In, Around and Through

 Many times when I pray....I use that phrase.  I can't even tell you if I had heard it at some point and incorporated it into my prayers or I thought of it on my own, but if you have been in prayer with me there is a good chance you heard me pray these words.

"Lord be IN, AROUND and THROUGH this situation."

Christ is IN ....IN the room with us, IN the moment with us.

📖  For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:20

📖   What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:  “I will live with them and walk among them and I will be their God, and they will be my people." 2 Corinthians 6:16-17

He is AROUND, His love and protection surround and cover us.

We pray "hedges of protection", around those we love, shields against "Satan's flaming arrows"; when we know a  situation could be dangerous, stressful, threatening.  He will surround us with His love and guidance.

📖 “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; 

my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.

He is my shield, the power that saves me,
and my place of safety. 

He is my refuge, my savior,

the one who saves me from violence. 

I called on the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and he saved me from my enemies. 2 Samuel 22:1-4

📖  “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land.  Job 1:10

📖 He will cover you with his feathers,

    and under his wings you will find refuge;
    his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. Psalm 91:4

If He is IN it with us and AROUND us with His protection 

He is  THROUGH it...immersed in every molecule!

BUT also through US!  or at least He should be!

📖  Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ Matthew 22:37

📖 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Romans 12:1

He wants to be present in every part of our life and our being....we should want Him there as well!

🙏I pray for you today...for whatever you are in the middle of...you feel His presence IN it with you, you trust His protection AROUND you, and you know He is THROUGH it all.❤

A Bitter Pill 💊

Have you heard that saying

"That is a bitter pill to swallow."?

Meaning circumstances we can't change, difficulties we have to deal with...are distasteful, "hard to swallow".

The thought came to mind as I was taking my vitamins/supplements. 

There are many kinds of pills out there, hard tablets, gel caps, capsules. Each with a different covering holding what is helpful, and usually necessary, inside.

We all have "bitter pills" in life...but our faith in Christ can make a difference in what happens with those "pills"....it can make a difference in the "coating on the pill".

If we allow that pill to stay as hard as it was when we had to swallow it.....a hard tablet we can't break or crush...it just remains hard and bitter.

📖 Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness springs up, causing trouble and by it, defiling many. Hebrews 12:15 (HCSB)

But if we allow Christ's grace and peace to wash over it...it will be softer, easier to break open and mercy, love, forgiveness can ooze out.

I know it sounds over simplified, even silly, but think about it;

If we allow all the wrongs, tragedies and unfairness in our life to remain heavy, hardened with-in us ...they damage us, instead of letting God use them to grow our faith and draw us closer to Him..

📖 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:6-7

...instead of letting God's gracious forgiveness crush that pill into powder that is washed away by His blood.  

There can not be even a little part....like the tiny part when we say; "they hurt me, I have a right to be angry", "this was not fair I am justified in my reactive behavior"..."I am the victim here!"  

But you see, that little speck becomes a collector...almost a magnet, for the littlest slights, misunderstandings, and other hurts and wrongs, so that little spec grows into another large hardened, bitter tablet.

📖 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Ephesians 4:31

ALL bitterness....not "get rid of bitterness"...or even "try to..."  it says GET RID OF ALL.

A quote from Christy by Catherine Marshall page 409.

Part of a funeral message given by Miss Alice;

“Second, we can have His friendship only if we are willing to let go our resentments and our bitterness and our hating and our feuding and our name-calling and our shooting and love one another. Tom McHone will not have died in vain, if finally we can drop the quarrels based on false pride, the petty differences that bring us sorrow and are not worthy of our Master."

What I also notice is that bitterness is listed first, so I believe letting bitterness hang out produces rage, anger, brawling, slander,  and every form of malice.  If we were to actually get rid of ALL bitterness....rage, anger, brawling, etc would all be gone as well!  When we don't let bitterness hang on...the rest just won't be!

📖 Praising and cursing come out of the same mouth. My brothers, these things should not be this way. Does a spring pour out sweet and bitter water from the same opening? James 3:10-12 (HCSB)

We can't crush that bitter pill on our own...we need to surrender our bitter pills to Him and He will crush them...so His mercy and grace and forgiveness is all that remains.

📖   I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me  Philippians 4:13 (NKJV)

Why do we have to swallow that pill in the first place?...as I have blogged before;

Jesus says you WILL have trouble...you WILL have some bitter pills, but take heart..."I am the Great Pill Crusher!"  (My paraphrase)

📖 I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Here is a song I just heard a few days ago...it speaks to what I am trying to say; that in our trials we draw closer to Him...grow in Him...without those bitter pills we might never get there.

🎵 Bring the Rain. Mercy Me

Never Forget

This past weekend, Saturday was the 20th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks and Sunday was Grandparents Day. (yes it is a thing!)

So I was trying to decide ....which should I blog about?....since they seem to be on opposite ends of the spectrum:

A tragic day in our nations history; but we saw such heroism and brotherly love and God working in the tragedy.

or honoring our grandparents....for what they mean to us, what they stand for in our family ...around our table and in our family tree.

both remembering....one of the phrases that came out of 9-11 is "we will never forget".

We will never forget the innocent lives lost, the heroes that lost their lives running into the fire and destruction.  We will never forget the people who continued to help and to support.  The families and lives that are represented by the memorials.

I believe that is something that would make a good Grandparents Day card as well....."we will never forget"...."We will never forget your life, what you have done in and for our family.  The love and support...who you are as individuals...the history and memories that you represent."

To me...the most important "we will never forget";  is what Christ did for us....He loved us so much He stepped out...to be a hero, stepped up to take our place....

📖  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16

I believe it is God's love for His people that allows us to survive and move past the tragedies, past the things that cause us pain.  I believe that He cries with us through all of it. 

📖 Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will hold me close. Psalm 27:10 (NLT)

He holds us...carries us when we are too weak to continue. He brings those people who think nothing of themselves to help, to minister, to take care of us.

📖 I will be your God throughout your lifetime—

    until your hair is white with age.
I made you, and I will care for you.
    I will carry you along and save you. Isaiah 46:4 (NLT)

I thank God for the heroes.  For the everyday people who step up, for the grandparents, for those in my life who have given me love in which to grow.

📖  I always remember you in my prayers day and night. And in these prayers I thank God for you. He is the God my ancestors served, and I have always served him with a clear conscience. 2 Timothy 1:3 (ERV)

Credentialing Specialist

My sister's job title at her work at an area hospital was Certified Medical Staff Credentialing Analyst & Coordinator or for short "Credentialing Specialist "

One of her jobs was to background check the medical credentials of all the physicians seeking privileges at her facility (to state it simply) 

She and her office mate had lots and lots of paperwork.

A couple Sundays ago the message at church was about our qualifications for what we do, what we are known as, and how most people can show certificates of completion, cards, some form of proof that you have the qualifications to carry that title, or to do what you are doing.

So what if our "Credentialing Specialist " came along....looking for actual proof we are worthy of the name Christian..

📖 I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Ephesians 4:1b

We may even have a certificate from our church...for Sunday school, for baptism, membership etc

We can wear t-shirts proclaiming our faith (however you can wear a shirt proclaiming McDonald's fries, does that make me Ronald?!)

See where I am going with this??

We take people at their word that they are a follower of Christ. 

But IF Christ came looking for our credentials ..what do we got??.

📖 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35

Can loving others be enough proof?  BUT do we love  ALL others?  ALL the time? Do we love them ALL sacrificially ?

📖 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. John 10:4

 We know His voice, but can others see proof of that??

  

📖  This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. John 15:8

📖  “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing John 15:5

📖 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  Matthew 7:20-21  

SO we should have baskets full of fruit??

Our certificate should read;

📖  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23

I have this scripture engraved on the inside of my wedding band (the one from when we renewed our vows) because it is one of my life verses.  If I could produce every one of the fruits everyday...or even  one day.....you can pray that for me!

🙏My prayer for you today...  You wouldn't need be asked for your "credentials" because Who you follow is evident in all you do!❤