A Beautiful Dream

     I had the most beautiful dream. My two daughters and I were singing. We were worshiping the Lord and it was BEAUTIFUL with a melody I can't even describe. We had on robes and our hands were raised to Heaven and we were literally singing in harmony. High notes, low notes just praising Almighty God. There was another woman who was sitting there and all of a sudden she stood up saying " I have GOT to record this! I have got to record this!" But, I told her that we couldn't duplicate what we had just sang.  We could not repeat it.  The Melody was so awesome and so beyond us! It was like we opened our mouths, raised our hands to Heaven and it just came. It was beautiful. I honestly don't know what else to say about this dream. I just wanted to share it. I would love to know what you think.  It made me smile in my heart. It also made me chuckle because anyone that knows me knows I can't sing. Even when I try my kids say "Muhhhh!!! Please!" LOL! I think I also need to add here that they are not gifted with the voice of birds either! I guess that's why the Bible tells us to "make a joyful NOISE unto the Lord!" LOL!

Quietness

     I am sitting quietly on my couch with the window open. I find treasure in the times that I find myself alone because the girls are out. Sometimes, they will come home and catch me in my quiet place and  ask me how can I just sit like this; in the quiet. The TV is off and its completely quiet.  It comes easy for me during those times.  I'm listening to the birds chirp, dogs bark and children playing and I feel such a peace. It overcomes me and I feel at rest. I can pray, read, worship or just simply sit back and quiet my mind and enjoy the beauty around me. I think of how blessed and truly thankful that I am even when things are not going my way at that moment.  I feel close to the One who strengthens me. I can sit in quietness and stillness and THINK on Him. He is so worthy! I love to hear birds sing, how carefree they are! I smile. There is even a lesson in that because He tells us that He feeds them. They don't worry about what they will eat or drink.(Matt 6:25,26) They do what they were made to do and sing praises to God in the process! Wonderful! God tells us that we are better than they but there is much we can learn from the fowls of the air!
    During this time of year, I like to sit for long periods of time and listen to all things around me "awaken" from a long winter's sleep and I marvel and I pray and I praise and I be STILL. In my heart, my spirit, my mind.  I think of it as a form of worship to Him as I sit and marvel at His beauty. Sometimes, I tear up and feel so humble that He gives me these times to just BEHOLD HIM and what He has made and to listen for Him and to Him as I am well aware that His Spirit is all around me.          When was the last time you were "still" before the Lord. There is so much going on. Work, School, Kids, Spouses, noise. Our minds are running constantly and then, some of us refuse to even sleep at night without the TV on or something "on" around us at all times. It is hard to hear the Lord  and commune with Him when we have so much going on. I encourage you to "get still" before the Lord. It is worth every moment!

By My Spirit says the Lord of Hosts.....

   Hhmmm....this post won't be long because I'm still meditating on this. Zechariah 4:6. We've all heard the saying "If the Lord leads you to it, then He will see you though it!". Well, I feel confident in saying that this is a good scripture to back it up...When God calls us to do things, it WILL seem impossible...why? Because it is when we are trying to do things in our own strength and boxing things into our own limited thinking. We are to rely on Him to move for us and through us to bring His will to pass. To be continued........

Who Asks a King for a Penny?

   I am a lover of quotes. I love this one by Vernon Linwood Howard. Makes you think, doesn't it? I used to have it on a sticky note on my computer and I remember one day someone asking me "What does THAT mean?" Before I got into my answer, she told me "never mind" and walked off. My guess is, she figured it out but, it still makes you think, doesn't it? If you ever have the opportunity to get into the presence of an earthly King(IF you make it through background checks, guards and surveillance equipment that offers no privacy whatsoever of your conversation), you would not ask him for anything as small as a penny. He is the KING for goodness sakes! It's time then to ask for your hearts desires.  We have a Heavenly Father and He is the KING OF KINGS.  There is NO ONE above Him and thank goodness He does not require a background check or security in order for us to get to Him and our conversation is private. He is just a heart call away. We can approach Him. But, sometimes, we approach Him heavy with guilt of sin and shame. When we sin, all of a sudden, we forget about His grace and His mercy. We even forget about how much He loves us and how MUCH of a forgiving God He is! We come to Him just hoping He will even be gracious enough to give us a penny! But, He is our Father, our King, Our God..the Bible tells us we can come BOLDLY to the throne of Grace (Hebrews 4:16) and get what we need. We should let go of the "penny" mentality and remember who we are in Him and that He loves us regardless. We can come to him for repentance, strength, restoration and the list goes on. When we really get a revelation of this...a penny wouldn't even cross our minds because we will remember that we are approaching a King who holds it ALL!

DNA

    I was sitting here today and started to think about how we all have our own DNA.  How absolutely AWESOME is that? Isn't God just amazing? Our own uniqueness. No one has the same DNA..not even identical twins! There is no other YOU. To me, it seems to me that God is always using natural things to help us better understand spiritual things and just how special we are to HIM. He is letting us know that He took His time to create each and every last one of us and make us uniquely special; different from anyone else on this earth, even our parents-especially our very own mothers who carried us and birthed us! To anyone out there that feels that they are not special...just think on THAT for a minute. To take it even further, not only did He create us as ONE OF A KIND, He also put a stamp of purpose on us that only we individually are called to fulfill. Sorta like our own special God given assignment. I heard my Pastor put it this way..it's like a puzzle. If one piece is missing, the puzzle is not complete. A puzzle is only complete when all the pieces are there and are put in the right place. All the pieces play a part and they are not the same.  If you put the pieces in the wrong place, the picture will be distorted. We are all important. We are all puzzle pieces to one big picture and that is the Kingdom of God. Wow...I feel so SPECIAL and LOVED after meditating on that...how about you?

Spiritual Temper Tantrum

    LOL! Wow...what a topic. I'm going to be very transparent here and confess my fault....I had one today! LOL! It was a serious "pout party" but at the same time when I got a mental picture of what I was doing...I couldn't help but smile. I've had a very specific thing up before the Lord for a long time! God has moved so much in my life these past months that I KNOW this thing is right around the corner...but, I have to confess, I don't wait well. God is dealing with me here. He's growing me up. When I feel like I have confirmation on a thing or if I'm believing God for something and REFUSE to believe anything else....I'm ready for it to happen NOW. LET'S GO! Wait? Process? What's that??  (don't judge me...LOL) Well, today was a frustrating day for me. I guess you can put that mildly. I was crying out to the Lord and as I was sitting there,  I began to imagine how the Lord must see me...like a child who throws a temper tantrum. Although I was sitting at my desk doing my work appearing to everyone around me that I was focused and getting the job done, on the inside I was kicking, screaming, crying and rolling around on the floor. I was acting just like a child who wants a toy that a parent has put on top of the refrigerator and told them they couldn't have it...YET. As I envisioned myself having this "Spiritual Temper Tantrum", I also imagined seeing the Lord standing beside me while I'm rolling all over the floor. He's looking down at me. He's tapping His foot. He has His hands on His hips, He's rolling His eyes and He is looking down at me shaking His head. LOL. As much as I was into my pout party, when I imagined this...I had to LAUGH and yes, get myself together. I thought about a natural parent telling their child "not yet", "you just have to wait" and the child is not satisfied with that answer. That parent probably said "wait until after dinner" or "wait until Christmas" which is next month or "wait until your birthday" which is a week later, or just a plain "wait" with no time frame-- but, they totally tune out the part "not yet" and just want it NOW. How many of us are guilty of that? (Be honest) You know God is going to answer your prayer. You are praying and believing Him for something. You have His confirmation but it's a "not yet" so instead of Thanking Him and Praising Him for what's to come, at times of difficulty or when it seems like its not going to happen, you have a fit.  As I sat there and turned these thoughts over and over in my head...along with what happens when a child CONTINUES to throw this tantrum and the parent gets fed up with it, I QUICKLY checked myself then. (Plus, I was imagining myself just as I was.. a 41yr old woman having a fit...not pretty..even spiritually speaking, not pretty at all...LOL)  I had to repent and ask the Lord to forgive me. I began to just sit there and humble myself and pray. I began to praise Him again just for being who He is and for being such a GOOD, UNDERSTANDING, PATIENT PARENT. He loves us so much.

Discovering The "Real" You.....

    I know we have all heard the quotes "To thine own self be true..." and "know thyself". Lord knows I've heard those quotes hundreds of times...but, I never thought of them as something to really meditate on..but, to many of us, that might be a good thing to do. We all get so caught up in being wives, husbands, parents, whatever our occupation is, caregivers, children, our hobbies, our service, Pastor's wives, Pastor's husbands, etc.. It just seems like we have so many "things" that we are required to be that sometimes, we lose track of who we really are. It's all about the cause and looking the part. Our identity becomes what we do instead of "who we are". We become like legalistic little robots.  I've been so many things for so many others for so many years that I've lost track of who I am and who God has really called me to be. Who is Hope? What does she like? who is she? I'd failed to "know myself". How many of us suffer from this same malady? I've found myself seeking God on an even deeper level on who He's called me to be and what He's called me to do and...guess what? It's exciting! But, get ready! As you go deeper and grow closer, He will let you know what "things" you're doing that are time wasters and are not productive. There will also be people that you've been around for so long and all of a sudden, your conversations get shorter and shorter because you realize that you don't have as much in common anymore. You're going to have to be true to yourself and realize what's working and what's not and be led by God on what to step away from and then, be brave enough to do it with His help. It's not easy(especially if you are a "high profile" person)  But, it's all part of the process and we have to be willing to go through it in order to have the fulfilling life that God has called us to. As those "empty" things and relationships are shed from us, God is now able to put those things in us that will glorify Him and make us whole. We move from being Robots to being profitable stewards and servants of the Most High!
      As an ending thought, I remember the story of Mary and Martha. (Luke 10:38-42) As I read this, I thought about how we get so busy running to and from like chickens with our heads cut off. Going here and there to get this done, to get that done, to fix this, to fix that...just all over the place doing THINGS in our own strength, making ourselves dizzy..but Mary sat at the foot of Jesus. I really and truly believe that if Martha had chosen as Mary did and sat at the foot of Jesus as well and spent time with Him, in the end, everything still would've been accomplished...just without the stress. There is just something about putting Jesus first that makes everything else afterward fall into place........