Sunday, January 31, 2021
Friday, January 29, 2021
Thursday, January 28, 2021
“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)
Sunday, January 24, 2021
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)
Saturday, January 23, 2021
“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)
Thursday, January 21, 2021
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)
Wednesday, January 20, 2021
Tuesday, January 19, 2021
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)
Monday, January 18, 2021
Saturday, January 16, 2021
Friday, January 15, 2021
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)
Thursday, January 14, 2021
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)