed to have, and then see the effects of sin in someone’s life, what kind of friend, what kind of Christian brother or sister would we be, if we just walked by, or started “talking” about it, instead of going to them and saying, “Look, I see this thing in your life that’s hurting you.  Can I please help you get it out?”

WOW!  Basic compassion extended to new heights!

It’s time for Christians to wake up!  One thing I’ve learned in the past few years, is that ‘focused effort produces results’.

We wouldn’t just say, “Yeah, I want to lose weight”, and then just go on eating whatever without thinking about it.  Well, maybe we would, but would we see results?  The results that we want? No.

If we, however, study and learn what is best for us to eat, and what is best for us not to eat, and then adjust our diets accordingly, would we see results then?

I’ve heard “preachers” say over and over again, “I told them what to do, I can’t make them change”.  Well, telling people something one time or even two, doesn’t enforce the urgency of it.

Paul pleaded with us, urged us, to live holy, God-honoring lives.

If we, as Christians, thought about every act before we do it, what a different world we would live in!

Remember that input DIRECTLY affects output.

When we watch tv shows that contain “rot”, what settles in our hearts? What then comes out in our actions?

When we hungrily devour God’s Word, what settles in our hearts? What then comes out in our actions?

Living a Godly life HAS to be deliberate.  Paul over and over says, “Set your mind on these things.”  Not, if you happen to think about doing right, do it.  He’s emphasizing the deliberateness needed to have victory over sin.

One example of this is the example of “faith” and “works” both being oars for the “canoe” of our life.

Little things, right?

But think about this, if we only row with faith, we’ll be rowing in circles. Likewise, if we only row with works, we’ll be going in circles in the other direction.

Only when we learn that it takes both of them to go forward, will be make any progress.

We have to understand, though, that our works shouldn’t come from our efforts. They should flow naturally out of our relationship with Christ.

Faith without works is dead. Period.

If I told you that I think this house is on fire, but just continue to sit here, typing away like all is well, either I’m an idiot (no comment), or I really don’t believe what I’m saying.

If I really believe that the house is on fire, I’m going to “act” on that belief, and make way for the nearest exit.

When we truly understand what God has done for us, how much He loves us, and how much He wants others to know Him, how can we not act on it?

Realizing that people are dying and going to hell daily is a real wake up call.

Let’s start putting our faith into action, and make a difference in the world around us.

See what I mean? It started a such a little “picture” of faith, but when you look at things from the perspective of eternity, the little things become HUGE!

I’ve been working on a book for about 2 months now, and last week, I sat down to “work” on a chapter, and that “work” ended up being a life changing 10 pages. 

I hope and pray that these words will touch and change someone else’s life, but whether they do or not, they’ve changed mine. 

These words along with the affirmation that I was given Sunday morning, have shown me how truly in control God is. 

When I sat down to work on this chapter, I picked up my pencil, and started writing.  It was like I was taking dictation.  The Holy Spirit was giving me the words to write.  I wasn’t even able to read them, I just wrote.

When I was finished, I went back over it and read it, and remember thinking, “Lord, this is a speech, not a chapter in my book.”.  I felt a definite, clear call on my life to be a speaker. 

I remember thinking that God has a sense of humor, because one of my greatest fears has always been standing up in front of people and speaking, so this was clearly not something that I wanted to do, but I’ve seen that God’s good at doing that, because then He gets the glory and not us.

I prayed that if this was a calling from Him on my life, He would reaffirm this to me in some clear, tangible way, and that He would open doors and provide places for me to minister to people through speaking.

Sunday morning, we had a visitor in our Sunday School class.  She stayed for our morning service, and I went over during our “greeting” time, and told her that it was great to have her with us. 

She held my hands, and told me that God had called me to minister to people through speaking to them, but that I needed to let go of the chains of fear that were holding me back.  I was stunned.  How much clearer affirmation did I need?

Then, our youth group presented a skit to the song, “Mercy Came Running”.  It was a beautiful depiction of Christ on the cross, with the veil being held up by two of the young ladies in our youth group.  Several other participants were on the platform, in chains of various kinds:  suicidal thoughts, oppresion, alcoholism, etc.   It was so powerful.

Then, the song continued as “Jesus” walked throughout the congregation where several more youth were in chains.  As He approached, each would stand, holding their hands crossed until He broke the chains.

This was so powerful, especially since their “chains” weren’t named like the “main” ones were.  It spoke to me in such a real way, that everyone has their chains, different kinds in different forms.

As clear as anything, I heard the Lord say, “Okay, I already broke those chains of fear holding you back, so why are you still holding your wrists together as if you’re still chained?”

Just the fact that the word chained was echoed throughout the morning from the lady visitor to the awesome presentation the youth provided, showed me that I needed to let go.

God did not give me a spirit of fear or timidity.  If He did not give them to me, then they came from the enemy.  AND if He didn’t give me a spirit of fear or timidity, then He DID give me a spirit of boldness and courage.

So, now I understand my calling.  I’m just waiting for God to open the doors with a place to speak.

I’m looking forward to seeing Him work in a very real and powerful way in opening these doors.

Please keep me in your prayers as I seek Him, whole-heartedly through this whole process.

I just want to be a tool for Him to use in any way needed, to reach those He sends my way.

In Christ’s service always,

Beth