Tag Archives: god

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES: NOV. 10, 2024

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Well, the journey of late is coming to an end. Today is our last day of vacation and tomorrow we fly back home. Yesterday afternoon we went to see The Miracle of Christmas at the Sight and Sound Theater. What a magnificent work it is! One sure can’t sit through it without sensing the supernatural presence of Jesus and The Holy Spirit for they are truly glorified in this production. If I were my grandma Wreting I would have been running the aisles waving my hankie praising Jesus just as she use to do in the power of the Holy Spirit!

During the night last night I received a troubling text from one of the guys I see. His marriage is hugely at risk with the roots of it in his ballpark. At this point in time he has seen his part and desperately wants to correct it but the damage he’s done isn’t easily forgiven by man. As I had my devotions this morning and asking Jesus what He wanted me to know from Him for today, He told me to send this man the words of the hymn–It Is Well. These words are the ones He asked me to share: “My sin oh the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not in part but the whole are nailed to the Cross and I bear them no more! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, oh my soul!”

God knows our heart and when we confess He forgives. Man on the other hand doesn’t always follow this same path for the hurts our sins left are not so easily forgotten and trust has been demolished by these sins. Knowing to praise the Lord for what He has done for me is critical and important. Then, trusting the Lord to bring others to see and believe our change is not just a temporary show, is in God’s Hands alone. This is extremely hard to do for we want to quicken God’s pace so “we can feel better”. God is still and always be AMAZING! I put my trust in Him for this man and his family.

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES: NOV. 8, 2024

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About 4-5 years ago I was working with a man who was struggling with his marriage. I had met his wife and had drawn my own conclusion about her. I had taken this couple’s concern to my prayer warrior. She asked me to talk to her about the two of them. In so doing I said that the wife was evil. When I said this I was immediately corrected firmly. She told me that my words were powerful and I needed to confess this sin and ask for forgiveness. My words would influence this wife and I needed to change my way of thinking about her. I did all of this and now these few years later I can understand much more clearly what she was saying.

My devotional message this morning was all about my prayer warrior’s message a few years ago. The author’s writing told how faithful David’s men were to him. Even though his warriors would do anything for him, David knew that he needed to transfer their faithfulness to God through his own words to them and not try to keep it for himself. David used his words to show his followers that their faithfulness to him was a step towards faithfulness to God. David was a conduit for them to God.

My words about this wife didn’t lead anyone anywhere except to cast stones joining me. Today as I write this I feel guilty all over again. I sure need to always remember how powerful our words are when we speak them. Even when someone does something wrong our words need to first be taken to Jesus asking Him to help us understand the story behind a person’s actions rather than to cast stones.

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES: NOV. 3, 2024

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Today is the Lord’s Day and I will rejoice and be glad in it! That little chorus line resonates in my spirit this morning. Our day with our little sis Polly and her family yesterday was such a blessed time. They live close to their youngest son and his family so we were all together for the day. Polly’s daughter had flown in from where she lives near Dallas, TX so that is also a great treat. She said she didn’t want to miss all of this excitement! We are headed back there this morning to go to church with them and eat lunch with them. Her family is very social and just plain fun! All of them love Jesus which makes the time even richer.

My two older daughters are with their mom and I just pray all of this is going as God would ordain. Shedding God’s Light into the darkness of Satan’s bondage is a major thing and how I pray this is taking place. Only God Himself knows the timing for this and I simply pray this weekend has been the start of HIs Healing Light penetrating a darkness which has been rooted in the bondage of sin for generations. How I love God’s Healing Light which on it can penetrate this bondage breaking every chain!

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES: OCT. 18, 2024

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Last night’s Celebrate Recovery lesson was “Powerless”. It follows lesson 1 which is Denial. Once we step out of denial and realize the problem we face, the struggle we can’t overcome, etc., we then must realize that within our own selves we are powerless to stop the addiction, struggle, hurt, etc., without the power of God Himself. All of this is good to KNOW, but finding God’s Strength to do all of this is not necessarily easy. Our pride truly gets in the way!

Last night I taught this lesson and it brings back SO many memories of my own need to finally realize how much I thought I needed control of all my hurts and habits so NO ONE would know about them. I had so many fears that I’d lose my job, my church, my friends and family if they knew. Even after my beginning years of counsel I kept in control of who knew my story so that the community, which included our church, wouldn’t know. Even my family didn’t know until I finally had gotten to the place where I was going to write my autobiography which then started this blog. I didn’t want my siblings finding out their brother had written a book which “exposed” them as though they were the problem.

God is so Amazing! Once I stepped into vulnerability letting God take control of my “mess” did this “protected by me” mess turn into a message God uses. Equally amazing is that I found no judgment in people hearing my story. Instead, I would always have ones want to talk because they had their own story which hadn’t been told, but they felt now like they could and should.

Well, stepping out of powerlessness and into obedience to God took me lots of years and even today I need constant reminders to not hide. Always though, God’s gentle voice reminds me, “I’ve got this–do not be afraid!”

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES: SEPT. 29, 2024

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A week ago today when I was journaling and asking Jesus what He wanted me to know from Him for today, I heard Him ask me when I was going to listen and obey Him fully? I like to think I do this fairly well, which I have. But, Jesus is not OK with my “fairly well”. He is asking for the “fairly” to be taken out of the equation. He seeks for me to replace fairly with full–full well.

I have written much of late about this process of learning about the significance of God’s Holy Spirit living in me and finding God’s Strength/Power from this residence in me. It is incredible to start putting together all this means. When trust and faith are placed in front of all willfulness/selfishness, one starts on this path of obedience. It is truly taking I Corinthians 10:13 to the test. This verse says, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”

When I’m tempted to tell The Holy Spirit, “not now” or something along that line or “I just want to stay with what I’m doing, I can do that later, just remind me.” I am disobeying. I’ve always looked at this verse from the lens of some self-gratification/selfishness. Yes, these are common to man, but just as common to man is ignoring a nudge to do whatever is being done presently. The JOY of the Lord being my strength is never found in my selfishness–only in my obedience. Today, living a week in obedience has given me great JOY as I write this. It is no surprise either that obedience that is “full well” has no sense of one not getting their way. Instead, it is full JOY!