Storms of Life

So this bird lives in the Keys. He is comfortable when a storm is coming and when it is bright and sunny or clear and dark. We saw a water sprout just before a storm. The bird was unconcerned.

From The Heart of Abba
Peace:
From the storm,
Within the storm,
Through the storm.

You are anchored,
Held safe,
Secure,
No matter what is swirling around you.

In my mind, I saw a picture of a storm path in a very poor area. Most houses were destroyed but one stood. Then began to “hear” this reminder.

Just as during a hurricane one house stands and another falls,
So also is it with my people.

Those who stand,
Both buildings and people,
Have a strong foundation.

I am your bedrock,
Your foundation,
And your cornerstone .

And beloved.
You see my smile.
(As I remind you of a deeper truth).

Even when a house is destroyed
Or my children falter,
I am He who rebuilds and restores.

Matthew 7:24-27 New Living Translation (NLT)
Building on a Solid Foundation
24 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. 25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. 26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. 27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”

1Peter 5:10 10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

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“It Is Finished”

“It is finished”

Jesus was in his final moments.

He took care of his mother and then knowing his task on the cross was complete he said, “It is finished,” and died.

And it WAS FINISHED and yet at the same time IT WAS NOT.

These trees look very dead. The entire tone is dark and dreary and pretty much devoid of life.

But we KNOW come Spring these trees will be full of life and leaves. Birds will perch there, we will enjoy their shadows and shade.

Jesus is NOT DEAD, he is alive. And we can be “alive” in and because he did die on that cross.

But he AROSE and IS ALIVE.

Because of that we have HOPE as the Anchor for our souls.

Verse: John 19:25-30

* 25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” 27 Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.

It Is Finished

28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” 29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. 30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

and

Hebrews 6:19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,

Saturday Leads to Sunday

Holy Saturday…

It seemed like… from the time between  the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus… God was silent. 

It was as if the prayers and hopes of many had fallen on deaf ears. 

No doubt people believed God had failed them, all was lost and their “hope” had been in vain.

The world WAS silent in a way, (or maybe not so silent),   and waiting… but no one knew what they were waiting for. 

Or even that they actually WERE waiting.

Looking back we do. The Resurrection. They were waiting for a miracle, for new birth, for love reincarnate. 

Palm Sunday the week before was a huge celebration…but then….The cross. Many had turned on the King they had welcomed just days before.

It probably seemed all was lost and like they had misunderstood God. 

In fact they had in some ways.

But God was STILL “God,” alive and well. 

      Often in our own lives it seems we have prayed and prayed and God is silent. 

But as surely as Sunday followed Friday, God is at work and his heart hears. 

We might feel like “they” sort of must have, alone lost, forsaken, or disillusioned.

Before that  glorious Sunday morning it seemed as if all was lost,  all was silent,  God was silent.  The world was waiting. 

In a similar way, at times,  in our lives with illness, unsaved family members, with  all sorts of things, it seems God is not listening.

Our prayers may seem to have fallen on deaf ears. 

It may feel like God is not hearing. 

But just as surely as Resurrection Sunday followed Saturday,  after a  pause, God is hearing and He is answering.

So today (as we end Friday of Holy Week and go through Saturday),  we  especially lift up all our unmet needs. 

Prayers we may have prayed for many years, as well as more recent prayers. 

Lord  help us remember that as surely as Resurrection Sunday followed  Friday,  you are hearing us, you are at work and you are going to touch, heal, and restore us. As well as those we love. 

Father  the world is waiting for it knows not what,  but you do know. 

During this time of  waiting may the Name of  Jesus  be lifted up in every life, especially for the lives of those we love. 

In  your name we pray.  Amen

But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” Habakkuk 2:20

Zechariah 2:13

“Be silent before the LORD, all people, for He has roused Himself from His holy dwelling.”

“Attitude of Gratitude”

For November, I am using a selection of Scripture to remind myself and others to be grateful for the things we have and enjoy.

It is so easy to get caught up in what is going wrong and forget to be grateful for all the blessings in this life.

God is the source of every good and perfect gift. Each day “little gifts” are scattered abroad.

Broken But Beautiful

Lately, people I know and care about have been through so much.

Then there is all the covid “stuff” and politcal upheaval and on and on.

For about a week, I found myself saying, “The world is just so broken” And it is. More so than I can ever remember. So I decided to write and post for us.

Abba the world is so broken.

Broken,

Shattered,

Torn,

Yet not devoid of hope.

For Yeshua is our Hope.

He said we are in the world, but not of the world.

So when our world, is broken, shattered and torn asunder in so many ways, 

We simply accept His invitation.

To come, 

Just as we are,

Knowing we are welcomed.

And we remain in that secret place,

As long as it takes,

For us to be ready to face…the broken, shattered and torn world around us.

There is a grace and dignity in moving along amongst the debris of life with hope and faith and love and joy.

We are His because He says, “You are Mine”.

From the Heart of Abba Today:
Beloved,

You are mine.
Good times and hard times,
You are mine.

When life is easy,
Or when life is difficult,
You are mine.

When resting in Me is easy,
Or when you simply “can’t”,
You are still mine.

When your world is full or peace,
Or when nothing seems right,
Remember you are mine.

No thing and no one
Can alter the truth that
You belong to Me.

That means you are
Always loved
Always cherished
Always provided for
(in every way)
Simply because,
YOU ARE MINE.

This flower generally only lives a day. In that day, it offers sustenance to bees and butterflies, provides beauty and fulfills its purpose. In the course of eternity, our lives as so short but when we are going through “stuff” sometimes we feel like that season will never end. It is good to remember that we are not alone during those times.

Isaiah 43:1- 3says:

But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
    he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
    I have called you by name, you are mine.
² When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
    and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
    and the flame shall not consume you.

 

The Sticky Trap

There is a sort of varmit/mouse/rat trap called a sticky trap. When the critter walks on it it gets stuck. Tight. Trapped. It can squeal and toss and turn all it wants but that only results in more of it being stuck on/in the stickness.

When we are not living in the Light, when we are participating in deeds of darkness or maybe even giving tacit  assent to those things by our silence, we are just like the little mouse or the big rat, we are going to get stuck in the mire and muck of “sticky trap”.

The good news is God reaches down and frees us.

All it takes is for our cries/squeals of anger, fear and frustration to change to cries even wails to the Living Lord. We do that by repentance. And then, He comes. He always comes. Then He lifts us out of the sticky trap and sets us on a, not a,  the Rock. 

Verses to Ponder:

Psalm 40:2

He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.

Romans 10:13

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Fly Paper of Life

I love to kill flies but until Frances ( a hurricane that skirted us one year) I did not remember that.

As a child, we spent most of the month of July at the Isle of Palms. Our grandfather, Pops and Bomma (our grandmother) and Auntie were there. Also our Aunt Annette and our mother along with the four and later five cousins. It was a place of safety and refuge. Emma and sometimes Annie Mae, my grandmother’s maids took care of all of us. And Jesus was there always because he resided so strongly in Auntie.

But also there were flies. The house had a big old screen porch that wrapped around the front and part of the sides of the house. There were two hammocks on the porch, one at each end and dozens (it seemed) of rocking chairs. Also a glider. The porch over looked the dunes and the ocean.

This was way before air conditioning, so the whole house opened to this porch and also the ocean breeze or at low tide, the absence of the breeze. When it was very still, when the air was very still, the mosquitoes would arrive. If you were not very careful they would get inside the house. But no matter how careful we were, flies were inevitable. They were always there on the porch, landing on the screens. And so we would go on fly hunts. Armed with rolled newspapers or old magazines even an occasional fly swatter, we would attack the flies. Annette particularly hated the little bugs. It was like a game to see who could kill the most. Sometimes they were quite adept at escaping.

After Frances, there were flies in my house. Where did they come from? I have no idea but “search and destroy” I did. Last night I was gleefully killing them. My husband who has no history said, “What is wrong with you? You are scaring me.” But in actual fact I was having a ball smashing the little critters with a rolled up magazine. I got every one of them too. Flies appear to be much less agile, Or could it be I am much more experienced now?

In case you begin to feel sorry for the flies, remember they come from and make maggots. Maggots are good because they are like little garbage disposals, even though most people feel disgust when we look at them. Maggots are nasty looking. Flies are interesting, they have these little hairs on their legs. Hairs you can’t even see without magnification but hairs that carry germs and bacteria everywhere they touch. And flies especially like to land on fresh food. And stick their little germy legs on there. And leave the germs and bacteria so the unwary can become ill.

I began to think. Little demons or old thought patterns that plague us are much like flies. There is a song that goes “shoo fly, don’t bother me.” Once a person I loved said when you discern the attack of the enemy of our soul, just say “Shoo, shoo”. That may work very well for her but often in my life, at least at this juncture of my life, it takes more than “shoo, shoo” to get rid of the little demon’s attacks. But when an attack appears, with Jesus as my guide, I can go on a search and destroy mission. Sometimes alone and sometimes with help. Sometimes with just “shoo, shoo” but sometimes with a rolled up newspaper (i.e. the word/power of God) But even though they may not know it, even though at the moment I may forget it, their days are numbered and in fact for those of us who believe, they are dead before they even start. So are the “germs” they try to spread. And even in a way like maggots, they can be used for good for they point us to the Creator and Healer of our souls and help us expose to the light that which is hidden.

Thanks be to the Power of the Word of Life in our lives. And for the gift he gives each of us in the Body of Christ.

Safety in Resting

This flower is kind of scraggly. It dwells as a beacon of beauty surrounded by not-so-beautiful things. And yet there is a sort of beauty and serenity in this setting too.

From The Heart of Abba Today

Beloved,
As you come to Me and continue to come, you will find REST for your soul.
Your heart will find a place of peace.

The turmoil of the outer world will no longer impact your inner world or your outer world.

There is great freedom and great peace in realizing how little control you actually have.

You DO have control, one choice at a time, over your thought life.
Your internal thought life has great impact on your external choices.

The world is not as you would like it to be.
Chaff if being shaken and blown away.

Look to Me.
I am the Source of Life.
I am Hope, and Joy, and Peace, and Love.

And YOU are MY Beloved.

Verses to ponder:
Deut 33:12 Of Benjamin he said, “The beloved of the LORD dwells in safety. The High God surrounds him all day long, and dwells between his shoulders.”

Psalm 131
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
3 O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore.

Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Psalm 39:7 And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you.

Psalm 119:114 You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word.

Matthew 11
At that time Jesus declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in Your sight.

All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.

Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

 

What a Season

From the Heart of Abba

 

Beloved, when the world around you is unstable remember that “I AM” is your stability.

 

Remember that “I AM” is your Refuge,

your Defender, your Hope and your Shelter.

 

When storms of life come, be they natural or spiritual, know that “I AM” is always and forever Emmanuel.

 

When your heart, or your mind, or your emotions are becoming overwhelmed, draw near to Me and you will find all you need.

 

“I AM” is all you need, past, present and future.

Verses to ponder:

Psalm 18:2

The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

 

Deuteronomy 4:29

But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

 

Psalm 61:1-4

Hear my cry, O God;

Attend to my prayer.

 

From the end of the earth I will cry to You,

When my heart is overwhelmed;

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

 

For You have been a shelter for me,

A strong tower from the enemy.

I will abide in Your tabernacle forever;

I will trust in the shelter of Your wings. Selah

Oasis

Oasis
Beloved I am refuge,
But I am also oasis.

When you go into your chamber or house,
And close the door,
I am Oasis and I provide a time of oasis.

An oasis is a place of refreshing in the desert.
Often there are life giving springs,
As well as trees for shade.

Your hearts may be dry,
Your heart and mind may be weary.
Life is not as it was.

I am with you.
I am indeed your oasis.

Come to me for times of refreshing,
For hope to be renewed,
For a time, which is made up of many moments,
Of rest and respite.

Allow My love, My presence
To fill every dry or weary or fearful place.

Psalm 107:35