A Book, A Donkey, And His Voice

While reading blog posts a few weeks ago I came cross Galatians 5:26 in The Message translation.  It left an imprint on my heart, stepping right in with the truth of it and finding a place to rest within the beating. Even though, or because of the weariness I carried at the time, I was unable to put it aside, so we read all of Galatians 5 as part of our morning devotions, grateful as more of the Word's words squeezed into my heart and found room to stay.  Powerful. Impacting. God's 2000 year old writings bound in leather always say what we need to hear so well.

"Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, 

the life of the Spirit, 

let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads

 or a sentiment in our hearts,

 but work out its implications in every detail of our lives.  

That means we will not compare ourselves with each other

 as if one of us were better and another worse.  

We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. 

 Each of us is an original. " 

Galatians 5:26

Msge

Each of us is an original.  One of a kind. We have heard it before, a repetitive song, off key at best. We are all unique.  Can we grasp it, or do we put it aside while making endless effort to belong or fit in somewhere.  Falling short in our own eyes, wounding the soul.   Living as Spirit filled people we are not to compare ourselves with each other.  Here is what vibrates with truth ~ a truth that is shouted from the mountain tops if we only listen for it.  We have far more interesting things to do with our lives  Each of us is an original..  How much time do we spend in the cesspool of comparison, looking down on or feeling put down upon?  To compare is to despair.  How can we compare one unique creation by the Creator to another unique one?

We know from God's Word that our uniqueness is from Him.  So is our identity.  The who we are and the Whose we are.  They are linked together.  Have you heard the quote..."You are only as strong as your weakest link?"  Christ in us, us living in the Spirit is what makes our links so strong.  Each equipped with God's gifts for His purpose.

I wrote the paragraphs above a few weeks ago, but evidently God had more to say on this topic!  The past few days Joel and I have been reading aloud a Christmas gift from me to my hubby....a book titled "Flash" by author Rachel Ridge. Described as charming, funny and written about an animal~~ what was not to like!   It is a true story about how a stray donkey came into the lives of one family and changed them all, including the four legged stubborn one they named Flash. The donkey just showed up one dark night.  Scared, beat-up, hungry.  His mysterious past made him skittish and super stubborn, but over time their patience and love brought him back to life.  

Early in the book Rachel shared about how she felt she failed in all she tried to do as a mom, wife, artist.  She just never felt she was enough and as she compared herself to others, like the people they rented their home from.....she fell short.  When the landlords told her they had named the Ridge family donkey themselves ( a different name)......and were often found feeding and talking to him from their home on the acreage, Rachel's insecurities reached a high point.

 But God......

Then through Flash she began to see herself in God's eyes.  God whispered to her one morning as she was scolding herself, " I have called you by name and you are mine."  She searched for the scripture connected to these words and read them again in Isaiah 43.  Remembering that Flash was restored through the family's love, and seeing his true self emerge again after the identity crisis he had experienced, it brought her to an awareness of her own identity crisis.  With prayer and scriptures she came to understand deep within that her identity came from her Creator.  Instead of repeating in her mind the long list of negative things she believed about who she was, she started remembering who God said she was.  Her identity was as His beloved.  Her value came not from what she did but from who she was, Whose she is.  Precious in His eyes.  This knowledge changed everything.
All because a "quirky animal with big ears" needed a home.  She stated, "God can us anything at anytime in any way to speak to us".

Sometimes God repeats the re-sounding song....and sometimes we think it is off key, so He persists in Love.  He reminds us of our identity through a donkey or a book about a donkey.  God can and does use anything at anytime in any way to speak to us.  Yes He does.  And one of the most important things He wants us to know?  Who. we. are.  The scriptures tells us, "Don't hold an idea in your head or a sentiment in your heart" ~~that does not line up with what God says about us(my words).

Each of us is unique.....created by God with a variety of gifts individual to our calling.  There is only one of us.  Our uniqueness is connected by Christ in us, our identity rooted within when we choose to live a life in the Spirit as kids of the King.  We are urged to embrace our uniqueness and step into our full identity. Remember He has called you by name.  

Washed By The Water

There is a chorus that keeps running through my head from NeedToBreathe, a music group......

"Even when the rain falls...

Even when the flood starts rising...

Even when the storms come....

I am washed by the water."

Our world seems to be rocking off its axis right now. Chaos reigns.  Iraq, Sudan, Ebola, Hurricanes, floods, drought, suicide.  The headlines are screaming at us day and night and we can almost taste the fear as brokenness and calamity cross over our personal boundaries from all directions.  We can become weary of the assault.  We need a center.  We need Christ.  It takes effort, but we need to stand in the eye of the storm where His stillness steadies us as He pours out His Word like rain.

"Let me pour down my Word on you like rain"

Deut. 32:2

We need Living Water.  To be washed in Living Water.  Cleansed by His blood.  Shielded by His love.  Empowered by His Word.  Saved by His sacrifice.  Jesus.  Jesus.  Jesus.

There are times when I wake in the early hours and my mind wants to ignore the body's cry for rest.  Taming the mind can be a full time job!  It comforts me to speak scripture in the hours before dawn.  His Word poured over me like rain.  But often what lures me back to sleep is to just whisper aloud over and over....His name.  Jesus.  Jesus.  Jesus.  Setting the world aside for His name.

We are washed by Living Water.  Made clean.  Refreshed!  Made whole.  Restored!  We need not fear the world's brokenness.  We need not fear death.  We need not fear the storms.  We are washed by the Water.

Saturday's Scribbles

Good Saturday evening all!  Welcome to our small corner of the world where snowflakes have once again replaced sunshine for the weekend.  We enjoyed several days of 40 or 50 degrees and now we are back to 28 for a high...sigh...our river has a huge ice dam with enormous chunks of ice trying to move on down to other destinations.  Amazing to watch.

Speaking of watching, for some reason the missing Malaysian airliner has held my attention.  Just how does a plane disappear?  And what is with the stolen passports, the plane switching directions and turning off the communication boxes?  None of it makes any sense.  How tragic for all involved.

Joel had a busy week with the Wednesday men's breakfast Bible study at 7, church services, lunch, and a discussion of the sermon starting at 11am, and another repeat of the first service for 6:30 pm.
Thursday we went to the NE Iowa pastors conference monthly gathering, finishing up at the local Chinese restaurant.  After a late lunch we went shopping for a few things I need. Then yesterday we worked on the next session for the Healing class and shopped again!  Today we shopped one more time! Truth be told I am weary of it.  I am hoping to be done now for awhile. We walked most days at the church between 30-45 minutes. 

This past Monday we woke to frozen pipes.  When Joel checked at 4am and I used the bathroom at 5:30 am we had water, but at 7am every tap in house was dry!  Thankfully, the neighbor closest to us offered for us to run a hose from his house to ours and the water is just like before!  Hopefully our pipes will unfreeze soon!  Our other neighbor has been without water for 7 weeks!!!

Today I decided to polish my shoes with........banana peels!  I read about it in a magazine and thought I would try it on a pair of scuffed shoes.....it worked!  Hopefully I won't attract any monkeys when I wear them tomorrow!

We watched the new show Resurrection to see what it was like.  Kind of a sci-fi series I guess.  Over 20 million people watched the premiere.  Interesting.  TV has been pretty boring, but we did take in a few teachings online.  I am still reading The Jesus Book and catching up on magazines.  Our oldest gave me the HGTV magazine and it has been quite fun to read.  Great ideas!!  What is going on with you?  What are you reading?

Until next time...........

Living Waters From God

When God sends me a Bible verse more than twice I pay attention, because this an important way God communicates with me.  If you are a follower of my blog you may recall that last fall I received Matthew 11:28-30 around 26 times from many different sources.   God was hitting me over the head with the living Word from Matthew~~ It truly held a message I needed to hear.  I.m.p.o.r.t.a.n.t.  I am still learning about resting in and trusting God from that time. 

Since July 31st I have received verses and writings on "living waters" nine times from nine different sources.  God is speaking loudly to me once again.  The first 4 times I was given John 7:38 through different devotionals and a book of scriptures.

"Anyone who believes in Me may come and drink. 

For the scriptures declare,

Rivers of Living Water shall flow from the heart

of anyone who believes in Me."

 

Then as Joel and I were reading aloud the book, "Healing For Today" by Pastor Paul Teske, I turned to the next chapter to read and it was titled, "Rivers of Living Water"!!! 

 

Tuesday I read two separate blogs that spoke of living waters and streams of waters.   One written by Heather Lewis Powell over at InCourage had a quote that resonated for me. 

 

 

"If I believe and trust in Him, streams of living waters will flow from me

and I will not fear the heat or worry

because I will be firmly rooted in Him."

 

 A second post by Lisa over at Lisa Buffaloe's site spoke of  "letting God's living waters flow in and through you.  Of us needing to put down deep roots in the Word."
 

I also came across a scripture that Linny over at A Place Called Simplicity shared personally with me over a year ago from Job 11:16...

"You will forget your misery.....it will be like waters flowing away!"

Number nine came yesterday morning in the Daily Light, a scripture where Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well:

"If you only knew who you were speaking to

 you would ask me and I would give you living water." 

John 4:10 

 

 Couple all this with my visit to the garden of my heart in meditation, and I cannot nor would I deny that God is in the midst of this.  In the garden I walked with Joel and Jesus to a pool.  Surrounding it on three sides were high rocks with waterfalls cascading down into the pool.  Jesus and Joel took my hands and I went into the pool with them.  I need to be honest here, during the meditation I saw myself somewhat resistant to Jesus wanting me to go into pool, but I cautiously went in at the encouragement of both, and Jesus poured water over me with His hands.

Yes, God is at work. 

How does God work in your lives?  Through His Word, devotionals, the voice of others you are connected to?  For Joel he is often through nature.  And one friend of ours says that whenever she sees or hears a cardinal she knows God is speaking to her that all is well.  However He comes to you, we can rest assured He comes in love.

Do I understand all that is being shown me? Absolutely not.  I do see some direction, though.  Words like roots, living water, flowing, and the Word are coming up with frequency, and I have heard whisperings from Holy Spirit. For now I am trusting God to reveal to me at the right time just what I need to learn.

It is an adventure in faithful living to walk with Jesus through this life!  Don't you agree?   

 



The Gift of Rain

We woke up around midnight to the sound of thunder. Soon the wind was blowing hard and the house shook with each loud boom. When the storm made it presence known, it brought rain to our parched land here in north Iowa. Rain. Beautiful water falling from the sky.

We awoke this morning to leaves blanketing the ground and small branches scattered around.  A couple of our neighbors lost large branches, the trees being so dry from lack of rain.  Even though my hubby is having to deal with cleaning up, we are not complaining. The trees, bushes and earth needed nourishment! Like we humans who feel refreshed after a good drink of water, so nature has breathed a sigh of relief for the rain having quenched its thirst last night.

I cannot help but relate this to those desert times that come into our lives. There are seasons where we feel so parched and dry. Nothing seems to touch our weariness, and we long for rain from above.  Living water to quench our thirst, nourish our souls.

God is His perfect timing will provide what we need. He always does.  Sometimes the relief comes after a storm in our lives.  We don't know why, but often after the "winds blow" and the "gust front" makes its way through, the "rain" comes.  A steady rain that nourishes and leaves us refreshed.  The desert place within soaks up the living waters, and we sigh in relief.  All is well with our soul.