Spring Is In the Air

Spring is my favorite time of the year.  I love the coolness of the air with the underlying promise of warmer temperatures to come.  The brown and black of winter seems to last so long.  Yet, as I looked at the trees today and saw the mist of green that would soon be the deep green of leaves and vines, my heart smiled.  The daffodils, now in full bloom, are like sunshine captured on the ground as they glimmer against the grass, as it too awakens with new life.  In the window, even the house plants are straining toward the sun. Then I was reminded of the day I found new life in the Son.  At that point in my life, it was like spring, as my heart of stone became a heart of flesh, as my life went from being on a path of brown and black and death to one of the brilliant colors of spring and eternal life.  As I see the leaves stretch toward the sun, I, too, come alive anew as I reach toward the Son - eternal life in Jesus Christ.  How blessed we are with eternal spring when we look toward Him, invite Him to live in our hearts, and trust Him day by day.  Welcome sweet spring time!  Welcome sweet Jesus!

The Armor of God

We have been studying the armor of God for several weeks at our Saturday morning Bible Study.  We have taken each part of the armor and broken it down almost word by word.  The armor of God is found in Ephesians 6:10-17.  The pieces of the armor are: the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, feet shod with the gospel of peace, shield of faith, helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.  If you put on all the armor, you are protected from head to toe.  However, verse 16 says, "Above all, taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the firey darts of the wicked."  When I really read this verse, I felt as if the verse jumped off the page right into my heart.  What really spoke to me was the word "all" as in ye shall be able to quench "all" the firey darts of the wicked.  Friends, this is an amazing verse.  As we put the shield of faith before us or as we crouch behind the shield of faith, we can quench ALL the firey darts of the enemy.  This verse has been working in my spirit since that time.  Jesus paid the price on Calvary so that we can lead a victorious life not just in heaven but in this life, too! One of the ways we have this life of victory is to put on the armor of God and to stand behind the shield of faith.  For by doing this, we can come against and defeat satan, for the Word really does say we can quench each and every dart of the enemy.  We, as Christians, are so blessed to have God's instruction to guide us, lead us and help us day by day.  So, I would say, read the Word, walk hand in hand with the Lord, and be blessed my dear friends.

Love Never Fails

Today I had the privilege of marrying a young couple in our home.  The bride was beautiful in her sparkling tiara gracing her curls and her beautiful floor length gown.  The groom was handsome, a little nervous, and then he smiled as his bride walked into the room on her dad's arm.  The music played softly, as the bride's chin quivered and  tears of happiness threatened to escape and ruin her carefully applied make up.  Her mom wondered that her baby daughter, who seemed to have just been born yesterday, could now be getting married.  God was present in this service as we asked the Holy Spirit to be present and abide over the ceremony.  Of course, no wedding would be complete without the reading of 1 Corinthians, Chapter 13, also known as the love chapter.  I contemplated the words, "Love is patient.  Love is kind.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails."

I couldn't help but remember the time in our own married life, when Jim and I were on the verge of divorce.  He wasn't sure what he wanted the rest of his life to be; he only knew he didn't want to be married.  However, I felt no release in my spirit that we should be divorced.  And so I contemplated and prayed and asked the Lord for His solution to this sad and lonely situation.  I was experimenting with calligraphy at the time, and the Lord impressed upon me to write the love verses in calligraphy, frame them,  and hang them on our bedroom wall.  So I did.  Each morning as I sat on the edge of the bed, I read those verses and asked the Lord to give me the grace and ability to love Jim like that.  Was it easy?  Absolutely not.  Yet, there was no release from the hand of God to do anything differently.  And so I continued, day after day, reading those verses over and over and over and then reading them once again.  My reactions to Jim were so out of character for me.  I was patient and loving and kind.  I know it was not anything that I did in my own strength, but rather something I did only through the grace and power of the Holy Spirit.  Our marriage was restored and continues stronger today than every before.  I knew from that time on and believe with my whole heart that God's Word is alive and powerful.  God's Word and His power saved our marriage. 

Our gift today to the bride and groom was a wall hanging with those verses on it.  Our prayer for them is that they live each day by those words and have a long and successful marriage.  Jim and I value our marriage, our love, our family.  We both know that "Love Never Fails." 

Pray Without Ceasing

Each Monday evening from 7:30 to 8:30 I host "Praise, Prayer and Power for Today" on NewVision FM.  It is 90.1 FM or you can listen on the computer at NewVision.FM.  My husband, Jim and our good friends Walt and Bev answer phones and take prayer requests.  We have been doing this for over two years now.  Each week, as we leave the studio, I am emotionally drained.  Praying for so many people with the most heart wrenching stories takes an emotional toll.  However, I would not want to do anything different.  I know and remember all the times in my life when I have counted on the prayers of others to get me through.  When Jim and I lost our youngest child to leukemia, when our marriage almost ended, when my mother died - those were the times when we needed the most prayer and needed others to lift us up, because in our own stregth we couldn't do it.  Then at work, we have an employee prayer chain for anyone who wishes to join, and the prayer requests sometimes take your breath away.  We have a young mother with a terminally ill daughter, someone's mom who has pancreatic cancer, a man who recently suffered debilitating pain from arthiritis, a man whose young daughter died in a foreign country and again the list goes on and on.  All of these things help me to understand what Paul meant when he said, "Pray without ceasing."  You can not hear all of these requests and not have a desire to pray and then pray some more.  I know there is not a magic formula or a guarantee that prayers will be answered the way we think we should be.  But we do know that God's ear is inclined to our prayers, and He always answers in the BEST way.  He only admonishes us to pray without ceasing.  We must have faith that He will take care of the rest.  Please join me and pray without ceasing.

He Has Promised

God has promised to never leave us or forsake us.  He has promised to meet all of our needs.  I have seen Him prove Himself over and over.  There have been times in our married life when we scraped together change to be buy milk for our kids.  There were times when we really didn't know how we were going to pay our bills, yet God has proved Himself faithful.  Through all this, though, God has taught me many things.  I remember once when I had $10 hidden away.  It gave me comfort to know that I had that money should we need milk or gas.  However, one day the Lord quietly whispered to my heart and asked, "You find comfort in knowing you have that $10.  Should you not more so have comfort in Me and My riches - in My promises?  I want you to take the $10 and give it away.  I want you to trust Me totally and completely for My promises are yes and amen!"  It was with some anxiety that I did what I was told - that is, several days later.  For you see, I had no peace while clinging to that money.  Once I gave it away, I was at peace, and the Lord proved Himself faithful.  He has not, or will He ever, leave me or forsake me.  He has met all our needs.  He has proved Himself faithful.  The older I get the more I trust.  It is such a wonderful feeling of freedom from this world and security it Him.  He has promised.  Won't you trust Him today?

Grace

We often hear that grace is unmerited favor. However, today I heard a song that explained it better than I've ever heard before. The words are "Grace keeps giving me the things I don't deserve. Mercy keeps withholding things I do." Take a few minutes to think about this.Think about it some more. How can we ever praise God enough for His grace and mercy.