Bitter be Autumn's bite

    

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven"

  Ecclesiastes 3:1

 

  The  proud stalks bend and sway in the last light of summer’s day. Sunset’s golden light casts shimmering hues of color upon radiant fields of grain. Daylight’s hours now are few, as Nature begins her queue.  Green have been the leaves, now basked in Autumn’s glory. The fading light, the whispered rite. Summer’s done, the dance of Autumn has begun.

       Ahh…Autumn. I bask in the cool breeze as the first of Autumn’s chill arrives. I watch as the leaves slowly change to brilliant shades of red, gold and orange. I smell the chill in the air, I see it in the sparkling frost that lies upon the ground each morning. This is a season of rest and tranquility for nature. A season to enjoy the fruits of her labor, to glory in her splendor, to grow strong again for Summer’s harvest. A time of peace.

     The human life is much like nature. We too have different seasons. Spring/Summer: where we harvest the fruits of our spiritual labor and grow in our walk with the Creator- a time of plenty. Then there’s Fall/Winter: a time of trial, where the rains fall and the winds blow. Our “leaves” (spirits) fall and our “land” (hearts) are washed in the heavy floods of His grace.  In seasons like these we often get so caught up in stopping the storm, that we fail to see the beauty and the peace, in the midst of all the thunder.   

       Hidden within of each storm is hand of GOD reaching out to us from within the rains, asking us to trust Him. 

      In every season, God is always at work  behind the clouds of gray; He is ever spinning, ever weaving, a pattern of splendor; a scenery of color and brilliance, that will stun us with it’s vast beauty when it is unveiled.
 
     “Autumn/Winter” may look and feel bitter, cold and heartless. A season without a purpose. But there is always a ray of SON waiting to burst worth at the first sign of Spring in our hearts, when the first buds of faith and trust are springing up from grounds of hardened frost.

Don’t fear the cold, my friend. For though it hurts now, Spring will come. And when it does, nothing else will matter as we dwell once more in the LIGHT and the warmth.

“The LIGHT shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome IT.” John 1:5

“For the glory of God!”

Why orphans?

 

 "You can always give without loving,

but you can never love without giving."

-Amy Carmichael 

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   Someone recently asked me,  “Why orphans, and why Africa?”  Many people have asked me the same question in the past. Well, here is my answer: as followers of Christ, it is our duty and blessing to reach the lost and the hurting in the world. We are to minister to the poorest of poor, the lowest of low.  For me, that means the orphans. Truly, they are the poorest of poor in today's society; having no one to call family and nothing to call their own.  

According to Orphan Hope International, there are between 143 million and 210 million orphans worldwide. As of today, 48.3 million of those are in Africa.  By age 16 these children “age out” and are no longer in the adoption systems. 38,493 orphans “age out” each day . With diseases like malaria, HIV, AIDS and yellow fever, 5,760 children are orphaned each day. The vast majority of these have never heard of Christ. They live in villages where witchcraft and demon possession is rampant. The witch doctor is their only doctor, and consequently their “religious leader.” 

  My heart absolutely breaks for those precious little ones, living in those circumstances!! How can we ignore their cries, their pain!? We can't change the world, but we can lives. None of us has the power to save the world, but we have the love to save the lost.

“Not all of us can do great things. 

But we can do small things with great love.”

-Mother Teresa 

  Mother Teresa had it right. Not everyone is destined for great deeds, honor or fame. But all of us, regardless of our current circumstances can do little things and still change lives, if we do it with great love.

    There is a fire burning deep within my heart, fueled by the Lord, to do what I can to help His children. Even if I only impact one life, it is enough. For that is one life more that will one day be in heaven. This side of heaven we may never know how many will be with Christ one day because of us, but we still have to try to reach them. Love speaks far greater than words. It is not enough to simply say you feel for them, we have to REACH OUT TO THEM. 

"Give me the love that leads the way, the faith that nothing can dismay, the hope no disappointments tire, the passion that will burn like fire; Let me not sink to be a clod: Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God."
-Amy Carmichael   “For the glory of God!

Everything changes in a minute

 The power of a minute...

 "Everyone has a moment in their childhood when the door opens to their future." -Wess Stafford

One minute. One moment in a lifetime of minutes. To many, one minute is unimportant, but to children that one minute defines the rest of their lives: who they are when they grow up, what they want to do, and who they want to be like. WE as their elders have the power to change a child's life in the space of 60 seconds. Now THAT'S a heavy responsibility to bare.

Children look up the adults in their lives. They look to us as role models, as teachers, in our every day lives. They watch us and learn from us. As little ones they are very impressionable. As Dr. Stafford put it, "they are like wet cement. The younger they are the easier it is to leave an imprint."  Though they may not realize it, they are constantly soaking up everything around them.

  Children grow up to become a replica of the kinds of elders they had in their lives when they were young. God intended for the elders in a child's life to pour into them, not tear them down. How we impact a child depends on how we interact with that child. We need to always remember any minute, anything we say or do, can be that moment that opens the door to the child's future.                                                                                                 When I see a child, I see one of God's precious children. I see His fingerprints in their lives. I see a child who needs love and affirmation. A little one who's life is only just beginning; who needs Godly influences in their life.When I see a child I feel the need to protect them, to love them, to show them that Someone cares for them. I feel the weight of God's call to all adults. Please, don't ignore His children. When you see a child be sure to pour into them, even if it's just a friendly smile or a kind word. You never know how much that simple act of love may impact them for all eternity. 

 "Start children off on the way they should go, 

and even when they are old they will not turn from it."

 Proverbs 22:6

"For the glory of God!"

.  

Let it rain!

   *Drip, drip, drip*  The rain falls steadily upon the window pane. It is a sound that calms and soothes many people, and excites others. But to me, it is the sound of His love falling upon my life. You see, when it rains we often think of the rain in the plural sense, ignoring the millions of individual drops. Yet, it is those very drops that make up the storm. It is the same way with our Father's love.

   Too often we take His blessings for granted and fail to thank Him for them. Then before we know it they're gone. Evaporated into our lives or blown away by the winds of change. Only the evidence of their having been there is left; the puddles that sit around waiting for us to acknowledge them.We sit there and wonder, "how did we miss the existence of that gift and how could it be gone already?? We only just noticed it." But that's just it. Like the rain, many blessings are only in our lives for a short season. Whether we notice each drop is up to us.

  

     Our Heavenly Father desires to grant us every blessing under the sun, but it is only when we remember to thank Him for each one, that He will keeps pouring His rain upon us.  So the next time your soul is parched, look to the heavens. The skies are ever ready to rain down His love upon us, we have only to learn to see the gifts. They are always there. Not every blessing is life changing. The most valuable gifts are often the smallest and most unnoticeable.

    

So open your eyes. Step out of the prison of ungratefulness and open your arms to the rain. Let the drops cleanse and refresh you. Dance in His love rain. Count the drops. But beware of the flood that is sure to come when you open your heart to thankfulness.

"Giving thanks always for all things unto God

 and the Father  in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ"

Ephesians 5:20 

 "For the glory of God!"

 

He knows

 "And God saw every thing....

and, behold, it was very good."

Genesis 1:31

~*~*~

WHY? The question that we so often find ourselves asking in this journey of life. 

     Too often in life we find ourselves in the midst of the storm with no shore in sight and no explanation for why we are there. As the waves crash around us and the waters rise, we quickly forget that the Maker of the storm is standing on that distant shore watching. Waiting. I recently listened to a sermon about the disciples being stranded in the storm on Galilee while Jesus stayed on the shore and prayed. It was only after letting them sit in the storm, fighting for their very lives for 8 hours, that Jesus finally went to them. He could have commanded the storm to stop at any moment, but He didn't. HE put them in that storm and let them sit there ON PURPOSE. Why? Because He needed them to grow in Him. To believe in Him.

       How often does God do that in our lives? Throw us in the storm to grow us in Him, to teach us to trust Him? We may never know the why in a trial, but this we do know: HE knows. When we find ourselves far from shore, seemingly "alone" and scared, it can be all too easy to wonder where God is. To feel like He's not there. But He is. He is watching and waiting for us to learn the lesson before He rescues us.

      When we find ourselves in these storms we need to remember: He knows the why behind every detour and the outcome on the shore. When God looks at us in the storm He sees something good. He sees that the storm and the work it is producing in us (if we let Him work) is good. We need to stop fighting Him and trying to tell Him how to help us and just trust Him. 

HE KNOWS. He knows.

  

(I tried to get just this song on here, but because it's on a playlist all of them downloaded.

 So, pause my music below and play just "Better than I." :))

 "All the days ordained for me were written in your book,

before one of them came to be."

 Psalm 139:16

While I'm waiting

     I imagine life as one long hallway. Every day you're walking down this hallway trying to reach the door at the end. On either side of you the hall is lined with doors. Some are good and others are bad.You have no idea what's on the other side of that door, but He knows. He knows that on the other side is His great plan for you. But only by taking the side doors will you reach that door. Day by day the Shepherd beckons you saying, "come My child. Walk with Me." As you walk you pray, praying for your Guide to open the right doors, and He does. But every now and then He opens a door that looks so right, but the moment you try to step through, He slams it shut again. "But it looked so right Lord!" you say. "Yes My child, it did look right, but that is not what I have for you" He says, "Just wait. Be patient. I have something far better in mind." 

       Everyone has a "plan" for their lives, but so does God. We need to seek that plan, for our earthly dreams cannot compare to the beauty of His heavenly plan for us. For as the heavens are higher than the earth so are His ways higher than our ways, and His thoughts higher than our thoughts. (Is. 55:9) God already has a plan for us, we just need to wait on Him and follow Him. One thing we all know is that God will NEVER lead us astray. Not seldom ever, but NEVER. So trust His plan. Trust the One Who made you to never lead you astray in life. Wait on Him.

While you're waiting what are you going to do??

    

~*~*~

 The plans of the heart belong to man, 

but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.

 Proverbs 16:1

"For the glory of the Lord!"

Lessons from Ruth

  Widowed at a young age she abandoned her home, her family, her religion and all that she loved to follow her mother-in-law to a land and people that were foreign to her. There she took up the faith of her mother-in-law and took it upon herself to care for her in her old age.

 

       The story of Ruth. Ruth's story is a short one, yet one that is packed with wisdom for women attaining to be Godly wives. My sister and I have recently been studying Ruth with a couple friends in our weekly "wife prep" Bible study. One of the things that really stuck out to me about Ruth was her patience in waiting. All of us who are single are in that season of waiting, but none of us fully know the joy that lies ahead. Ruth did. She knew what she was missing in life, yet still she was patient in her wait and trusted God. Can we say the same?

 

 "The LORD bless you, my daughter," he replied. "This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor....

All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character." 

Ruth 3:10-11

 

    What a legacy! How I pray I develop the same legacy! This is a legacy we should all attain to: to be known for our virtuous, Godly character and strong morals. The fact that the entire town knew of her virtue and noble character, shows that she was worth talking about. Ladies, what kind of legacy do you want to take into marriage? Do you want to be known as Ruth: a woman who waited for and prepared for her man, a noble and virtuous woman; or a flirtatious and impatient woman? Godly Christian men are attracted to women like Ruth, not the women of this world. We don't want to settle for God's second best, but His first choice for us. The one that will love us forever as Christ loves His church. We want to be his pearl of great price, his rarest treasure. So let's strive to be Ruth, and God will bring us Boaz.      

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"Time slips by,

Trusting God has become important above everything else.

His timing is perfect and all His ways are best.

Would I truly love you in such a deep way if I wasn't waiting?

Would I grow if time had not taught me the value of obedience? 

Though I have never met you, I am faithful to you.

Though I am single my heart is yours already.

The one I give my heart to, is the one I marry,

safely stored in Christ until God brings us together.

Single I stand proud that I have not settled,

grateful that God has taught me to wait.

You're the right one, the one God has chosen is worth the wait,

no matter how long. 

I will no settle for ok, I wait for God's perfect fit."

~ Unknown~

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