Home

One comes home freely
Another is forced to leave.
Both returning and leaving because they chose
not to live by the rules
Why is our vision so limited?
Can we not see the benefits of the lines on the road?
They say, "this far and no more"
Over the edge is not where you want to go
Rocks that break and bruise are over the edge in captivity
But when you have gone down the way up is plain to see
But only if you realize that you are face down in the mud
Look up!
For your salvation is up the hill
Between the lines of God's perfect will

A Fresh Drink

The Message--------------Ephesians chapter 1

I was goofing off and decided to see what some of my favorite scriptures would look like in a different version of the Bible. This is from the message and it is told I think more in story format. I usually use NIV some I know are die hard KJV. I don't have a problem with any version as long as they don't change the message. Sometimes when I study I like to hear a verse in a different version because something else pops out. www.Biblegateway.com
The previous web site is a great one to go to to see a verse in almost every version or language.

11-12It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.

13-14It's in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what's coming, a reminder that we'll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.

Now the next passage will be the same just in NIV

11In him we were also chosen,^[e] having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.

Pretty neat! I was reading in Proverbs 8 today, if you check it out in the message I am sure you will love it too.

Face To Face

Face to face with my Savior -what will I say?
On His knees beside my chair He looks into my eyes in His imploring way.
Overwhelmed by the intimacy,
I want to run.
His eyes so full of acceptance,
I fear the conversation has just begun.
“I love you, He says-
It is not, I love you - if you love Me.
It is not, I love you - when you love Me.
It is not, I love you -because of the way you love Me.”

“The truth is I love you with every breath that I take. You’re alive

because My life revolves around you. Like a doll in the store window, gazed upon by the wistful eyes of a small child, I long for the day when I will bring you home and make you Mine- all Mine.”

The "Man" In The Mirror

If you are not in the mood for deep -------skip over this.
This past week we were all put on the edges of our seat by our pastor when he told us that God had given him a vision. He planned on sharing this vision on Sunday. This vision would require all to wear steel toe shoes. Keith turned to me at that time and said,"guess we need to go shopping". Leave it to my husband to bring a little levity to a serious discussion. He sure evens me out.
Basically the sermon centered around the fact that we are all someone different at home than we are in public. He pointed out several different types of people and said God had given him faces to go with the types of people. Talk about having your dirty laundry hung out there. And thank God he didn't mention names---he didn't have to we knew who we were. Yes, it all boils down to what my Mom has said, "You are who you are at home".
God had already started dealing with me about this during a time of fasting. One day I was talking to my son and God asked me if I would dare talk to one of my girls at church that way. Of course not.
What will it take for me to wear only one face? Something or rather someone has to die. We know sometimes death can be quick-----and sometimes slow. It looks like this is going to be a slow painful one. Each time that feeling of wanting to put a loved one in their place - rises to the surface I have a choice to make. Do I pass all the time? Just talk to my family and they will tell you, NO. Am I getting better? I hope and pray the answer is, "yes".
If dying to self was advertised as the new disease, what would we see? Maybe we would self help groups popping up all over the place. We might see Christian artist getting together to have
concerts to raise money for the awareness of those "dying daily". It is such a huge part of our Christian walk but we don't hear that much about it. Most of us would rather say "Well, you know that is just how I am". Or maybe "Be patient with me God is not finished yet".
Bro Tim, brought a tall thin mirror to the service. He made the point that there was only room for one in this mirror. If you looked into this mirror, who would you see? According to Paul, 'Not I but Christ who lives in me". I couldn't help but look into the mirror during the service- I couldn't see myself , instead I saw the guy sitting on the other side of the church from me. Likewise He couldn't see himself from that vantage point---he would also be seeing me. I wondered what he saw when he looked in the mirror. And I realized that each day people are looking into my mirror. Most of all my family. What do they see when they look in the mirror. Do they see me or do they see HIM. If I don't die daily when they look in my mirror they will see one who can offer them conditional love and no help. How sad! When according to the book of Ephesians the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in me. When I disconnect from God---I disconnect from that power.
I would love to pray for a quick death. But, it is not going to happen. So today I pray for the ability to die one cell at a time. One second at a time. And I pray that when you look in the mirror the only face you see ------is the face of the Son of God.

Member of the "Dying Daily Club'

Thankful Or Thankless

I am becoming aware that I can become so lost in the difficult things around me that the good things just fall by the way side. By the way, how many good things have to take place before they even out the bad? How many times does a person have to say 'I'm sorry ",before they are truly forgiven. How many things do they have to do right before the wrong is not center of attention? The following quote is by Elisabeth Elliot. Her life was filled wit unimaginable trials. Two husbands that died and left her behind. Most people would give her their permission to look at life in a negative manner and by all means be bitter. Some would say, surely on the third husband she deserved a little perfection. I guess she did not get it.

"Many women have told me that my husband's advice, which I once quoted in a book, has been an eye-opener to them. He said that a wife, if she is very generous, may allow that her husband lives up to perhaps eighty percent of her expectations. There is always the other twenty percent that she would like to change, and she may chip away at it for the whole of their married life without reducing it by very much. She may, on the other hand, simply decide to enjoy the eighty percent, and both of them will be happy. It's a down-to-earth illustration of a principle: Accept, positively and actively, what is given. Let thanksgiving be the habit of your life."

I want to be a positive loving person. It is so easy to do with those outside my home. But what about with my family.
My Mom once said that before God tries you in something great -He will first try you in the little. Kind of like shoes-you have to wear the little ones before the big ones will fit you.
I want to be a person who sees the good before the bad. Who concentrates on the positive until the negative is a wall that must be climbed over.
So let me first be found faithful with the people within the walls of my home. Let me thank God for the 80 percent and leave the rest to Him. So. I'll thank God that the little sand in my oyster shell will in the long road give me a beautiful pearl.

Door To Door

I wrote this because I don't like to have things unsettled in my mind and this is a subject that is not settled. This is really something raised by my pastor.
I go to a small Baptist church usually known for their weekly visits to homes in the area--they call it door to door. It is used mostly for evangelism but also to check on members who have not been there in a while.
This is not something I enjoy or even want to do. (I am Being honest) If I have to- I will -but I would much rather deal with those within the church. I love to teach- I feel empowered - it is the area of my spiritual gifting. It is the way my mind works. Anyway, my pastor likes to pick on me (in a loving manner) because I am vocal (not in a rebellious way, I think) about the fact that I do not want to go door to door. There are others who seem to enjoy this and I would say, GO! I don't particularly like someone showing up at my door uninvited (my house might be a mess, or I might be) so I guess I look at it as a consideration not to do that to someone else.
Could I possibly be this way because that is where God wants me? I am by no means saying that we should not be a witness for God wherever we go. But I do believe God gives a heart for the area He sends us. [Comments welcome]
Today as I was reading in Galatians a passage suggested by my devotional MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST (I highly recommend). In chapter two Paul is talking about how he is called to the gentiles and Peter is called to the Jews. Both groups are unsaved----but one group is unaware of this fact. I share the belief with my pastor that there are many sitting in our pews that think they are going to heaven but in fact they just have religion. Maybe some what like the Jews. Maybe, perhaps, could this be "my" door to door?
Just a thought.

Dr Myles Monroe

I am so amazed at the information that is becoming know to the body of Christ in these last days. Dr. Monroe spoke of how being raised in the Bahamas effected the way he began to think about the kingdom of God. We [as Christians] belong to a kingdom that is not of this world. It makes me feel electric to think about what is waiting for us just behind the next door. He spoke of the Queen of Britain coming to visit the Bahamas and how they would prepare a year in advance. They cleaned their houses and their yards and even swept the street every day because they were not sure of the exact day of the expected visit. How we need to sweep our homes and yards and streets for the visit of the King of Glory.
Dr Monroe has written a new book THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON ON EARTH. Keith and I bought this book and I can't wait to read it.
God show us how to clean our homes so that the King Of Glory may enter in.

I Thought You Were My Friend

I heard the words as if cut by a knife
I didn't deserve those words
I had just helped save a life

A life on the edge headed straight for the pit
A fall over that edge would have hurt quite a bit

But you did not see the events quite that way
You saw instead a life that was taken away

To Allah she would no more bend her knee
But to the Yawh of the universe who had heard her plea

At first fear that you would take a life
But then contentment that it was for Him that we gave our life

And now you are back
And we know that it is salvation you still lack

We raise your name often that God would intervene
That you would not slip into eternity with your sin in between

The gulf ever wide between you and my God
Still He calls to you each day to come out of your fog

So my friend I know you have been told the truth about the coming end
I pray that as we walk gold streets together you'll know for sure that I was

really your friend