Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Allowing God to Work Miracles

November 30 2011


The redwood trees in my front yard pull a cloak of fog and mist tight against their boughs. The wind is beginning to pick up and will soon blow the shroud of fog and mist away. Oak leaves float by the window like snow, dancing on the breeze, spiraling downward, carpeting the ground is drifts of vibrant color.

Of late, I have been almost consumed with problems, more of my own making than anything. Problems that exist, certainly, but that grow like a well-tended fire, my mind playing with what ifs instead of letting go and relying on God to handle the situation.

I know that it is silly, futile, to hold on to problems. To worry is a waste of time and energy and a separation from God. Worry is the fear of unknown and fear is a lie. God’s arm is too long and too strong for any problem to be beyond His ability to reach and repair.

And yet, I hold on.

This last Sunday a member of our church reminded us during testimony in service of how she held on to so many things because she, like all of us, felt the need to be in control. I laughed inside at that, not at her or her situation, but at myself, because we all do that. I hold on to problems and worries trying to fix what only God has the power to fix.

As she learned, by letting go, and letting God the blessings and hopes she had tried to manipulate and control seemed to appear almost overnight. God had been in the background all along and was waiting only for her to surrender so that He could work through her to create exactly the miracles and blessings that she was worried about.

That’s how God works most of the time. He comes in quiet, stealth, God doesn’t push, He nudges and He waits for our surrender so that He can work His miracles and blessings through us. Marianne Williamson put it this way in “Everyday Grace”

“He cannot do for us, what He cannot do through us.”

I think of this quote often because it holds such amazing truth, and yet, even though these words inspire me, I forget them, or at the very least, fail to apply the truth of them to my own life.

It is in our willingness to believe in His unlimited power, that miracles happen and miracles happen every day. The miracle may be just a small nudge from God, a thought that sweeps through us bringing light to the situation; it may be the blessing of a job, or a bill that was reduced, almost magically, because the electric company made a mistake. It can be anything, but rest assured, miracles happen, every single day.

We hold onto our problems and our worries, hoarding them like we would a coveted prize; we feed the fire of worry by dwelling on the problem instead of resting in God; we try to manipulate the “fix” and change the world to our needs and wants instead of letting go of the branch and dancing with the wind, allowing God to show us His design for us. Like the oak leaf that God designed to change color and to light the world with its dance, we must allow His design for our lives to fill the world with the rich and vibrant color of the miracles He works through us.

“He cannot do for us, what He cannot do through us.”

Words to remember.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Prayer

A couple of pics, and a prayer that has been on my mind.


This next picture brings to mind a friend of mine that I know loves her garden.  I just liked the whole ambience of the photo. It also reminds me of a prayer that I have been working on.  Still sort of a rough draft, but a prayer I like to keep in mind.

Heavenly Father,

Please take from me all those things that bind me to the past,
Take from me the hurts and the pains, take my sorrows, everything that holds me
Prisoner to the ways of this world.
Give to me instead wings of kindness and compassion, love.
Teach me to soar on the winds of your mercy and grace
And to shine your light on others.
Let me be the hands and feet of your
Faithful love.
Give me a heart that is pure, steadfast;
A heart that aches to serve you,
To pursue you,
To live you,
and in all things
To trust you.
Let me be an example that
shows someone else 
The love and peace that you have given me,
That they might know you
Through the light you shine in me.

Amen.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Candle

Light a candle in a room with the doors and windows closed, without any movement of air, and it will burn straight upward towards the heavens.  From across that same room, gently, slowly, sweep your arm, and watch as a few seconds later, the shift in the air current reaches the candle, the flame wavers, flickers, curves and dances with the change of the air current.

If you put your hand into a glass bowl of clean, clear water, you can see the change in hydrology.  As your hand breaks the surface, the water flows outward.  Like the movement of the water, change the shift of the air current, the flame responds.

God feeds us and teaches us differently, at different times, in different ways.  What may break me and bring me to my knees in pain and fervent prayer, testing the strength of my flame of faith, may barely break the air current of yours.  He comes to us according to His desires for us, not ours.  He teaches us using whatever it is in our lives that make us weak or strong, depending on where we are for Him in our faith at the time.  He changes us using those currents in our lives, those things that will reach us, teach us, stay with us.

Sometimes, even in a room without movement, a candle flame will flicker and wave.  The wick is too long, too much fluff.  Trimming the wick, it returns to it's natural state, burning upwards.

Our lives are no different, we like to keep the "fluff" closely guarded, close to our hearts:  that extra stuff that stands in the way of our burning pure for God.  But God is wise, and His loving hand reaches down and moves the current, sometimes ever so gently, sometimes not so gentle, and we waver in the current shift and we are reminded that the "fluff" has no place in our faith and place with God.  Trimming our wicks, our fluff, brings strength to the flame of our faith and, like the candle flame, we burn pure and upward.

As I am sitting here contemplating the stillness of a candle flame, one of my dogs, jumps down from the couch.  The candle is on top of the table, but even that downward motion of air has reached the candle testing its flame. 

The key isn't to living in a room with closed doors and windows and keeping motion limited so as not to disrupt the flame, but rather keeping our wicks trimmed, faithfully burning, curving, dancing in the motion of life, flickering ever upward, towards God.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Sunlight

The sun yawns,  lazily rises over the horizon.
Tree branches bare only two weeks ago,
stretch upward, tiny green buds dappling the sunlight.
God comes to us this way:
quiet in His power and Glory
shining rays of golden goodness and mercy on us.
Little by little, we wake and stretch upward towards blue skies,
plant our feet, toes curling into God’s good green earth;
Our budding love and trust for Him, grounding us
In His everlasting love.

LLR

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Renewal

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will."  Romans 12:2
Have you ever noticed how many scriptures you read in the Bible that talk about renewal, transformation, being new?  The moon is new each quarter; in the fall and winter, plants fade off and seem to die, by pruning them, those same plants and flowers will renew and transform into their God given beauty in the spring and summer.

I think God wants us to be like that.  Continually renewing ourselves in Him.  In her book "Jesus Calling," Sarah Young, writing as the voice of God, says:
"Refresh yourself in the Peace of My Presence.  This Peace can be your portion at all times and in all circumstances."
Oh how amazing it is to KNOW that in each and every way, no matter what struggles are going on in our lives, no matter the heartbreak we might face, no matter how BIG something may seem, God promises us that we can always find Peace in Him, we only need to seek His presence.

Heavenly Father, Thank You.  Thank you for the peace that you give to me in my life; thank you for reminding me to daily renew myself in Your Presence.  Thank you for loving me, and reminding me each and every day, that being in Your Presence, makes You happy.  It certainly makes me happy too!

Amen

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

One of those defining moments

“You Lord, give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm and put their trust in you.: Isaiah 26:3


It was one of those defining moments when something small grabs your attention and the impact it has brings you to your knees.

My little dog Abbie is a miniature long-haired dachshund, red, adorable, sweet and funny. A few weeks ago she started suffering from really dry skin and has been scratching herself a lot.

About 4 this morning, she started scratching and wouldn’t stop, waking me up. After a few mins of her continuing I got frustrated and just sort of jumped out of bed without taking a moment or two to wake up. So, now I’m up early and grumpy.

After I fed the dogs, Abbie wouldn’t eat her food, so I was fighting with the other two dogs to keep them out of her bowl and finally just gave up and put her bowl up. Abbie was still scratching so I decided Benadryl was in order. Well that turned into a small struggle.

You know how when you sometimes drink a soda and someone makes you laugh it goes up your nose and it hurts and burns? Well apparently that’s what happened, only with the Benadryl. So now my dog is choking, foaming at the mouth and in general freaking out because the Benadryl has gone up her nose and she is not happy. The hiccups ensued, followed by dry heaves. OK. I’m done. I get my coffee and sit down on the couch with her on my lap and spent the next 30 minutes trying to calm her.

As she was laying there, her sweet little head resting against my shoulder, she started to calm down. The more she calmed down the more I calmed down; and the more I calmed down, the louder I heard God talking to me. You see, to me, Dogs are truly little angels sent from God. This morning was a perfect example of that. As Abbie lay there in my arms, I realized that, even though I started the morning off grumpy with her, frustrated, and upset, here she was, not hiding from me, but laying in my lap, letting me love her, letting me care for her. Her unconditional love for me, even in my mess up, is a reminder of God’s amazing and unconditional love. His love for me is limitless. Even when I mess up, God loves me.

Some pretty amazing things have been going on in my heart and my life lately, and I feel hear and see God working in me. As I was driving to work after all this, my eyes started filling with tears, and my heartstrings were being gently tugged. I thought about the morning and was reminded that I have always been a very tender hearted person, and yet, I have had to, or at least I thought I had to, had a little bit of a rough exterior. In the past this has served as my armor to shelter me from hurt.

But there is this new Linda emerging. A woman that God is redefining, molding into the woman He wants me to be. Not the mold other people want me to fit in; not the mold of the woman I want to be; but the mold of the woman that my Heavenly Father wants me to be.

There is a new gentleness of spirit in my heart today, a spirit that God is working on. I have seen a simple gracefulness emerging in my heart. It isn’t something born of weariness or defeat, rather, born of the struggles that I know God has allowed me to bear because He needs me to be strong. It is this new woman that is emerging that reminds me that in everything, God is good and He will Love me and see me through. Armed with God now, I am little by little, becoming New.

Heavenly Father, thank you for this morning. Thank you for reminding me that even when I mess up that you love me. Thank you for reminding me that you are working in my heart and in my life, and that you are redefining who I am. Thank you for teaching me that all of my struggles are opportunities to grow; that failure is nothing but perspective, and that, in all things, if I arm myself with Your Love, and trust in You my life will continue to grow, and I pray that because of what you have done in my life, I will help to plant the seed of You in the hearts of others.

Amen.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Psalm 23

More and more I am finding what it means to find God in the Bible. Reading this Psalm reminds me.

This has been a difficult week, filled with disappointment and trials, and has left me weary, tired, saddened. 

I have struggled much of this week with arrogant and aggressive people.  People who find pleasure with creating drama.  People who gossip and spread that gossip like wildfire, never giving a moment's thought to the destructive nature of their actions, not caring who or what lies in the path.  In fact, finding joy in the pain that it causes.  They often try to drag me into their games and drama; I become subject of their gossip; their ability to rile me because of my sensitive nature is a game they have thrived on for years.  My walk with God lately has taught me to stay away from and remain indifferent to their plots to "rule the game," which has just given them more fuel for the fire.  I just want to go about my business, improve myself in all ways, in particular in my walk with God, where I find peace and comfort.  Truth. They cannot accept this from me.

I want to spend time with people from my church, I don't want to spend time with people like this...It is not conducive to my mental or emotional health to be with people who will, in any given conversation, find 10 different ways to demean and persecute me for being who I am; for being different and not fitting the mold they want to pour me into; for not siding with them; for not promoting their cause.  It certainly isn't conducive to my growth in my Faith.  They struggle to be "top dog" in a world where there is no such position.

I find myself tired, drained of energy, in desperate need of renewal.  I succumbed a few times to weakness, allowing the enemy to slip through the gate, I let anger get the better of me by allowing myself to dwell on the pain and disruption that their games cause in my life.  It weakens me.

A friend, Cori, reminds me that "we as women need to stop and just BE and quit trying to control..."

and "Peace in the storm.  You cannot control the storm but He is your provision and protection in any storm."

Cheryl reminds me that "God is in CONTROL"

and AJ directs me to "her favorite promise"

"We know that in everything God works for the good of those that love Him.  They are the people He called because that was His plan."

Yesterday, I had a good workout at the gym, prayer time with God; and let my friends' wonderful advice and Psalm 23 carress my weary soul.

Today, I am renewed.  I have laid down in the green pastures that God has led me to; I have let the still waters of His word restore my weary soul; my life is full.  I have God, I walk with Him and even in my times of weakness, I hear Him calling me: "Linda, Linda, this is the way, follow it.  "