Posted on by landktheluckyones

The Journey Continues

We often, in the Christian community state, “all for Jesus”. Do we know the weight of these words? Or are we fair weathered? We like to put God in a box. If we do these things…He will do such and such.

Do we really mean ALL? We say, “Even if you don’t.” This sounds really good on the surface. We honestly so want to be that mature. Yet, are we?

I have to admit that I am not that mature. Oh, I thought that I was. Jesus calls us to take up our cross and follow Him. We say…”Oh yes, I will do that for Jesus.” Often, we think this to mean, our trials of trying to imitate Jesus – blessing someone that has hurt us- go the extra mile- or to lay down those things of the flesh. We can do all those things and more without questioning His goodness. Why? They make sense to us. They are fairly easy to attain.

So…what about when things Don’t make sense to us. When things happen that we can’t tie up in a neat little bow. When our life as we have known it has shattered to pieces. What then? It causes us to re-evaluate. Re-evaluate God, ourselves, life, death. Despite our evaluating/reevaluating, God remains the same. For some reason, we think that the goal is for us to have a trial free life instead of glorifying God.

We all know in our heads that God loves us, His ways are higher than our ways. That He is good. I continue to believe this. I continue to believe that God answers our prayers. It does not make the pain go away or stop me from delving into Scripture for answers. Even if He doesn’t answer my specific ones.

God did allow His own Son to die a horrible death –Jesus also prayed for deliverance. That prayer was not answered. Yet, Jesus never doubted His Father’s love.

Our pastor recently shared a Psalm and referred to the “festal shout”. I had never noticed this term before. He said that it was used between the trial and the fulfillment of God’s promises. This caused me to do a search on this and it has been quite helpful. For we are not in one or the other on a usual basis. When we are in a trial, it seems to be a journey and the “festal shout” is believing along that journey of what God promises us. That we will get through to the other side as we rely on Him. It’s about praising Him for who He is and believing in His plan, not my own.

I feel that I have been struggling with my daughter-in-law’s passing for numerous reasons. Mainly, I loved her. Secondly, it breaks my heart to see my son in pain and my grandsons. Also, my son and his family have been very private. So, we were always in confusion as to how to reach out. This was hard for us as parents. When my Dad and my Mum died, I was heartbroken for an extremely long time for each of these I held dear. Yet, I had piece of mind in the fact that I spent everyday with them. Said all the things I wanted to say before they left. No regrets. With my daughter-in-law, I did not see her everyday, did not realize the extent of her illness or what they were going through. Now, I do have regrets. Could there have been ways that I could have reached out? Ways that I could have “been there” for them and still allowed them their privacy? Does my son feel that I could have done more? These thoughts permeate my mind often. I know that I am not the only one who has or is going through a valley and I believe these questions could apply to anyone.

Many things as a Christ follower do not make sense. Love your enemies, turn the other cheek, etc. I am finding this too does not make sense to me when I think about losing those we love. We know that we will or others will lose us, but we choose not to think it will happen to us. Then it does, and we are devastated. I guess that’s a bit odd.

In the midst of my trying to grasp meaning, I believe that I will do the “festal shout”. To praise God in the journey, even if I’m not as mature as I should be. I will praise Him that Jinn is not in pain. I will praise Him for allowing my life to be changed by a young woman from the other side of the planet whom I loved like my own. I will praise Him in the valley, as He changes me to who I need to be. I will praise Him for helping me to realize that maybe I did have Him in a box and that box needed to be opened to draw me closer to Him.

Posted on by landktheluckyones

I Challenge You

I have to admit that for the last month or two, that I have been watching politics. This is a dark path that leads only to depression. Even though I know that what we see is just a smoke screen.

I am appalled by how much people hate and say horrible things about candidates. I am horrified how the media and candidates can out and out twist the truth and publicize it. I am amazed at how people are brainwashed and believe all the garbage of the media.How families are ripped apart by what they believe and will not back down from supporting their candidate, even if that means being estranged from family members. I challenge you, that when you watch anything about politics or other news, to look at what they are saying. Do they have a negative spin or are they just reporting the news. I think that you will find not much news. I first noticed this during Covid. When things started not making sense. Yes, Covid-19 was deadly, yet that year, heart disease had the most deaths, Cancer being number two and Covid coming in third. Did you see heart death numbers flashed across the screen? Cancer numbers? No, because of the fear that they wanted to instill..to control. To cause division.

When I was in grade school, I had a teacher that had been a POW. He warned us of subliminal messages that get thrown at you while you watch tv. They flash them so quickly that your conscience mind can’t see it. I see that happening, but I also see the repeating of phrases, which is a brainwashing technique. I am so disappointed in the media. I started quite awhile ago, noticing that journalists don’t tell the news. They read scripts of hatred. I have noticed that they put down and discredit a candidate. Why don’t they just state the actual news and not try to make the candidates look bad? I believe without their spin, there would not be such a divide.

I, personally am tempted not to vote. Even though I don’t care for his personality. Trump is crude and arrogant. Yet, when you listen to what he says rather than what the media says, I have not heard lies, I’ve heard what he is passionate about. He is not charismatic and smooth in speech. He downgrades people. He does not fit into the elite. I felt safer in his presidency than the current. Yet, I feel that everything that has been thrown at him has caused him to be bitter and has aged him extensively. If you are a Christian, people automatically assume that you are a Trump supporter and you are characterized and judged. I also don’t care for Harris’s personality. She is also arrogant and condescending. I have noticed her telling out and out lies. The media seems to like her. They never call her out on the lies. She uses the same strategy that Gretchen Whitmer used against Tudor Dixon in regard to abortion and other issues.Twisting what they actually stand for and repeat it over and over. Her DNC speech theme was “joy”. ( Which mirrored Hitler’s strategy) and she keeps quoting “ a new way forward” ( a Marxist strategy). She actually scares me. I feel if she is elected, we will not be a free nation anymore. The media tries to portray her as unintelligent but, she is very intelligent. I see a woman that is controlling and thrives on power. I see us as a Communist nation under her leadership. Regardless of who gets elected, I know there will be chaos and upheaval in our country.

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Having stated all of that, I am returning to my life before watching politics.

I am using any time that I wasted watching the news and politics to get in God’s Word more than I have. To stay connected to Him through His Word and prayer. Leaning on the Holy Spirit to give me the discernment, the wisdom and power to live free from fear in this dark and sinful world. This world will continue to get more dark, but with the Lord, we can live in peace without fear. In doing so, we continue to be the Lucky Ones, blessed by God.

I Challenge YOU to do the same. To turn off that media, draw close to the Lord.

Then,

His peace, which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and minds in Christ Jesus.

Then,

You also will be a Lucky One!

Posted on by landktheluckyones

Thank you, Jesus

We have gone fishing a little in the last few weeks. Other than a couple small pan fish, we have gotten “skunked”.

Before dinner each night, we hold each other’s hand and I thank God for this day and for providing. Last night, Leonard added to my prayer and asked for Him to provide fish.

Later in the evening, we went fishing. I wish I could have captured it on video as the fish gave a noble and lively fight, but I was busy getting the net to scoop up Leonard’s opponents.

First thing that came out of his mouth was, “THANK YOU, JESUS!” and same thing with the second one. When we got home, he stated,” I know I’ve already said it, but “THANK YOU, JESUS!!!”

He was so excited!

We ARE the lucky ones, for our God cares about us so much! When we get discouraged, He lifts us up and He cares for even the smallest things in our lives.