Lessons Learned

Love Me Challenge #23

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Some might say my best feature is my smile. My friends might say it’s my eyes. I’ve heard others say it might be my hair or my tall physique. My husband would say…well, he just left the room when I asked him; so, I guess, I won’t be getting his answer for this post. If you ask me, my first response would be, “I don’t know.” This is really a difficult one for me, because I don’t like looking at myself and trying to figure out these kinds of answers. I’d rather talk about you and brag on your best feature(s). That is much more fun!

Yet, if I could say what I’d like my best feature to be is not something you will see at first glance, and it might not even be something you’ll notice at our first meeting of one another. However, once you get to know me, you’ll see I have a quiet, gentle way about me, and I have a knack for noticing small details. Sometimes, this trait will make me excruciatingly slow and meticulous, but when I’m “on it,” it allows me to see things others might miss. It causes me to see a pain in someone’s eyes when all the room sees their smile. It creates within me an ability to connect with the quiet, the lonely and the fearful. It allows me to see past the facade and smokescreen that someone may be giving in order to see the inner need to just belong and be loved.

I may not always see those little details, and I may very well “miss it” from time to time; however, when I’m listening closely to His voice and being in tune with His direction, this small ability becomes a great big asset in the Father’s hands, to be used for His glory, not because I’m ‘all that’ but because HE is.

Breathe Again

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Life can feel like a heavy blanket resting on your chest, soaking up the rain, getting heavier and heavier. You can choose to get lost under the weight, dwindling down to nothing, expelling all the air from your lungs. You can close your eyes and simply allow the pain to wash you away in the storm. 

Heartache and grief is bound to come to each one. If it hasn’t visited you, just hold on, your hour will come when reality slams through the door like a hurricane, and you wonder if the sun will ever shine again. Those days, the air can become so suffocating, as if your house is on fire, and you’re caught within the fumes and the smoke, grasping for one more chance to breathe again. 

In that moment, in that lapse of time, you have to choose to breathe again, even when it is a struggle. Those are the minutes you will have to fight to survive. If it takes clawing your way out of that pit, then claw you must, but never give up. 

Never lie down and give up the fight so easily. Never roll out the red carpet for death to seize your mind and your soul. Never let the reaper consume you with hopelessness and despair. He will try, and he will scream horrors upon horrors to make you see him. Don’t let him win. 

There is Hope. There is a better way. Hope will bring light into the darkest night. Hope will return the song to the wind. Hope will chase away the clouds in due time, and Hope will help you to breathe again. 

Just take one tiny breath. Take one tiny step forward, and whisper His name, “Jesus.” He will answer. He will give you breath to breathe…


Love Me Challenge #22

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The quality that makes me unique the most is probably my quirkiness. LOL. I wrote a little about it here, and I have often found myself feeling annoyed, frustrated or just plain embarrassed by this quirkiness; however, as I grow older, I have come to accept it as a part of me. Now, I work harder to allow Christ to reveal Himself through all of that, and I have realized when I rely more on Him than myself, His uniqueness is all I need! 😉

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Tears Flow Like Rain

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Sometimes, you just have to let the tears flow. Let them flow like rain. I’m not talking about manipulative water works here, those kind of tears found springing forth when a person is trying to work their own way in a situation they do not belong, or the kind of show that is selfish, ambitious, full of jealousy and greed.

No, I’m talking about drops of rain that rush forth from a broken and contrite soul. Tears which flow from a heart that is humbled before a righteous God.Tears can purify our thoughts as we allow His Spirit to wash over our soul. Tears can cleanse a wound and bring healing to the mind. Tears that are mingled with the conviction and power of the Holy Spirit can bring repentance, forgiveness, clarity and wholeness to the heart.

Personally,  I have always been the kind of person who can “cry at the drop of a hat,” not because I make myself, but rather because it seems I don’t know where the shut of valve is. 😂 Honestly,  there are times when that can get really annoying! Haha!😂 There was a time in my life when I hated crying, because I thought it made me appear weak, without strength or stamina; then, there were a few times I’d relish in those droplets that flowed, because I noticed the compassion that often followed. Over the years, I think I’ve just accepted them as my way of allowing God’s Spirit to cleanse mine.

I have concluded, it’s just a part of who I am. Tears are a part of my human make-up, and unless, I become hardened, bitter and mean, tears simply come with the territory of me. I suppose, I’d much rather be tender, sensitive and quick to shed a tear than rigid, barbed and hateful. At least this way, I can still fight the enemy with tears streaming down my face, and remain steadfast until the end, rather than becoming a robot, simply going through too much pain to even process and further damaging those within my sphere by my lack of empathy and love…

Sometimes, you must STAND!

/ The WheatandTares

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NEWS FLASH:  Unlike the propaganda that is given to too many young Christians and to those who do not yet know Christ, this life of Christianity is not a bed of roses and land filled with lollipops and yellow brick roads. Serving Christ does not automatically make our lives change to perfection, nor does it make every problem, every temptation and every vile thing in this world to somehow magically disappear. I surely wish it could be so, but it’s just not how this thing works, and if you got saved believing this, I am sure you have wondered more than once why on earth you began this walk of faith…

I can assure you, you will have trials. You will have troubles. You will have tribulations. While Jesus was on this earth, He told us we would. He doesn’t lie, and His Word is always true: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 Yet, the first part of that Scripture is on what we must focus: in Him, we will have peace. With His peace that surpasses all understanding, we will be able to stand at all cost.

When we rely on Him, His strength, His power and His might, we will be able to withstand no matter what assails us. Too often, we grow disheartened, either because we have forgotten the proclamation of hard times, we have forgotten His promise of peace, or we simply get tired of fighting and walk away from the destiny that is just across the battlefield. He called us to finish this fight, and He has destined us to win! …and I can assure you, when you stand through the fire, you will come through stronger and wiser for it! 😉

All we must do is keep standing until the end. Will you stand with Him and fight?!

*Personal note to the reader: if you find yourself in the middle of a battle in this life, fighting the enemy, no matter what that enemy may be: drugs, alcohol, lust, pride, vanity, rage, depression, loneliness, abuse, rebellion, lying, cheating, stealing…the list could go on and on… If you find yourself battling, and you want to win, but you don’t know how, just call on His Name! He will answer!! Once you call on His Name, “call out” to someone you know who is stronger than you who can help you, too. Sometimes, God delivers instantaneously, and sometimes, God decides the best deliverance will not be instantaneous but rather a process. Sometimes, you will have to walk a road of recovery. Sometimes, you will have to rely on the Body of Christ to help you through. Trust God to show you. He will guide and direct you as He uses His people to reach to you and help you carry the load…    “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Gal. 6:2

 

 

Love Me Challenge #19

/ The WheatandTares

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Something I feel strongly about…

There are few things for which I will live and die, but these are a few…

My God

All He is to me, all He’s done for me, and all He has promised

He has created my world. He sustains my world. He is my world.

 

My Loves

Who they are and what they mean to me

They are my world.

 

PS. Just as a side note… too often, in today’s culture, there are too many “fighting and dying” for so many things of not much value and not much “reward.” When you choose to ‘feel strongly’ about something, and you choose to fight for it, just make sure it is truly something worth fighting for, not just the latest trend or the latest, greatest and loudest scheme of the politicians or other agenda driven group to get your attention! 😉 …There are things for which to fight, and there are things for which to sacrifice a life, just make sure you are certain those things are right! … okay, that is all. 🙂

 

 

 

Love Me Challenge #18

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This.

This feeds my brain…

Books, Books and more Books.

…and this, this is the best food for my brain and my soul…

Valley Praise

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psalms-42-11What happens to your countenance when you are in the valley? What is the appearance of your face when everything seems to be going wrong, and you don’t know what to do? How do you react when trials, sickness or persecutions come? Are you sad? Do you get mad? Is confusion and chaos the ruler of the day?

Are you down in the dumps, or are you rejoicing through the valley?  My pastor always says, “What you can PRAISE through, you can MAKE IT through!” Find something in that valley to take joy in. Count your blessings. Even the smallest things can bring the greatest joys.

Honestly, there are some valleys where it seems there is NOTHING about which to celebrate. Some desert places are NOTHING but hot, dry sand and a burning sun that makes you feel you will DIE of thirst and loneliness. Some low places in life simply feel like the abyss with no light, no sound and no direction or hope. Yet, those are the times when we must stand with Job and say, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1:21, and “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him…” Job 13:15.

We must praise Him regardless of what we feel or what we see. Praising is a submission of our flesh. It is not something that comes when we “feel it.” It is something that comes as we force our stubborn will into submission. Praise helps us see hope again, because it opens our eyes to His truth beyond our current circumstance.

God is holy. God is righteous. God is gracious, merciful, loving and majestic. He is worthy of all our praise. He is honorable of all our affection, adoration and appreciation. Let us praise Him through the valley. For, it is in our loneliest hours, and through our darkest nights when His glory and grace is revealed in our lives. ❤

Love Me Challenge #17

/ The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

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Silence In nature…

This.

This feeds my soul. I love to sit on our back deck just staring out into the woods. I love sitting by the lake, looking over the tranquil waters. I love lying by the seashore listening to the tide returning day and night.

This feeds my soul… the beauty in the sunrise… the glory in the sunset… the brightness of the harvest moon and the first stars that shine. These are nourishments of my soul.

The birds that chirp in the morning light… the deer that leaps over log and rock… the rabbit that scurries across the forest floor… even the black bear that meanders about looking for summer’s first berries.

These.

These bring peace, comfort and calm to my soul.

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More Valuable Than Gold

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I wonder, sometimes, what do we truly value in this life? There is a story in the Bible, in the book of Luke, that tells the story of a woman who lost one silver coin out of ten that she had. She lit a lamp and frantically searched the whole house for the coin, even going so far as to sweep the whole house in her search. Then, once it had been found, she called all her friends and neighbors to celebrate the goodness she had found. This parable is in reference to salvation, and the truth revealed in God loving us so much that His search for us when we are lost is even more so than this woman.

“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?  And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!” Luke 15:8-10

However, the parable also brings to mind the thoughts of what we hold valuable in our lives, what we hold dear and precious to our hearts, and what would bring us to the point of extreme desperation at the loss of it. What we consider of value displays our true character. What we value sets our priorities in place and determines our perspective of significance.

I wonder what it might be in your life?

I wonder what it is that you hold cherished and valued in your life?

Is it your children? your job? your money? your possessions? What is it that sets your priorities in right order? What might it be that places your perspective and your ponderings on a particular sight, person or concept?

Those of us who call on the name of Jesus as Lord should pause a moment and consider the truth of this reality. Is it really the message of Jesus that we hold dear? Do we cherish Him as a treasure? Do we consider Him that valuable? Do we seek Him as expensive gold? Do we place everything aside simply to be with Him and to know Him more each and every day?

Do we share Him with those around us as the good news we have found?

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