He Maketh Me Lie Down in Green Pastures

Are you tired, weary and struggling? Does it sometimes feel like you’re left on our your own without any guidance and direction from God? It does seem that way sometimes, but really, according God’s Word, He is in control and guiding us every day if we are His child. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct our paths.” Proverbs 3:5 & 6 – my favorite verse.

Do we really understand He is directing us? Do we really trust Him or do we question Him? I know I do some times. I question his goodness and love. However, if I acknowledge Him, if I bring Him into the formula and whisper a prayer, He is right there. It’s a walk of faith but we’re not alone. Somehow, it’s a partnership with Christ which is real but truly a mystery.

Sometimes, too, He just wants us to wait and not move forward. I think that’s what this means in Psalm 23, verse 2. Patience especially in our day and age, is not a virtue any more. We want everything now. We want to go, go, go and be busy. We have our instant communication devices like Ipads, cell phones, computers and of course, the ever-present TV. We have our jobs, our families even our church activities to keep us busy. It hard for us to be quiet and still. However, God has to intervene at times if we don’t rest. He has to force us to rest. He takes away our prosperity, our health and our human resources and make us look to Him for hope, guidance and rest. Sometimes, cancer is the best God can give us to slow us down so we will listen. And, poverty can be a good thing, too, if it turns us back to God.

Are you too busy and distracted? Jesus said: “Come unto me all ye that are tired and heavy-laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon thee, for my yoke is easy and my burden light” (Mt 11:38). Let’s claim this by faith and lay down in green pastures and give all our burdens, problems and struggles to the Lord. He will take those from us if we let Him. And then we shall find peace and rest in the midst of our trials. “Be still and know that I am God…”(Ps 46:10)

The Lord is my Shepherd, I Shall Not Want

When I think about the Lord as my shepherd, what do I feel about it? Some of us, including me, have a vague feeling that He’s there and He cares but that’s about it. I am going to discuss the 23^rd Psalm each week for four weeks. Each time I am going to talk about a few verses of this very-underrated writing. We only bring this out at funerals to read which is unfortunate.  It has advice for us on how to live the Christian life every day.

            The Christian life can be very challenging. I say “life” not “lifestyle” because I believe there is a difference. “Lifestyle” means a more shallow definition than “life” so I don’t like to use it at all. I think our main problem is we take our focus off Christ, our Shepherd and focus too much on ourselves and our problems. Then, we sink into the mire and join the other “castaways” that gave up their faith, too – and there’s probably a lot out there. They’re bitter, angry and critical of Christians and Church in general because they got “burned” somewhere along the way. I hear this lament from people all the time and even get sucked up into it myself sometimes.

This is the program and agenda of our adversary. But “by the grace of God, we have our conversation in this world, and the more abundantly to you-ward.” (I Cor. 1:12) Let’s hang in there and be heroes of the faith just like Paul, Peter and all the others we read about in the Bible. They encountered tremendous stresses and problems in their lives. They were not exempt from suffering and trials. They were flawed human beings that “by the grace of God” accomplished great things because they did it through God’s strength and power not their own.

Anyway, back to today’s thought: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” (Ps 23:1). “Want” comes from the Hebrew word “chacer” which means: “to lack, fail, want, lessen, be abated, decrease, lack, make lower.”

Jesus is the answer to all our problems. He is not going to allow us to lack if we trust in Him. It’s a radical thought that this world rejects. But it is the truth. Are you fully trusting Him today? Is your life in alignment with His will? Yes, we sin a lot but He is always ready and quick to forgive us. Let’s fully trust in Him today and ask Him to take control of our situation no matter how difficult it may be. Then, He will be our Shepherd and we will not want.

How God Changed My Life

Today, I want to give you my testimony which in Christian circles means how Christ saved me.

Now, when most other people hear this stuff, they usually tune out the Christian.

If you are not part of us – the Christian “bunch” that is – then please read on anyway and maybe you’re opinion of us might change us a little instead thinking we are a big bunch of fools.

When I was a kid, I was just ordinary kid and lived in an ordinary family. We went to church which I  was the Catholic church every week for our 1 hour of Mass. I attended a Catholic school. I didn’t know or understand why I was going to church. None of it made any sense and I wanted it to. I, at first, wanted to be a saint when I grew up. Then, I found out you had to be canonized and do all kinds of miracles so I switched to a witch instead. It was more fun and a lot easier.

Fortunately, I outgrew that phase and still felt empty inside and laden with sin in spite of my religious activities. Most people, I guess, ignore their conscience and try to excuse themselves and go on without any contact with a higher power. I had trouble doing this.

Then, one day when I was just minding my own business, God showed up. I went to Mass for our weekly 1 hour dose of religion. Down at the altar to receive the Eucharist, it came out of the priest’s fingers and landed on my hand. I put it in my mouth and a message entered my head. It was as if God was speaking to me and I was very afraid. The message was: “Do not fear! Something bad is going to happen to you and your family today, but I will take care of you.”

I didn’t know what to make of this and being a 13 year old, my parents didn’t believe any of it and said it was “hormones”. Well, that night my father passed away around 10:00. His last words were “I’ll always be with you”. He had died of a massive heart attack.

Now, God had gotten my attention. Two years later a girl came up to me in the front of my high school and asked me a profound question I could not answer. She asked me “Do you know the four spiritual laws?” I answered her honestly and said “No, I don’t.” She told me why Jesus died on the cross, not just for the sins of the whole world, like my church had always said, but for my individual sins. That made a lot of sense and I had never heard of it before. I accepted Christ right then and there as my own personal savior. From then on, I began to read the Bible and attend prayer meetings which were popular back then in the early ‘70’s.

Finally, I left my church and went to other churches to find the perfect fit. Since I didn’t know much back then about churches (and there was no internet) I finally ended up in a nondenominational church that was small then but today is a mega church. They helped me further to grow in my faith and become a stronger Christian. That is where I met my husband, Bob.

So you see, God reaches down to us and we have to open our hearts to him. When we reject him, we reject life and joy and healing and hope. Don’t do that! Accept Christ today and let Him change your life. The peace and joy He bestows is phenomenal even in the midst of trials.

How I Started Writing My Book, Part 2

One day, I was just sitting in church when the inspiration for my book started to come. I based it primarily on the students in my classes. I went home and continued writing it and soon I had typed about 110 pages. As the years went by, I added more chapters and pages and it became a very autobiographical project. Now it is over 250 pages. It is being edited so that I can get it published soon. I want it to in the best condition before it is so that’s why it’s taking so long.

Along the way, I joined, about 20 years ago, a writer’s group in Fernandina Beach called the Nassau Co. Poets and Writers. They helped me update and edit my story. However, we moved away in 1997 to Orlando. After that, I didn’t get involved with a group again until I heard about the Brandon Christian Writers Group and become a member.

In between, I did add on and rewrite my book when I had the time. When I was working full time jobs, I didn’t have the time to do it. Now, I wish I had a full-time job, but there are none out there. I sit at home writing and not worrying about bills any more. My life is half way over any way and I need it to count not only for God but also finish my projects and fulfill His calling on my life before I die.

So, I am revising The Land of Efacia for the last time with my editor. There’s still a lot of fixing left to do but it’s almost done. Any one who thinks writing a book is easy, think again, especially when it is a fantasy genre where all is a product of your imagination.

I hoping it will be a classic when it is finally published some day, but until then, I labor on to do my best  to make a story come to life.

What is the future? I just don’t know. Our lives right now are up in the air and we have many challenges. This I know for sure: the Lord has led me through all the minefields in the past. He‘s going to continue to lead me in the future even if that means the loss of all things. I know I will gain more of the knowledge of Christ through all the struggles.  And that’s a subject I will continue to talk about next Friday…

Until then, walk in the light of His Word and stay close to the Good Shepherd. May He bless you every one!