God is Awesome!
“Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest
Finding, as He promised, Perfect peace and rest”
“You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You; because he trusts in you.”
Isaiah 26:3
Proverbs 28:1 says,  “… the righteous are bold as a lion.”  and in Hebrews 4:16 we’re told to come boldly before God’s throne in prayer. This is what Caleb did.
You can read about Caleb in Joshua chapter 14 verses 7-14 , and interestingly enough, the name Caleb means “bold”. Here’s his story…
Caleb was 85 years old when the Israelites reached the promised land. He was one of only two men who had survived the 40 year wanderings in the desert. After being freed from slavery in Egypt, he and Joshua were chosen by Moses to spy out the land that God had promised them. There were 12 men in all, one for each tribe. When they returned from their travels, 10 of the spies were terrified, and reported that it would be impossible to defeat these cities because they considered themselves and  their own people to be too small in comparison.  But Joshua and Caleb believed that God had led them to this good land and had faith that He would give them the victory.
The people believed the 10 spies. God was angry with them and because of their unbelief, they would have to spend the next 40 years walking around the desert until they all died off, leaving only their children and grandchildren to be the ones who would inherit the promised land. But God honored the faith of Caleb and Joshua.
Joshua became the leader of his people after the death of Moses, leading them into the promised land, dividing the Jordan River, and marching onto victory in the battle of Jericho. Caleb now 85 years old had remained strong in faith, and courageous in battle. In the face of battle over the land that Moses had promised would be his inheritance, Caleb boldly responded, saying:
“… the LORD hath kept me alive, as He said, these forty and five years, even since the LORD spake His word to Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now lo, I am now eighty-five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: As my strength was then, even so is my strength now… Now therefore give me this mountain,… the LORD will be with me, then I will be able to drive (the inhabitants) out, as the LORD said…Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb.”
He got what he wanted. Caleb was bold in his faith as a young man, and even as an old man. He knew that there was nothing too big to ask God for, and his boldness is evidence of that faith.
By faith, we are the righteousness of God in Christ, and “the righteous are as bold as a lion.”
“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time, are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Romans 8:18
To reckon, is to establish by counting or calculation, and today, as I struggle with  pain and limitations as I recover from surgery, I am reminded that, in calculating the number of difficulties and painful events that have occurred in my life, I am encouraged and inspired to think of what God has in store for those who love Him, those who are called according to his purpose. Paul, in reckoning all of his pain and suffering, just lays it out there for us in II Corinthians 11:24-27; “… five times received I forty stripes save one. I was beaten three times with rods, stoned once, three times I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, (that’s me today, lol ), in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.”
I don’t suppose that many of us can say that we’ve suffered to this extent, and I’m in no way trying to belittle anyone else’s experience, yet Paul kept moving forward and I’m so glad that he did because during these tremendous hardships, He wrote most of the epistles of the New Testament. Most of them from prison. In light of all of this, and considering the hardships that we may be facing, we too can reckon that none of it compares to the glory that shall be revealed in us, as we, like Paul, keep moving forward and looking up…
There isn’t anything that we go through, that hasn’t first been permitted by God. This may be a little hard to accept sometimes, but itâs true, and in the end weâll see that it was only allowed for our good⌠And that’s not all.
When itâs all over, the Lord will bless you in such a way that you receive âdouble for your troubleâ, and sometimes even more.
Remember when the LORD told Abraham, way back in the beginning before Sarah was even pregnant, that he would be the father of a huge nation and this nation would be slaves in a foreign land, and that they would be there for over 400 years, but He would deliver them with a mighty Hand and they would come out with great substance?( Meaning they would come out with great riches.) Well 400 years of slavery is a long time for people to spend working for no pay, and the bible says that the morning after the first Passover, the Egyptians just started giving the Hebrews anything they wanted and they âspoiledâ the Egyptians. Psalm 105:37 says, âHe brought them forth also (out of Egypt), with silver and gold.â And we all know the story of Job who, after he had so tremendously suffered, received twice as much of all that he had before.
Think about it. Hasnât God brought you out of trouble and then blessed you? It could be that He blessed you monetarily, or restored your health, or blessed your family, or even blessed you with wisdom, in preparation for the blessings yet to come.
In Isaiah 61:7, the LORD says, â For your shame you shall have double...â and if God says it, that settles it!
So if youâre going through a rough time right now, be encouragedâŚ
Youâre gonna be blessed DOUBLE FOR YOUR TROUBLE!!!!
God is AWESOME!!!
A Reflection of Him…
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
Matthew 5:16
To trust in God means that He is our confidence; our minds are at rest, as we rely on His word, His integrity, His veracity, His faithfulness, and His unfailing love.
We don’t often hear stories about King Hezekiah, but he is one of my favorite examples of trusting in God. II Kings 18:5, says that Hezekiah trusted God like no other king before or after him.. What a wonderful way to be remembered, as someone who truly trusted in God. In the face of danger, at the threat of war from Sennacherib, king of Assyria, and even after the prophet Isaiah warned him that he would soon die, Hezekiah prayed to God, trusted Him to hear and answer, and God delivered him every time!
King Hezekiah’s sincere, unshakable, trust in God, serves as a great encouragement and example for us today, as we face life’s trials and difficulties. Like him, we too can be assured, that God cares, He hears our prayers,He sees our tears, and will not fail to deliver us, as we place our trust in Him.
Here’s a funny little story.
Once, my youngest daughter came home from school, and told me that her sixth-grade teacher has a very funny way of cheering herself up. She said that whenever her teacher is feeling low, she pops on a funny red clown nose, takes a drive in her car, and every time she stops at a red light, she turns and smiles at the driver next to her!
I burst out laughing when I heard this and said,” That’s hilarious!
She not only cheers herself up but others too, in the process! “
“A cheerful heart is good medicine…” Proverbs 17:22 âĽ
“Trials teach us what we are; they dig up the soil,
and let us see what we are made of.”
Charles Spurgeon
“But He knows the way that I take:
 when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”
Job 23:10
 “…The race is not to the swift
 New Living Translation
“I have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives. It…all (happens) by chance, …Â being in the right place at the right time.”
“Time and chance happens to them all” Â NKJV
Ecclesiastes 9:11
“A friend loves at all times…”
Proverbs 17:17
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chillest land
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
Emily Dickinson
“The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoices; and with my song will I praise Him.”
Psalm 28:7
“Peace I leave with you,
My peace I give unto you:Â not as the world gives, give I unto you.
Let not your heart be troubled,
Neither let it be afraid.”
John 14:27
“A smile costs nothing, but gives much”
It takes but a moment, but the memory of it usually lasts forever.
None are so rich that can get along without it-
And none are so poor but that can’t be made rich by it.
It enriches those who receive, without making poor those who give-
It creates sunshine in the home,
Fosters good will in business,
And is the best antidote for trouble
And yet it cannot be begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is of no value
Unless it is given away.
Some people are too busy to give you a smile-
Give them one of yours
For the good Lord knows that no one needs a smile so badly
As he or she who has no more smiles left to give.
Author Unknown
 “Don’t be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow shall be anxious for itself” Matthew 6:34
“Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, it only empties today of its strength.”
Charles Spurgeon
“By perseverance the snail reached the ark.”
Charles Spurgeon
 “…Be not anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow shall be anxious for itself”
Matthew 6:34
“Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, it only empties today of its strength.”
Charles Spurgeon
There was once a man who didn’t believe in God, and he didn’t hesitate to let others know how he felt about religious holidays like Christmas. His wife however, did believe, and she raised their children to also have faith in God and, His Son, Jesus, The Christ, despite his disparaging comments…
One snowy Christmas Eve, his wife was taking their children to a Christmas Eve service in the farm community in which they lived. She asked him to come, but he refused. “That story is nonsense!” he said. “Why would God lower Himself to come to Earth as a man? That’s ridiculous!” So she and the children left, and he stayed home.
A while later, the winds grew stronger and the snow turned into a blizzard. As the man looked out the window, all he saw was a blinding snowstorm. He sat down to relax before the fire for the evening. Then he heard a loud thump. Something had hit the window. Then another thump. He looked out, but couldn’t see more than a few feet. When the snow let up a little, he ventured outside to see what could have been beating on his window. In the field near his house he saw a flock of wild geese.
Apparently they had been flying south for the winter when they got caught in the snowstorm and couldn’t go on. They were lost and stranded on his farm, with no food or shelter. They just flapped their wings and flew around the field in low circles, blindly and aimlessly. A couple of them had flown into his window, it seemed.
The man felt sorry for the geese and wanted to help them. The barn would be a great place for them to stay, he thought. It’s warm and safe; surely they could spend the night and wait out the storm. So he walked over to the barn and opened the doors wide, then watched and waited, hoping they would notice the open barn and go inside. But the geese just fluttered around aimlessly and didn’t seem to notice the barn or realize what it could mean for them. The man tried to get their attention, but that just seemed to scare them and they moved further away. He went into the house and came with some bread, broke it up, and made a breadcrumb trail leading to the barn. They still didn’t catch on.
Now he was getting frustrated. He got behind them and tried to shoo them toward the barn, but they only got more scared and scattered in every direction except toward the barn. Nothing he did could get them to go into the barn where they would be warm and safe.
“Why don’t they follow me?!” he exclaimed. “Can’t they see this is the only place where they can survive the storm?” He thought for a moment and realized that they just wouldn’t follow a human. “If only I were a goose, then I could save them,” he said out loud.
Then he had an idea. He went into barn, got one of his own geese, and carried it in his arms as he circled around behind the flock of wild geese. He then released it. His goose flew through the flock and straight into the barn–and one by one the other geese followed it to safety.
He stood silently for a moment as the words he had spoken a few minutes earlier replayed in his mind: “If only I were a goose, then I could save them!” Then he thought about what he had said to his wife earlier. “Why would God want to be like us? That’s ridiculous!”
Suddenly it all made sense. That is what God had done. We were like the geese–blind, lost, perishing. God had His Son Jesus, to become like us so He could show us the way and save us. That was the meaning of Christmas, he realized.
As the winds and blinding snow died down, his soul became quiet and pondered this wonderful thought. Suddenly he understood what Christmas was all about, why Christ, the Messiah had come. Years of doubt and disbelief vanished like the passing storm. He fell to his knees in the snow, and prayed his first prayer: “Thank You, Jesus, for coming in human form to get me out of the storm!”
Author Unknown
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
Isaiah 9:6
Today is a gift… That’s why it’s called the present!
“… Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man,
the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.”
I Corinthians 2:9
To trust in God means that He is our confidence; our minds are at rest, as we rely on His word, His integrity, His veracity, His faithfulness, and His unfailing love.
We don’t often hear stories about King Hezekiah, but he is one of my favorite examples of trusting in God. II Kings 18:5, says that Hezekiah trusted God like no other king before or after him.. What a wonderful way to be remembered, as someone who truly trusted in God. In the face of danger, at the threat of war from Sennacherib, king of Assyria, and even after the prophet Isaiah warned him that he would soon die, Hezekiah prayed to God, trusted Him to hear and answer, and God delivered him every time!
King Hezekiah’s sincere, unshakable, trust in God, serves as a great encouragement and example for us today, as we face life’s trials and difficulties. Like him, we too can be assured, that God cares, He hears our prayers,He sees our tears, and will not fail to deliver us, as we place our trust in Him.
“The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoices; and with my song will I praise Him.”
Psalm 28:7
My oldest daughter has recently reminded me of how amazing it can be to just watch the sun come up in the morning. So often, the beautiful, breath-taking colors, go unnoticed each morning, (and I’m ashamed to say it) but, mostly by me. My daughter has actually been getting up earlier just to see the sun rise and this has prompted me to stop and think… Am I so caught up with what’s coming up in the day ahead to appreciate whats right in front of me?  I’m so glad that she brought this to my attention, because it has given me the opportunity to reflect and regroup.
I reflect on how each sunrise brings me a brand new day.. It puts me a day ahead of where I was yesterday, and all the other yesterdays.  I reflect on the fact that there are so many other people who are no longer here to appreciate the sunrise of another day, and that I could have been one of them.
I stop to regroup and think about what’s really important, by changing my focus. This new day is a chance for me to focus outward rather than inward. Today I will focus on the circumstances and needs of others; my family, my friends, and the people who will cross my path. Taking the focus off of me will in turn make my problems seem smaller for the moment, while I experience the many little joys and surprises that lie right in front of me… like the sunrise!
There was a time when, my family, friends, and neighbors would have thought that “Crazy Faith” would be a perfect title for my autobiography! :)
I know that this is true, because once, when I was in the final months of my pregnancy, (you know, the pregnancy that I prayed 10 years for), I overheard someone talking to a neighbor, saying; “We all thought that Faith was losing her mind!… While she was struggling with her health and praying for another baby, her mother and sister would call and say, “We’re really concerned about Faith..”  They thought that I was going crazy!!! I had never known this before, so when I heard it, I laughed, and said, “That’s OK… They thought that Noah was crazy too, but it sure did rain didn’t it? So, I’m in good company!”
It all began 15 years earlier, when I read Luke 8:48,  “Daughter, your faith has made you whole…”, and from that moment on,  there was no turning back for me… I believed it.
Of course, I myself, don’t think it’s “crazy”, but lots of people might consider it crazy to believe for something that seems impossible. Reading those words as a young 24-year-old, and believing that God had spoken to my heart, “fueled” me to move forward in faith, convinced and certain, that God would bless me, despite my physical circumstances.
Is there something that you would like for God to do for you, but you think that it’s impossible, or not important enough, or too big, to ask for?.. Ephesians 3:20 says that God is “…able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,..”  The power at work in us includes our faith!  Many times when Jesus healed someone, he said, “according to your faith be it unto you”, or “your faith has made you whole.”
Even if it makes you look “crazy” to those around you, or, if it’s just a secret request that you haven’t mentioned to anyone else, ask God what you will, and believe with “crazy” or unexplainable faith that, “with God… nothing is impossible.”
Smiles and Blessings,
Faith âĽ
Sometimes when we’ve been praying for something for a very long time, we begin to lose heart, and wonder if the answer will ever come. I know exactly how that feels. I remember praying and praying for God to work a miracle in my life, and sometimes, I felt that God had forgotten about me and my situation. Of course we know that God sees us always, and knows everything about our lives, but still, it is true of us as humans, that we sometimes think that our situation may not be as urgent to God as we would like for it to be.
This is so not true!
At one of my lowest points, the LORD gave me a verse which comforted me and reassured me, and to this day, this verse is very near and dear to my heart. In Isaiah 49:15-16, the Lord says, “Can a mother forget her nursing child?… Yes, she might, but I have not forgotten you… I have you engraved on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.”  This is how I understood what He was saying to me through this verse:
1. “Can a mother forget her nursing child?” – Naturally, the answer to this question would be a resounding, “No.”  We all know how attached a mother is to her newborn baby, and so we understand the significance of this question. But…
2. “Yes, she might,” – Although it would seem impossible for a mother to forget or abandon her newborn child, it has happened, as unbelievable as it would seem, sadly, it has been the case for some mothers. But…
3. “I have not forgotten you” – God is saying that His love and care for us is even greater than a mother’s love. Infinitely greater. How so?…
4. “I have you engraved on the palms of my hands” – Here, I pictured the palms of my Savior’s Hands, which still bear the nail scars, pierced for me… And then…
5. “Your walls are continually before me.” – My situation and the circumstances that surround me, are continually before Him!… Oh, Glory to God!!
Here it is in a nutshell…
God loves you, more than you can imagine, He has not forgotten you, and  your situation is continually, always, before Him.
Hold on. Â :)
“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time, are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Romans 8:18
To reckon, is to establish by counting or calculation, and today, as I struggle with  pain and limitations as I recover from surgery, I am reminded that, in calculating the number of difficulties and painful events that have occurred in my life, I am encouraged and inspired to think of what God has in store for those who love Him, those who are called according to his purpose.
Paul, in reckoning all of his pain and suffering, just lays it out there for us in II Corinthians 11:24-27;
“… five times received I forty stripes save one. I was beaten three times with rods, stoned once, three times I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, (that’s me today, lol ), in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.”
I don’t suppose that many of us can say that we’ve suffered to this extent, and I’m in no way trying to belittle anyone else’s experience, yet Paul kept moving forward and I’m so glad that he did because during these tremendous hardships, He wrote most of the epistles of the New Testament. Most of them from prison.
In light of all of this, and considering the hardships that we may be facing, we too can reckon that none of it compares to the glory that shall be revealed in us, as we, like Paul, keep moving forward and looking up…
“Behold, I will do a new thing;
now it shall spring forth;
shall ye not know it?
I will even make a way in the the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.”
Isaiah 43:19
Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying,
“Oh that Thou would bless me indeed,
and enlarge my borders,
and that Your hand might be with me,
and that You would keep me from evil,
that it may not grieve me!”
And God granted him that which he requested.
I Chronicles 4:10
The period of the evening which takes place, between daylight and darkness is called twilight…
In the days of Elisha, there was a severe famine. Outside the city gates there were four men who were lepers. These four men reasoned among themselves, “Why should we just sit here until we die? If we go into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there, and if we just sit here, we will die also. Let’s go to the camp of the Syrians. Maybe they will save us alive, or if they kill us, we shall but die…Â
And so they rose up in the twilight, to go to the camp of the Syrians.
When they got to the camp of the Syrians, there was no one there because the Lord had made the entire Syrian army to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, and the noise of a great army approaching, and they thought that the king of Israel had hired other foreign armies to join with him to fight them...So they arose and fled in the twilight... When the lepers arrived they found an abundance of food, silver and gold. They sent word back to the king and the starving people were satisfied.
I love this story… You can find it in II Kings chapter 7. I am always amazed that at precisely the same moment that the lepers decided to step out in faith, God began working on their behalf. As soon as they arose to go at twilight, God allowed the Syrians to hear an illusion at twilight, which scared them out of their wits and caused them to leave their treasures. The lepers were on their way, had probably walked all night, but God had already fought the battle for them, He had already solved their problem, and He had begun at precisely the moment that they believed… At twilight.
The next morning, with the rising of the sun, came long-awaited  joy and deliverance…
God is AWESOME!!!
“In quietness and confidence is your strength.” Â Isaiah 30:15
Sometimes it’s hard to wait when you’re praying for something special to happen, and I know what that feels like…
Once, while I was waiting for my miracle, I had a dream. It had been about 6 months since I had surgery and I was growing more and more impatient about having a baby. I thought I’d get pregnant right away. But that’s not what happened.
One night, I had a very interesting dream
There were two parts to this dream. First, I dreamt that we were visiting some friends for dinner and as the men talked in the living room, I sat in the kitchen while the food was being prepared. I was shocked to see that my friend was spooning raw, runny, red, hamburger meat, into taco shells and placing them in the microwave to be cooked. “YUCK!” I thought to myself, and when she had finished cooking, she topped them with all the trimmings, but I just couldn’t bring myself to eat any, because I saw the way that they were prepared with raw meat, and this really grossed me out!
In the second part of my dream, I was in a meat shop, and I was trying to buy a beef roast which was turning slowly on a spit. I was in a hurry, and I told the man cooking the meat that I had been waiting a long time, and was ready to go. He looked at me and said “I’m sorry ma’am but it’s not ready yet. I said “Are you sure? It looks like it’s done.” then he pulled out a long sharp-pointed thing, and pierced through the meat, and all of this red, runny, gook came pouring out. He was right. The meat was not ready… It was as if both parts of the dream had the same meaning.
When I woke up, I thought that maybe this dream had something to do with my healing from surgery, and how I was not yet healed up enough on the inside.
A few days later, I was sitting in the park, watching my son and daughter at soccer practice, when I saw a friend from church. She asked me how I was recovering from the surgery. I told her that I was doing fine, but that I was really ready to have another baby, “After all”, I said “I’m 35 years old!”…She was nearly 50, and told me that I was still young enough to have another baby. “God’s timing is perfect… Just be patient!..I had my last baby when I was 40 years old. ” she said. I smiled, shrugged my shoulders, and said, “But I’ve been waiting so long already.” Then she said, ” Faith, you just had surgery… You need time to heal.” She laughed and said jokingly, .. “What you want is the Microwave Treatment!!”
When she said this, I knew that it was a confirmation of the dream that I’d had a few days earlier… “The Microwave Treatment”… It was true! I didn’t want to wait any longer.. I wanted my miracle,and I wanted it now! This instant… In fact, I wanted it yesterday!!
I was reminded by this incident, that God is in control, and I accepted that He knows best. I would just have to be patient and wait…
Three years later, I realized my miracle, and was expecting our little girl.
“Wait on the LORD: be of good courage…”
Psalm 27:14
Years ago,we were visiting a new church for the first time, and an elderly lady came up to us and invited us to her house for dinner, following the service. We gladly accepted her invitation, and followed her home.  As we sat in her living room, we shared in a very pleasant conversation, getting to know a little more about each other.. She was a long-standing member at her church and was well-loved by her church family.  Although it was very apparent that she was elderly, her speech and expressions were vibrant, and she was very happy to talk about how much she loved the Lord, and how much He had done for her, as she enthusiastically shared some of her many testimonies. I talked a little about my own faith experience, and I mentioned how our two children, a baby and a toddler at the time, were miracle babies, and that I was believing God for another one.
She looked at me, with a smile in her eyes, and said, âYou see that hat rack over there on the wall?â I answered, âYes.â she said, âWhenever the Lord does something for me, I imagine that Iâm hanging a hat on a hat rackâŚand everytime He answers I just keep adding a new hat.  And the next time I find myself frustrated about something that Iâm praying for, I just take a look at that hat rack, and I see all those hats hanging there, and Iâm reminded of all the prayers that God has answered, some that I may have even forgotten, and I am encouraged that He did it before and Heâll do it again.â I really appreciated this example and made an effort to apply it in my own life. In fact, God did answer my prayer, and miraculously blessed us with another sweet baby girl!
Now, when I think back on this example, it reminds me of what young David said to King Saul, when he volunteered to fight GoliathâŚ
âDavid said⌠The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this PhilistineâŚâ I Samuel 17:37
The lion and the bear were hanging on Davidâs hat rack!!! He just took a look back, and was fully persuaded, that God would do it again. :)
Has it been a while since you’ve taken a look at your own hat rack?
Surely God has blessed you and answered your prayers in the past… Just take a look back, and like David be fully persuaded that God will do it again.
“He cuts out rivers among the rocks; and his eye sees every precious thing.”
 Job 28:10
“To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven.”
“A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;Â A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;Â A time to get, and a time to lose;
A time to keep, and a time to cast away;Â A time to rend, and a time to sew;Â A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate;Â A time of war, and a time of peace.”
Ecclesiastes, 3:1-8
As they say in Australia, “No worries Mate!” and here’s the Bible version…
“Be anxious for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Â And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6
“By perseverance the snail reached the ark.”
Charles Spurgeon
For our light affliction,
which is but for a moment
worketh for us a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory.
2 Corinthians 4:7
Suffering may endure for a season,
And we wonder when relief will come.
Is this for a time of testing
A really deep trial for some?
Day by day we endure our heartaches,
Often questioning why,
We don’t seem to fully understand
And we come before God with a sigh!
“Just quiet yourself in My presence,” He says,
“I have blessings for you in store,
This time with me will be precious,
Even more than ever before.”
The wonderful promises in God’s Holy Word
Bring comfort, encouragement and peace,
And as we nestle up close to Him.
Our Faith brings sweet release.
So let us joyfully praise the Lord,
If, through suffering we can learn,
Truths that will help to guide our way,
And His Word more clearly discern.
Elsie K. Young
“Lord, through all the generations You have been our home! Before the mountains were created, before the earth was formed, from everlasting to everlasting,Thou art God.”
Psalms 90:1-2
” Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness. To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.”
Psalm 30:11-12
It’s Throwback Thursday and here’s a blessing times two just for you! :)
There isn’t anything that we go through, that hasn’t first been permitted by God. This may be a little hard to accept sometimes, but it’s true, and in the end we’ll see that it was only allowed for our good… But there’s more. When it’s all over, the Lord often blesses you in such a way, that you receive “Double for your Trouble”, and sometimes even more!
Remember when the LORD told Abraham, way back in the beginning before Sarah was even pregnant, that he would be the father of a huge nation and this nation would be slaves in a foreign land, and that they would be there for over 400 years, but He would deliver them with a mighty Hand and they would come out with great substance?( Meaning they would come out with great riches.) Well 400 years of slavery is a long time for people to spend working for no pay, and the bible says that the morning after the first Passover, the Egyptians just started giving the Hebrews anything they wanted and they “spoiled” the Egyptians. Psalm 105:37 says, “He brought them forth also (out of Egypt), with silver and gold.” Â And we all know the story of Job who, after he had so tremendously suffered, received twice as much of all that he had before.
Think about it. Hasn’t God brought you out of trouble and then blessed you? It could be that He blessed you monetarily, or restored your health, or blessed your family, or even blessed you with wisdom, in preparation for the blessings yet to come. In Isaiah 61:7, the LORD says, ” For your shame you shall have double...” and if God says it, that settles it! So if you’re going through a rough time right now, be encouraged…
You’re gonna be blessed Double for your Trouble!
“The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoices; and with my song will I praise Him.”
Psalm 28:7
God is AWESOME!!!
“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth;… I will even make a way in the the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
Isaiah 43:19
       God is forever faithful to “the faithful.”
It’s been an amazing journey and, this is the third and final post on the Shunnamite woman. The first two posts were paraphrased from II Kings chapter 4, and today’s story can be found in II Kings chapter 8. Thanks for following along! :)
Sometime after God raised her son back to life, the Shunnamite woman was advised by Elisha, the prophet, to pack up her belongings, and leave her home. He warned her of how the LORD had called for a famine, and that it would last for seven years. So, the woman did as the prophet said, and traveled to the land of the Philistines, where she lived for seven years.
When the famine was over, she decided to return to her home, and she went to see the King about getting her land back. On the very same day that she was to present her appeal to the king, Gehazi, Elisha’s servant just happened to be in a meeting with the king, because the king wanted to hear more about all the great things that Elisha had done. Just as he began to tell the king about the woman whose son Elisha had raised from the dead, behold, the woman whose son was restored to life, came in to make her appeal to the king, and Gehazi said in excitement, “O king! This is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life!!” And when the king asked her, she told him her story and the king said to his officer, “Restore all that was her’s, and all that she would have earned from her land since the day she left until now.”
The Lord went before her, prepared the king to hear her case, and then gave her back not only her land, but all of the profits that she would have made from her fields over the seven years that she was gone! Wow!! I told you that this story was exciting!  What a great testimony of faith!
God is forever faithful to “the faithful.”
Just when her faith had risen to a new level, it would be tested…
A few years later, her son was out in the field with his father, when he began complaining of a severe headache. His father told one of the servants to take the young boy to his mother. The child laid his head on his mother’s lap until around noon, and then died…
The woman took her son up to the room that she had made for Elisha, and laid him on the bed. She closed the door, went out, and called for her husband. Then she asked him to send her one of the servants and a donkey, so that she could go and see the man of God. She said she would hurry and return soon. Her husband asked why she was going to see the man of God.. She didn’t say anything except, “It shall be well.”  She quickly saddled her donkey, and left to see the prophet.
As she approached Mount Carmel, the man of God saw her coming and sent his servant, Gehazi, to meet her and ask what was wrong. He told him to ask if it was well with her husband, and if it was well with the child. When Gehazi asked her these questions she replied, “It is well.”  When she approached the prophet, she got off her donkey, and fell at his feet. She cried out, “Did I ask you, my lord, for a son?.. Did I not say, do not lie to me?” Elisha sent his servant away immediately to go and see about the child, but the woman would not leave without him, so he returned with her.
When Elisha arrived at the house, the boy was dead and lying on his bed. He stretched himself out on the child, and the child became warm… He got up and walked around a bit, and then stretched himself out on the child again, and this time the boy sneezed seven times, and opened his eyes!
Gehazi called for his mother, and when she came into the room, she fell at Elisha’s feet, and bowed herself to the ground. She picked up her son,…. And walked out.
Wow! What a woman of faith! Fear and faith cannot operate at the same time… This woman showed incredible faith in the face of a situation which could have  invoked the most horrible fear. She knew that her son was a miraculous gift from God, and that God had blessed her and done what she thought was impossible… Faced with the sudden death of her son, her response was one of faith, and although I’m sure her heart was pounding, she made the immediate decision to hold her tongue, and trust God. She told her husband, “It shall be well” and said to the prophet, “It is well.” and because of her faith, God made it so…It was well!
Stay tuned,..Part 3 next time. :)
This week for Throwback Thursday, I’m sharing a 3 part story about an amazing woman with amazing faith!
Here it is…
This is one of my absolute favorites because it has every thing a great story needs. Interesting characters, a great plot with problems to be solved, and lots of surprises. I’ll be paraphrasing, but you can find this first part of the story in the book of II Kings chapter 4.
“One day there was a woman who invited the prophet Elisha to have dinner with her. He accepted and after Elisha left, the woman, convinced that Elisha was a holy man, asked her husband if they could add a room on to their house, especially for him, with a bed, a stool, and a table with  a candlestick, so that if ever he passed their way again, he  would have a comfortable place to stay. Her husband agreed. It was done, and the next time the prophet came there, he spent the night. He was moved by her kindness and hospitality, so he asked her if there was anything that she wanted him to do for her.
She asked for nothing in return, and when she left the room, Elisha asked his servant, Gehazi, what could be done for her. Gehazi mentioned that the woman was childless and that her husband was  old.  Elisha called the woman and told her that she would give birth to a son and he told her  when her son would be born. She relied, “Don’t lie to me…” but  miraculously, she gave birth to a baby boy,  at precisely the same time that Elisha had predicted.”
Let’s take a closer look at what has just happened. First of all, this woman had a very kind and hospitable spirit. She invited Elisha to have dinner with her, and then added a room to her house just for him. In scripture she is called a “great” woman, so perhaps she was wealthy, and adding a room to her house was something that she could easily afford to do. Next, she had respect for the man of God, evidence that she embraced a level of faith,… a limited level of faith, that would soon increase, and later be tested.
I refer to her faith as limited because, when Elisha asked her what he could do for her, she asked for nothing…She believed in God, but her faith appears to have its limits… Was it really true that she didn’t want anything… He was a prophet after all… She knew that he was a man of God, a holy man.  She had said so herself.. What was it that she really wanted? Could it be that she had given up on the hope of ever having a child?… Did it seem to be too impossible of a request? Whatever the case.She didn’t ask… It was Elisha’s servant who mentioned that she was childless, and even when Elisha told her that she’d have a son, her reply was, “Do not lie to me”… Because to her, it seemed to good to be true..
Her faith would soon increase to a whole new level, throughout the months in which she carried her son in pregnancy, gave birth to him, and delightfully embraced him in her arms.
Tomorrow, Part 2 :)
It’s “Throwback Thursday” and here’s a story that I posted back in the Spring. I hope that it puts a “spring in your step” and a smile on your face today! – Faith Â
One day last week, my daughter told me that right in the middle of class, her teacher, “thirty-something”, mother of two, did a cartwheel right in the middle of a lesson, and cartwheeled right back to her original position and said, with a great big smile on her face, ” I’ve still got it!“ and the whole class just roared with laughter! I thought to myself, “Wow! How great it must feel to be so free at heart, even in the midst of a busy workday, right in front of a  class full of fifth-graders, turning cartwheels!”
For me, this teacher’s exclamation of  “I’ve still got it!” implies so much more… It not only speaks of her impressive physical capabilities, but also of her ability to seize the day, enjoy the moment, and keep the “kid” inside alive!
Refreshing… Â :)
It’s Throwback Thursday and here’s a story that I posted  several months ago. I love to think back on this story, and I hope that it will be a blessing, as I share it with you today!
My youngest sister was getting married, and the wedding took place just before I was scheduled to have surgery. It was a beautiful wedding, and one of the special moments was watching my sister’s soon-to-be mother in law, walk down the aisle to be seated. She entered gingerly, because she had been very ill, and had traveled a long way in order to attend. I’m not sure what her illness was but you could see in her eyes the love that she had for her son, and how determined she was to be a part of this very special day. She leaned heavily on the arm of the usher who was escorting her in, and slowly made it to her seat. After the wedding, I had a chance to sit and talk with her.
It was my very first time meeting her, so I introduced myself and told her that I was so glad that she was able to come. I asked her how she was feeling and she told me a little about her condition. She mentioned how the Lord had blessed her, and that without Him she couldn’t have made it. She spoke of some sort of blood disorder, I’m not sure of the details, but what she said next would have a great impact on me. She said that she prayed that Jesus would bless her with” just one drop of His blood”, because she knew that by His stripes we were healed. “Just one drop” she said, and she would be fine. I told her about my upcoming surgery and, being a woman of great faith, she encouraged me, and told me to trust in the sacrifice that Jesus has already paid for us.
The day of surgery arrived and I got up early to spent some time in prayer. I rehearsed in my mind all of the verses which had given me peace as this day approached,  and I asked the Lord for something specific… I knew that there was a good chance that I would lose a lot of blood during this surgery, and my doctor had ordered me to donate my own blood in advance as he was prepared to give me a blood transfusion, but I didn’t want to have a blood transfusion, so this is what I prayed,” Lord, I ask that You would bless me with just one drop of Your blood, so that I would not have to have a blood transfusion.”  After this I felt very calm and at peace. We left for the hospital.
My children didn’t want me to have surgery and were very  worried. As we drove to the hospital, I started happily singing praise worship songs and they listened in. Their faces brightened slightly, but they couldn’t bring themselves to sing along with me. I felt their love and concern for me, it warmed my heart, and I understood.
The surgery went well. I awakened to see my family all looking down at me in anticipation, I smiled and thought that this was kind of funny. I was also relieved and happy that the surgery was over!  The doctor came in and said that there were 18 tumors instead of 2 or 3, and that I had lost a lot of blood.   “Eighteen tumors?” I said. “No wonder I was in so much pain!” Then he said that although I had lost a lot of blood, he decided not to give me a transfusion, but waited until afterwards to see if it was still necessary. He said that my blood count was now back up, so I didn’t need one after all… I thought to myself “Thank you Jesus!” because I hadn’t mentioned to my family or my doctor that I didn’t want  a transfusion. This was just  between me and the Lord, and He did it! Just like I asked.
I exhaled, and felt a great big smile, deep down inside… :)
The period of the evening which takes place, between daylight and darkness is called twilight…
In the days of Elisha, there was a severe famine. Outside the city gates there were four men who were lepers. These four men reasoned among themselves, “Why should we just sit here until we die? If we go into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there, and if we just sit here, we will die also. Let’s go to the camp of the Syrians. Maybe they will save us alive, or if they kill us, we shall but die… And so they rose up in the twilight, to go to the camp of the Syrians.
When they got to the camp of the Syrians, there was no one there because the Lord had made the entire Syrian army to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, and the noise of a great army approaching, and they thought that the king of Israel had hired other foreign armies to join with him to fight them...So they arose and fled in the twilight... When the lepers arrived they found an abundance of food, silver and gold. They sent word back to the king and the starving people were satisfied.
I love this story… You can find it in II Kings chapter 7. I am always amazed that at precisely the same moment that the lepers decided to step out in faith, God began working on their behalf. As soon as they arose to go at twilight, God allowed the Syrians to hear an illusion at twilight, which scared them out of their wits and caused them to leave their treasures. The lepers were on their way, had probably walked all night, but God had already fought the battle for them, He had already solved their problem, and He had begun at precisely the moment that they believed… At twilight.
The next morning, with the rising of the sun, came long-awaited  joy and deliverance…
Many years ago, one Sunday morning, we were visiting a new church for the first time, when an elderly lady came up to us and invited us to her house for dinner, following the service. We gladly accepted her invitation, and followed her home.  As we sat in her living room, we shared in a very pleasant conversation, getting to know a little more about each other.. She was a long-standing member at her church and was well-loved by her church family.  Although it was very apparent that she was elderly, her speech and expressions were vibrant, and she was very happy to talk about how much she loved the Lord, and how much He had done for her, as she enthusiastically shared some of her many testimonies. I talked a little about my own faith experience, and I mentioned how our two children, very small at the time, were miracle babies, and that I was believing God for another one.
She looked at me, with a smile in her eyes, and said, âYou see that hat rack over there on the wall?â I answered, âYes.â she said, âWhenever the Lord does something for me, I imagine that Iâm hanging a hat on a hat rackâŚand everytime he answers I just keep adding a new hat.  And the next time I find myself frustrated about something that Iâm praying for, I just take a look at that hat rack, and I see all those hats hanging there, and Iâm reminded of all the prayers that God has answered, some that I may have even forgotten, and I am encouraged that he did it before and heâll do it again.â I really appreciated this example and made an effort to apply it in my own life.
Now, when I think back on this example, it reminds me of what young David said to King Saul, when he volunteered to fight GoliathâŚ
âDavid said⌠The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this PhilistineâŚâ I Samuel 17:37
The lion and the bear were hanging on Davidâs hat rack!!! He just took a look back, and was fully persuaded, that God would do it again. :)
Has it been a while since you took a look at your own hat rack? Surely God has blessed you and answered your prayers in the past⌠Just take a look back, and like David be fully persuaded that God will do it again.
Once, when speaking at a Womenâs Conference, I began by sharing that I had âcried a River of Tearsâ.
I knew that there were  women present who could relate, because they too had experienced the pain and disappointments that lead to crying lots of tears. I knew, because I had been thereâŚ
Sometimes people, in an effort to be comforting,  may say,â I know how you feelâ⌠but itâs much more of a comfort when you know that someone has actually experienced circumstances similar to your own. As women, we feel things so deeply, and âcrying a river of tearsâ was the best way that I could describe the heartfelt sadness that accompanied me through this difficult time in my life. I knew that I was not the only one to feel this way.
Many mornings,when I was having problems with my health, and praying for aâŚ
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“…Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying,
Oh that Thou would bless me indeed,
and enlarge my borders,
and that Your hand might be with me,
and that You would keep me from evil,
that it may not grieve me!
And God granted him that which he requested.”
I Chronicles 4:10
âHe heals the broken in heart and binds up their woundsâŚGreat is our Lord, and of great power;
His understanding is infinite.â Psalm 147: 3,5
Bold. Proverbs 28:1 says,  â⌠the righteous are bold as a lion.â and in Hebrews 4:16 weâre told to come boldly before Godâs throne in prayer. This is what Caleb did.
You can read about Caleb in Joshua chapter 14 verses 7-14 , and interestingly enough, the name Caleb means âboldâ. Hereâs his storyâŚ
Caleb was 85 years old when the Israelites reached the promised land. He was one of only two men who had survived the 40 year wanderings in the desert. After being freed from slavery in Egypt, he and Joshua were chosen by Moses to spy out the land that God had promised them. There were 12 men in all, one for each tribe. When they returned from their travels, 10 of the spies were terrified, and reported that it would be impossible to defeat these cities because they considered themselves and  their own people to beâŚ
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It’s Throwback Thursday and “Crazy Faith” is all about having faith, and believing God for what seems impossible, regardless of your circumstances. Read more and be encouraged!
There was a time when, my family, friends, and neighbors would have thought that âCrazy Faithâ would be a perfect title for my autobiography! :)
I know that this is true, because once, when I was in the final months of my pregnancy, (you know, the pregnancy that I prayed 10 years for), I overheard someone talking to a neighbor, saying; âWe all thought that Faith was losing her mind!⌠While she was struggling with her health and praying for another baby, her mother and sister would call and say, âWeâre really concerned about Faith..â They thought that I was going crazy!!!I never knew this before, so when I heard it, I laughed, and said, âThatâs OK⌠They thought that Noah was crazy too, but it sure did rain didnât it? So, Iâm in good company!â
It all began 15 years earlier, when I read Luke 8:48,  âDaughter, your faith has made you wholeâŚâ,
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Good Morning! This week has really flown by and again it’s Thursday, here’s a reblog to help you get the most out of your day. Hope  your day is tops! :)
My oldest daughter has recently reminded me of how amazing it can be to just watch the sun come up in the morning. So often, the beautiful, breath-taking colors, go unnoticed each morning, (and Iâm ashamed to say it) but, mostly by me. My daughter has actually been getting up earlier just to see the sun rise and this has prompted me to stop and think⌠Am I so caught up with whatâs coming up in the day ahead to appreciate whats right in front of me? Nowadays though, itâs not that Iâm so busy because I am currently 18 months into a two-year recovery from surgery, but in many ways I miss being busy, while at the same time Iâm disappointed and frustrated with the physical limitations that I am experiencing. Iâm so glad that she brought this to my attention, because it has given me the opportunity to reflect and regroup.
I reflect on how each sunriseâŚ
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This is the first in a series of reblogs that I call, “Throwback Thursdays.” It’s a previous post from my blog, and I’ll be sharing one each Thursday. “Leftovers”  is one of my very first posts, published  around New Years Day, of this year. I hope that you will be encouraged!
– Faith :)
What comes to mind when you hear the word pinto? I guess it depends on how old you are, “It’s a bean! It’s a horse! No! It’s an automobile!!!!!” That’s right, a Pinto is an automobile produced by Ford in the 70’s. It was a squatty, compact car with a huge triangular window in the back. But to me, a sixteen year-old looking at her first car, it was the cutest thing that I had ever seen! One cool morning in October, when I was seventeen, I was just leaving for school when my mother called out from the back of the house, “Hey, drive carefully and remember what they said on the news about those Pintoes blowing up!! Be careful.” This was true. Upon impact, (near the gas tank), Pintoes were sometimes prone to explode. “Ok, I’ll be careful.” I answered, and I was on my way. I didn’t put my seatbelt on because I was dressed up and I didn’t want to crush my skirt, but about five minutes into the ride at a traffic light, I put my seatbelt on. This was peculiar because usually if you don’t put your seatbelt on as soon as you get into the car, you don’t really think about putting it on at all. But that’s what I did and as soon as the light changed, I began driving and noticed a large van driving erratically towards me. I thought, “What’s he doing?” and in what felt like a split second, I saw this van coming right towards me. It hit my door and the impact was so forceful that the entire windshield shattered in front of me. I screamed, and immediately thought to myself, “This is what it’s going to be like to be dead!” On impact, the metal from the outside of my car door slashed through my upper thigh and then the car door came completely off. It was stuck to the front of the van.  My little car spun around and around and crashed into the guardrail of a bridge above an interstate.  I looked up and saw the driver of the van running toward my car. I couldn’t get up, and I think that he thought that I was dead because as soon as he saw me reach up to pull myself out, he ran back to his van and drove off. It was a hit and run. Everything seemed fuzzy, but there were witnesses who stopped to help me and called the police. I heard an officer say that if I had not had my seatbelt on I would have been killed. I could have been thrown from my car or my car could have fallen through the guardrail to the busy interstate below. I was taken away in an ambulance and I remember that I was still chewing gum even though my mouth was full of glass, it was a miracle that I didn’t have a single scratch on my face. I heard the medics saying they couldn’t do anything about the gum or glass in my mouth because I was in shock.I could hear them talking but I could not respond. I was unable to speak, even though I wanted very badly to tell them how to contact my mom. It turns out that in addition to a large laceration on my left thigh, the force of my body being thrown against the seatbelt caused my pelvic bone to be broken in three places. The officer was right. If I hadn’t had my seatbelt on, I would have been killed. Thank God I put it on at that traffic light just before the accident. I was unable to stand or walk and was on complete bed rest. When my mother and grandmother went to look at the remains of my Pinto, they came home, looked at me and cried. They said that the car was completely demolished and looked as though it would be impossible for anyone to have survived. It was my senior year in high school so I had to be tutored at home. After three months, my doctors said that I had healed up well, I returned to school and was able to graduate with my class. Now, many years later, when I think of that terrible accident in my baby blue Pinto, I am reminded that God kept me safe in the face of great danger. I lived to tell the story and I’m thankful….Peace.
Faithrises 