Resurrection means HOPE

Hi everyone!

Though the rain is rolling in, nothing can put a damper on this day.  For this is the day the Lord has made – let us rejoice and be glad.  The stone has been rolled away and with that hope was given to this world.  This is the time of year to reflect and leave some things at the graveside so that we can move into all that the Lord has planned for us. 

 

Sometimes this isn’t so easy.  Sure, there are some people that walk into our lives and in just 6 months we can barely remember anything about them and then there are those who come into our lives, touch our lives and stay with us for a life time.  The important part to both experiences is that both good and bad are in the past and if we don’t know when to leave the past behind and roll the stone away we can find ourselves trapped in a grave of the past. 

 

Easter is about resurrection and hope; it’s about new beginnings and leaving the past at the graveside so that we can come into all that the Lord has planned.  As I have watched dreams that I thought were buried for good rise up to meet my future; as I watch new doors opening all around me, I embrace the hope and new life that this new season is bringing into my life. 

 

 

Change can be tough and fulfilling our dreams can mean lots of work and perseverance, but with each step that HE illuminates it makes all the effort worthwhile.  HE is pushing me farther in the hope of bringing me farther than I have ever gone in my life.  Knowing that this time is leading me to fulfilling the most important race of my life makes me so thankful that HE has risen so that HE could guide me in a time such as this.

 

Happy Resurrection Day and my prayer is that you too allow HIM to be a lighthouse in your life and raise you from the dead.

 

PRAY and PREY

Hi everyone,

Sunday has long been my favorite day of the week.  For me it is about having a RELATIONSHIP with the Lord and not about what RELIGION that one claims.  As long as I can remember I have been able to hear when the Lord speaks and obey when He gives me direction.  Some would say I have "child like" faith, which has always been fine in my book.  My enthusiasm for wanting to obey and follow where the Lord leads has at times also taught me that He does have a sense of humor.

However, as my journey continues into this new chapter in my life I have had to come to the sad realization that while I may pray and seek the Lord, there are those who can take our "child like" faith and exploit us. While we pray, they prey on us.  Always being one to see the best in people, this has been hard for me to grasp.  

As I have sought to try and understand what has really been incomprehensible, the Lord helped to shine a light on the situation.  This morning part of the sermon was on John 8:43-45.

43 "Why do you not understand what I am saying?  It is because you cannot hear my word.  44 "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.  Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 :but because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me...

This goes back to what I wrote about several weeks ago - the Lord can send people into our lives so that we can truly be their helpmate, but if their lives are shrouded in the darkness of their past - which they strive to eloquently hide, their is nothing we can do to help them.  Sometimes the schemes become so entangled that what is the truth and what is an entangled web of lies all blends together.

The Lord will truly help those who help themselves, but if they think life owes them a silver spoon, then their is nothing we can do to help them.  If they will not listen to the Lord and see the blessings He has tried to impart on their lives, but instead chooses to make up lies in their quest  to prey on someone new, then we have no control over that.  It again goes back to free will.

Has this shaken my faith?  No, in fact it has actually made my faith that much stronger.  I am the Lord's child and I praise Him and look to Him both in good times and bad.  I can rest at night knowing that I truly lived as the wife the Lord called me to be.  But in the end, when we are unequally yoked, only the Lord can appreciate what we tried to do.  When one spouse prays while the other is only looking for prey, reaching all the potential and blessings the Lord tried to impart is impossible.

Am I angry and bitter?  No, because again the Lord has this and He will give me back all that I have lost. He is my Father and Protector.  He promised me in Isaiah 54:17 that "no weapon formed against me shall prosper."  I have seen Him work in countless ways in my life over the years and I can have peace in knowing that He is a man of His word.  In the mean time I continue to pray "Lord, forgive him because he knows not what he does...Please have mercy on his soul."

PRAY and PREY - they sound the same but the Lord knows the difference.