"Follow Me"

Three years had passed and we find Jesus and Peter standing at the Sea of Galilee and Jesus is telling Peter the same thing: "Follow Me"

Following Jesus is not an easy path, it is full of rejections, do-overs, painful encounters, and self-knowledge that makes one feel like a total failure--I think perhaps this humbling was what Jesus was saying to Peter. You have to be so dead to self and so over how or when you will die, to risk really living!

The words: "What is that to you?" said the whole message of the Gospel: 

Be Present

Be you

Don't look and compare your progress or lack of. . . 

Just Be!

God will do the rest--and He's going to anyway! So, if I settle that in my spirit, then He sets me free! Not like anyone else, just me:

A Follower of Jesus Christ!

Will I?

Can I?

Follow Him to Calvary?

Follow Him to the empty tomb?

Follow Him "Till I Come?"

I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, No turning back, No turning back. Though none go with me, still I will follow, Though none go with me, still, I will follow, Though none go with me, Still I Will Follow -- No turning back, No turning back!

(pwoods)

"Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, "But Lord, what about this man?" Jesus said to him, "If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me." 

(John 21:21&22)

 

Meeting with God and Making Coffee

"And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. (Exodus19:11)

 Each night before I go to bed I make everything ready for that perfect first cup of coffee. I fill the kettle with water, placing it on the hob. I grind my Hoboken beans to perfection and have them ready to be placed in the French press via the perfect measuring scoop. I choose my cup of the morning and place it beside the wee pot ready for boiling water to heat the pottery where later the brew goes in. Upon rising I put the dogs outside and with deliberation, I walk into the kitchen, turn the knob lighting the fire under the kettle, scoop fresh coffee into the French press and wait for the steam to blow the whistle saying: time to pour NOW! After pouring the exact amount of water over the ground coffee I put the press in place, turn on the timer for 7 minutes, bring in the dogs, give lots of rubs, scratches, sweet words, and cookies. When the buzzer on the timer goes off I stir with only and always a wooden spoon and then press the floating grounds to the bottom of the pot - Ready!! That first perfect cup of Hoboken Coffee is Ready! Awww! Perfect preparation, Perfectly delicious Hoboken Coffee!

Meeting with my Father is far more important than that first cup of perfect coffee! I have a designated place with God's Word, my journals, great devotional guides, plus a bulletin board with pictures of my prayer assignments. I have an amazing desk built just for this spot by Paul Phillips. A chair that is comfortable, a blue pen, and a red one for marking the scriptures that speak and for writing down the words that come from God's voice in my spirit. All things are READY for my morning Meeting with the Father.

I can't accidentally have a perfect cup of coffee - it's a ritual that I totally enjoy!

I can't accidentally meet with the Father - It's an appointment that I keep no matter the day, the weather, my circumstances, or how I feel. . . I make sure to be ready for His Coming and need I say, He's Always Ready!

(pwoods)

 

“Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning (Luke 12:35)

Readiness ~ this part of abiding is essential to daily life - this is not eating bonbons and watching soap operas.  You have your assignment - there is no fairy godmother!  Just do what you’re responsible for doing ~ get dressed and go to work!  Piece by piece with patience …. just do it!

Faithfulness ~ God put within us both to will and to do His good pleasure - He has equipped each one with abilities that are unique and qualified.

Responsibility ~ Joyfully perform the mundane and let God send the assignments.

Assignments ~ God’s assignments are divine appointments.  You don’t have to work it up or force it to take place.  How often have I said while sharing with others - ‘that person right in front of you is your next assignment’

Choice ~ We have a choice - pick it up or live in disobedience 

“To be ready we must simply do the next thing” (pwoods)

 A faded photograph ~

We were new in town, having come from a very warm and loving environment to a place where the climate was quite cold and some of the parishioners colder. I, as the new lady in the parsonage was a bit of a chew in that I wore jeans, had a sassy haircut, and just opened my arms to everyone, especially the man in the pulpit. I knew way too much about the ministry having lived in someone else’s house most of my life, with my daddy being a preacher man. . . I was about to be educated on a different plane.  There were about a dozen women in this church that had been hand picked by the pastor to represent ‘the preacher’s wife.’ His wife preferred a low profile and came to church seldom—she had no platform—she was the ‘perfect preacher’s wife.’ I’ve never been perfect and I’m rarely silent. I know you get the ‘picture.’ I found out my ‘sin’ was that I painted pictures ~ Oh, my!

… a woman asked me to have lunch with her and when we were seated in her very lofty, spiritual voice she began the conversation with these words: ‘How in the world can you be an artist and a Christian’? Needless to say I was stunned by her audacity; yet I gathered my wits about me and answered:  ‘Through art, God has placed people into my life that otherwise I would never have known…how better to be Jesus than by sharing something in common as a mode of travel from one heart to another’? I don’t remember her ever speaking to me again…she certainly never said..’let’s do lunch’…nor did she ever say; ‘let’s do church’…

We now live in our own house and I’m still painting and need I say, Jesus is still crazy about me ~ (pwoods)

 “Mirrors”

“But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2Cor.3:18)

~ Am I being transformed? As I look into the mirror of God’s Word each day, can I see a difference in the ‘me’ that abides in Christ? Does my obedience and trust in the Everlasting Father show on my face? When I look for blemishes or wrinkles, do I see Peace and His Presence looking back at me?

Ah, yes! The glory of His Presence. That’s the transformation I’m looking for when I look into the mirror - from glory to glory. Christ in me - transforming my life into His Image - Jesus!

Need to borrow my mirror? (pwoods)

 

FRESHNESS

Another word that comes is polished… When I am tired and slouchy... I look dull, flat, soiled… When I refresh myself with a bath, a new haircut, a pressed pair of jeans, a bracing cup of hot tea ~ I look alive, I feel alive and I act accordingly!! When I allow the Spirit of God to refresh me through the Word and prayer I am cleansed of a slouchy spirit, dullness of the eye, or a soiled vision… He puts a bit of starch in my jeans and a reason to face my world! I am alive in Him! I refuse to be downtrodden and soiled by this ole sinful, hurtful world! This morning I come to the Father for “the washing of the Word”… for an empowering confirmation that God is in control and I am His ambassador in this war-torn time… I am a committee of one, but I am empowered by THE ONE and ONLY GOD… Here we go! (pwoods)

 

Don't cry, Cuppie Cake

January 20, 2021

This morning after my shower I put on all black ~ today is a day of mourning for me, not because I'm a sore loser, but because I feel something really precious died and I can't bring it back. I love America and I have a lifetime of memories to celebrate the goodness that I've known from living in a free country; I don't want that to change, yet I know that it has. I suppose when you finally face reality it hits you; there's no going back to what was. . . 

You see I remember when the boys came home from WW11 ~ Hooray we pushed Socialism back! The Old Beast is dead! On with the Free World! Then we settled back into business as usual, yet the 'beast'  who never rests, was working overtime to deceive and destroy. 

This world we live in is not the Utopia that man hoped for, dreamed about, invested all his energies into. Jesus said it clearly in Matthew: "And then many will be offended, will betray one another and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved."

I know we who love Jesus really want to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony. . . Surely that would be heaven.

 I'm reminded of a song that goes: This world is not my home, I'm just'a passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven's golden shore. And I can't feel at home in this world anymore. O Lord, You know I have no friend like You, If heaven's not my home, then Lord what will I do? The angels beckon me from heaven's golden shore. And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.

Yes, I love America, land of the free and home of the brave...but today I grieve knowing that America is not heaven - We're not home yet.

(pwoods)

The human spirit is God-given; it is a tough hunk of plunder and pluck; yet when that ‘spirit’ is not surrendered to God…unclean spirits come in to take up residence - here is a view:

 *fear  (the biggest manipulator)

 *timidity  (don’t extend for you will be    rejected)

 *manipulation  (another word for controlling to protect)

 *dis-trust (everyone, especially God is the enemy)

 *vulnérable (victim)

 *dark (afraid of being found out)

 *loneliness (as an ache..will fill that hole with whatever)

 *isolation (no one else feels like me; a reject)

The solution:

“And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.” (Jesus.. found in Luke 6)”

    (pwoods)

"Standing in the Need of Prayer"

". . . even so, I will defend my own ways before Him. He also shall be my salvation, for a hypocrite could not come before Him. I know that I shall be vindicated! If now I hold my tongue, I perish." (Job 13)

Many times I've read Job, but this passage about defending one's self before God is so honest--"For a hypocrite could not come before You."

There's no place for pretense with God! He already knows what I'm thinking, but I need to tell Him! It's not that "He" needs my confession or my ranting--it's all about me trusting Him with my most hidden self and knowing above all--He loves me!  "It's me, it's me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer!" In this, I am cleansed from hidden sins such as pride,  fear, deep-seated anger, control--need I go on?!  

(pwoods)

 

I will Arise!

I love these words: "Arise and stand here". . .

I hear Jesus speaking these words into my spirit today:

Arise. . . get up from whatever has you down

Stand. . . and face life, accept your challenge

right here on This Spot!

right here This Moment!

right, where You Are! 

God never calls us to stand and run away, but instead, He puts steel in our backbone to do what needs to be done on this footbridge that I call 'my path'.

Right here!

Right Now!

I will Arise!

(pwoods)

 

 

In a world full of broken people, broken systems, broken laws, and broken hearts I asked God, How can I be a 'broken healer'? And the words came clearly from The Word, "Therefore it is good to do good on the Sabbath." (Matt.12:12)  I'm thinking about brokenness and God gives me an answer that has to do with the law??? God knows broken people don't need to hear my survival rules (laws). . . they need what I need: a loving hand, words of affirmation, and encouragement. In that I'm a list maker the list began: 1) love notes 2) phone calls 3) a hug 4) a wee gift for no reason. My SIL will out of the blue send us a catered meal from a local restaurant and she lives far away. 

This goodness is not just a Sunday thing, It's not about going to church; it is doing good to anyone God places in our path and doing it with purpose on any day. I tell you truly this healing goes both ways, I am healed in my broken places when I give to another and the person who receives the no-strings-attached gift of love is healed in broken places that I'll never know about. Give big as unto the Lord! 

Yep giving is the healer of broken hearts, broken systems, broken laws, and broken people. Remembering the Coke ad from years ago ~ I'd like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony. . . Well, perhaps if I give what I've been given, it will become the song that we the broken can sing in perfect harmony... the harmony of love. The gift that keeps on giving. (pwoods)  

 January 14, 2021

In this world of ordinary people, extraordinary people, I'm glad there is you! Through the years, sixty-two and counting Gerald has been my go-to guy and now I am his everything person, his keeper, caregiver, decision-maker, constant step-up girl. The journey of Alz/Dem. is a long, dark road with some light along the way that can make you feel like there's hope for change, but the change is never for the better, it just becomes: "It is what it is." What am I going to do about it? How can I change for the better?  How can I become better than who I am? Where will I go for strength for this day? How long do we have? All these questions become resources rather than a sore when I look to God each morning for my strength, my hope, my constant desire for more of God rather than more of myself. I confess: I've run out of 'myself', and I think that is key to what I need each day, just more of Him and less of me.

An ordinary girl in an ordinary world, looking to an Extra-Ordinary God. I'm so glad there is YOU!

(pwoods)