Recycled

Recycled

A  pot simmers on low, side items for tonight’s thrown together meal ,dishes being put away so a dish full of the weekends coffee mugs, glasses, and outdated, fridge cleaned out Rubbermaid, can go in the dishwasher, and  I work to make room for clean glasses. Sighing, I look at a beautiful, hand crafted coffee mug, I purchased last year and after only one relaxed morning cup of joe, an unsteady shelf collapse, broke it. It’s sat, taking up space, with mended cracks, unusable, since before Christmas and tonight, I removed it from the shelf and placed it in the recycle bin. Walking back to an outstretched dishwasher, the chorus from this morning’s praise song played over in my head….. I come broken, to be mended……  over and over I hear this song, until I listened to Savior speak……. This is what I do, He spoke, I recycle you, into something new.

Revelation 21:5

Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

Instructed to pull the cup from the recycle bin, I begin to study it and it wasn’t long before tears fell, as I bowed my head and said, I don’t know that I can transcribe the power behind the message.

The cup, though broken, is still a cup. A crack filled with glue is near the handle, but the beautiful design of the potter is still in place. The handle, once completely broken off, is glued backed together,  with pieces forever lost, jagged edges run sharp, but the handle holds strong, though the outline is no longer smooth and a deep rivet leaves space between the thumb rest and the curve of the handle. The inside shows signs of cracking, but the swirling the potters hands made while spinning the cup into shape are still lovely. When turning the cup over, the artist signature is there. This my friends, is when my breath caught and I was lost in a sea of tears. The song from this morning worship blaring, and my head bowed, I cried out to Savior and thanked Him for turning my brokenness into testimony.

His signature has always been there….and my friend, when I came to know Jesus, I came broken. I was an angry young woman that wanted nothing to do with a God that could have healed my dying mother, but did not. Broken, with cracks, rough edges, rivets where pieces of me were forever lost and His signature was there and on that day, He Recycled me. He changed me into a new person. He took all the life choices that had broken what the Potter spun, and turned those cracks into testimonies.

Father, show them they are but clay, spun together by the Potter, and broken by the world, but they can be made new, recycled by the blood of Jesus Christ. Come broken, to be mended, by the blood of Jesus Christ, Just as you are, oh Father, this is my prayer. Just as, we are……. Amen.

Baking a Cake

Baking a Cake

Sitting with morning coffee in hand, staring at a blank computer screen, I sigh and decide not to post this week. The mass shooting in Florida, followed by the on slot of freedom of speech has put a heavy burden down deep. Before the first mother lay her  unsleeping head on a pillow and while the first daddy still paced the floor wishing it was him, the internet was full of hate, angry, and bickering. I thought back to 9/11 and how I brought food into the store I managed, brought the TV out of the breakroom into the lobby and sat chairs around it. The few customers that ventured out that day, all shared a heaviness of disbelief. No one talked about politics, no one argued amendments, and we all mourned. When did we stop mourning? We must mourn together so we can come together. Bickering, opinions, anger, memes, are not going to bring us together. The issue will not be fixed, until we mourn together, love each other, and hear each other.

I had an old journal sitting on the end table, that I noticed, as I sat my lukewarm mug down, and I flipped it open. A smile formed as I found sermon notes I made as a single momma, when I attended Life Church.  The sermon is dated July the 10^th, it had to of been 14/15 years ago, and it was preached by Pastor Sammy. The sermon is titled, Where to find the Hope you need, and I would like to borrow some of the Pastors points, I hope he doesn’t mind.  The first line reads:

When going through hard times, we ask – is there any hope?

·         9/11

·         Lost child

Without hope you cannot cope.

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him so that you may

overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

Further through my notes I wrote, all things do not work out good here. (Meaning on this earth) A few sentences down, I wrote, God can put bad things together to make good, and the example is a cake. Stay with me……

Eggs

Flour

Sugar

Oil

Cinnamon (I added this because cake is better with Cinnamon)

Vanilla Extract (Okay, I added this one too, because as a Southern, we add Vanilla Extract to all sweet recipes)

Now this is the part that is interesting. By themselves, each ingredient is hard to swallow, however when mixed together, and placed in the fire, you get cake. A sweet, yummy, mouth-watering cake.

Fellow believers, we cannot allow ourselves to get mixed up in the bickering of this world. We must understand the root of this evil. We, as believers, need to band together and fight against the enemy. Remember what the Word tells us.

Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by His vast strength. Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the Devil.

For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness,

against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.

Ephesians 6:10-12

One of the greatest tactics of the enemy is to separate us by arguing. If we are blinded with our own opinion, and too hardheaded to listen to others, we will NEVER come together. We will always….let me repeat that, ALWAYS stand alone, hard to swallow, and never blend into unison.

Stand firm in your beliefs and rise up for what you believe needs to change. However, show love and support of your fellow man. Mourn together. Agree to disagree…. That’s right, it’s okay to agree to disagree and still love your fellow man. Don’t get caught up in the ugliness of this world. Social media is a tool that was meant to bring us together and instead it is tearing us apart. Be the difference. Show love. Be love. Embrace those that are different. Separated we all a little hard to swallow, but blended together in unity and praise, we are a sweet aroma to the Lord. A cake, if you will, of perfect flavor, diversity, and opinion. God created us all, even the ones with different opinions than yours….that’s right…He created, Left, Right, and middle…… The enemy prefers us to be separated, remember that….. he fears the blend.

                                                                         

Father God, we as a nation once again are broken by the killing of sweet children, taken too soon. Mothers are broken, fathers are broken, and people are broken and lost and need Hope to cope with all this world has thrown at us. We argue over how to fix this all while things just get worse. Show us Lord, how to blend together in Love, and be the difference. Amen

Jesus Wept

Jesus Wept

I’ve had some news this week from family and friends being viciously attacked by the enemy. I sat reading a private message last night from a dear sister in Christ who feels, “murdered, but I am still alive”, by the events that have taken place in her life this last few days. I wept with her over miles and prayed God could let her feel my hand holding hers from across the country. Other news of sickness and unspeakable events had already hurt this praying heart and I just sat, while my husband pumped gas, and I stared. I sat in silence as we drove home, thinking of everything I had heard this week and wondered how I could pray for them all. How do I tell brokenness that God has a plan. How do I  remind someone of God’s plan for them, when the life they thought He had promised them, just fell apart.

I thought about a woman that I used to work with and when I would go through something difficult, she would say, no weapon, formed against you will prosper. Then she would say, “What part of NO WEAPON, do you not understand?” God bless her…she is right. The enemy will use anything and everything to try to rip us apart. He has already lost us to the Cross, he has no power over our eternity, so he works to destroy our testimony, so that others will see us as failures. God turns our brokenness into our testimony. 

Jesus wept

John 11:35

When we hurt, the Son feels the pain of our heart and He weeps. He didn’t cry because Lazarus died, he wept because His friends were in pain. When you think that God has forgotten you, He hasn’t. He feels your pain, He understands your flesh, after all, He is Creator God.

I do want to remind you of what Christ did after he wept for the heart break of His friends.

³⁸ Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. ³⁹ Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”

Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”

⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying.^[d] And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. ⁴² And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” ⁴³ Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” ⁴⁴ And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”

John 11: 38-44

When you think your world is falling apart and that God can’t fix it. Remember this, Lazarus was dead. If Jesus can raise the dead, he can restore whatever it is that is hurting you.

Will you join me in praying for all of the hurting people? Prayer request are private, but my God knows them. A lot of people are hurting right now and they need Christian’s to pray.

Lord, I lift up my friends that are going through pain and defeat. I pray you give them strength to face the Lion’s den. God you are mighty and right now, I need the stone moved, Lazarus to come forth, and the weapon to be defeated. Amen.

Mighty Forest

Morning traffic with drapes of darkness still hovering over the roadway, music cranked up loud, and morning dew still clinging to my windows, as my mind races with all of the “new” this year brings. A funny conversation with a friend, new job responsibilities, home life decisions, and I hear the Savior’s whisper of slow down, breath, and listen…..

The sky with finger swipes of pink and orange emerged from the madness in my mind as the dark drapes began to open to the slowly rising sun. Crossing over the Catawba, fog rose from hidden still waters, as the Queen city’s shadow showed her first trace. The trees were still clusters of dark matter, standing as one forest, a barrier for the homes behind them.

As the Queen City’s towers emerged full view and the sky burst open with brilliant colors that were so inspiring, many water coolers heard conversation and saw cell phone photos throughout the day and I turned my eyes to the trees. No longer just a cluster of one in the darkness but light now shone on each individual tree. In darkness they all looked alike, just one lump of trees without color, without shape, without character. In light, they become individuals with their own unique beauty.

This is how the Light transforms us. When we live in the darkness we are just another shapeless form, but when the Light shines on us, we become a powerful forest of individuals with unique skills, color, shapes, and strength.

1 In the beginning was the Word,^[a]
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
² He was with God in the beginning.
³ All things were created through Him,
and apart from Him not one thing was created
that has been created. ⁴ Life was in Him,^[b]
and that life was the light of men. ⁵ That light shines in the darkness,
yet the darkness did not overcome^[c] it.

                                                               John 1: 1-5 Holman

My tears found the familiar trails down my cheeks as I thought of the significance of what I was seeing. As more trees became visible I turned on to my exit, Freedom Drive. The Light gives us freedom to be individuals, although the darkness lies and makes those trapped in a shapeless forest think it’s the cover of darkness that gives them freedom. Darkness lies and makes you think that you can live your life however you want, do what you want and that is your freedom. But darkness came for one thing, to steal, kill and destroy. Darkness doesn’t care what you do with your life because darkness seeks to drag you with him, into the fire.

Light, cares how we live our lives because the Light sees us are individuals with unique gifts, talents, and abilities. The Light forgave us so that we can live eternally with Him. We are truly free in the Light because we can be who we were created to be.

Be an individual in the forest of Light. Love each person, no matter your differences. It takes many trees to form a forest and they are all different but all important. Each tree bears fruit that is different, but essential to life.

Does the Light shine on you? Do you bear fruit and share love with all? When Christ is the center, His Light overcomes the darkness and always will. If you want the Light today, will you join me in this prayer?

Father, I am in darkness and I am lost. I want to accept the forgiveness that Jesus Christ gave when He died on the cross. I want to be a Light into this world and I pray you forgive me. Amen.

Welcome my sister or brother. If you accepted Christ today, then know you have a forest praying for you. Feel free to reach out to me, if you need someone to pray with you.

Father, I pray that someone accepts you today.  I don’t want this blog to just be my words, I want it to serve as light in the world. Not for my glory, but for yours. I lift up all the readers and I pray for each of them. I pray you bring them healing, peace, and guidance this week. Amen.

Domino Effect

Domino Effect

a cumulative effect produced when one event

initiates a succession of similar events

I thought about it all day and I knew that when I had a quiet moment what I was going to do. After work, I sat in a dark car and I made the call, with my heart beating through my chest. “Hello” she answered and I began my apology.

Lack of control over a situation had caused me to break. I unleashed anger and caused an argument between two people that didn’t need an excuse to argue. It was my belief that she was purposely doing something and to be honest, I still believe that it was happening, because it stopped after the argument. Never the less, I still owed her an apology, as I had no grounds to falsely accuse. I wrote about the victory of that moment in my journal and I thought I would share parts of it.

11/08/2009

A domino? This week God used me as the first domino. A simply apology, not so simple when it’s given to someone who owes me, and my family a lot of apologies. But, still, conviction and obedience and I feel great. No anger, not waves of torment, just relief, peace and joy. Hallelujah!

God told me He used me this week as a domino, the first apology! To which I chuckled, Lord you use me a lot as the first domino.  Just think of the benefits of being the first person to fall on your knees….. I fell first, to start a long line of knees hitting the ground. The loving hand of Jesus, Abba, reaching down to gently guide me to my knees. The second, third, fourth, and so it goes, dominoes knocked down by the first, each harder, and more weight as each one piles up. Something God gently started in silence lays hard, fast, and heavy as each domino falls….louder and louder, until each domino involved fall.

The dominoes are people and the falling is obedience to forgiveness. Sin holds us in stubborn disobedience and as each person refuses to surrender, another domino is added.

I remembered when I wrote this being so sure that all of the dominoes were going to fall, immediately. Isn’t that the way you see it happen with the game? Truth is, sometimes your domino falls but something prevents the other one from falling immediately. That’s okay, because when we pray, God listens. Just remember, He also gives us free will, he can’t force us to our knees to pray, only guide us. If we refuse, the sin remains. Eventually you learn to live with the guilt of that sin and it just feels normal, you may even make excuses and blame it on others. Deep down, you know the truth and so does God.

Father God, thank you for this reminder. On days when my prayers seem unanswered, you remind me that they are prayers in waiting. Held back by a stubborn domino. I lift up all who read this, if they have an apology to give, guide them to their knees and then be with them while they

Words

Words

Several years ago I sat at a table and was organizing baby shower pictures, two years or longer after they were taken. A little boy, not yet freckled faced, toddled up to me, with paci in mouth and said, “oh a party….” I smiled and showed him the pictures. “Mommy and daddy….no Kendal?” In his limited vocabulary he ask. A simple question, requiring only a simple answer. In my mommy moment of wanting him to know he was there, I simply said, you are there, in mommy’s tummy. “Ok” he said and toddled back off to watch Mickey Mouse.

A few minutes later he returned and looked at me and said with all the seriousness a toddler could, “Mommy! You not supposed to jus’ eat people!” Then he toddled off with me laughing tears down my face. For the next several weeks, he told everyone that would listen, “Mommy jus’ eat me….” I got a few looks…..

We don’t always choose the right words when explaining something and sometimes we over explain, when a simple answer will suffice. For example, I should have just told my sweet boy that he was not in the picture or no, he wasn’t there yet. Oh course, then I wouldn’t have that adorable story to tell his future girlfriends.

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to evangelize – not with clever words, so that the

Cross of Christ will not be emptied of its effect.

 Corinthians 1:17

I came across this scripture while reading early morning, before work. The background is Paul writing to the Corinthians and reminding them that Christ is the focus, not himself, Apollos, or Cephas, as some of the worshippers were arguing over whose teaching’s to follow. I particularly like the second part of the scripture, because it emphasizes something I think we forget as Christ followers. Paul evangelized a simple message. Christ died on a cross for our sins, overcame the grave and rose again. To be saved, one must simply believe.

When witnessing to a lost friend, don’t try to use clever words and impress them with your vocabulary. Just speak the simple truth, as told by the first teachers of the gospel. Also, we must watch our own words when not speaking about Christ or when speaking about Christ. Those same lost souls, may be the very people reading a social media post, where you blast a news article, or make comments on a post that someone is offended by, or you could be sitting in a room with people and come across as a hateful racist.  (Preaching to myself, friends)

There is still time to make a new year’s resolution to steer clear of those conversations. In the long run, does it matter what side of a political argument someone is on, or does it truly matter what side of the Cross they are own? Christ used love to minister. So should we. He also gives all of us free choice over our lives, we should remember that when we argue against someone else’s choices in life.

Father, I don’t know if this is for the blog or for me? With so much hate and divide in the world, I feel hopelessly lost when I see friends so hurt by words. How do I stand by my principals, yet respect the principals of others. How do friendships remain strong when so much divide is taking place? Help us Lord. Remind us to love our neighbors, all of them, the same….even when we disagree. Guard my tongue as I leave clever arguments alone, for the simple message of love on a cross. Amen

Noah Mocker

Noah Mocker

Packing my suitcase for a week of training in Charleston and I checked the weather. It was only going to be a few degrees warmer, so I decided easy maintenance sweaters and dress pants would be the easiest to pack. Two pair of shoes, one loafer style and the other a dress boot with a heel for the one long pair of dress pants I packed. Then, just because I love them, my new slippers for walking around the hotel at night. I also packed warm PJ’s, two pair, just in case I spilled coffee….okay, two pairs because I love PJ’s and planned to spend as much time in them as possible. I looked at the weather again and decided a warm coat, heavy scarf and gloves, and I completely ignored the little snowflake showing for Wednesday…why? Well, it’s Charleston, SC that I was heading to. They never get snow and if they do, it will be a simple dusting with possibly a delay in the time I go to work. Which translates to more PJ time.

A week later and I am home after only 3 hours of training with my new manager and exhaustion from spending 2 and a half days stuck in a hotel room. Wednesday morning I woke to a text message before 6 AM, telling me to stay put and not to try to come to work until I heard back from my manger. I got up, turned on the news and looked outside to gray skies with no precipitation. I smiled it off, smirked at the overly excited weatherman that was talking worst case scenarios and thought…yeah right, 5 inches in Charleston. So I took an early shower and when I finished getting ready, I had another message before 7 am, telling me the office was closed for the day. What? It’s not even raining yet? No rain is reported until 9 and snow is not supposed to come until 12. Confused and finally understanding how my more Northern friends feel when it snows at home, I went down for breakfast.

After breakfast, I went back up and saw messages from my dad about the freezing rain hitting his home, near Savannah and realized that same storm was coming toward us. Still, I thought, no work today and possibly a delay tomorrow. Around 10, the airport closed and around 12, the snow started on top of three hours of freezing rain that covered everything. I went to the lobby to find that all of the restaurant in the area had closed and they were planning a lunch buffet, but the chef was trying to get something together, as they normally did not serve lunch. People from all over the Continent were booking rooms, as their flights home had been canceled. At 1:00 we all gathered at the dining hall and patiently, well some of us, waited as the overwhelmed staff finalized the make shift lunch. By 1:20 I was sitting with two ladies from Michigan that had just come off a 10 days cruise, and a woman from Canada that had been visiting family. The conversations all around were fascinating as person after person tried to explain the shear complexity of snow in Charleston. You see, Charleston Closed.

The staff at the hotel was stranded with us, with only one or two new staff faces over the next two and half days. Finally on Friday, I felt safe to leave and the first 45 minutes, I drove very slowly up highway 26 until ice and snow disappeared from view. Once out of harms-way, I began to think about how I was a part of history. A storm of historic measures that looks like a Hurricane shooting up the Eastern coast, bringing record breaking cold, hurricane force winds, and wave surges in Northern states. The East coast was at a stand-still as flights were canceled, hotels overwhelmed, and unprepared people looked out windows as beaches filled with snow and ice.

I had warning, I thought, as I remembered the little snowflake on my weather app. I knew this was coming, I should have brought snow boots, warm pants, an ice scrappers, and food for my hotel room. But, I didn’t….instead I brushed it off as complete silliness and found myself standing in the same place as some of the world’s most famous non-believers. How must it have felt to know you had a chance to climb aboard the Ark as the first rain drops fell and to look at that closed door, kicking yourself for not believing the warning?

I laughed at myself in the car when I realized that I too was a Noah mocker. I choose to believe what I know and what I know is that, Charleston, SC does not have snow storms that produce 5 inches of snow. But it does and this once in a lifetime adventure has made me even more aware of who is in control.

Nothing this world shows us, prepares us for the pending coming of The Lord Jesus and so many people ignore the indicators. It’s just fiction in a book written by fanatics. Or is it? What if you’re wrong? What if, you should be packing snow boots, but instead pack dress boots because those make more sense.  

Father, thank you for surprise reminders that we are never truly prepared for what can happen. That things that are normal can change at any moment and we should always be prepared. Help us gird our loins and prepare for the day of your return, while being a light to the lost and turning more mockers to the Truth. Amen.