Thorns and Berries

Why is it that in order to pick great tasting berries you generally have to fight back the thorns?

To taste the sweetness of life we almost always have to suffer small injuries on the way...

today's thorns are sharp!

I pray that I can continue to look beyond my circumstances and remember that God leads my way, so anywhere I find myself is the place God has allowed me to be.

I heard Dr. Evans today say that we must accept the character building moments of the valley as God ordained. I will try to keep that in mind...

Perspective?

Some people would like to believe that they always have the right answers.

Some people think the right answer only lies with the one making the decision.

Some people think not about what is right or wrong but focus on what they want as a conclusion.

Some people really think that what others think is more valuable than the real choices at hand.

I am amazed that some people think that if a 'majority' think something is right...it must be.

My favorite is when someone simply believes whatever anyone tells them is the right choice, then they met another person who changes their mind again...and so on.

Often I tend to fall into one of these categories, not typically on purpose but I admittedly can become blinded by my perspective.

Blinded is the word I use because I am understanding more about how our paradigm really shifts our ideas of truth. The truth is that not all people on Earth will accept the God of the Trinity. The truth also is that I can not always make each decision correctly. The reality of truth can often be hindered by our past and our paradigms. The truth of a spiritual world existing can leave some people wondering how it all fits together, but given the perspective of loosing a close family member and they too begin to care not how it fits together but simply that it all must exist.

My past can shape my perspective in a good way and focus my perspective on the BIG picture of the truth within this reality of life. It can also twist the way I want or choose to see others, myself and ultimately if a God who loves me created this world to be good.

I have struggled with others perspective of the past in the last few months. I say struggled because sometimes I just don't always understand how someone can see their memories twisted into something very different than what happened.

I need to clarify that I am not referring to one persons memory versus anothers, but a definite change in facts regarding the reality of the past. So, I am not referring to someone's understanding or misunderstanding of simple moments in time but rather a gross misrepresentation of a larger scale and for a long period of time.

I guess what I struggle with is that point in someone's life where they must need to be a victim or they have a current event in their life that must ONLY logically be linked to some past trauma. Then in order to align with what "everyone" says MUST have happened they create a feeling of being mistreated as a child or twist their memories to fit in to that category. The REALITY of our perspective is that when we think the same thing over and over, dwell on it and talk about it with sympathetic peers then we will believe that our first (and true) memories where the ones we wanted to be BUT the NEW (and false) memories are the truth we "buried".

Why can't people just decide to make choices BECAUSE that is the choice they want to make...why does it have to be someone else's problem or burden?

It would be easy if everyone just had the same paradigm! Although, I think I would like it more if everyone just took responsibility for their own choices and accept it when we think others choices are wrong.

Shoes

Funny new thing about Noah is really that he LOVES to put on shoes. He figured out how to put on flip-flops last week (Madisen's of course) and loves it when people leave their shoes out!

Of course, funniest of all is how he will put his little feet in Daddy's big dress shoes (backwards) and try to make them go where he is going....which has not worked for him just yet. I try to show him that his feet are in wrong, but he tells me No!

Just thought I would share a moment that has been quite entertaining the last few days!

Psalm 23 Amplified Bible

A Psalm of David.

1 THE LORD is my Shepherd [to feed, guide, and shield me], I shall not lack.
2 He makes me lie down in [fresh, tender] green pastures;

He leads me beside the still and restful waters.
3 He refreshes and restores my life (my self);

He leads me in the paths of righteousness [uprightness and right standing with Him--not for my earning it, but] for His name's sake.
4 Yes, though I walk through the [deep, sunless] valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear or dread no evil, for You are with me;

Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil; my [brimming] cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness, mercy, and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life, and through the length of my days the house of the Lord [and His presence] shall be my dwelling place.

Real Headlines, Real Choices

Susan, 37, and Andrew Miller, lost wife's battle with cancer, after celebrating their son’s birth six weeks ago. “This lady was the real deal,” Mr. Bowman said. “When she learned of her [pregnancy and cancer diagnosis], she knew she would not sacrifice her son’s life. She had a strong ethic for life.”
Survivors other than her husband and son include three daughters, Hannah Joy Miller, Madeline Helen Miller and Katelyn Ashley Miller, all of Cumming; her mother, Barbara Louise Simpson of Strongsville, Ohio; two sisters, Lisa Sherrard of Strongsville, Ohio, and Sandra Arrow of Dacula; and a brother, William Simpson of Keller, Texas. (Source: ajc.com )

I-275 Baby Death: Mom's ex-boyfriend caught after beating then throwing her baby out of car window in Tampa, killing the 4-month-old child. McTear was located in Tampa just after 9 a.m. on Arlington Drive. McTear is listed as a fugitive on the Florida Dept. of Corrections Web site. (Source: BayNews9.com )

Roger Penske, owner of the second-largest U.S. auto retail chain by revenue, has emerged as a potential buyer for General Motors Corp.'s Saturn brand, people familiar with the situation said. The auto maker, which has said it will abandon Pontiac, is working to sell Saturn, along with its Hummer and Saab brands, while surviving on federal loans.
It has until June 1 to convince the Obama administration it can survive without seeking bankruptcy protection under a Chapter 11 filing. (Source: FoxNews.com)

From a world view, local view or simply the people we know around us....Life is always throwing the hard truth of crime, poverty, dispair and death our way.
I realized the last two days why I don't watch too much news or television. If we have a choice to breath life or death, then the TV doesn't seem to be the place to find LIFE. The reality of life doesn't allow us to live in a bubble or to not be affected by the things around us.

The first article I posted was from a classmate from my husbands school. That article is more than a story about a women who wanted to battle cancer with the tenacity that she built a private school with because it was someone's sister, daughter, mother, friend. Someone that made a choice to fight a battle in spite of the odds, and gave birth to a healthy son.

The second article is a tragic scene ripped from someone's nightmare to desparately fight to keep a crazy man from taking her child in the middle of the night. The entire drama will unfold soon I am sure that no matter what is discovered, this women was in a loud dispute with a crying child while people were feet from her in their homes and the life of a child was taken in a cruel and savage way.

The last article could be a glimmer of hope to so many who face uncertain futures but in reality no matter how it unravels people will have lost their security. In the worlds economic game, mergers or purchases leave the employees that are left in a sense of limbo. We will have to wait and see if Penske can convince the Obama administration that there is hope left for part of GM.

No, I don't want to sound gloomy. I WANT TO BRING HOPE... The world will always sound the alarm that the sky is falling, in different ways and there is plenty of truth too.
WE NEED TO TELL THE WOLRD the story of a SAVIOR who is more than a character in a book, who is more than a wish or a prayer but JESUS CAN TOUCH YOUR LIFE AND GIVE YOU HOPE.

Does finding Jesus really change the tragedy? Well, it may not go away and life still affects you, I can assure you that knowing the Hope of Jesus can change YOU. By finding a purpose, a strength outside of myself, I have found a reason to keep reaching for my goals and pursuing the choices that will make a positive impact of people around me.

Romans 5:1 "By faith we have been made acceptable to God. And now, because of our Lord Jesus Christ, we live at peace with God. 2Christ has also introduced us to God's undeserved kindness on which we take our stand. So we are happy, as we look forward to sharing in the glory of God. 3But that's not all! We gladly suffer, because we know that suffering helps us to endure. 4And endurance builds character, which gives us a hope 5that will never disappoint us. All of this happens because God has given us the Holy Spirit, who fills our hearts with his love. 6Christ died for us at a time when we were helpless and sinful. 7No one is really willing to die for an honest person, though someone might be willing to die for a truly good person. 8But God showed how much he loved us by having Christ die for us, even though we were sinful. "

CRAZY Dog picture (from internet)

The Comforter

There are joyful times in life when we feel we need nothing. There are a great many moments in the present when it seems all the world is right.

I remember those times of peace and harmony when things seem difficult or hard to move through.

The definition of comfort from Webster's is: to give strength and hope to, or to ease the grief of trouble of.

Isn't it just like God to promise to "ease the grief" but not promise to remove it! I feel that way sometimes. I have had my moments that I think a little like that guy named Job who for a moment declares that He is the God who 'gives and takes away'. In my pain I have often asked Jesus to show me proof of His truth, and I know that in my honest doubts Jesus is not disappointed because he was not disappointed with Thomas who saw yet still doubted. Lately, I am seeing that waiting on the Lord does not provide an instant gratification but rather can be somewhat uncomfortable as I imagine it was for the hundreds who waited in fasting in the upper room for the anticipated comforter Jesus promised.

When the psalmist said He is my rock and my shelter, I don't think it was suppose to mean that He was hard and covered us in silence...but sometimes that seems all I find.

But that is really just the illusion of silence because the Bible promises that God not only will He never really leave us - He will sing over us - He knows all our tears - He has plans to prosper us and He also promised that He hears us when we call upon Him. So, why doesn't it always feel that way? Well, all the reasons are different for each persons circumstances, but I think that a few things remain to be the truth for all of us.

First: We are simply fragile! By God's Design, we are meant to be on the edge of of breaking in order that others may see Christ's Hope.

2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,”
has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that
is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We
are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never
abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. 10 Through
suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life
of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.

Second: We loose sight of the Grace that saved us and we are looking for God in the wrong place, thus hearing NOTHING.

Galations 5:3 I’ll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with
God by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the whole law of
Moses. 4 For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the
law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s
grace.

Although, so many preachers or pastors may send a message that we are all saved and thus secured in our destiny, that is not the debate here. This message clearly states that we need Grace to find the favor to WALK BY FAITH. Grace is the necessary piece to the puzzle in walking in the Spirit. We can simply be looking for God to answer us in our works, in our ability to do good things and miss where God is answering us.

Galations 5:16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you
won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do
evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives
us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two
forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your
good intentions. 18 But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under
obligation to the law of Moses.

There probably are more that we all could have in common but I believe that the last thing we all tend to do is forget to develop our character or learn the lessons while things are good. When things are going well we abandon the Word study or we abandon our prayer walks and in some cases we just forget to work out our faith muscles.

We become the enthusiatic person who has no soil of character when the hard times hit.

Matthew 13:18-19"Study this story of the farmer planting seed. When anyone hears news of the kingdom and doesn't take it in, it just remains on the surface, and so the Evil One comes along and plucks it right out of that person's heart. This
is the seed the farmer scatters on the road.
20-21"The seed cast in the gravel—this is the person who hears and instantly responds with enthusiasm. But there is no soil of character, and so when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it.

When faced with these three "starter points" in evaluating our relationship with God we may not fall into one of these categories. You should always ask the Holy Spirit to direct you in looking into your own heart and really repenting of the sins we so easily fall back into. It is very likely that withing our "silence" is a Holy Spirit waiting for us to become truely repentant in order that He may reveal His love for us and that Grace is more than enough to erase our sins with ease.

The Promise after the repentance:

Revelations 3:19"The people I love, I call to account—prod and correct and
guide so that they'll live at their best. Up on your feet, then! About face! Run
after God!
20-21"Look at me. I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I'll come right in and sit down to supper with you. Conquerors will sit alongside me at the head table, just as I, having conquered, took the place of honor at the side of my Father. That's my gift to the conquerors!

Let my ears hear...Let my heart be repentant and earnestly seek JUST you God...Then I will know I am not alone in my troubles, but that BECAUSE you love me you call me to walk tall and you keep my feet straight on the path of righteousness. Thank you Lord God my strength and my shield, my ever-present Help in time of troubles...YOU do in fact give us hope and something to hold on to!