Today ends our time in Oklahoma. I do love our time here each year. Our kids have a wonderful home and church family that we sense a genuine closeness with. I always love seeing how God is working no matter where we are.

I’m a little late getting this written today. We ended our time with our high school grandson by getting donuts at a local shop on his way to school. He is a jewel and I love seeing how he is growing in his walk with Jesus.

As we head home I am bombarded with “what’s next”. There are the things I know need to take place and then the ones that should take place. I try to shield them from my mind until I get home. I ruin my remaining time here if I dwell on them at this point. This is one of those areas of trusting God that I always have to give over to Him. It has never not worked out and this time is no different.

Serving God one day at a time and trusting Him completely within the day is something I’ll be doing the rest of my earthly life. Somedays are not as easy as others, but I don’t want this commitment to ever change.

It is amazing to see what happens to us humans when some tough news is given to us. Yesterday I had a phone call with news about someone I love who is struggling. In the struggles they are making some rough choices. The person who called me needs some physical help and a good deal of prayerful help. I’m glad to offer both and I’ll start Thursday when we get back home with the physical help.

This need for help consumed a good deal of my thought and emotional energy yesterday which carried into the night. I awoke in the middle of the night finding not only this loved one being on my mind, but with it was two more loved ones who are also needing much love and prayer for their own current decisions/actions. God and I spent a good deal of time together concerning these three before sleep reentered my night.

As I was having my devotions I read about offering band-aids rather than band-shame. Too often when one has stepped into sinfulness and they come for help, they receive a scolding when they have come for genuine help. They know their actions/hurts and they need help. I want to offer genuine help rather than offering shame. All of this brought me to the point of God, Jesus and The Holy Spirit. God has His entire creation on His mind. Three names kept me awake much of the night while He has a universe. I know to give these three to Him and praise Him for what He will do to bring them to Him. They all have Jesus and The Holy Spirit within them. I also know God wants my support to look like real love from Him. This I want to do well.

The temperature has dropped 30 degrees since we arrived last Wednesday. It is a beautiful morning as I sit on their covered deck and listen to the rain and watch the sunlight slowly come into the day. Often there is wind accompanying a day like this, but today everything about the world is still and peaceful. It is one of those times when you don’t want to move thinking anything might interrupt this stillness.

My daughter’s sermon was such a blessed message from her heart yesterday. The big surprise for me is that she started it with a song I’d not heard her sing–a prayer. She has a beautiful voice and it gave her message from God just the right focus for God’s Holy Spirit to have His Way with each of us in the congregation.

Our time will come to an end in a couple of day but I cherish these moments in time! Thank You Jesus!

Today is Sunday and I get to listen to my own daughter give the sermon at church. This is a rare moment to get to experience this live. She is a children’s pastor so doesn’t often preach from the pulpit. When she does, her husband always sends us the link so we can listen to it. Today is special and I’m most appreciative of the opportunity.

I’ve said it before, but coming here to Oklahoma once a year is a very refreshing time for me. I can clear my head of all that is going on at home and come back with a fresh spirit. Our kids’ church is also a support for this. It is very spirit filled and I love worshipping with them.

God is so GOOD!

There is a real reason to never, and I mean never, trust stepping into a temptation. The alluring side of it seems so safe and inconsequential. However, for someone like myself, I know the JOY OF THE LORD, and stepping into temptation will destroy this joy. The long term effect of knowing this Joy can always be with us. It will quickly turn to regret if temptation is allowed to enter into our actions.

This very issue is the reason we are given God’s Strength in the very day we are living in. It is the reason God wants us to seek Him in each day. It is also the very reason Satan works so hard to try and interrupt this intimacy with God.

I’ve lived a long time and I will never be, so I’ve learned, without temptation. However, I’ve also learned that keeping myself focused on this very day with God allows me to be strong in Him for the day. This promise is good for each and every one of us!

I’m always amazed with the way God uses time away from home to open my eyes to things He wants me to see more clearly. When I’m close to the issues I am directly connected to at home I get too involved in the problem itself rather than seeing the bigger picture. I’m writing about the things God wants to use to grow us by allowing the problems to exist in our lives. I can do this much more easily when I’m counseling someone else, but doing it for me, well, it takes someone else to point it out and often a trip away from home.

This morning in my devotional time I was experiencing just what I’ve written in the first paragraph. It makes me eager to get back home so I can take the necessary steps addressing it. I won’t enjoy less the remaining time here, but it does change my attitude about going back and facing a dilemmas I’ve had on my mind for sometime now.

It is simply amazing how God works!

The flight to Oklahoma went smoothly and we settled into life here quite seamlessly. Our granddaugter is in college so she is not even living at home any longer and their son was at school so we had the afternoon to visit and catch up with one another. Last night was their midweek church night. Amber, being a children’s pastor, was busy with her responsibilities. They have a celebrate recovery program so I was happy to attend it.

As their CR began I had someone come and put their arm around my shoulder. I quickly looked to see who this is to find it was their pastor. She asked me if I’d be willing to share my testimony with them? I hadn’t brought my written one not even thinking about sharing it. I’ve done it a couple of times in years past so it hadn’t crossed my mind. In a few quick moments I said I’d try. They were planning to have a video testimony and this would replace that. Well, Kathy said it was the best one I’ve ever done. If that were true it would only be due to God’s Holy Spirit.

I love coming here once a year. It is like being with our second family. All of our kids’ friends are like our extended family and they are so welcoming and fun. I took time this morning to thank God for His Gift of love He provides as we come each year. God is like that!

In a couple of hours we will be in the air headed to Oklahoma visiting our kids there for a week. Looking forward to this! God is AMAZING in the ways He takes us into His fold and cares for us as though we have always lived for Him. He doesn’t see any of our past and only sees His Son Jesus in us if we simply ask Jesus into our lives. How grateful I am for our loving Savior and Lord. And to think, He gives us His own Holy Spirit to guide our every step each and every day! Wow!

Have you ever thought about the differences between belief and truth? When we’re children our beliefs are thought to be truths because we have been taught the beliefs by the adults in our lives. As we enter into our adult years the beliefs are often challenged to either stay as truths or to become a lie.

One of the beliefs I had as a child was that I could and would lose my salvation if I sinned. Thus, I went to the altar most every week throughout my high school years. If I hadn’t committed a sin, it was done to me by my brother so I was almost always needing to reestablish my salvation. By my college years I’d heard that there was a belief that sin didn’t cause salvation to be lost, but it caused one to be separated from the closeness with God in their relationship. I wished that were true for me, but I clung to what I was taught.

When I began to receive counseling help as a middle aged man I found my truth. God never had abandoned me because of sins done to me or sins I’d committed myself. I found that God is a most faithful and loving God who was wanting me to realize this to be true for me. The belief of losing salvation was only a belief and not a truth. Yes, I believe today that our relationship with God is bruised when we sin, but our salvation is not lost. After Christ has entered our life from accepting Him into our hearts, we confess our sin to reestablish the closeness with God. He is most patient with us and I’m forever grateful for this!

Well, God is not done awakening me to Himself. Yesterday was a perfect example of this. I wrote yesterday morning about our quartet singing for a couple of places during the day. At the assisted living place, I gave portions of my story connected to two of the songs we sang. This is nothing new, but what followed was very new for me.

I got home last night and found myself completely exhausted. It was only 5:00 pm. Usually by that time I am ready to sit down, but to go to bed? Never. I didn’t go to bed but I just sat in my recliner for the evening yawning and wishing for 9:30 to hurry up and arrive! When it did, I hit the sack and I hardly recall anything beyond pulling the sheet over me.

As I began my devotions this morning I was journaling with God about this exhaustion. He awoke me to something I never expected. Yesterday was the first time I “gave an audience a portion of me”. I have told my story now hundreds of times. Each time I “tell” them the story. Yes, there is emotion connected to it, but for the first time yesterday, I left a portion of me with them.

Last week when Christ entered into the area of my fearfulness, He replaced my need to protect me. I don’t need to protect “Earnie” from fear. I can now let Christ do this. I wasn’t afraid of sharing my story yesterday for fear of judgment, chastisement. I honestly shared my story connecting it to God’s healing love. Yes, I was exhausted from doing so, but I didn’t walk away with any fears–only hope that God was glorified.

I know this message might seem strange, but for me it is a genuine awakening to something God has been working patiently with me about. I love our Father God! He is simply AMAZING!