Primroses.

They appeared mysteriously, out of no where.  It is a dry, unkept hillside along our driveway.  Mostly has the appearance of weeds and debris that needs to be cleaned up once in a while.  It's one of those areas that would demand a much younger me to really capture it and renovate it into an eye attractive area.

The first spring we were here at our current location, I was greeted one moring by the first single Primrose.  I was caught off guard as I had no idea such beauty could be waiting on that unkept hillside. 

Until we allow God to do a work in our lives, we too are like that "barren" hillside, waiting to bloom in beauty that only He can deliver in our lives.

God's Word Speaks

by Lisha Hunnicutt

“Jack left,” wept Alison. “He wants a divorce. What am I going to do?”

“I don’t know, but I know someone who does,” said Kate slipping a Pocket Testament into Alison’s hands. “This book has answers.”

Late at night, Alison opened the book. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  She continued on. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. “Life,” she thought. “Mine’s going nowhere.” Into the night she read, weeping as the words of Jesus pierced her heart. “Such love,” she thought as her knees hit the carpet. “Jesus,” she wept. “Please forgive me. My life and marriage is in shambles. I give it all to you.”

Two weeks later, Alison and Jack sat across from each other working out the finer points of their divorce. “Something’s different about you,” said Jack. “I can’t put my finger on it. You seem so, joyful. Have you met someone?”

“Yes I have” she smiled.  She reached into her purse, pulling out a slightly worn Pocket Testament. “Here,” she said, “You can read about him.” Jack looked at her quizzically, slipping the book into his brief case.

Saturday, while Sawyer ran around the playground, Jack began to read. “In the beginning was the word…” He read more after tucking Sawyer into bed and again after dropping him off at Alison’s on Sunday. Monday night, he lay on the sofa thinking about his life. “God, help me know if you’re real. Alison has changed. I want what she has.” A peace like none he’d ever felt filled his soul.

A year later, Alison and Jack renewed their vows. Morgan pulled Jack aside. “Wow man! I never thought I’d see this! How did you win her back?”

“You really want to know?” asked Jack.

“Yeah, I really want to know.”

“Here,” said Jack. “Read this.” He slipped a well-worn Pocket Testament into Morgan’s hand.

A couple days later, Morgan suffered from another hangover. “Man, I feel like I’ve been hit by a Mac truck.” The book that Jack gave him sat on the coffee table. He picked it up. “In the beginning was the word…” It took a few days, but Morgan read the entire book, pondering its message. He knelt by the couch, “Jesus,” he prayed. “I’m not big on words, but I need something.”

A few weeks later, Morgan ran into an old friend. “Yo dude! Where you been? The guys at The Hound have been asking about you.”

Morgan answered. “Let’s just say I have better things to do.”

“Like what?”

“Here, read this,” said Morgan handing his friend a PocketTestament held together by duct tape.

“This will tell you all you need to know.”

One Pocket Testament, three redemptions, and counting.

If you’d like to know more about evangelism, visit the Pocket Testament League. This ministry equips Christians with free evangelism training, daily devotions, and the distribution of the printed Gospel.

FaithWriters

God's sweet Word

I've been dwelling and meditating on a verse from Psalm 143:8 :

Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness

in the morning.

For in You do I trust

Cause me to know the way

in which I should walk

For I lift up my soul to You

Lovingkindness:

God's faithful love for His

unfaithful people

So, how do I hear His lovingkindness?

When I really started pondering this in my heart I was humbled. To think that even as I was doing my own thing and not considering His love toward me, He was still loving me.  He was still calling out to me. 

I "hear" His lovingkindness as I dwell in His Word.  He speaks to my heart, into hurts and needs and desires, thru His Word.  I "hear" His lovingkindness when someone gives me a word of encouragement, either directly or thru a note, article or sermon.  I hear His lovingkindness when I "listen" for Him.

Today my Psalm reading was Chapter 5.  I heart leaped when I got to verse 3;

My voice You shall hear in the morning ,O Lord.

In the morning I will direct it to You

and I will look up.

How great is that!! "In the morning" !!

He will hear my voice in the morning

and I will hear His lovingkindness.

"In the morning" I will direct my voice to Him

and He will cause me to the way in which

I should walk.

Have you heard His Lovingkindness lately?



Wherever You Go......

Do you have a special place? Perhaps a certain restaurant, maybe a park or flower garden, a path along a meandering stream, but a place that pulls you back to a time and a memory and your soul says "this was good"?  Today I knew I had returned to such a good place.  I've been here several times before but as I began to re-read my study guide for our Ruth study, once again it was that "special place". 

Ruth, a small four-chapter narrative nestled into the Old Testament.  Many see it only as a beautiful love story and many a college and university has taught it as an eloquent literature piece.  Many has used it's few verses, chapter 1:16-17 for wedding vows.

You've heard it said "Dynamite comes in small packages", well, Ruth may be a small book but it is filled with it's own, unique "dynamite".  The ancient Jewish scriptures often included Ruth with the book of the prophets. Huh?  A prophetic book? Well, stay with us and you will see the prophecy unfold in the story of Ruth.

We will slowly unpack the revealing "real story" behind the story and discover revelations that are woven through out her story.

Sounding Off

While we did have a good first meeting for our Ruth Study last night, something is weighing on my mind this morning. 

When I clicked on my computer yesterday there was a "top story?" about one of our your military men who has "come out" and chose to do that via You Tube while on the phone with his father.  I have no desire to watch the "Tube".  I did scan down thru just some of the over 200 remarks at that time.  Interesting, interesting to see how many responded.  There were a few remarks made by "well meaning" Christians and that only fueled the flame for the onslaught as many cried out "we can do what we want!" 

Really??? As we began our study of Ruth I chose first to go back to set the tone for the times as they were as the story of Ruth unfolds.  Just take a moment, find the book of Ruth in your bibles, now go back just the the page before, that would put you in Judges and look carefully there, the very last verse, Judges 21:25.....see for yourself.
"In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes"

Do you not see us "America" right there?  In our day there is no king in our land,
we are quickly moving away from a "Christian" nation.  I heard recently that Pepsi has gone so far as to remove "in God we trust" from our Pledge of Allegiance that is now placed on their new cans.  We want to live by the same standard as in the days of the judges, "I can do what I want to do!" We don't have a king in our land......we have taken "The King" out of our schools, our courts and God help us "out of many of our churches".

We have "judges" who set over this land overturning godly constitutional standards.
We are living in a turbulent period and my Bible says judgement begins at the house of God (I Peter 4:16)  Those things that are now acceptable are happening because Christians have adopted the same philosphy, slowly accepting the ways of the world, softening our gospel to make us feel good. 

I hope you will underline that verse in Judges and ponder that in your hearts.  

Ruth - Loss, Love and Legacy

I'm soooo not ready, but eager to get started.

I clicked on today and was surprised to see it had been a whole month since my last post.   How can that be? 
I follow a few other blogs and am amazed at their consistency, photography and great spiritual insights.  I just wish I had the fortitude to get just some of my thoughts posted. 

A few weeks ago I was so up and ready to get this thing going. I had pages of notes and quotes and was ready to fly.  Today I'm feeling the need for much of Him and His power to carry me.

Tomorrow will be our first home meeting for the study of Ruth.  We are using Kelly Minter's book as well as several bits and pieces from some great scholars of the Word.

We will walk with Ruth through her struggle of loss, her joyous find of love and the legacy that will be left as we see God use ordinary people to accomplish His eternal plan and promises.  We will see His grace overcome the law.

I hope you will join us.  If you need a book I have extra copies and would be glad to get one out to you ASAP. $20 will cover the book and shipping or you can contact  Lifeway Books at http://www.lifeway.com/

Do What???

The Book of Ruth

I did my first "study" of this small four chapter book last summer.

Since then I have listened to different teachers, commentaries and messages about "Ruth".....always gleaning yet another fascinating nugget.

It is my desire to share this with others. 

 As I was discussing it with my husband he offered the challenge......

"Why don't you write your own study, combining this information?" 

I gulped, my heart raced and my mind roared!

I had already considered the idea,

now maybe I needed to put "wheels" on it.

So now, I'm considering this as our first fall study.

I hope to be presenting it locally to a group of ladies

as well as here in blog format.

My target date is Sept 12th.

At this time I'm not sure we will need books,

except your Bibles.

I pray you all had a great summer.

Looking forward to shifting back into a routine.

Blessings!!!

Summer (?) Schedule

I question mark (?)  summer as we have experienced the coolest, wettest two months of what would normally be called spring and today it's still very cold, windy and cloudy.
But however the weather happens still doesn't change our schedules and routines for the coming months. 
For many of you your daily routines will take on a new meaning, sleeping later ( hopefully) but running to new summer events, to the pool, to the park, to the beach, endless days trying to pack in all the fun of summer.

No longer have children in school, my schedule doesn't change much as far as that routine.  I no longer plant a garden and this year marks my first year without a horse in eleven summers, so no "training, grooming or riding" to take up my time.  We are spending countless trips to the bird feeders, we have created a "monster" that needs frequents servicing, but what fun to watch the endless parade of color out our windows.  I counted my list and see I have identified over 55 species just from our window.

                                     Male Western Tanager at Jelly Dish

We have no definite Bible Study scheduled for the next few months.  I will be doing some research for an August study.  Meanwhile, we will post a devotional here and there and hopefully encourage you to stay in the word on your own.  Find a topic and study it out.  I suggest to take the Proverbs and read one for each day of the month. 
I've been doing this for the last year, still amazed at how the Lord speaks to me with new insights as I've gone thru Proverbs over 12 times now. 

                                    Male Oriole Nothern Bullocks Variety

Working on a devotion now for posting in the next few days. 
Hope you will check back once in a while and be encouraged in His word.



Joy - The Crowning Virtue - Chapter 14

Maybe I have tried your patience ( chapter 13) waiting for our final chapter - Joy.
I've made several attempts to finish this but one thing after another has interrupted me.

I hope to be back today with a final word and maybe meantime you can read Isaiah 45
and share a comment on that or whatever else you chose.

I was so touched by Isaiah 45:3 that I had to turn there and read the whole chapter.
God really spoke to my heart here.  I so hope you will find a few moments and dwell there, let Him speak to you too.

Patience - More than a Disposition Chapter 13

I just thought some ocean scenes and sounds would be so fitting with what Kelly shares regarding God's relentless patience:

"God's relentless patience has met me much like ocean waves rolling on the shore - there's always another round if I don't get it the first time, or the hundred-and-thirty-second"  Kelly Minter

What peace we can take away knowing He never gives up on us.

Patience for us is produced as a "fruit" of the spirit.  Good fruit comes from a vine or tree that is carefully tended and pruned as needed.  We grow patience/longsuffering and sometimes how we are feeling at the moment we like to think of it as "patience" and then there are those times it definitely feels like "long as in loooong - suffering"

If we could just step back in the moments and consider the example He set before us.
"He embodied patience by choosing to remain silent, refraining from striking back, even praying for His crucifiers, saying "Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing"

Chapter 12 - On Compassion and Humility

Defining "compassion". According to Webster:
-noun
a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune,
accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.

Webster defines it as a noun.   I see it more as a verb, an action word, a do something word.  For many of us it takes humility to show compassion. 

"When you know suffering and humbling, you become intimate with humility,

and when humility becomes your friend,

it opens you to a world you never knew before."

Kelly Minter  

Everything Must Die (To Rise Again) Chapter 11 Humility

Humility is not a cheer-rousing subject. We don’t jump up and down in undiluted excitement waving sparkly pom-poms. It’s part of our sin nature to desire exaltation. We long for recognition and some of us make a search for significance our god. Striving and straining we work to become “important” even within Christian circles. Our striving may not be outward, but inwardly we envy the woman on stage, the retreat coordinator, the Bible study leader, or the one who can sing like angels. We look up to them and wish we were in the “in crowd”.

Christ calls us to humble servant hood. Philippians 2:3-5 challenges us. “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” Whoa! That’s one tall order sister!

I found the following story about humility that I thought you’d enjoy.

     Adam said, “Lord, when I was in the garden, you walked with me everyday. Now I do not see you anymore. I am lonesome here and it is difficult for me to remember how much you love me.

    God said, “No problem! I will create a companion for you that will be with you forever and who will be a reflection of my love for you, so that you will know I love you, even when you cannot see me. Regardless of how selfish, childish,  and unlovable you may be this new companion will accept you as you are and will love you as I do, in spite of yourself.” And God created a new animal to be a companion for Adam. It was a good animal, and God was pleased. The new animal was pleased to be with Adam and he wagged his tail.

     Adam said, “But Lord, I have already named all the animals in the Kingdom and all the good names are taken. I cannot think of a name for this new animal.”

     God answered, “No problem! Because I have created this new animal to be a reflection of my love for you, his name will be a reflection of my own name, and you will call him DOG.” Dog lived with Adam and was a companion to him and loved him. Adam was comforted, and God was pleased. Dog was content and wagged his tail.

      After a while, it came to pass that Adam’s guardian angel came to the Lord and said, “Lord, Adam has become filled with pride. He struts and preens like a peacock and he believes he is worthy of adoration. Dog has indeed taught him that he is loved, but no one has taught him humility.”

     The Lord said, “No problem! I will create for him a companion who will be with him forever and who will see him as he is. The companion will remind him of his limitations, so he will know that he is not worthy of adoration.” And God created CAT to be a companion to Adam. Cat would not obey Adam, and when Adam gazed into Cat’s eyes, he was reminded that he was not the Supreme Being. Adam learned humility, and God was pleased. Adam was greatly improved, and Cat did not care one way or the other.

If you find yourself struggling to grasp humility, you might just try praying for a cat! Choose a question from chapter 11 and share your insights with us.

Kindness - Chapter 10

Random acts of Kindness.  Make a Difference Mondays.



These were the first couple that came to mind.  I'm sure there are a long list of similar themes to which we could apply ourselves from time to time.  Thinking of this I'd like to encourage you to grab a question from page 200 and give us some feedback. 

I'm going to consider a powerful act of kindness shown towards me that has had lasting results.  I ran away from home just at my sixteenth birthday.  I needed a "safe place".  A pastor and his wife opened their home to me, sight unseen, and provided a stable, safe Christian environment.  Thru that act of kindness and selfless love God was able to plant good seed in the soil of my heart and now some 43 years later I get glimpses of "good fruit".

A Soul at Rest Peace, Part 2 - Chapter 9

The Lord Bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26

Did you know that God commanded Aaron and his sons to speak the above blessing over the Israelites? God wants us to have peace. He desires to give it to us. It is a free offer from the hands of grace. This peace isn't contingent on outward circumstances, but is an inward settling of the soul. It is a peace that says, "It is well" even when the world around you is falling apart.

Where does this kind of unexplainable peace come from? It comes from a life lived in obedience to God. Kelly's words really resonated with me when she said, "I would rather have a clear conscience on a rocky road that be plagued by guilt on a silver street." My life has been rocky at times, but God's peace has been ever present.  My spouse lives with chronic illness and there have been many lost dreams, pain, struggle, and tears, but God has been our anchor through it all. I can site many a time when the circumstances around me were anything but calm, but inside a tide of peace welled up as God whispered, "It is well. I'm here. I know. I care." When I sat by my husband's hospital bed wondering what was going to happen, the peace was there. When a doctor brashly said to my husband, "You'll be totally infertile within six months," the peace stood strong. (We now have two daughters and not through adoption.) When we got the 8:30 p.m. call from the hospital in San Francisco telling us they had a kidney for my husband and we had to be there at 5:00 a.m. the next morning, God's peace was flowed over me. This is not to say that my ship doesn't occasionally shuddered with the crashing waves, but the anchor of Christ holds firm and eventually I get back to that place where his peace reigns in unexplainable ways.

Choose a question from chapter 9 and share your thoughts through the comments link. How has God's peace manifested itself in your life?

 

Peace, Not as the World Gives

Peace, Peace, Wonderful Peace.......

I hope you can take a moment, sit back, click on this video and rest in
 His peace today.
Hopefully you will know the words and can let them refresh your soul and spirit as you take in the majestic and beautiful works of His hand.

Kelly mentions that Peace has to be fought for.....it is kind of a contradiction, but so true.   We  do have to apply effort to obtain His peace.  I agree with her, "our efforts will never outweigh the joy of peace restored to our souls that were once at odds. "
(Eph 2:17-18)

I wish you Peace this Mother's Day weekend.  Today's chapter will be our last chapter for this week.  We will resume Monday with Chapter 9.  It's a triple blessed weekend for me...Lisha made my first Mother's Day 43 years ago on May 9th! My second daughter Mischel celebrates her 40th on May 6th....really, blessed Mother's Day to each of you.

Tracy's Tulips 

Yes, You Really Can - Chapter 7

Forgiveness.

Kelly has given me some different thoughts on forgiveness in these last two chapters.
I've known that forgiveness is a choice, not a feeling.  "But forgiveness is not denying what our enemies (or loved ones) have done; it's not calling something whole that's fractured or something pure that's corroded.  Forgiveness is looking in the face of what our offenders have done, recognizing their wound for all that it is, and then choosing to forgive. It has nothing to do with denying the wrong of those who hurt us but has everything to do with changing our hearts toward them. " (page 90)

That's the beginning of peace for us, when we become willing to change our hearts, letting go and letting God restore and rebuild us in Him. It is a process and one that we often have to come back to as feelings surface. 

The artichoke analogy. I did some research and discovered this is considered a thistle plant.  If you really think about it, this is a great analogy of a heart in need of producing"forgiveness" as well as other character qualities of Christ.

Before we can even began to peel away the layers of bitterness, anger, revenge, gossip, etc.....heat must be applied....ouch!! and the paring knife (Hebs. 4:12 goes here)

There's some "fruit" or food value after the outer petals are peeled away, there at the inner petals. The real fruit and value is found after the "choke" is stripped away and the "heart" is exposed and opened.


I wanted to drive home this analogy so I went and purchased me an artichoke....
gonna set that in my windowsill and think on it for awhile.

But God commendeth His love toward us,

in that while we were yet sinners,

Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8 KJV

The Perfect Storm - Chapter 6

Forgiveness can be tough. I've experienced the struggle to forgive in my own life. What I discovered was that I had to walk in forgiveness even though the emotion of forgiveness was not there. As I was relating to the offender, and I felt the rise of bitterness or anger over what they had done swell up in me, I literally said to myself, "No, I choose to forgive. I am not going to hold onto this anger." It took a long time of living it out, but eventually my emotions followed suit, and I felt forgiveness toward them.

Question 2, Complete this sentence: "If I let go of the demand that this person pay for what they did, then______." This reminded me of something I heard a speaker at a retreat say. Some would say, "If I forgive this person, then isn't that letting them off the hook?" The speaker's response was, "When we forgive, we let the person off of our hook and put them on God's hook."

Wow! Think about that! I think God can do a far better job of holding someone to account for their offense than I can. And if I keep them on my hook, then I have to drag them around everywhere. It doesn't bother them if I tote them all over the place. They are perfectly content to go along for the ride, but then I bear the weight of their offense. That is bondage my friend, and Christ has paid too big of a price for use to live in bondage. So, the challenge for us this week is to take the offenders in our lives off of our hooks and put them on God's.

Letting everyone off the hook will help to empty your heart of resentment and teach you what it is to grow up in Jesus.        - Patsy Clairmont

Trouble Posting Comments

A friend who follows this blog told me that she's having trouble getting comments to post. She has posted before with no problem, but over the past few days, the comments don't seem to be working for her. I did look into this with Blogspot and it seems that there are problems with comments all over the place and they are working on it. In the meantime, if you are having trouble, you might want to try posting comments under the Google Account option. If you don't have a Google account, you can sign up for one very easily. It doesn't cost anything. Just be sure to write your password down, because you'll need it. When you click on the Google Account option and don't have an account, it should direct you to the place where you can sign up for one. If you try this and it's not working, let us know. You can email me by clicking on my icon under followers. Thanks, Lisha

The Angel in the Stone - Chapter 5

Michelangelo's David

I'm digging deep here, well, maybe not deep but desperately. But consider this, these are works made by the hands of men.  We are capable of taking stone, wood, ice and many other materials and crafting them into admirable objects of art.  Gen. 2:7 tells us that the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground.... "He formed us", fashioned us, after He had created everything else He formed us....but read carefully and slowly to grasp the reality "and breathed into, the breath of life" and man became a living being.

He spoke all of creation into being, but us He breathed into life. And we were created in His image.  An image that He so desires would be clothed in His righteousness.

Didn't really want to post a picture of circumcision here, I'll leave that to your imagination.  I thought Kelly did a good depiction of the spiritual circumcision we undergo as we trust in Him in a daily practical life of salvation.  "Spiritual circumcision is an internal process that affects the heart by cutting away the whole "body of sins".

I'll take question #4:

Putting to death the habits of my old self?  As I replace the old and fill my life with the new that Christ offers me I can truly become a new creature in Christ. 

Father Loves You - Chapter 4

I agree with Kelly that we have overused the word love and lack understanding about it's true meaning. We say we love chocolate, love our spouse, love our friend, and love a sunny day. How can these all be equal? Love from God has to be more.

Bear with me here as I delve into a little bit of a word study. The word love in Colossians 3:12 is the same word that's used in John 3:35. "The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands." It's also the same word used in John 13:1. "It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love." Think about this. Do you know what Jesus did next? He washed the disciples feet. That's the kind of love that God has for us. In his final hours, he knelt before his disciples, the ones he loved, and became a servant, washing their feet.

I found a beautiful video that may help us to grasp how dearly loved we are. There is an advertisment after the video is over. Women of the Word is not endorsing the ad so feel free to disregard it. I do hope you will take the time to watch the video and ponder God's love for you. Then, choose an answer to one of the questions from chapter 4 (page 195) to share with us. May you rest in his love today.