Blessings........

I have been asked by Wornoutwoman to list my seven blessings for the day....ahhh...being one that always does what she's told (no snickering) here goes...

1. I have been blessed with a wonderful husband who really accepts me for who I am and has a knack for telling me I'm beautiful to him when I need it the most.

2. Our children....we have faith that Em will come back when she is done living her testimony, and be part of us again. Steve and Mike keep us smiling and hopeful...

3. The ability to worhsip freely the Most High God 24/7.

4. I still have both of my parents, and my mom-in-law who is nothing less than a saint!

5. My blogging babes & buffs!!!!!!! Life just isn't the same anymore...sigh....

6. My church which has taught me that there really are people who love unconditionally!!!!

7. It's FRIDAY!!!!!!!!

Thanks ww....it's great to keep focused on the positive!!!!!

What has the Lord been blessing you with lately???

BLT #3

OK, I'm lightening up on the BLT info..... I really want to get to know you guys better, so, I'll be asking 3 questions a week about you or your walk....I'm still calling them BLT's because Brent still loves Tammy......probably more than when I started these if that's possible!!!!! ;)

1. How did you come to know the Lord?
2. What is your favorite scripture and why?
3. When was the last time you led someone to the Lord and what were the circumstances?

Easy? YAY!!!!!
I'll answer at the end of the day.....be blessed, I love you guys!!!!!

Is our faith an illusion?

If you guys have never seen the works of Julian Beever, you need to go here.

I have a few samples of his art here. These are some of his sidewalk drawing that he has done in chalk....yes they are flat on the ground...amazing!

Don't worry about my title, I'm not losing it, it stems from some interesting conversation that some of us have had over at FC.

I was asked during one discussion about my beliefs in the supernatural....

It's been interesting to say the least, but we know our God is a living God, and He longs to get involved in people's lives. For some reason, God has chosen to use us, His people, to be the agents through whom He will reach out and touch the world. Everything has been provided for us to overcome satanic oppression and enjoy God's favor- such as provision, healing, relationships...

The world, obviously is crying out for something more. They are seeking satisfaction for their souls through many things, without understanding that only God can give it. They need the Lord, but instead deny Him, but don't see Him as real.

Paul said his message and preaching were not with the persuasive words of human wisdom, but with the demonstration of the Spirit and power, that our faith may not rest in the wisdom of men but the power of God..(I Corint. 2:1-4) Instead I find that people (I'm not omitting myself here) rest their faith in the wisdom of the pastor or teachers and rarely experience the power of God promised by the Scripture. I believe this to be part of the problem with the people on FC, as they are resting on and intellectual approach to faith. Peter, Paul and the early apostles demonstrated the power and authority of the Lord rather than try to provide people with philosophy, which makes sense to me when the root of someones problem is spiritual to begin with, not intelligence. For me to represent the Lord to the people on FC I have to witness to them in the supernatural, as Jesus spoke in John 14:12 - "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to my Father." I truly want my witness to be effective for these people.... not just another illusion, there is plenty of that in today's society.

Mom

We went to see Mom after Church yesterday......what an awesome service it was. To get a little background on Mom, go here.....she looked better than Friday when we stopped in to say howdy. We are praying continually that we would be in a position soon that would allow her to come home and stay with us, til the Lord brings her home. Until now, she has only been able to babble, we're sure she knows what she's saying, but the words are still hard to understand. Every time she sees Jer, she starts saying baby...which is accurate.....so knowing this we decided to bring her some baby pictures. Of course, knowing our sense of humor, we also brought this one..

which in turn brought a bout of hysterical laughter.... it was so good to hear her laugh. After our lunch and visit, Jerry just held her, (it amazed me that she has now become the child needing the taking care of) and talked with her of many memories. I remember asking her one time how long she had been walking with the Lord....her answer was that she was born walking with the Lord. Almost 90 years worth in her....my heart longs for her to tell me one of her stories again. Before we left, we kssed her and told her we loved her....Jerry asked her if she had anything else she wanted to say....Jesus was her reply. It was the sweetest word spoken the whole afternoon.....from the very deepest part of her heart.

BLT #2 cont.....

OK, this is a chicken.....don't be one....we are going to continue from last week....if you need to find out what a BLT is, go here. Last week I posed a question about being born again. Is the three fold part of a believer born again, or is it just the spirit part? I think we are essentially spirit beings and that is the part that is re-born. This week I'll talk a little about why I believe why the mind (or soul) needs constant refurbishing according to scripture and why I don't believe it is automatically renewed. Again, I welcome any and all feedback. This is ONLY my interpretation through some meditation and prayer......

Renewing of the mind....scripture reference. Here are some scripture references that I have found in areas of the mind that need to be renewed.....Romans 1:28, Romans 8:5,7, Romans 12:16, II Corinth. 4:4 , II Corinth. 11:3, Eph. 2:3 Eph. 4:17, Phil. 3:19, Col. 1:21, Col. 2:18 Titus 1:15, these all deal with areas of the mind that we struggle with.



The Lord calls for us to be transformed by the renewing of our mind, Rom. 12:2 and says it happens by the renewing by the Holy Spirit, Titus 3:5. The reason I suppose that I am feeling so strongly lately is that in order for me to be successful in the ministry the Lord is directing me to, it is becoming more and more apparent how important it is to have all three of our created parts to be in line with each other. It's a given that our physical bodies will decrease and eventually die, but why not keep it to the best of health possible? It's a mission we are on lately that we have neglected horribly, and although it's not easy it is becoming very beneficial to drop some weight and live a healthier lifestyle. With all of the garbage that is out there to fill our minds, it so important to renew and freshen it daily with Gods Word, and our spirit needs exercising as well. There is true power when all three are working in the same direction for the same purpose. It does little good if I'm physically fit, yet fill my mind with garbage. OR if I'm really full of God's spirit, yet so sluggish from my eating that I can't go out to minister... I just want to encourage people to take that time, and spend time in His word in prayer and worship. Take the time to let Him minister to your spirit, beyond anything else that may seem more important at the time......wow what a difference it makes.

Can't live in the bubble folks......

If you guys have not visited Friendly Christian.....I think you should...for what it's worth. This brother, Bill, has pretty much taken on the athiest world with his blog asking some very difficult questions. I have a pretty bold personality, especially when it comes to witnessing about Christ. And after four days of blogging with these people, it's a little exhausting...but well worth it. This is our purpose, this is what we are called to do. The last few months, the Lord has been taking me to a different level along with my wonderful hubby!! He's opening doors to go out more which is exactly what our church teaches us to do and prepares us for. But I'm finding, once you get out of the "saved people" bubble it gets a little rough. I've gone to church for so long, yes there is the occasional unsaved that attend and we witness and love on them....but wow what an eye opener to do something like street evangalizing in Springfield, OR. (Something the Lord has recently blessed me with) And to actually see someone in a drug induced frenzy, cry out the Living God and have a life change right before your eyes. I went home at the end of that day and sobbed. All I could do was sob, partly because I realized I had been avoiding the very people that needed Christ the most, and partly because I had become very comfortable around the saved people, and plain didn't want to be around the unsaved to that capacity. But the Lord calls us to this and gives us the words and strength at the very time we need it. It's why we're here...to seek and save the LOST, not the "on the verge of coming to Christ" but the lost, and the lost don't always look so pretty. Once I composed my self a little bit, He gave me scripture from Corinthians 2:1-5 where Paul is addressing the heart of Christian witness.

"And I brethren when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God."

We really need little more than our salvation and God's Word, just a willing heart to break our bubble and reach out.....Please don't mistake my boldness in Christ for being pompous, after rereading this it almost sounds that way, but I'm letting the post stand as is. I think it's important to leave the comfort zone....start by stopping by FC and giving him an atta boy.....love you guys with all my heart!

Niceness......

Ok, I'm all warm and fuzzy thanks to my blogging buddy Princess Darla.....wow, she zapped me twice!!!!! I know Tam's been tagged but I'm doin it again, along with hubby Brent (sorry B, I tried to find a more manly award....) and my newst blogging buddy Shonda!!!! Love you guys! Be blessed!!! ;)

Something with a little less brain strain

Are you a fern or bamboo?



One day I decided to quit.... I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality..... I wanted to quit my life. I went to the woods to
have one last talk with God.

"God", I said. "Can you give me one good reason not to quit?" His
answer surprised me...
"Look around", He said. "Do you see the fern and the bamboo?"
"Yes",I replied.
"When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good
care of them. I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly
grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing
came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo.

In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful. And
again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo".
He said. "In the third year, there was still nothing from the Bamboo
seed. But I would not quit.
In the fourth year, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed.
But I would not quit.
He said. "Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the Earth

Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant. But
just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall. It had
spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and
gave it what it needed to survive.

I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not
handle."
He said to me. "Did you know, my child, that all this time you have
been struggling, you have actually been growing roots.
I would not quit on the bamboo. I will never quit on you.
Don't compare yourself to others."
He said. "The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern, yet, they
both make the forest beautiful." "Your time will come, "God said to
me. " You will rise high!"
"How high should I rise?" I asked.
"How high will the bamboo rise?" He asked in return.
"As high as it can?" I questioned.
"Yes." He said, "Give me glory by rising as high as you can!!"

Beginning BLT #2 answer...

Ok, I started to answer this and it began to get so long i thought I had better break it up a bit...so to begin with, I'm going to start by saying that after reading Hosea, verse 4:6 really stood out to me, I'll let you look that one up, but it drove the point home to me that our Lord takes is serious about whether or not we actually know Him....personally....so that is why I really began to dig in scripture, trying to find out who I am as far as my makeup and created image and why it is so important when speaking to or worshipping my Lord. I'm just going to relay a few things that He has seared into my heart the last couple of weeks...hopefully answering my own question... I'll start with some basics....In 1 Thess. 5:23...this scripture identifies our makeup, in order. Spirit, Soul and Body.

The Spirit, and soul are the ones that go to be with the Lord when we die. This earthound tent we are in is only temporal. From going through God's word the way I understand it, the spirit is the eternal life part of us, we contact God through our spirit. The soul, has three parts, it's our mind, will and emotions. We use it for intelect and take it with us as well. Our body, or flesh are the five senses that we learned about in grade school, :) and the "tent" that allows us to dwell here...that being said, I believe the part of us that is "born again" is the spirit...yes I'll give you scriptures, and continue with my answer.....any questions yet?

BLT's YAY!!!!!

HEY!!!!! Sorry folks, I've been on a road trip with the Lord....awesome time!!!! Problem is I'm wiped....I wanted to be faithful tho and post my BLT for this evening....since I'm so late with it I will be catching up on blogville tomorrow and through out the weekend so this will kind of be an extended one.....

anyway, here it is....we are a three part being...right? right! we are body soul and spirit.....so my question is, do all three parts get "born again" when we are "born again?" I realize this is a loaded topic and question, but I also feel like it's so important when trying to minister to others. This will probably carry over to next week because it's pretty involved but it's a place to start...so

Happy blogging!!!! I'll start writing my opinions tomorrow....love you guys! Deb

Hey, I wanted to add, to please refer to scripture when writing your answers....THANKS!!!!

Have you ever.....

Seen something that just plain made you smile?????

And as for Friday's questions....

OK, thank you for your answers B & T, Darla girl!!!!! What'd ya find out???? I have had a little time to look through some commentaries, and have a little different take on the Isaiah scripture.....First of all thanks B for the history lesson...you seemed to have jarred some long lost memories on our ancestors! As far as the scripture itself, I am leaning toward a couple of commentaries I read. They basically stated that God (as we know) is in command of all creatures, all of heaven and earth. He has residence in Heaven for His glory, and then also dominion over the earth, which in turn also brings Him glory. While He is here working in us, through us, establishing His kingdom, He is still "stretching out the heavens, His power and providence keep them still stretched out, and will do so till the day comes they will be rolled together like a scroll." ahhhhh i like that.....so what I'm saying is I believe it is a representation of His power, dominion and control over the universe, Heaven and earth, all for His glory alone.

The second scripture I tend to lean toward the position of this being the glory of God Himself, THE Light, and as much as I've tried have not found any scripture referring to light and darkness ever being one to be separated in the first place...This made me think of the New Jerusalem where there will not be a need a need of sun or moon, the Glory of God will be sufficiant. In 2 Co 4:6 it says, God commanded the light to shine out of darkness. The light, in which any darkness is unable to exist, were separated and are never to be joined again, for what fellowship has light with darkness? 2 Co 6:14.

As far as the other question posted Friday, my answer would be yes I would and have, offended for Christ. Of course it depends on the individual and how long they have been witnessed too.....but there are times when I just have to tell someone, you know the truth, now it's time to choose.....I can't allow myself to conform to ungodliness for the sake of winning someone over, or let myself get to a place where I am in a gray area with God for the purpose of salvation. There are no gray areas with God, and I believe our time is close when we will be with Him, the last thing I would want to do is NOT offend someone into an eternity without Him. Whew...ok, love you guys and as always any comments are welcome!!!

Do we dare to offend for Christ?

BLT's

Ok, I have been inspired here by two dear friends of ours. The first Brent has been both friend and worship pastor to my husband and I since 2000. His wife Tammy has been one of my best friends and confidant since about the day we met. You can check both of their blogs today to see what actually inspired this as well as my new blog friend Mandy, who has some awesome interaction on Wednesdays!!!! But, they were asked to answer a "meme" about marriage, and I learned that they like to debate.....or have some intense discussions.....SO....what I want to do is....start some...
Fridays will be days that I will pose a question, or questions throughout the day that come to mind, that will help us to dig in God's word and give eachother some wisdom and insight.... I encourage some thinking and research, or if you yourself have something that is puzzeling that you would like some input....you are more than welcome to ask or share. Anyone who has been around these two for longer than 30 seconds, can see they are inseperable, so we will call this time Brent Loves Tammy or BLT's. I suppose we can say it's food for thought???? So we'll begin our BLT's tomorrow...and honestly this just came to me, so I am a bit unprepared..but here are a couple thoughts to get us started....

BLT #1 - How do you think any of our ancestors could think the world was flat after reading Isaiah 40:22?

BLT #2 - God created light in Genesis 1:3 and separated it in verse 4, yet He didn't create the "light" as we know, sun, moon until verse 14....what is the separation of light and dark refering to? (I do have my own understanding on this and would love your input)

Have fun with this, and thanks to Brent & Tam for the inspiration.....Luvs!

HUH????

Ok, these were just way too cute not to share....these are actual writing from kids in church, unedited......

St. Paul covorted to Christianity. He preached the holy acrimony, which is another name for marriage.

One of the oppossums was St. Matthew who was also a taximan.

The epistles were the wives of the apostles.

The people who followed the Lord were called the 12 decibels.

When the three wise guys from the east side arrived, they found Jesus in the manager.

Solomon, one of David's sons, had 300 wives and 700 porcupines.

David was a Hebrew King skilled at playing the liar. He fought with the Finklesteins, a race of people who lived in Biblical times.

The greatest miracle in the Bible is when Joshua told his son to stand still and he did......

Moses died before he ever reached Canada. Then Joshua led the Hebrews in the battle of Geritol.

The first commandment was when Eve told Adam to eat the apple.

The Egyptions were all drowned in the dessert. Afterwards, Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the ten ammendments.

Moses led the Hebrews to the Red Sea, where they made unleavened bread which is bread without any ingredients.

Ya just gotta love em'..........

I can't find anywhere if this is one of those photos that has been retouched or not, but this kind of visual in my thoughts make it bearable when I have to fly!!!! God is soooo good!

Jesus wasn't the only one hurt by a follower of Christ.....

I ran across a quote today by Elaine Ingalls Hogg....."We are not alone in the pain we feel when others hurt and betray us. Jesus shares that experience and the emotions with us. Through Him we overcome...." As a Christian sister, when I am hurt by another believer, my heart wants to forgive & forget, to rise above the situation, but at times, it just drags me down. During those times, when people choose to look the other way as our paths were crossing, or when I wake up in the middle of the night, mulling things over again in my mind, I can experience tears and even a sense of loss. But then, we're in good company when that happens....Jesus was hurt too. He was openly rejected by the world...When He was in the Garden of Gethsemane, the apostle Peter cut off the ear of Malcus. According to Luke 22:51, Jesus said, "No more of this!" Then He touched the man's ear and healed him. We can have this healing too. I don't know if we can ever really forget things completely, but the dictionary says that forgetting is leaving behind....and with God's help we can. I think if we truly are in tune with Him, we'll hear Him say "No more of this!" and in His presence feel Him reach down and bless us with His healing touch. Then we will be able to follow His word in Colossians 3:13, "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you" Amen

Worship is the heart of it....

Since January, the Lord has really freed me up in my worship. My church allows me to stand, sit, kneel or lay before my Lord, and I in return am able to enter into that place where I can let go, and ready my heart to receive God's word. While we have an outrageously gifted worship team, they will be the first to tell you that the "music" is not where the worship is, it's the heart. I have ran across a couple of people recently who stopped coming to our church because of the style or loudness of music. It breaks my heart because they aren't getting the true meaning of that time that is set aside. We have had some good conversations, and I pray they give it another chance, but I truly can't imaging the early Christians saying, "I just can't worship when we use one of David's new Psalms," or "the timbrel was so loud in worship this morning! Someone needs to to talk to Asaph about it."
Worship does not require a song, it requires a heart. Job laid in the dust. Isaiah trembled and worshipped in awe. David, well, OK I'm not THAT freed up...yet...LOL They had awesome, one on One spiritual experiences, because of the heartfelt worship, the emptying of themselves that caused it. If we could only learn to empty ourselves, our pre conceived notions of how things should be, it's then that we can experience worship without restraint, and ask our Father to just breathe His spirit into us. That's true life, the lower we bow, the higher we are lifted.

My gift of God...

My husband and I decided to take his mom to church this morning. She had a severe stroke July 5th, and things just haven't been quite the same. She is in a local nursing home, trying to rehabilitate as much as possible, then we will bring her to a more private and personable setting. She never looked close to her 88 years until recently. Never been in a hospital before, only to visit and encourage others, just a jewel from God. Today we sat while the old hymns were sung and just looked around the vast room, full of people who have lived such long lives, and seem to have just been forgotten. A number of them were already worn out and sleeping after only having been up a couple hours. I clung to my Mom, and held her in her chair, listening to her soft babbling that just weeks before had been such Godly wisdom and advice. "I love you Mom," I said over and over, she smiled and held me back. A few minutes later, a woman began to cry. Jerry went to her and just held her hand. "He's all I have left" she sobbed and just laid her head on Jerry, "He's all you need" he said. Her crying stopped and she lifted her head and smiled through her tears at him. "Sometimes you just need to hear that," she said, and the four of us sat through the rest of the service just content in His presence. We took them back to their rooms and got them ready for lunch, and when we were ready to leave, our new friend stopped us and said, "He's closer than you think." We took that with us the rest of today, and promised each other, that no matter what He has for us this week, we would stand on His word, and know, He is all we need and He's closer than we think.