Happy Resurrection Sunday!

He has risen! He has risen, indeed!!

The Lenten season is over.

My time of fasting from social media has come to an end! 

Staying off of social media was refreshing. 

Not writing my Bblog, and posting it on social media was excruciating!

But my commitment to God, for my Lenten fast, was to focus completely on God and listen for His voice only and allow no other voices in! 

Today, however, is the day that ended my fast. But far greater than that, it is the day that ended hopelessness for all mankind! 

Jesus Christ conquered the grave, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven, giving us all who receive Him eternal life! That is our blessed Hope!

God has given me a gift to Speak His Truth in Love! Not having an outlet to do that for 40 days was rough! 

When God gives us a spiritual gift, He wants us to use it for His glory.  

God clearly called me away from it for a time, to focus completely on Him! But I am praising Him today, that I’m back to exercising it!

Resurrection Sunday is proceeded by two very difficult days. In Christendom we call them Good Friday, and Silent Saturday. This year especially, they held great meaning for me, and a solemn soberness. God encouraged me, as I was reading through the gospels, to put myself in the place of His followers!

Unlike me, on this side of the cross, they did not know what I know! When Jesus was taken from them, and was beaten, tortured, mocked, and nailed to a cross, they did not know what was going to happen on Sunday.

Their beloved Rabbi, that they had left business and family to follow, was taken away by the very government they had hoped Him to overthrow. Not only that, the religious leaders had accused Him, and found Him guilty of blasphemy, and cried out for His crucifixion! 

As His followers stood by shocked and fearful, listening to the crowds cry, “crucify him, crucify him,” all their hopes seemed hopeless.

They had to be filled with disillusionment and were brokenhearted. Their hope had turned to hopelessness!

Have you found yourself lately being disillusioned? Have those you’ve loved and trusted let you down? Have you endured circumstances that have left you brokenhearted? Have you watched your dreams crumble and you have turned from Hope to hopelessness? If so, then you understand what the followers of Jesus were enduring!

Have you found yourself confused, perplexed and losing hope like these two disciples on the road to Emaus?

When asked what their attitude was about Jesus and his crucifixion and death they responded…

“But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things have happened.” Luke 24:21

Their disillusionment had become so strong that it was turning in to brokenhearted hopelessness! They were walking beside Jesus himself, and not even recognizing they were on the road with their living Savior.

Have you been walking on your own “road to Emaus”, for so long that your Hope has turned to hopelessness? Do you find yourself disillusioned by circumstances that don’t change? Or even worse, are you brokenhearted as you witness circumstances in your life, not changing and you know that, even though God has the power to change them, He has not changed them yet?

If so, you are still living in, “Silent Saturday!” Everything is still and unchanged! It feels like the dream has died, and circumstances will never change.

This is the true definition of walking by faith, and not by sight! We can’t see what God is doing! We don’t hear what He is saying! But Faith tells us that we can have hope because we know that our God is faithful even in the silence!

In our disillusionment and brokenheartedness we are called to walk by faith in the waiting, just like the disciples were over 2000 years ago as they followed Jesus and watched Him go to the cross, and be buried in a tomb.

We can have Hope today, because our faith has been made sight by the empty tomb!

We serve a Risen Savior, and He is in the world today! He is in our hearts and lives each and every day, even when we see Him or don’t see Him, even when we hear Him or don’t hear Him yet!

HE IS ALIVE! And through His resurrection our hopelessness is turned to hope!

TRUTH BOMB

Our hopelessness is turned to hope in the resurrection of Jesus!

In closing friends, I leave you with these words of encouragement;

“May the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope!”  Romans 15:13

It’s so good to be back! Looking forward to continuing Truth Bomb Tuesdays with you! See you there!

Speak Truth Love 

“BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.”

Psalm 46:10

It’s not Tuesday, it’s not even Wednesday, but I am dropping a bomb! 

Not a TRUTH BOMB BUT A FASTING BOMB!💣 

After 8 years of writing my Blog every Tuesday and dropping countless TRUTH BOMBS, God is leading me to pause and fast from it for these 40 days of Lent!

This is really huge for me! And that’s why it took me a couple days to continue praying and confirm that this is indeed what God is calling me to do. God spoke clearly to me eight years ago about writing my Blog and posting it every week. 

I listened to  Him then and He has been more than faithful! And I must listen to him now!

After my experience at the beginning of this year with 21 days of fasting and prayer, I felt closer to God than ever. I truly felt Him calling me to give up anything that got in the way of leaning on Him and only Him.

It was not an easy fast, but it drew me so close to Him that I truly did not want it to end!

Now that we are into the Lenten season, I find myself asking Him once again, what is it I need to fast from in order to have nothing hinder or distract my complete dependence on Him.

The answer for me has come in fasting from social media. This includes my weekly contribution to social media in my weekly Blog.

This is a very difficult one for me! I prayed and prayed and ask Him again and again, but I am convinced that He wants me to keep writing, but not to post for this Lenten season. I pray that at the end of this time of prayer and fasting, I will be able to post again in April. And until then please know I love you, I am praying for you, and I hope that your Lenten season is full of drawing near to God and knowing that sometimes it takes us being still to know that He and He alone is God!

Speak Truth Love

They say, “All you need is Love!”

When the world says it, I don’t buy it! To the world love is a two way street. You meet my needs and if and when you do I will love you. That is of course if I feel like it. With the world and its point of view, love is CONDITIONAL!

When God say’s it, I believe it! God asks nothing of me in return but willingly and sacrificially GAVE everything because He loves you and I UNCONDITIONALLY!

“FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONE AND ONLY SON.”

John 3:16

I Love, Love because it is not a word, it is an action. Love is an unconditional act that gives even when it does not receive!  

And that Unconditional Love is for everyone! It does not make a difference what you do, or what you have done, where you are from, or what you look like! 

Love is an Unconditional, Free gift from God for everyone who will receive it!

…”FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD…”

I Love Valentines Day because it gives me an opportunity to show others the Love of God!

God has already given us the best Valentine, Jesus! Valentine’s Day offers us the opportunity to give Love back to Him by loving others the way He Loves us!

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, who is God asking you to share His love with?

TRUTH BOMB

GOD LOVES UNCONDITIONALLY AND THROUGH HIM I CAN TOO!

Happy LOVE Day my friends!

I Love you and GOD Loves you More!

Speak Truth Love

As the storm rages around us and roars furiously outside, it can be hard to feel the faithfulness of God.

When our situation continues to be unchanged, and we have prayed for so long.

When our loved one’s condition does not improve, but only grows worse.

When that bank account number never seems to go up, but always down.

When that health issue does not heal, but instead, the pain grows and becomes almost unbearable.

When that relationship does not mend, but seems to be at the breaking point.

When we find ourselves in the “storms of life”, it can be difficult to see the faithfulness of God.

I have found myself the last few days in a physical storm! All of California has been hit with what they have called, ‘Atmospheric river!’

This storm has not played favorites. It has extended from every point north in California to every point south in California.  It has caused floods, it has caused mud slides, it has caused power outages, it has downed trees that have stretched across roadways and highways alike. It has caused traffic jams and traffic to come to a complete halt. It has even caused death as it has raged on and on for days!

The storm outside seemed to intersect with a storm I had going on inside! Working hard, and trying to provide for my sweet mama while she ages and grows more and more confused and frustrated, has not only been a challenge emotionally, but also mentally as I fight to ensure she is well provided for and taken care of! 

“It should be easier than this!” I heard myself screaming out as I was on the 15th phone call for the third day in a row! Why is the system so difficult? Why does it feel like they’re fighting against you instead of with you? Why God has this been going on for so long? When will it end?

I walked out the door feeling like my heart and soul were twisted and in turmoil from my emotional storm. As I faced the physical storm outside, I was dressed to face it with my rain boots, my puffy coat with a hood,  and my umbrella. Yet I continued to feel unprotected with the fierce winds and the debris scattered all around me.

Is this my life? Am I just to live in raging storms and strong winds with debris scattered everywhere? Where are you God? Do you see me? Do you hear me?

Do you see my heartbreaking at broken relationships? Do you feel me pleading for answers? How long must I wait? Are you there? I know that you are! I need to see you!

My tired and weary heart and soul felt as tossed and blown as the scattered tree branches, leaves, and pine needles all around me! I plopped my weary body into the drivers seat of my car, closed the door, turned on the ignition and started singing  praise songs to God, even though I felt as fragile as the tiny sprinkling of raindrops hitting my windshield. 

I merged on the interstate and glanced out my left window. There it was! The sign of God’s lasting faithfulness! He had heard my cries! He had answered the cry of my heart! He had placed it there in the sky that morning, just for me, like He did for Noah and his family all those thousands of years ago!

God placed a rainbow in the sky! He had wrapped His faithfulness with a bow just for me that day! He knew how much I needed the reminder!

“I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant (promise), between me and the earth.”

Genesis 9:13

God is always faithful! It is His nature! He always sees me! He always hears me when I cry out! He knows and understands everything that I am going through, and He cares about every tiny detail! God will never leave me, and He will never forsake me! Sometimes my faith just needs it wrapped up with a bow to remind me!

What are you going through in your life that you need God to wrap up with His bow? He hears you, He sees you, and He is faithful!

TRUTH BOMB

GOD WRAPS HIS FAITHFULNESS TO US WITH A BOW TO REMIND US THAT HE IS IN CONTROL OF EVERY STORM IN OUR LIVES!

Speak Truth Love

Now this may come as no surprise to any of you. I am not going to make it super theological, or try to use big fancy vocabulary words, or anything of the sort! I am going to state it as simply, and plainly as I can!

The greatest lesson I am learning, as I focus on the word, faithful that God has given me for this year is that God is faithful all the time, even when I am not faithful. 

I love God so much, and all I want to do is please Him and make Him happy! But it seems on some days, the harder I try, the greater, I fail.

I get up in the morning, probably similar to you, and determine to make this day better than the day before! I am going to sing His  praises! I turn on my favorite Praise music and crank up the volume! I sing out as loud as I can! I open up His Word and read it out loud feeling like I’m proclaiming His Truth over my day! I am ready to walk with Him, and talk with Him all day long! 

Then smack, it hits me, and I am thrown back Into discouragement, disappointment, frustration, and even anger. The phone rings, and something I thought I took care of yesterday, needs my attention again today. My phone dings, and it’s another reminder of a problem, I have not yet solved! My computer sends out a reminder of three things that I’ve yet to have accomplished! I feel tired, worn out and fed up! I want to give up! I feel discouraged, like no matter how hard I try, it’s never good enough. I’m fighting the feeling of complete failure, as I’m trying to figure out why I can’t even make it out the door before another catastrophe strikes me down!

In a matter of minutes, it seems like my faith is failing, it’s wobbly at best.

With the best of intentions, my faith fails!

But then I pause, I take a deep breath, and I look up! And that still small voice whispers ever so gently, “I’ve got you!”

I am reminded once again that, even when my faith fails, God is still faithful!

He is God, and I am not! Even on my best days I can never be everything I want to be. But God is the same today, yesterday, and forever! He is faithful and true, and He never waivers or fails!

2 TIMOTHY 2:13

“If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny himself.” 

TRUTH BOMB

GOD’S CHARACTER IS FAITHFUL, AND HIS FAITHFULNESS IS NOT DEPENDENT ON MINE!

Today I am praising God for His faithfulness! I am praying, and working to be faithful to Him every day in all I say, and all I do! But praise Him, His faithfulness is not dependent on mine!

Speak Truth Love

“Faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not yet see.” Hebrews 11:1

How many of us are willing to go to the airport, hop on the next flight, leaving and land in a place we did not plan for, and get out and find our own way, explore the unknown, and find all of our accommodations and necessities in the moment?

That is certainly not the way I plan for a trip! Even an unexpected, one on one that is placed in front of me last minute! I am going to make phone calls, I am going to Google Resources, I am going to make sure that I know where I am going and how I am getting there and what is going to happen when I get there.

And, if I did not do this, people would think I had jumped aboard the “crazy train!”

While I do not believe this scripture passage is telling us to throw all caution to the wind or act irrationally, I do believe it is calling us to live by FAITH! The kind of faith that is willing to step out and trust God, before all of our questions are answered!

This is not human nature. In the natural we want to know anything, and everything that we possibly can! We want to make sure that not only have we worked a plan, we have actually put guard rails in place! What if this doesn’t happen…Then I’ll do this! Or what if this comes up…Then I’ll do this! This is living in the natural! I believe God is calling us to live in the supernatural! When the only Way that we can make it, and survive, is if HE acts and helps us!

What are you hoping for and dreaming about? What are you looking ahead to that? You know is only possible, if God steps in and ACTS!

If you truly believe that, He wants you to do this for Him, then let’s take our steps of faith together, and watch our miraculous, all powerful God work!!

He is faithful, my friends, and He will do what He says He will do!!

TRUTH BOMB

“Faith is taking the first step even when you cannot see the whole staircase!”

Martin Luther King Jr

Speak Truth Love

As the saying goes…”Seeing is believing.”

Sight is a precious gift! And I use the word “gift“, very seriously! Those of you that have followed me on my Blog, know that I faced losing my sight in my right eye this past summer! It was a very long recovery, but God blessed me with sight back in my right eye!

I prayed long and hard for that gift. I asked for prayer from every faith filled person that I knew! I went to the doctor faithfully, and I followed his instructions to the letter. I sacrificed time and comfort to allow sight to return back to my right eye. And I give God all the glory that He restored it to me at the end of eight weeks. I cherish the gift God gave me and I thank Him for it!

Why did I fight so long and hard for my sight to be restored? Why did I endure the procedure and surgery that it required to regain my sight? Why did I lay flat, face down for so long so that my eye could heal?

Because sight is important! It truly is a gift!

I learned so many things without the sight in my right eye for a time. Sight in both eyes helps with balance(and as we age this becomes more and more important), it helps with depth perception, walking up and down stairs, seeing what’s coming at us from the side, and so, so much more! 

One of the strangest perceptions I had, without sight in my right eye, was an increased level of fear and anticipation. I am not a fearful person by nature. But without being able to see what was on my right side, and therefore what was coming at me from the right side, I had an increased fear level that caused me to walk more hesitantly.

One of my sweetest memories from my healing process was when my daughter would take my right arm and stand on my right side when we were at church, and would walk with me up and down the stairs, or in the parking lot with potholes and uneven gravel. I never said anything to her she just saw, and noticed my hesitancy.

Sight is truly a gift! And when we don’t have it, we can become hesitant and fearful!

So what happens when I face the scripture God led me to in my journey with him through 2024 and His word for me, faith?

“FOR WE LIVE BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT.”  

2 Corinthians 5:7

WOW, right after I have personally and physically gone through a time of having partial sight, God is showing me that, that has nothing to do with my FAITH!

When He showed me this verse in His Word and I asked Him if I was supposed to write on it, He gave me a beautiful picture, something that I remember doing from childhood, and was crystal clear in my mind!

We had a big house with an acre and a quarter of property from the time I was in fifth grade. It had big pieces of lawn between and around a horseshoe driveway. We had lots and lots of trees, but my favorite were the Cotton Woods. My Dad hated them because he said every time the wind blew their leaves and seeds blew around and more trees would pop up! He’d have to go around, pulling them out before he could mow. But their leaves were the very reason I loved them the most!

In Summer, Fall and Spring, I would lay on my back in the grass and look up at the leaves in those beautiful trees! I loved watching the wind whistle through the trees and causing the leaves to dance.

They would move in all different directions! The sunlight would shine through them, and make them glisten and turn different colors! I would lay there and feel a sense of God‘s presence. It made me feel that, even though I was so small, there was someone much bigger, and in control of all around me that was right there with me. I was not alone!

It was better than magical, it was SUPERNATURAL!

Yet, the very thing that was making those leaves dance I could not see.

It was the wind, and even though I could not see it with my eyes, I knew that it was there!

The wind is something that we do not “SEE”, but we know it is there!

What happens when the sun shines even brighter and the leaves remain still?

Do I doubt the existence of the wind?

Do I grow discouraged that the leaves will never dance again?

NO!

I know the wind will return, and the leaves will dance again!

I just simply do not know when? I am not in control of the wind, and where it blows! But the key is, I know who is! That is my FAITH!

This is truly what FAITH in God is like!

He is there, even when I cannot see or feel His moving and His working!

And unlike the wind, GOD NEVER FAILS!

God never dies down or stops moving!

How do I know this without seeing it with my eyes? Because of His great faithfulness to me throughout my entire life! God remains faithful, even when I am not!

TRUTH BOMB

GOD’S FAITHFULNESS DOES NOT DEPEND ON MY FAITHFULNESS!

God‘s faithfulness is constant! And my faith can waiver. 

But God still desires me to be faithful to Him and trust in Him, and He proves it by His constant faithfulness to me!

I came across this great quote that I felt spoke really well to this…

“When we do our very best, and leave the rest in God’s hands, every drought will end in rain.”

The sun will set, the seasons will change, and the wind will wrestle through those leaves again!

Our faith in God is dependent on what we know about Him, and not what we see! He does great things for us, and we have wonderful reminders of His faithfulness! But our faith is truly tested, and made strong when we trust in Him, even when we cannot see Him working now!

Faith is a journey, my friends, and even though it is so daily, we must continue to walk it step-by-step, knowing that our faithful God is moving and will make those leaves dance again in our lives!

Here is a prayer that I am praying to increase my faith! Maybe, if you pray it, it will help increase yours as well!

“Dear Lord Jesus,

You bless me every day, and yet I still can struggle to fully trust you. Help me to increase my FAITH and walk by that FAITH, no matter my circumstances. And help me to always trust that you are FAITHFUL  and will always come through for me!”

I love you, Friends, and I’m encouraged to walk this faith journey alongside you!

Speak Truth Love

As I begin my second week of 2024, focusing on the word God has given me for this new year—faithfulness—I need to ask myself this obvious and glaring question: What is Faith?

There is no possible way that in this one short Blog post, this one question could be answered in its entirety.

But that’s why we have lots of Tuesday’s together to examine it! When we are seeking to find answers to our questions we go to an expert in the field. Someone who has not just written down or spoken out their advice on the subject, but has lived it out with their very own life. After all, if I am looking for an eating plan that is going to produce a healthy outcome, then I am going to look to someone who has followed the program and been successful at it. Or if I am looking for a financial institution to manage my money, I’m going to look for one recommended by people who have had success putting their money in that institution. 

For spiritual matters, it is hard to beat an example such as the Apostle Paul.

Paul says in Romans, 

“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” 

Romans 10:17

So our Faith is quick and when we hear and understand the word of God.

In order to be faithful, we must have faith in what we are trusting in. My commitment to the word that was given to me this year had to start with a dedication to His Word. For me, it looks like this…

Having a daily devotional by opening up His Word, and reading a verse and praying on it. Mind you, that discipline comes before I start asking Him for things I need in my life. I am simply reading His Word and praying on it, asking Him to reveal His truth to me. Next, as I am getting ready, I listen to the Bible in one year being read to me. And finally, I study the Bible chronologically from beginning to end this year. For me, that meant ordering a study. I cannot expect to be faithful to God this year if I am not making His Word my priority!

As we complete the second week of January, we come to the time when the majority of people who started their New Year’s Resolutions on January 1st, have thrown in the towel. I heard Nicky Gumbel say one time, that at the gym he works out in in London, on January 1 you can hardly walk down the isles with all the new equipment they have brought in.  By the end of the second week of January, they are moving all of that new equipment out. Our commitment to God requires a greater resolve! And because our God is faithful, when we put the work in, He will do His work. I don’t know if God has given you a word for this new year of 2024, but as I continue my stamina to my word of God, I am also praying for you to have stamina in your own study of the Word of God!

TRUTH BOMB

Your Faith ignites as God’s Word excites!

May you feel the excitement that comes from being in and staying God’s Word!

Speak Truth Love

It’s a New Year and the perfect time for us to ask God what He wants to do “NEW” in us this year!

I LOVE new things…new shoes that I put on and wear and never want to get dirty!

New plans to follow that bring excitement because I am starting something I’ve never tried or starting over again fresh!

New places to visit and explore!

New foods to taste and savor!

And my very favorite of all, NEW freshly fallen snow to ski on, make snowballs out of, to step on one foot at a time as I see the freshly made footprints and listen to the crunch, crunch, crunch that only NEWLY fallen snow can make!

There is nothing like experiencing something NEW! And each New Year as the calendar turns over and I am challenged to once again remember to write the New Years date correctly I love asking God for a New Word from Him for me for the New Year!

This year I believe He gave it to me early as I was writing my blogs through the month of December!

As I was praying through my December Blogs on Advent, I felt God clearly speaking to me on the faithfulness of God’s people. Common, everyday people just like you and I that faced fear, ridicule, persecution, and even death!  

As I continued studying for my December blogs while at the same time simultaneously praying for God’s divine leading and provision in my life, the theme of FAITHFULNESS grew increasingly more clear as God’s intention for my focus this New Year!

My word from God for the year 2024 is, FAITHFULNESS!

I know that I have so much to learn in being found faithful to my God and His purposes.

I also know that God will lead and guide me every step of the way!

I love this quote I found by John Piper: 

“My job is FAITHFULNESS;

God’s is FRUITFULNESS!”

Paul says it best in I Corinthians,

“What after all is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe-as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but ONLY GOD, who makes things grow.”

In other words we can plant and water and be found faithful to God and His leading and calling, but at the end of the day it is “ONLY GOD” who makes things grow and bear fruit!

This year of 2024 I want to be found faithful to God’s plan, leading, direction and working in my life.

FAITHFULNESS to God’s plan led Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem where Jesus Christ our Savior was born according to God’s plan, will and leading! Where will my FAITHFULNESS to God’s plan lead me in this New Year of 2024? I am anxious to discover this in my life!

I encourage you to seek God’s Word for you during this New Year.

There truly is something thrilling in starting NEW!

TRUTH BOMB

GOD MAKES ALL THINGS NEW!

Speak Truth Love

Christmas has come and gone, but there is one true gift of Christmas that never leaves us! I pray that your Christmas was everything you hoped it would be. But more than anything,  as we approach the new year, I pray that the true gift of Christmas, Jesus Christ, is with you like never before. I pray you experience His true light in your life, and that it brings you true peace and joy.

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.”

John 8:12

No one can extinguish His light!

TRUTH BOMB

Christmas may have come and gone, but the true gift of Christmas remains: Jesus Christ in us!

I look forward to a new year with you, sharing God’s Truth and experiencing His light!

Speak Truth Love