Technical difficulties prevented this from being posted on Thursday.  This is for last week.  There will be another on Thursday.

GOD HAS NOT FORGOT

June 19, 2015

For the past few weeks I have had a tugging on my heart to direct a blog specifically to my foreign brothers and sister in the faith who faithfully follow this blog in: Russia (50) France (33) Germany (21) Romania (21) Ukraine (19) Philippines (18) UK (15) India (15) Poland (9) Dominican Republic (5) Japan (5) China (5). WOW, look at GOD! Russia has the highest reader-ship behind the US (1569) who has read the blog at one time or another since it began in December, 2013.  Even with the 6 month hiatus they still read past posts and are still coming from all nations not for my glory but for GOD’s glory.

I don’t know what it’s like to live in a country where your rights and liberties are limited.  Where there is no democracy.  Where in some areas reading the Bible, praying or speaking the name of JESUS can lead to death but GOD does know.  And in my feeble attempt to minister to the masses in a manner that GOD has chosen, HE has been able to enter the hearts of those HIS children abroad through this blog.

So this is what GOD has given for all YOU all this week.

Isaiah 49:12-17 (NIV) ¹² See, they will come from afar some from the north, some from the west, come from the region of Aswan. ^[b]”¹³ Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.¹⁴ But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.¹⁵ “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!¹⁶ See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. ¹⁷ Your children hasten back, and those who laid you waste depart from you.

There are times when GOD is so close to us and our circumstance that we can almost feel HIS breath.  We can see HIM move and orchestrate HIS will in a situation and turn that storm into a calm sea.  HE reverses our destiny and puts us on track towards victory and freedom.  But then there are other times where we know HE’s there, yet we don’t see HIS hand in or on the situation and we feel that we’re alone.  And when this happens the enemy tries to get us to believe that GOD has forgotten us.  And in our weakness and desperation, sometimes even the strongest CHRISTIAN may entertain this thought. 

2 Corinthians 1:20 says: For no matter how many promises GOD has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of GOD.  There are many promises in the Bible some conditional and some unconditional, some are promises for the good of GOD’s children that we should want for any good thing and others are for the spiritual good that relate to GOD being GOD.  Nevertheless, HE is our GOD which includes HIS ever-lasting, non-failing love for us, HIS unseen presence and HIS protection.  In a nutshell, GOD is always there, HIS eyes fixed on us, and HE is just an ear shot away to our prayers and our cries of joy and sorrow.  

GOD HAS NOT FORGOT US NOR HIS PROMISES TO US OR HIS LOVE FOR US.  Nothing can separate us from the love of GOD.  Romans 8:38-39 says: “38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  If this doesn’t prove to us than GOD has not forgot then all we have to do is to take that next breath.  My brothers and sisters we are still here, we have life to be lived, love to be given, service to be performed and a voice to be heard for HIS glory.   

This is one of those guarantees you can count on.  Remember this if nothing else, the GOD of the universe, the GOD who is the great I AM, the GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the GOD that never slumbers or sleeps, the GOD that can’t lie, the GOD that knows the number of hairs on our head, the only true and LIVING GOD has not forgotten YOU and HE has not forgotten me.  For our LORD is a GOD of compassion take comfort in it.  Live each day knowing that you are precious in HIS sight and that HE is with you.  HE HAS NOT FORGOT!

GOD BLESS!

And Then There Was One

June 4, 2015

There’s a story in the Bible in Luke 17:11-19 about JESUS healing the ten leapers.

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. ¹² As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy^[a] met him. They stood at a distance ¹³ and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
¹⁴ When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.
¹⁵ One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. ¹⁶ He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.
¹⁷ Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸ Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

This story, as all of those in the Bible, is amazing to me.  Yet, it also saddens me.  For over two thousand years GOD has been blessing people here on earth healing us, sparing us from hurt, harm and disaster, restoring us with finances and/or with things that we’ve lost, or the promotion we longed for or a job that we weren’t qualified for but HE gave us favor anyway, yet how many of us have returned to give HIM praise? There’s nothing tricky about this question and it’s not a question that you have to be a rocket scientist to answer.

In our lifetime we have endured tests, trials, tribulations and have come through those tests but where is the testimony?  The test, the trial, the endurance, the pain and yes, the victory isn’t just for us.  Those experiences that we go through good or bad are never for us to keep it under wraps.  The test is for the testimony for the glory of GOD.  There were ten men healed and only one felt the desire to give GOD praise.   This story wasn’t hap hazardly put into the Bible just to add a few more pages. This story in particular, is to remind us of how important our testimony and praise is in glorifying GOD in the presence of those who don’t know HIM.  How often do we share what GOD has done in our lives?  How do we reach the lost, or those on the fence or those who have abandoned their faith if not through our testimonies? 

There are hurting people all around us and spiritual darkness and distress continues to get worse.  This is indeed the signs of the times but we still remain closed mouthed when it comes to sharing our faith and sharing our testimony that just may save a soul.

Christians have an obligation, an unwritten responsibility to testify.  There is value in our life’s stories from our defeats as well as our victories that can bring hope, encouragement and faith to someone who needs to know GOD is alive and well, still sits on HIS throne and is very much in control. 

When we tell someone of the goodness of GOD and what HE has done for us we plant a seed of hope and GOD waters that seed and begins to turn it into faith and faith turns into belief and belief turns into the desire to follow JESUS.  Those seeds (testimonies) draw others to CHRIST.   The tests we face is always for others because without a test, that thing we go through, the thing that we know we couldn’t have gotten through but for the grace of GOD is our testimony, it is our returning, like the one leaper, to praise and thank GOD through our testimony.

We've all had those BUT GOD experiences.  My mother, sister and 15 month old brother and I were in a gas mishap and my brother died when I was 6 they found me near his crib trying to get to him.  I lost my greatest supporter, my grandmother, when I was 12.  My grandfather hung himself a year later.  By the time I was 13 I had a father and 4 step fathers.  I ran away several times.  I had little self-esteem because there was no one to impart hope or encouragement to me.  I started drinking during my teen years. I was on my own by the time I was 16.  I was told I would never be anything, that I was stupid, that he didn’t like me or like being around me by a father that left my mother and I to starve when I was 2 years old and for most of my adult life told me how useless I was. I lost my 16 month old son and 3 other people that I loved in an auto accident when I was 26.  I suffered in my grief for 12 years straight becoming a functional alcoholic.  I have been physically and mentally abused by men that were to protect me.  I’ve been church hurt/work hurt (you know pain and misery you experience on a job that you’re giving 110% to or by your jealous co-workers).  I’ve had multiple health issues and a few life threatening health scares along with other life interruptions BUT GOD brought me out and through every painful incident. My life was anything but stable then JESUS stabilized me,calmed my spirit like HE did the seas, "peace be still."

I AM THAT ONE WHO CAME BACK TO GIVE PRAISE THIS IS MY TESTIMONY.  I went on to get my BS, MS and PhD (the person my father said that would not amount to anything.)  I put the pain of my marriages behind me.  I forgot about the young woman who had low self-esteem and watched GOD take me, mold me and shape me into a child of GOD who continually serves for HIS glory and I’ve made an impact in my community, my workplace, my home and the world because of what I’ve gone through, because of HIS grace.  I have two wonderful children, 5 grandchildren and 1 on the way.  I have a part-time consulting business and GOD has provided me with a house, car and my need.  I am someone that I love because I know GOD loves me and I am no longer bound by low self-esteem.  Prayer works.  There is something in my testimony through my transparency and in revealing my pain, suffering and restoration that is going to help someone in the US, in Poland, in India, in Russia and the other countries that receives this blog realize that there has been BUT GOD MOMENTS FOR THEM THAT NEED TO BE SHARED.  Why is it easier to publicize our weakness and sins while our testimony remains dormant?  SHARE YOUR TESTIMONY BECOME THAT ONE WHO CAME BACK TO GIVE GOD PRAISE and in doing this your life will have impact on the nine that didn’t return. Someone will benefit from your testimony and be encouraged to tell their own. 

GOD BLESS.