Thorn In My Flesh

November 14, 2016November 12, 2016 / The WheatandTares

Have you ever gotten a splinter in your foot? I’m not talking about the calloused part, where it doesn’t hurt too much to remove. I’m referring to that tender place on the bottom of your foot, just below the ball of the foot. I had to remove a deep splinter the other day from just that spot, and let me tell you, it did not feel good, and my foot was sore for the rest of the day! 😖

However, by the next morning, it felt great, and I had all but forgotten the pain of the day before. Can I tell you, life can be that way, too. You’re walking along, minding your own business, and “Bam!,” something sticks you hard. It may not seem that big of a deal to those around you, most won’t even notice, but you do. You feel it deep within your soul.

What you do next will determine your healing and recovery time. If you allow that “thorn” to settle deep within your soul, it will fester and go deeper. Over time, it will become infected and eventually turn into a disease called bitterness.

You must remove it. You must get the offense out before it brings you more pain. You must allow that wound to be cleansed and bandaged to bring complete healing. The pain of removal may feel worse, sometimes, than the temptation to leave it alone; however, I can assure you, the removal and recovery is worth the temporary pain endured.

Let go of hurts today. Let go of offenses. Allow the Holy Spirit to pull those things out of our hearts and minds that don’t belong. Allow Him to apply His healing balm to bind up the would and let the healing begins.

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3

First Responder

September 12, 2016September 10, 2016 / The WheatandTares / 1 Comment

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First Responders are incredible at what they do. They are the first on the scene of medical emergencies. They assess a given situation to ensure it is safe. They evaluate the victims involved and determine what is needed. They even administer medical aid, CPR and AEDs in cases of cardiac arrest. Now, I’m not sharing this to give you an education on First Responders, but as we remember the importance of this week, being the 15th Anniversary of 9/11, I just want to say I am so thankful for all that they do.

They always seem to be willing to lend a helping hand. They rush to scenes of crisis when so many others would run away. They stay with the wounded until they are headed to recovery. They even attempt to rescue, mend wounds and remove from harm’s way those who may not necessarily want their help. I don’t think that I could express enough my gratefulness for who they are and for what they choose to do.

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Yet, there is One who is the best First Responder of them all. He is stronger than anyone else in the force. He responds quicker than any human could imagine, and He never ever fails to show up. He can bind up wounds, heal hearts, release those bound and even bring back to life those thought to be dead.

His name is Jesus Christ. He is who I call Friend, Savior and Lord.

He is the Greatest of all First Responders for He knows you. He created you, and He is always right there by your side. All you have to do is call His name, and He will rescue you from danger. He will free you from what holds you captive, and He will bind up what causes your heart to bleed. He will bring you life and life more abundantly.

Will you call to Him today? Just say His Name, and He will answer.

Paving Their Path

August 22, 2016August 22, 2016 / The WheatandTares / 1 Comment

dangerousroads.org

Once a child reaches the age of accountability, every child must make his or her own choices, and every child is responsible for what he or she does. However, I have found that we, as parents, do have a part to play in helping to pave the path they choose in life. We can’t make their choices, and we can’t be accountable for their decisions. However, we do have the ability to make those choices easy or hard to find.

You see, our children walk down their own paths into the destiny of their own choosing. They will be faced with the good and bad consequences of their actions and with the fruit from the seeds they choose to sow. However, we can pave that path with the “asphalt” of faith, the guard rails of love and the road signs toward joy and fulfillment, or we can lay down layer upon layer of rock, rubble, nails and thorns from the bitterness, foolishness, enablement and even pain of our own lives, layers through which our children will have to fight and claw just to find those good decisions they long to choose.

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When we live as good examples for our little ones, make good decisions for our own lives as we try to raise them the best way we know how, and strive to correct in front of them the mistakes we are sure to make along the way, their paths will be lined with the good substance they need to not only survive this life, but it also will build the foundation upon which they can thrive through this life!

If you realize your children may have a rocky road ahead, I have good news for you! You can begin TODAY picking up the stones of hatred and anger that have been thrown along their path. The rocks and rubble of foolishness and enablement can be pushed aside. The nails of spite which have been dropped and the thorns of pain which have been sown can be picked up, cut back and removed as you reach out with repentance, forgiveness, truth and love.

This process can only begin with a right relationship with God, a daily seeking of His Word and a continual reaching out to your child with loving kindness. It may not be an instant reconciliation, but with Christ, it can be an instant healing within your own heart and mind. He can help you to clear the path and to make things right again. He can guide you and your child to a better way.

When The Pain Sets In

August 11, 2016 / The WheatandTares / 5 Comments

Sometimes, your heart is bound up with so much emotion, words are hard to find. Your mind is so consumed with an avalanche of thought that you can not grasp even one. It’s like water droplets over a waterfall.

Sometimes, the pain is so baffling, it feels as if time is standing still. Your destiny is too far to imagine, and your past comes in like a flood. It can be overwhelming… Suffocating… Constricting and condemning.

Sometimes, in that very moment, is when you need the reminder of His love and His grace. It is comforting… It is reassuring… It is strengthening and redeeming…

He will heal.

Only believe.

Remember Your Purpose

July 21, 2016July 22, 2016 / The WheatandTares / 1 Comment

I hear the screams “Hypocrisy! … Hypocrite! … Deceit!” Yet, the very ones whose mouths move are of that reputation.

I hear the cries for “Justice! … Unity! … Peace!” Yet, the very fists raised are fighting against the solution.

I hear the rants toward “Hatred … Cruelty … Death!” Yet, the very teeth chattering gnash against reason and resolution.

My brothers speak ill of another as result of simple disagreements and competition. My sisters spin vicious webs of gossip as a conclusion of jealousy and conceit. Yet, we call ourselves children of a King.

Can I tell you, THIS OUGHT NOT BE!

Where is the love of Christ? Where is the discipleship of a Savior? Are we His followers, or are we just playing a game? How can we reach them when we cannot reach each other? How can we share love if we cannot give love?

This world needs Truth.

This world needs Love.

This world needs Hope.

This world needs Redemption.

We were placed here for a purpose, and that purpose is His and His alone. That purpose is to find the lost, and let them be found! That purpose is to bring Him glory even if it means bringing us shame.

Let us remember.

Let us never forget.

He is our purpose.

He is our goal.

“Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” Phil. 2:1-4

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Hope is Here

July 15, 2016August 20, 2016 / The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

This world needs hope. There is nothing more strengthening, nothing more encouraging, and nothing more unifying than HOPE.

Hope is not found in politicians, and it’s not found in world events. It cannot be found in personal agendas, and it can’t be found in people. These things might bring temporary hope, but this isn’t the hope to which I’m referring.

I’m talking about a Hope that can bring peace, a Hope that can bring love, a Hope that can bring healing. This is a Hope that can bring Light to a darkened and desolate world.

This Hope is Jesus Christ. He wasn’t just a man who roamed the earth. He wasn’t just a good prophet who had some nice things to say, and He certainly is a God who died and is still buried in a tomb.

No, He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is the God who was and is and is to come. He is our Prince of Peace.

His Hope does not have to be earned. His grace does come with a price. His love is unconditional and free for all who ask and believe.

He is standing with His arms open wide. Just come to Him today. Let His love wash over you and redeem you. He longs to give you the Hope of Who He Is.

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Happy Mom’s Day

May 5, 2016May 5, 2016 / The WheatandTares / 7 Comments

I usually have the Friday’s New Angle and the answer posted here on Fridays and Saturdays; so, I thought it might be appropriate to go ahead and wish all of you a HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! …and for those who almost forgot, here’s your chance to go get that card and gift! 😉

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I hope you have a WONDERFUL day, and even if you’re not able to spend it with your children or your mom, I hope you are able to spend it with someone you love! My prayer is your day is consumed with good memories, well wishes and lots and of love and joy!

However, for so many, this day is filled with dread, with tears and even a little anger or frustration for the mother or spouse who has already said goodbye in this life. When Mother’s Day rolls around for those in this category, often, the feelings can be so overwhelming they would rather the day simply pass on like any other and not be mentioned. For these, I say, “God bless you, and I pray you find peace today. I pray you find grace for your pain, and I pray you find joy in your place of grief.”

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wishes messages.com

Losing a mom is like no other loss one can experience. I have heard it described as losing your best friend, losing your right arm, or even losing a piece of your heart you truly realized you had until she’s gone. Probably the best description I have heard was from my mother-in-law, who has become like a second mother to me. She said (my paraphrase), “It’s as if, all of a sudden, I had a great big hole open up in my life. You don’t know what to do with it. You can’t jump over it; you can’t fill it in, and the pain of it is almost unbearable. Sometimes, you contemplate just jumping into the hole, thinking that will make it better…People say time will heal the pain…No, the hole is there for the rest of your life. It never gets filled back in with the passing of time; you just learn how to manage it and begin to walk around it.”

Miss-you-mom-died-cant-stop-crying-tears-smiles Can I encourage you today to take notice of those who may be grieving during this “fun weekend” we call Mother’s Day? Can I urge you to let your heart mourn with them and allow your arms of love to reach out? They need your words of comfort, and they need thoughts of grace. These days are not easy for so many, especially when it is the first (or even second) Mom’s Day they have gone without her…

Scarred

May 2, 2016May 2, 2016 / The WheatandTares / 1 Comment

SCARRED
Originally posted: OCTOBER 11, 2014

I stand here in shock, not knowing what to do;

I cannot believe the feelings I’ve caught here from you.

Memories from the past overwhelm my weary mind,

But now, in chains, these memories they do bind.

My hands to you, we were reaching for the stars.

My dreams, our friendship, now you have scarred.

The distance you’ve placed, this I do not understand.

Between us, our sisterhood, is it now banned?

The anger, the jealousy, I pray it does not last.

So many questions I’m left with, only not to ask.

This brokenness and pain, I wish I did not feel.

They all say it takes way too much time to heal.

As I stand here with this bleeding heart,

I pray that one day we have a brand new start.

God can cleanse, forgive and always can mend,

But it takes you and me with this friendship to tend.

Penned – MG – 7/7/99

Daily Prompt: Scar
Scars

Give It Up!

January 12, 2016January 8, 2016 / The WheatandTares

Sometimes, we just have to give it up! Now, I’m not talking about your faith or your salvation. I’m not talking about your marriage or that commitment you made that has gotten difficult to continue, but you know you must. No, I’m speaking of matters of the heart here. Those emotions that we should have laid down a long time ago. I’m talking about those thoughts and feelings that keep bubbling up when you least expect it, and they keep wrecking your peace, your joy and your future.
You’ve been holding onto the past, your pain, your anger, and even your fears for so long that the holding on has become a ritual. It has become a routine, a part of you, as if it’s your right arm or hand. We all do it from time to time. We hold that thing close and cater to it, pamper it and even excuse it, until it become a part of us. Then, when we are confronted with Truth, with the need of letting it go, we buck and baulk like we’re being asked to cut off a vital organ! The Word says, in John 8:32, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Truth comes to set us free from the bondage and strongholds that keep us bound and held back from a better life. Truth brings healing and freedom. So, how can we do that when that pain, or that emotion, has become a part of us?? We simply obey. We have to obey Him when He urges us to let go.

We need to be so in love with Jesus that it doesn’t matter WHAT He asks of us, we are ready and willing to obey. We can’t obey Him simply because of our own goodness. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?” We don’t just have a “good heart” …even though that is definitely propagated here in South! (I hear moms and grandmothers say all the time, “I know they’re a rascal, and they cheat, lie and do drugs, but they’ve got a good heart!”…yeah, right!)

We can’t obey simply because we work harder at it. It’s not a matter of works. If we only work to obey Christ out of our “dutifulness,” then, we’ve turned the cross into a bloodless stick. He didn’t die for us simply for us to do better. He died for us so we could love Him, to have a relationship with Him, and, ultimately, to restore us to our heavenly home. Hebrews 7:25 says it like this, “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” He died for us so that we might be reconciled to Him!

If we continue to hold onto these wounds, these pains, these sins of our past and refuse to let them go and allow Him to heal us, we will continually miss His best for our lives! We need to realize when He asks us to let go of something, it is not to harm us or to bring us pain and agony. It is to bring us healing and freedom in Him. It is to bring about HIS best for our lives! …and we need to realize it wouldn’t hurt so much to let go had we not let it grow attached in the first place!! (Ha!)

Jeremiah 29:11-14 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

I don’t know about you, but I want to choose freedom today! I will choose Truth and Liberty this year! It’s time to give it up, to lay down our will and our way, and to seek God’s complete truth for our lives!! Let’s give it up! 🙂