Hugged by God

You know, it boggles me when someone says that they don't think God cares or is even there.  God is an integral part of our life whether we believe that or not.  Stand back and look at how God is a part of your life.  Feel your heart beat.  Feel your breath in and out.   Think that funny thought that makes you laugh.  Touch your child's nose.  Listen to the breeze going in and out of the trees.  Focus on the colors of the fruits and vegetables at the supermarket.  See the different Fall colors as you drive along the river.  Hear the whisper from your loved one's lips.  Experience the laughter of your children as they are playing.  Smell the ocean as the surf kisses your toes.  Take in all that surrounds you.  Now take a deep breath and move in closer to God.  Put your arms around your shoulders and squeeze.  Consider yourself hugged by your Father, the Father in Heaven who loves you so much that He did everything He could to make it possible for you to be with Him for eternity through the blood of His Son Jesus.  Now can you say you are not loved by Him?  The whole natural world around us is His love letter to us, His children.  We are the greatest creation of all and for that I feel pretty good about being taken care of by my Lord and Savior.  Every beautiful thing in life, we cannot take for granted.  Even the funny things in life.  My daughter says that God has a sense of humor because He created animals like giraffes, elephants and frogs.  He must have had fun creating all these things in life knowing that we would delight in them too as well as look at the funny side of things.  I am so blessed to be embraced by God each and everyday.  The sun peeps in through our window in the morning as a way for God to say Good Morning my beloved.  He surrounds us with awesome beauty but He also surrounds us with amazing love.  Drink in all He has to offer you.  I guarantee your warm fuzzy feeling will grow.  Let His light shine in you and through you so others may behold the beauty that He created. 

God's Ranch

This morning our pastor gave a very good and in depth sermon on black and white when it comes to Jesus.  We either follow God and believe in Christ as our Savior or we don't.  There is no such thing as a middle of the ground place where you can take ideas from one and ideas from the other.  It is either black or white.  Well that got me to thinking about God and the fact that that is very true and real.  Look at God's world, our world with Him, as a large ranch.  Millions and millions of acres of grass, trees, rivers, mountains.  One thing is missing though.  No fences.  I remember growing up we had a white picket fence that went around our whole backyard.  The white picket fence was not one that you would really want to sit on due to obvious reasons.  It was pretty and very homey.  On one side of the fence was an enormous, beautiful, old weeping willow tree.  It was a favorite for neighborhood kids and us to climb.  But we had to climb it on the side of our yard on the other side of the fence.  Part of the willow tree's branches hung in our backyard too and so it was a neat place in our yard to hide.  One day I decided that it would be pretty cool to start climbing that tree on our side of the fence but I had to stand on the fence to get up into the tree and reach a branch.  Well the branch was quite high and the fence wasn't.  So try as I might, I got up on the fence and stood on my tip toes when all of a sudden I found myself lying on my back in our strawberry patch in our garden!  I finally learned that the only way to truly get up that beautiful tree was to start climbing it on the side of the fence that was outside our yard.  That was the only good and safe way to get up there.  That fence did not help me one bit.  In our life we see fences as a way to keep one foot in God's world and one foot in the world's world.  But sooner or later that fence is going to give way and then you will be in a world of hurt.  There is only one true way to God and that is through His Son Jesus Christ.  It is a black and white issue.  No sitting on fences.  There are no fences on God's ranch.   Once you are on His ranch, there is no need for fences or fancy gates.  They are just an obstacle on our walk through His glorious property.  Hold His hand, walk freely along the river bank, skip down the dirt path through the meadow, tumble through the flowers as you feel the breeze blowing against your face, talk to God freely.  If you see a fence in the distance, don't go near it.  You don't need to know what the surrounding land is like because it is of the world.  God's ranch is the only one you will ever want to explore.  The world's land will be filled with goatheads, poison ivy and barren desert land.  It won't offer you the nutrition you need to survive.  There are no livestock on the world's land but rather cheap imitation things that say that they will give you life but instead it gives you death.  God's ranch will give you all you need to be healthy and strong.  It has livestock galore, plants of all kinds to help nourish you, water freely flowing for the taking.  God's power is behind all these things.  Come on, hitch a ride to God's ranch.  Let the fence be at your rear forever and keep on riding into the vast openness of His word.  It is either one or the other.  As for me and my house we choose to serve the Lord.  His arms are waiting to welcome you home.  Just keep your eye on Him and you will find your way to the only ranch you will ever want to see.  God's ranch. 

Convenience store Christian

This has been on my heart for a while now but I never got it down in pen.  Picture your run of the mill convenience store, say 7-11.  It has all the things you need to have if you are in a hurry and can't stand in the long lines at the grocery store.  It has gas for your car, drinks for your thirst, food for your tummy, and movies for your entertainment.  One stop shopping.  We drive in and get our things and then off we go again into the world with our convenience item usually at a higher price.  We get on the road and that is that.  Well to me sometimes I notice that Christians can have that mentality when it comes to our Christian walk.  We want something fast and easy and then get on with our life.  We want to be able to go to church, please no longer than an hour, so we can get out and watch our children's games.  We want to pray to God when things are crazy, most likely only at the stoplight while we are steaming mad at the person that cut us off.  But no more praying now.  I have to hit the road, take the kids to the game, get the groceries for the fancy dinner tonight with friends, and, oh, yes, need to pick up that extra skinny hazelnut latte on the go.  We push God out of the way slowly but surely.  Our walk with God has to "fit" in our schedule.  Hmmmm, I have an extra 10 minutes here.  I could do my study and then I have to get dinner started.  We set the timer or better yet, we get distracted and start doing something else while our Bible is open to that long forgotten passage.  God wants us all the time.  He wants us with Him all the time.  If there are opportunities out there for you to get right in your walk with Him, go for it.  There is a Women of Faith conference in Sacramento next month and it is a once a year opportunity.  Many people have legitimate reasons to not go because of work, schedules, and childcare.  But many people don't.  I am not pointing fingers at anyone as I have been there myself many times.  But I really feel that people don't want to commit to something that is going to take them away from their family for a couple of days.  These same people can go and attend sporting events far and away without a thought.  My head is trying to get around this.  This time with God I feel is so special.  It may not be many people's idea of fun but for me it is right now.  I prayed long and hard about it and know that that is where God wants me to go.  Not being a person that likes crowds, it should be interesting but if I am there knowing that I am going to grow in my walk as a child of God, a mom, a wife, a woman, a Bible study leader, then it is worth it to me.  I don't want any of this convenience store junk in my life.  I want Him in my life.  Yes, the day may be longer if I go the extra mile to include Him in all I do, but what an amazing day that will be if I do so.  If you feel that you have put God in a place in your life where it is more important to get a drink at Starbucks or put Jesus on the shelf because you are too busy to talk to Him about your day, then get right with Him.  I have had to many times.  I should say God has had to remind me numerous times that it is not about life in this world but it is about Life With Him.

God bless.......

Tapestry of Life

Once again I was listening to a song and for the life of me I can not remember the name.  It was about God's tapestry.  That got me thinking again and I realized how true that is and how amazing an analogy that would be for us.  Tapestries are beautifully woven pieces of art you see hanging in grand castles overseas.  Their colors are all deep and blended together.  The craftsmanship is to the minute detail.  First of all you have to understand the background of making a great tapestry.  It is set up on a vertical loom and there are two sets of threads used.  One is the warp thread which runs up and down the length of the loom and there is the weft thread which runs along the width of the loom.  God is the weaver, the great weaver of our life.  We know that.  He knit us together in our mother's womb, brought us to life and leads us now.  We are on a journey greater than any journey we will ever know.  Consider God's strength, His Son, His Spirit, His very being as the "warp" thread.  He is the backbone of the tapestry.  He is the one that runs the length of the loom, making sure that the stability of life is held up by Him.  We are "weft" threads, running along His tapestry parallel to the width.  He guides us along the way.  Sometimes we don't make it all the way to the other side of the loom.  Sometimes we stop in the middle.  He uses us to fill in a particular spot or design in the tapestry that is only centered in a certain area of the tapestry.  Likewise, in life , we are made to fill a certain part of our church, our family, our life.  This filling in combined with all the other threads makes one amazing picture.  Oh, what a glorious sight that must be to the Lord.  Even if threads break, designs misconstrued, colors fade, the whole tapestry will still be a masterpiece.  Our lives aren't perfect but with the "warp" threads of our Lord holding us together, we can do anything.  His mighty hands hold us together even if our threads start to thin out over time.  He can bolster us up and add more strength to make us who He wants us to be.  When He was forming us in our mother's womb, He knew what our lives would hold.  He knew His plans for us and also He knew we had free will.  He knew when we would use that free will to go against Him and when we would use it to please Him.  The tapestry of life is hanging up in Heaven, filled in with all the beautiful people that have come before us and those that are coming after us.  Our life is intertwined with theirs to make His kingdom.  Oh may we always remember that we are His masterpiece.  He loves us so much that He would do anything for us and He did that with His Son, Jesus Christ.  Now He lives within us with His Spirit so that we may be guided through life.  Life is a beautiful thing if we only give the maker the thread and let Him pull us through.  Let Him lead you.  You will find rest and a life that you could never have if it weren't for the greatest craftsman of all.  God you are a magnificent God.  May your tapestry be a testament to Your love You have for us Lord.  

Little Miracles

Today I was looking at my two children swimming in the pool and thought they sure have come a long way since the day they were born.  McKenzie on the way to the pool asked me, "Mom, how can the mountains move?".  I told her of course earthquakes can make mountains move.  She wanted to know how God could move mountains.  That got me thinking as we were looking at the mountains all around us, how awesome and scary that would be.......God moving a mountain.  Sand Mountain, east of Fallon, is a perfect example of a mountain that was moved by the wind.  A mountain of sand moved over a period of years over to another side of the valley is not something you see everyday.  To actually see that happening, I think I would have had to sit down with my head between my knees.  I don't think I could imagine what that would be like.  I told McKenzie that God can move the mountains just by whispering "move".  The mountain would listen to God....He is the creator of all things.  So then I got to thinking while they were swimming, God can be active in huge miracles like the parting of the Red Sea, the quaking ground when Jesus was crucified, the walking on water by Peter.  But He can also be a maker of all little miracles too.  That is when I thought of our kids.  They were miracles in and of themselves from the time that they were knit in my womb.  God knew each of them, talked to them, comforted them, gave them power to do what their little bodies had to do in that period of time.  Just so wonderful to know that He was in there with each of my children, placing His mark on each of their little hearts.  Their birthmarks show the kisses left by God.  Of course when they were born they were put right away into the intensive care nursery at the hospital to keep them alive.  Being born early like that and at very tiny weights, their chances of survival could have been worse.  But God kept His hand on each of them.  I remember walking into the nursery seeing all these babies wrapped up in little blankets, carefully laid out in their isolates.  They resembled to me caterpillars in their cocoons waiting to change into butterflies.  Just the stillness in there....I could feel God working on each one of them.  It is something I can't explain but I felt His presence so strongly in that room with all the machines and monitors beeping.  Those are the smallest, most beautiful miracles God performs in my opinion.  His hands are everywhere in our lives.  Whether it is moving a mountain or making a child's little lungs work because they are too little.  God doesn't decide what is more needing of His power.  He is in everything.  For that I am so thankful.  He is our mighty Lord, creator of all the universe....who are we to say that our problem isn't big enough for God?  My friends, God is there all the time just waiting for us and to show us His wonderful works.  We just have to look through the tears and see Him.  It may not be now, it may not even happen during our lifetime, but it will happen.  Nothing happens on Earth that can't be used for His glory.  Oh for us to be able to see how our problems and concerns turn out in the end.  I for one am trying to look for His miracles everyday......look all around you and you will see at least one.  I promise. 

Our First Love

Driving along the beautiful Truckee River today, winding through the suede covered mountains and hills, I heard a song on the radio talking about God and our falling in love with Him. Falling in love with Him. I had to mull that over a bit in my brain and thought yes, that is right. I want to fall in love with Him just as He has fallen in love with me even before I was born. So I was pondering those moments when we first fall in love with that special someone in our lives. Remember that moment that you first met your true love? Remember the feeling you got in your belly when you first laid eyes on him? Remember the uncertainty you felt when you first spoke your first words, what to say, how to say it? Remember the first time you touched that person's hand or that person when you hugged? Remember the "jolt" of electricity when you just knew that this was someone I would love to be with everyday? Remember the moment after your first date when you were standing there, the probing eyes as you were trying to read the other person's feelings? Remember the first weeks and months of your relationship as you called each other, went to dinner, wrote letters as if you hadn't seen them for years? Remember the feeling you would get when that first love would call you and how you couldn't wait to talk to him again? All those memories are very strong for me as I think of my husband of 15 years. I am so blessed that God put him in my life and I am even more blessed to know that those same feelings for my first love, I can feel for God. Of course not in the physical sense but rather in the sense that He is our first love. He loved us even before we were formed in our mother's womb. I so want to have that first love relationship with God. The wanting to talk to Him at all hours of the day. The wanting to someday walk with Him hand in hand in Heaven. The wanting to see His face and see the love He has for me. I want to have that awe when I think about how great He is and how He is absolutely indescribeable. Don't you want to be with Him everyday? Write letters to Him in a prayer journal? Talk to Him at 2am if you can't sleep? Just know that He is near and in our hearts? My friend, you can have that relationship with Him. Just set your eyes up to the Heavens, talk to Him, let Him know you are there and need Him so much. Your "First Love" will never leave you. He will always want what is best for you. His love for you is unfathomable. Doesn't that just send chills down your spine?

Psalm 90:14 Satisfy us in the morning with Your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.