When love comes to town, the broken and afflicted find hope. The lost and the lonely are given a family. The orphan and the widow receive support, and the wicked vanish like smoke. The God that I love and know, has promised good for all those in Christ. In Christ, we have abundant life and blessings filled with joy and peace. He is asking for you to receive what He has already made available for you by accepting the Truth of His Word in your life.
When we speak words that are against the Will of God, we cause our blessings to be blocked. God doesn’t want any to be suffering or sick, but we must learn to speak in agreement with God’s Word and not the world. If the doctor tells you that you have a rare disease and there is no cure or treatment, you must be prepared to deny that diagnosis and replace it with the Truth of God’s Word.
There are strongholds that have been built in our minds that don’t align with the Truth of God’s Word, but the only way we can remove those strongholds is to replace them with the Living Word of God.
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 ESV
You can’t pull down strongholds or imaginations against the will of God unless you know what the will of God is. His will is His Word. Read the Bible and get understanding and insight so you are able to move through any attacks of the enemy with ease. Sickness, poverty and any oppression are against the will of God, so when you see these things, speak the Truth over them. Declare the Word, and this will release Angels to remove those strongholds in the Spirit realm.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12 ESV
The strongholds of the enemy are everywhere right now, but God has assigned legions of Angels to war on our behalf and tear these strongholds down as we begin to come into agreement with God’s Word and not agree with the enemy anymore.
It’s time to push back the darkness with the Light of the World! God’s Word is the Light. It’s time to declare what God said would happen in His Word.
“Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.” Jeremiah 32:37-41 ESV
The darkness has a way of convincing people that it is more powerful and in control by causing fear and terror, but you don’t have to give into fear, because we have something greater than any insurance policy or government program to help us.
The Lord shows up every time I am in despair and ready to throw in the towel. He knows what the enemy is doing and he crushes him every time he attacks! Not only does he crush him, but then I end up with a huge blessing for the suffering that I endured. It sometimes is good to get attacked, because the reward is always much greater than what the enemy stole or tried to ruin.
Remember that with every problem God has provided a promise and a provision to get you to the other side with more than you had.
http://bible.com/59/psa.18.2-4,6-50.esv
There are many books and stories that cover the teachings of the Bible. There are millions of churches that hold services weekly in order to share the Truth and help the people grow in understanding of the ways of God and His Kingdom, but there is truly only one thing that is necessary for people to grasp in its fullness and that is LOVE.
Love is the currency of Heaven. God is Love. The definition of love in the Bible is this:
If this is the definition given by Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, I think it is fair to believe that it is accurate.
God is Love, and He has loved us with a perfect love.
Jesus told his disciples that he was leaving them with this commandment:
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. “
John 15:12
Why did Jesus command them to do this?
So that the world would know who the disciples of Jesus are. It would be clear to the world that all who love one another like Jesus, are the disciples of Jesus.
If you don’t have love for one another, you are not a disciple of Jesus, because he commanded that his disciples love one another.
My point in sharing this is to help those that have not yet known the Father’s great love for them.
If love is patient and kind and always protects, trusts, hopes and believes, while not being proud or arrogant and not envying or boasting, but rejoicing at the truth and not holding any wrongdoing against anyone, but forgiving all, then I think it is safe to assume that our Heavenly Father is deserving of all of our love and attention!
He sent His Righteous Son to die for all of our wrongs, and know that we can be reconciled through that ultimate sacrifice that paid for all of the wrongs ever done by the people on this earth. We are granted access back into the family of God when we turn to Jesus and ask for him to become our savior and cover us in his righteousness and cleanse us in his pure blood.
We are then made clean and back in right standing with God, so we can go to Him for help and for companionship and greater understanding of His Kingdom.
We truly can’t fully grasp how great the love of the Father is until we begin to walk with Him and He reveals His heart to us for the hurting and broken people suffering all around the world.
When people eagerly seek to be closer to God, they often forget that they can find Him with the lowly. They might experience an aspect of Him at church, but until they pour themselves out to the homeless, the orphans, the broken and imprisoned in our society, they will never truly know the love of God in its fullness.
Isaiah 58:10-12 English Standard Version (ESV)
10
if you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday.
11
And the Lord will guide you continually
and satisfy your desire in scorched places
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters do not fail.
12
And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to dwell in.
His mercies are relentless for his creation, but the people that are considered his friends are those that are led with love to do good at any cost to themselves.
This isn’t to chastise or cause anyone shame. If you attend church weekly and seek to do good and not harm in the world, than you are on the right track.
There was one more important detail that Jesus put above loving others and that was to love God with all that you are and have.
With those two things you can transform your world to a place of beauty. Will it cost you a great deal of suffering, yes, because not all the world is able to grasp the depths of love that come from God. They will reject you and lock you out of what their plans are, because they don’t see through the eyes of love yet, but when you walk with God and you ask Him to open the eyes of the blind, He does it. In fact, He is able to do all that we ask of Him, and He wants to do so much more than most people are asking Him to do right now.
He told me to “pray bigger” when I first began my walk with Him.
He said that after I asked Him to save one child a night from sex trafficking or sexual abuse. He actually rescued around 185 children that weekend from sex trafficking, and afterwards, He whispered “I want to save more than one a day”.
He is whispering to you today, “Come closer and don’t be ashamed or afraid. I have loved you with an everlasting love, and I will help you through anything that you are facing.”
Don’t elevate your problems, but rather bring them under the Word of God where they are all defeated. Praise God and bring glory to Him by pouring out thanksgiving and songs of joy!
God longs to pour out blessings on all of the people, and He waits to be gracious to us, but many don’t receive the blessings, because they don’t know they are available or they speak against them unknowingly.
Negativity and arrogance/pride are the things that will keep you from receiving your full blessing in Christ. I know this from experience, and God told me that negativity blocks Him and opens the door to darkness.
So a little tip on how to receive the best and reject the worst: start praising and worshiping God’s goodness, the enemy hates it and won’t stick around, and your blessings will come flooding in finally!
Don’t blame God when you don’t get your blessing, because it is not his doing. It is the negative atmosphere that we allow or create that surrounds us attracting every demon and blocking every blessing.
God is looking for people to believe and speak His Word over areas that don’t match up to His Word. He doesn’t want us complaining about what we see. He wants us believing His Word and declaring it over what is not aligning with His promises.
I included a few scriptures below, but there are so many scriptures that can and should be used by people right now to see good instead of evil.
The church needs to rise up and believe for the best, and refuse to accept the worst! I don’t know about you, but I have seen enough evil in my lifetime, and I am not going to be looking for more. I will however speak in agreement with what God has promised in His Word, because I need to believe and agree with God in order to see the manifestation of the word.
You have to know what the blessings and promises are if you are going to ask for them, Grab ahold of the Word of God and speak it over your life and your children and other family and friends! You will never regret doing it! It will bring a harvest in season.
“For you shall go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”
– Isaiah 55:12 ESV
“but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.”
– Isaiah 40:31 ESV
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”
– Romans 8:31 ESV
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
– James 1:17 ESV
“But I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
forever and ever.”
– Psalms 52:8 ESV
“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
– Philippians 4:13 ESV
“The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.”
– Psalms 34:18 ESV
“And the LORD will guide you continually
and satisfy your desire in scorched places
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters do not fail.”
– Isaiah 58:11 ESV
“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever.”
– Psalms 136:1 ESV
“Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!”
– Psalms 34:8 ESV
“Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”
– John 16:24 ESV
“For nothing will be impossible with God.””
– Luke 1:37 ESV
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
– Matthew 11:28 ESV
“He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.”
– Psalms 147:3 ESV
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
– Jeremiah 29:11 ESV
“When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears
and delivers them out of all their troubles.”
– Psalms 34:17 ESV
“”Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.”
– Isaiah 1:18 ESV
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.”
– Proverbs 3:5 ESV
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”
– 1 John 4:18 ESV
“But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.””
– 1 Samuel 16:7 ESV
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
– 2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV
The Lord makes rich and he adds no sorrow to it.
Proverbs 10:22
“But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:5 ESV
The testimony is from a service at The Little Chapel in Paradise Valley, AZ.
The Chapel services are held once a month, and everyone in attendance should expect to be healed. The Minister is Sara O’Meara. She received a miraculous healing of terminal Cancer over 40 years ago at a Kathryn Kuhlman service.
I found the video about this woman’s time in heaven with Jesus, and wanted to share it with people that may be struggling to believe if Jesus is real or have never received Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
Heaven is a very real place, and I have seen glimpses of it myself, but more than that, I have spoken with the Living God, and I can assure you that He is in fact real, and His love for all of His creation is beyond human comprehension.
He doesn’t change His thoughts about you based on your understanding, but it takes a person’s faith to receive all the God has for them. Without believing that God is real, it is impossible to please Him. Scripture tells us that God is Spirit and those who worship Him must do so in the Spirit.What does that mean? It means that one must be born again by the washing of the Word and the receiving of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that the Words he spoke were Spirit and life, and those who believe and keep his words will be like a watered garden welling up into eternal life. Those who hear his words but don’t do them, will be like a man who built his house on sand and when the storms came that house fell, and great was its fall.
What are the words that you need to obey and understand? You must repent for doing things your own way, and love the Lord with all of your heart, soul and strength, and love your neighbors as yourself.
Give God your first and best, and He will fill you up with all that you need to go out and do His will everyday. His will is not difficult. He wants us to love others and help them right now. Not just the people we like or the people we think deserve help. If you think that you deserved help and you did something to earn the love of God, you are wrong. You received grace and mercy not because you earned it. God loves man, and He wants to be known by you as your Father. He paid a high price to have you reconciled back into his family.
Love the outcasts, pray for the sick and afflicted, give to all that ask for your help. Never turn away from any human in need no matter how much you think they are the cause of their own suffering. We are commanded to love. What does that mean? love is kind, patient, not arrogant or boastful, Love doesn’t insist on its own way. Love is forgiving and merciful and to follow the voice of God.
The Holy Spirit will lead you to people that are in need of help, and you will know that you are supposed to help, because if you are in Christ than you will feel the tugging on your heart to reach out and love those who are hurting. When you ignore these tugs on your heart, they will eventually cause your heart to become hardened and you will no longer be in the love of God, and Jesus said to abide in his love and he would stay with you, but if you don’t give love to others you won’t be able to remain in his love for long. He gives grace when it is needed, and he is quick to forgive if we repent, but if we simply ignore everything that he teaches and live only for ourselves in this life, we won’t have anything to look forward to when this life comes to an end. Store up treasures for yourself in Heaven! Do good and give generously. Being stingy and judging others will only bring suffering and lack in your path. Give and go beyond what people expect or ask of you, because that is what God does for all of us.
Lastly, believe that you are loved and accepted. You don’t have to become a missionary or change your career to a priest. Choose to live in God’s presence and let His will direct you. Pray for others and pray God’s will when you see something that is not aligning with His will. As it is in Heaven, so let it be in this earth.
Be mindful of the Holy Spirit at all times, and he will lead and teach you all that you need to know. Ignore him, and you will stumble around in the dark or rely on people to guide you instead of God.
People will all fail you eventually, because they are only human, but God will never leave you nor forsake you, so don’t ignore God to ask people for help. Ask God first!
God will send people to you that bring the answer to your question many times, but don’t think that all people that claim to know God are speaking for God when they give you advice or preach a message. There are more people that say they know God but don’t really know him than there are people that actually know Him.
How can I say that? Because he told me that when I asked him if people would believe that he spoke to me through a whirlwind. He also told me that the only thing that can destroy evil completely is love.
He said that he is waiting for people to turn and help each other right now on the earth, so repent if you have been living for yourself only and ask God to lead you into places where you can help others in need.
Being the greeter at church is great, but there is more. God wants his people to step outside the church walls and rescue and recover the lost and afflicted.
If you don’t have a heart to love and see all healed, than don’t go looking for people to help. You still need to meet God and know his heart first.
Have you ever considered asking God for exactly what you want? I know that we all turn to God for help when we are in crisis or to help others, but have you ever considered that God is wanting you to ask Him to help you fulfill your dreams? Why would you stay in a dead end job and let all of your dreams get buried under a pile of late bills and dirty laundry? Taste and see the Lord is good! Once you have tasted His goodness and know His awesome saving grace and favor that He gives to all who call and trust in Him for their needs, you will never live like a poor beggar again! If you made Jesus your Lord and Savior, you are now accepted by God in the Beloved. You are God’s beloved in Christ! Know the Truth and the Truth will set you free!
In scripture, Jesus often stopped and asked the person crying out to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” Well, Jesus is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow, so how about answering him, and watching him go to work to fulfill those dreams of yours?
Ask and You will Receive
John 16:23 In that day you will no longer ask Me anything. Truly, truly, I tell you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.
The only request that was not granted was asked of him by James and John the sons of Zebedee, but unless you are asking to take something that belongs to another, you are most likely going to receive whatever you ask, so that your joy may be full and your fruit abide.
Mark 10:35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” 37And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” 38Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 39And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, 40but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
How can we abide in Jesus? Do his will. Love God and love others like he loves us. Do good and don’t cause others harm. To remain in Jesus means to know him, and live with him daily. Not a prayer to get what you want on a rare occasion, although he does answer those too, but you truly won’t ever want to leave his love once you are fully aware of it in your life. Share the love of God with those in need and bless others with the blessings that you have received.
Heaven is not like earth. In heaven, everyone is excited and waiting to tell you what Jesus did for them. Here on earth people usually want to tell you about themselves and what they think they did. If they only realized that much of what man does is only possible by the grace of God in their life. Be grateful and realize how good God is so that you can enjoy his presence always with you.
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. John 15:7 ESV
Who is like our God? His love is so pure and holy that it is hard to grasp with an earthly mind. He doesn’t change his thoughts about us. He knows who we are and how we think and behave, as well as what causes our behaviors. He longs to help all of his creation reach their full potential in Christ and fulfill the destinies that he planned for each life long ago, but many people have been taught wrong about who God is and how he thinks of us. I want to share the God that I know with anyone that has never known the living God, creator of all.
Like most people in the world, I was unsure of whether or not there was a God, but I had a deep fear of the darkness and the things that I couldn’t see, so out of fear, I was forced to run to God for help. God showed up in all of my mess and has been leading me deeper and deeper into His love ever since. Am I perfect, not even close, but I don’t pretend to be anything that I am not with God. He knows all of my weaknesses and all of my faults. That is why he gives more grace and gives me His Holy Spirit to overcome the lies with the truth. There are so many miracles that I would love to share, but the greatest miracle isn’t what God is doing for me, but rather what God did for all mankind when he sent his son into the world to take upon himself all of our wrongs. All of the evil and wicked things we have ever done or ever could do will all find forgiveness in the moment that we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
How can that be possible? Does it seem to good to be true? Well God really is too good for most people to believe that he is real, but that doesn’t change the truth that he is real and he is good always. His love and mercy for us runs so deep and wide that nothing will deter him from bringing us back to his house. He is our Father. We came from him before we were in our mother’s womb. He planned everyday of our lives before we arrived here, and he will never let anyone or anything take us from his hand. I don’t care if you are buried in shame and guilt from a wasted life or if you are a bitter old religious nut, His great love and mercy extends to all peoples, all nations and all backgrounds.
If you have suffered terribly, that means you can expect a great blessing and beauty for all of those ashes of the past that will be burned to nothing in order to bring forth the new life that God calls you to now. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day for transformation and restoration of all that was lost.
Call upon the Lord while he can be found! Now is the time to turn and receive everything the Lord has for you! Eternal life and redemption can be found in no one else. You must accept Jesus Christ as your righteousness, because all the good deeds in the world will never be enough. Jesus is the ONLY way to be restored fully to the Father and live in Shalom. Completeness, satisfied and glorified in Truth of God’s great mercy and grace which He is ready to pour out through His Holy Spirit.
Pray these words now, and you will receive forgiveness for all of your past sins, and be given the Holy Spirit to provide all that you need to move upward right now;
Heavenly Father, I repent for all of my wrong thinking and selfish living that I did apart from you. I need your covering to overcome and move in the right direction to bring glory to your name. I accept the finished works of Jesus Christ and ask that you come into my heart and be my Lord and Savior. Lord I want to forgive all that have hurt me just as you have now forgiven me for all of my wrongs. I release all of the people now that ever caused me hurt in any way including those that I wasn’t even aware of. I ask for the beautiful exchange for all of my wrongs, hurt and suffering I release to you now, so you can replace them with peace, hope, joy and a new day with faith, hope and love leading the way. Amen
If you said that prayer, and you are ready to live in a new realm of love and peace, you just made the greatest choice ever! You can begin your new journey by seeking God daily and asking Him to lead you and help you in everything.
There is no part of your life that he doesn’t care about. He promises to fulfill all of your heart’s desires and you delight yourself in him, and he will carry those once heavy burdens for you and make life a peaceful journey that you can share with others by showing them the same love and mercy that you received. Pray for all peoples and nations to be set free from the bondage and corruption of the world, and to be restored to God! Our prayers our vital for the lives of others. Bless everyone and do not curse anyone no matter what they did to hurt you or another.
Cursing only causes more evil, but blessing brings life and love to those that are in need of it!
via “Numbers” – Child Exploitation & Sex Trafficking PSA on Vimeo
I stepped out of the work with sex trafficking prevention and recovery of youths a few years ago, because I wasn’t spiritually ready for the battle that came with this type of evil and darkness, but I am fully armed with the Word of God, and the strength of the Holy Spirit now. I officially decree and declare that this evil will not remain in my city or state. If God be for us, who dare be against us?!
The stealing and selling of lives for sex is the work of the Devil, and if you have ever purchased a person for sexual enjoyment, you are participating in the works of Satan. I am not being a religious nut by saying this. I am speaking the Truth. “The Devil comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I come so that they may have life, and have it more abundantly”
I had a dream that a giant rainbow was right in the middle of the city, and all of the people were walking through the rainbow. The people all seemed to be dead and like heaps of ashes ready to blow away if the wind picked up. Zombie-dead and burned out lives I guess. As they went under the covering of the massive rainbow, showers of sparkling, crystallized rain poured over them. When they reached the other side they were full of vibrant colors and beautiful
They all started out completly dead, but as they went on a bizare journey under the rainbow cover, they were all refreshed and reborn into a beautiful and vibrant life!
How awesome God is making all of His creation that accept Jesus Christ! Don’t let pride or lies keep you from experiencing this whole new and glorious thing God is doing right now. It’s time for a new day for all of creation! Believe in God and accept Jesus Christ’s sacrificial life, death and resurrection as enough to cover your wrongs. Make Jesus your Lord and let go of the burnt up life you currently are trying to rescue and repair. God is saying “Stop trying to repair what is polluted and poisonous in your past. I will give you a new and better life, if you will just believe and trust me to do this for you!”
And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (Gen 1:2)
It’s difficult to imagine beauty in the midst of great darkness, but that is exactly what God is asking us to do in our own lives and the lives around us. We are to rise up and overcome great challenges and set backs that have left many hidden in pits, trapped in webs of deception and even locked away in prisons or our own mental cells of hell. Anyone that has come out of those circumstances can tell you that there was a time when they didn’t see any light or way of escape, and it is in that moment that all seems lost and hope has departed.
Out of desperation, people grasp in the darkness for something not yet seen or known to them when they cry out to God for help. Some have fallen so far below that they can’t even find the strength to speak the words, “Help me, God!” My heart hurts just typing those words, because I know the suffering and torment that brings a person to that place of deep anguish in the soul. Not knowing if there is a God, and believing that even if there is a God, how could He ever hear the cry of one that never even cared to know Him?
When the words just won’t come out, but the thoughts begin to drift through the mind, “What if there is a God? Maybe if I promise to change, He could forgive me?” Those thoughts are usually met with the voice of the enemies taunts, “God would never forgive you! You think God would really listen to you? You don’t deserve to even ask for help! This is your mess, you deserve everything that you got! You are a loser! No one cares about you!” Unfortunately those thoughts are often louder and much more convincing than the thoughts that question if God is willing and able to help.
The truth is that God is good ALL the time. His goodness doesn’t change with our behavior or circumstances. He is unchanging and His love is everlasting. He longs to help each and every one of His creation. In fact, God is so good that He will begin working out a rescue operation before you ever ask or pray. Just because we don’t know God, doesn’t mean that He doesn’t know us. He knows all of His creation right down to the number of hairs on each of our heads, so take heart my child. God is always for you, and He will NEVER be against you.
God has a beautiful plan for each and every life, but it takes free will to step into that life. We make the choice to grab ahold of the good life, or to reject God and continue down the path of destruction. Even the wealthy and seemingly wise man that never bothered to know God will eventually come to great ruin. It might not be until his time on earth is up, but when he could be passing into his eternal life with the beauty of God’s Kingdom welcoming him, he is instead met with utter darkness and eternal torment of being apart from God. When he dies, so does his wealth and great wisdom. He can’t take anything that he collected for himself on the earth with him, and what happens to all of those great riches of materialistic things he piled up? They are all given away, and ultimately they will all end up in the hands of God’s beloved children.
How do I know that? It is all written in scripture. In fact, everything that you could ever need to know is found in God’s Word. It is more than an outdated, dusty book to store family photos or death certificates. It is the spirit-filled, living word of God. The words are filled with life that come into a person and begin to transform their thoughts and attitude toward God and man. A living, breathing document that just sits on a shelf waiting to bring life to anyone that will take ahold of it.
Everyone loves a great blockbuster movie about a Superhero saving the world, or an epic love story that ends with a giant wedding. While others might prefer a full on battle and blood, action-packed, war film, or a deeply complex drama with interwoven story lines and plots that all play out simultaneously and yet somehow all come into one place at the end, so if you enjoy any of those, you will be thrilled to know that all of them could describe the Bible. Just like the Word of God can be described in any of those genres, so can the manifest Word of God, Jesus Christ. He is an immortal being that died for all of our sins and came back from the dead, he is our peace and our hope, he is a victorious warrior that fights our many battles for us. He intercedes with prayers for us, and he loves you so much! He is the kindest, most awesome friend that you could ever have, but still the bravest, most powerful and mighty Lord that has all authority in heaven and on earth.
God is love, and His love is perfect. It doesn’t change, it doesn’t fail, it doesn’t defile and it lasts forever. In fact, every promise in God’s Word He fulfills.
You might ask, “Why don’t I see those promises in my life then?” I can’t answer that, but ask God, and He will make sure that you get an answer. Many times people have not repented for the evil that they have done or are still doing. How do you repent? “Father forgive me and wash me clean of all my wrongs. Give me Your Holy Spirit to help me do Your will and be made righteous through your power” What is considered evil? Evil is hating any human being, having unforgiveness for others or yourself, harming others with your words or actions, speaking evil (anything that is against God’s Word is evil and is speaking in agreement with the Devil).
If you want the promises, you have to know what is actually promised or you won’t know what it is that you should have. Many many many people have allowed their blessings to be taken by the enemy, and the sad part is that they don’t even realize what it is that they lost.
It is not a joke to God or any of Heaven when a person loses out on blessings or walks away from a calling, or even worse blames or rejects God for their own plans. God loves everyone. He is a God of compassion and mercy and steadfast love, but the people don’t always receive what God has for them, because they don’t understand God is trying to bless them, and their own words stop the blessings.
When people speak lies (I am so unlucky, I will never get a good job, I always fail, I am too old, I am too fat, I am too stupid…) they allow the enemy to keep them locked into those words. What they should say is, “God said that I am His Beloved Child, and He prospers everything that I put my hand to! He heals all of my sicknesses and forgives all of my inequities! I am blessed and highly favored! Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world. I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. If God be for me, who dare be against me! No weapon formed against me will prosper!” Just to list a few possibilities of good, spirit-filled life words from the Bible. So if you are stumbling around in life, how about you turn on the light and that darkness will flee so fast that you won’t know how everything went from chaos to clarity, but you will finally see when you ask Jesus to lead you every single day! Turning on the light is as easy as 123…Jesus Save Me! That is a good starting point. If you think you were saved years ago, but have never known Jesus in your life, it is time to recommit yourself to actually giving your life to Christ fully. There really is great reward and benefits to being reconciled back to the Father and living in the awesome blessings and love of God. He directs your steps, He opens doors of opportunities that no one else can, He gives you His Holy Spirit and you have all wisdom and understanding living on the inside of you, so you never have to be left out in the dark again. In the words of One Republic’s singer, Ryan Tedder, “Come Home, ’cause I’ve been waiting for you for so long…”
In a dream, I was sitting next to God, and I asked “Why are they all behaving that way”, as I watched with Him from Heaven as the people raced around below on the earth. He said, “because they don’t understand my love for them.”
And my heart broke, because His heart was aching to help them, but they didn’t think He was real enough to love and help them, and when the people prayed to Him for help, and He would try to send them earthly help from the people in the churches, none of those people would go and do what He was asking them to do.
They couldn’t get past the voice of the enemy filling them with thoughts of doubt and unbelief.
There was a day coming and it was very near when all of His children would clearly hear and understand the truth, because God was removing the thick layer of lies that has been polluting the world for generations.
The doubts and unbelief were being blown away and the Truth was intervening like had never before been seen or done. God was full of excitement and ready to do wonderful things for all the people that had suffered so greatly.
It will be like the days of Noah for God. Only the earth will now be uncovered and no longer submerged by evil. Wickedness shuts its mouth and a humbled mankind is what remains.
Hope, Faith & Love are all we need to have right now! And the greatest of these is love! God is LOVE, and His love is perfect.
On a day when God spoke to me while I was awake, He said, I am now arising and I will put all of your enemies underfoot. You will soon look up and the wicked will no longer be there.
He said the next thing to happen was for us to go up. He said that “the new can’t come down until we go up, but no one is going up until the people all turn and help others”, he said.
This is the time of restoration and healing the nations. Every believer that has been restored to health and wholeness now has a job to do to bring others that are sick and suffering to the Truth, so they too can be healed and raised up in Christ.
I don’t believe that this is a suggested bit of advice, but it was commanded by Jesus to be done when he said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”
John 13:34 ESV
A servant is not greater than his master, so wash each other’s feet, because Jesus washed our feet. He gave us the peace of the gospel for our feet, so walk in peace and love to help those in need.
About a year ago, I was just driving around allowing God’s Holy Spirit to lead me, when I noticed a woman on the corner of the freeway exit holding up a sign asking for help. At that time, I was in the furthest lane from her and unable to give her anything before the light changed, but I felt God telling me to go back and help her.
I went back on the freeway the direction that I had just come, and exited a mile later to enter back towards the freeway the direction that would lead me back to her. It was a bit of a process to get back to her, but it is never too much to do for another human being in need of help.
I had plenty of time to pray during the ten minute turn around process, so I prayed that God would use the $27 that I had and multiply it to be enough for whatever it was that she was needing at that time. I told Him that I didn’t know how He would do that, but I only knew that nothing was impossible for Him, so I would only believe that He would make it happen.
When I was sitting at the light where the woman stood the first time, not one person acknowledged the lady or offered her any assistance. This time when I arrived back to that same light, I could feel the air was changed, but I couldn’t get the woman’s attention to even give her the items I had for her.
I was only one car away from where she was, but she was so broken at that point that she couldn’t even lift up her head to see that I was trying to get her attention. My music was playing the most beautiful song, and it was so loud that all the cars had to hear it. The song filled the air and the atmosphere began to shift.
I asked God what to do about the woman since she wouldn’t look up, and at that moment a car honked their horn. I looked up to see if the light changed, but the car hadn’t honked about the light. The person who honked was waving at the woman with the sign to come and get what they had in their hand for her. As I still had my hand out the window, she ran over to my car first. I watched as almost every car had a hand out with money to help with what she needed that day. If a person didn’t have their hand out at first, they all began to see what the rest were doing and that caused them to open their hearts and offer help to the woman too.
The most amazing miracle took place that day. As the woman ran from car to car before the light changed, her whole life was changing. She was coming back to life as she was filled with hope and encouragement that God can change our circumstances in an instant.
After collecting all the gracious gifts from the many people in their cars, she stopped right by my car window and mouthed, “Thank you so much!” She was smiling from ear to ear and my heart was so full of love for her, and for the God that cared so much for each and every one of His creation.
I know that many people don’t understand why I would seemingly waste my time and resources to do random acts of kindness each day, but they aren’t really random things. I am always led to people that God wants to help right then, because they are either praying to Him for help, or they are ready to give up completely, and they don’t even know that praying to God is an option yet.
I don’t usually get to know the outcome later for the people that I help, but I am confident in God’s power and love, so I know that whatever I ask Him to do for the people I help, He will do it. When I have the time to ask a person their name, I always add their name to my list of people that I pray over during difficult days. There are many that I never get to know their names, and I can’t even recall all of the times and people that I have helped, but I know that God knows who those people are, so I will continue to pray and ask Him to comfort and provide for those people, so that they never feel alone or hopeless.
Christ in me is why I do the things I do, so this Christmas I have been asking God for MORE CHRIST to explode around the globe, so we can all experience great blessings and joy!
When people understand that they are truly and deeply loved, they no longer see only their circumstances or problems. They begin to see the lives of others that they can then help lift up around them, and that is how we bring the Kingdom of God into the midst of us. The evil begins to flee and wickedness shuts its mouth.
I have no special abilities or gifts that aren’t available to all of us. I simply ask for what is needed and believe that God will supply those things. My hope is that this will boost the faith and confidence of others to begin to act in love and believe in the love that frees us all from the bondage and corruption of this world.
“You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat…”
Isaiah 25:4
“In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
1 John 4:10
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
Romans 15:13
THANK YOU JESUS!
This is a story of how God gives purpose to every individual’s life, even when it ends before it really begins. The “collateral beauty” is what comes after the loss of any human life. It is a phrase coined in a recent movie with Will Smith and Edward Norton titled Collateral Beauty. The movie was about a dad that lost his little daughter to Cancer, and his painful journey to move past her death and to see the collateral beauty that came from her life and death. The story below is the beginning part of an example of the collateral beauty that came from an unnamed victim from the AZ Foster Care system in 2011.
My friend and I had just closed my boutique for the day, and the nightly news was playing on the television set in the back room. My attention immediately shifted towards the television when I heard the news anchor talking about another child death in the Valley. The story described how a daycare worker in Phoenix had placed her hand over the mouth of a frightened , sobbing four-year-old girl to keep her from waking the other children during nap time. The small child was fighting for air as the daycare worker refused to remove her hand from the child’s face. The child was kicking, squirming and pushing to get free of the woman who was suffocating her, but she was too small and eventually her struggling siezed, and her little body was left lifeless on the floor.
This was a parents worst nightmare. How would a loving family face this tragic loss? The murder of an innocent child while left in the care of a trusted daycare facility is unimaginable, and was likely to end with the daycare closing and the worker responsible locked away in prison, or at least that is what might have happened had the child been from a loving family who would mourn her loss and fight for justice for their child.
The daycare worker was not charged for any wrongdoing in the child’s death. The death was ruled an accident and the woman responsible was free to go about her normal life and even potentially cause harm to more children.
They displayed the girl’s photo on the television as they reported the story, and her beautiful brown hair and perfect, little innocent face looked so much like my daughter, who was also four years old at the time, that my heart started to ache as it filled with grief and anger for the loss of this child. How was it possible that no charges were filed? Was this really acceptable to allow something so heinous and unnecessary to happen to an innocent child?
The story went on to show a brief video interview with a man who was the child’s foster parent. He told the reporter that the little girl had no family or anyone that loved her. She was essentially an unwanted child and a burden on society. He explained how there was no need for an investigation or charges in her death. He wasn’t saying it because he thought it was right, but he was telling the reporter why her death would have no justice in his opinion. There was no one to fight for her. He said that she was a sweet little girl who didn’t deserve to die, but her life was not important to anyone, so her death was not important either. He actually said, “She was all alone in the world, and nobody loved her”. Although the man appeared somewhat sad at her loss, he seemed to be hiding something, and I couldn’t help but wonder why a single man was the foster parent to a four year old girl that had no family connection to her.
Why would the state of Arizona think that it would be in a child’s best interest to grow up in a home with a single, childless forty something year old man as her caregiver, and then do absolutely nothing when a daycare worker took the life of this innocent little girl? After the news story, I decided to do an investigation of my own to find answers that would justify the decision made by CPS, the criminal investigators and the Maricopa County Attorney’s office. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find one detail of information related to what happened to the little girl. It seemed that the beautiful little girl had just faded away silently in the Arizona system of injustice without a trace. Regardless of how inconsequential the little girl was to the State and the community where she lived and died, her life would not go unnoticed or in vain, because I would be her voice that was silenced that day by the daycare worker’s deliberate actions that took her life.
Most of us never take notice of issues that have not impacted us personally, and I know that the little girl resembling my daughter was the reason that I finally made an effort to do something more. I wish it hadn’t taken this innocent child’s death to wake me up to the injustice of Arizona’s children, but it was the reason I am now an unwavering, vigilant voice for all the children in Arizona.
I began researching the child abuse epidemic in Arizona and shortly after discovering how serious of an issue it was in Arizona, I chose to close my boutique, so that I could utilize my resources for helping the children of Arizona. At the time it felt like a difficult choice, but I look back now and see it was actually a gift from God. After that, everything started to fall into place. I became actively involved with the Childhelp organization, and I knew instantly that Childhelp and its founders were also a gift from God.
Childhelp is one of the oldest and greatest defenders of abused children in the country. The founders of the organization, Sara O’Meara and Yvonne Fedderson are the only two reasons that anyone should need to support the organization. Their compassion and dedication to saving children from the horrors of abuse are unprecedented. They have devoted their entire adult lives to their work at Childhelp, and through their commitment and unyielding strength, ten million children have been saved from abuse.
Childhelp has proven to be a leading organization in saving, protecting and rebuilding the lives of abused children. The prevention programs, residential treatment facilities, 24 hour hotline, world renowned advocacy centers, foster care programs, and group homes are all established “For the Love of a Child”. Visit Childhelp.org to learn more about the issue of child abuse.
I didn’t include the amazing work that God allowed me to take part in with changing the AZ Foster Care System in this story, but I wanted to just mention that this child’s death did more than just give my life purpose. I fought with everything that I had to help AZ Kids, but I consistently failed in every effort until I prayed to God for help one night. That is another story, but it is when I realized that there really is hope in the midst of total darkness and evil, because God does hear prayers and He was quick to respond within hours of that first prayer I poured out for the suffering children in my state.
Photo- My children (Grace & Christian) with Childhelp Founders Sara & Yvonne.
If ever there was a story worth reporting about DCS and the state Foster Care System, it should be these words spoken by Governor Ducey on Monday at the State of the State Address
Improved Child’s Services:
Meanwhile, just two years ago, the problems at the state’s new Child Safety department seemed insurmountable. But because of the committed service of our state’s child safety workers, non-profit organizations and the faith-based community, combined with legislative support – the Casey Family Programs just named Arizona the best in the country for its foster care reduction.
The backlog that plagued the agency for so long, has been eliminated. The average caseload has dropped from 145 cases to 16. And since a year ago, we’ve found safety and permanency for nearly 11,000 children. So I’m proud to announce that our budget investment this year will be in adoption services, because we are finding kids loving homes.
On Friday, Governor Ducey signed Arizona’s fiscal year 2018 budget, a fiscally responsible financing package that invests in education, protects our most vulnerable citizens, and expands opportunities for those who need it most.
The budget empowers Arizonans to foster and adopt children, makes important reforms to reward caregivers, and improves outdated IT infrastructure to ensure that children’s needs are being met.
Here are three highlights from the new budget:
While there certainly is still work to do, the Arizona Department of Child Safety has seen incredible achievements over the past two years:
By supplementing policy and process improvements with investments in programs that work, we can ensure that children and families throughout Arizona are safe and secure.
This year’s budget is another step in making that happen.
An independent report commissioned by the Arizona Auditor General’s Office has concluded the DCS is on the right track.
The report, performed by Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago, praises DCS for making significant strides in transforming the agency to better serve children and their families, according to a press release.
“It is clear (DCS) has undertaken a concerted and strategic effort to implement the recommendations found in our earlier report,” the Chapin Hall report stated in the press release. “The strategy undertaken by the Department has been deliberate and intentional….DCS has clearly established a set of priorities that are well-thought out…(and) we commend the Department for making good use of the Independent Review as a guide to transformation.”
Reducing backlog and workloads
The report praised DCS for successfully “implementing tailored strategies to reduce the backlog of cases,” the release stated.
As a result of DCS improvements, inactive “backlog” cases plummeted from 16,014 in March 2015 to 3,470 in November 2016, a 78 percent reduction. Today, the backlog of inactive cases is 1,688.
DCS also reduced the total number of open reports from a high of 33,245 in April 2015 to 10,536 in November 2016, a 68 percent decrease. Today there are only 7,888 open reports, the release stated.
“With the backlog nearing its conclusion, many positive outcomes have surfaced,” said DCS Director Greg McKay, in the press release. “A faster response to protect children; more time to assess and investigate; manageable caseloads; fewer children being removed from their homes; and less staff turnover.”
Hotline
The report also underscored the improvements made to DCS’s hotline.
DCS has taken significant steps to improve standardization of its call-screening by implementing a new decision-making guide, which contains detailed explanations, clarified definitions and classifies various types of harm.
A dedicated audit staff has also been placed at the hotline to further ensure quality and standardization.
Other highlights
As of October 2016, the Department had filled 1,341 DCS Specialist positions out of 1,406 appropriated full-time positions.
Over 1,600 families in Maricopa County have accessed the Building Resilient Families program. Building Resilient Families is a community-based intervention program for children and families reported to DCS where the children have been assessed as safe and the family presents with low levels of risk.
In fiscal year 2016, 4,625 families were served by the Healthy Families Arizona program, which DCS uses to help prevent child abuse and neglect, and avoid the potential for children being brought into foster care.
“We appreciate the work of our Legislature, the Auditor General, and Chapin Hall in supporting these needed reforms that have clearly taken flight; there is still much to do but please take a moment and thank a DCS employee, they deserve the credit,” Mr. McKay stated in the release.
Gov. Doug Ducey announced Thursday, March 16 the Arizona Department of Child Safety has officially cleared the backlog of inactive cases that impeded the state’s ability to attempt to improve vulnerable children’s lives.
In March 2015, DCS was plagued by more than 16,000 backlogged cases. Today, that number has reached an all-time low and is now below the legislative-set benchmark of 1,000 cases, according to a press release.
“Arizona has accomplished what once appeared to be an insurmountable task thanks to the hardworking men and women at the Department of Child Safety,” Gov. Ducey said in a release.
“But our work is far from done, and we cannot lose sight of the work that remains and the many children we must protect. By reducing this backlog, DCS can now devote even more attention to protecting Arizona’s most vulnerable children and keeping families intact. This is about the lives of children in our state, who need our help. If we don’t help them, no one else will.”
Over the past two years, DCS has tailored its efforts to reduce the case backlog, including bringing back three retired DCS employees to work exclusively on inactive cases, hiring outside contractors, incentivizing employees to work inactive cases and streamlining oversight and case transfer processes, a release states.
As a result, the decreased backlog helped to improve response times on abuse allegations, lower caseloads for workers, and allow more time for DCS workers to assess and investigate cases. All of these changes have contributed to fewer children in out-of-home care.
“Thanks to the tireless efforts of DCS staff, we have reached this monumental goal by persevering and working together,” DCS Director Greg McKay said in a release. “I want to thank all DCS staff for the sacrifices they have made for this to become a reality and for the sacrifices they make every day serving Arizona’s children and families.”
There are currently about 17,200 children in out-of-home care, down from 19,044 children in February 2016, according to a press release. Arizona’s legislature set the backlog benchmark for DCS during last year’s session.
“This significant milestone shows what can be accomplished when we work together to protect Arizona’s children,” Sen. Debbie Lesko, R-Peoria, said in a release. “I would like to thank frontline DCS workers and the director for their hard work as well as my colleagues for passing legislation to support this progress.”
DCS met the benchmark four months before the July 2017 deadline.
“When Sen. Lesko and I crafted this legislation with help from DCS Director McKay, this was the outcome we were hoping for,” Rep. John M. Allen, R-Phoenix, said in a release.
“Although the department and state still face many challenges of providing struggling families with the help they need or moving children to safe and more permanent situations, it is still gratifying that this effort has succeeded.”
A case is classified as “inactive” if no documentation has been entered for more than 60 days or if services were not provided.
Due to the length of time that some of the more complicated cases require, there will always be cases that exceed 60 days in our system, which is why the legislature set DCS’s inactive benchmark at under 1,000 cases.
“Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble”
Psalms 107:2 ESV
On February 6, 2008 my mother passed away after a horrific series of events that spiraled out of control with a urinary tract infection. I won’t go into all the details, because the events are so appalling that they are hard to believe that they could ever happen. The last week of my mother’s life she was taken off of all life support, and basically forced to die of starvation. We were told that keeping her alive was selfish and cruel by all of the medical staff at the hospice where she was taken after the hospital said they couldn’t do anything else for her. My dad, my two sisters and I stayed at the hospice the entire week waiting for her to die. It was the worst thing that I had ever experienced at that point in my life, but six months later when we received the report from UCLA on the research data collected from my mom’s brain, even worse news arrived. My mother’s death certificate lists the cause of death as complications from late stages of Alzheimer’s, but the brain bank discovered that my mother didn’t have Alzheimer’s or any other dementia type illness. Her brain was normal, and had no signs of what the hospital and doctors had all told us was the issue, and the reason that we should let our mother starve to death to save her from further suffering.
Her death and the two months of suffering in ICU were bad enough, but then to find out that it was all a lie, and the doctors just used that as a means to keep her from ever telling the truth about what happened at that hospital that she went into with bladder infection or UTI, and ended up septic and fighting for her life, was simply a weight and sorrow too heavy for me to carry.
The enemy made sure that not only did I lose my mother at age 54, but that I also felt a guilt-burdened grief that just wouldn’t let up for two years. Finally I heard a New Year’s Eve sermon at Cornerstone Church in Chandler on the message of HOPE. The service was led by a Pastor that had a three or four year old daughter in ICU with a brain tumor. His family had no idea if their baby would live or die, but somehow the man got up and gave a broken congregation a message on hope.
The congregation was broken, because it was during the worst economic downturn the country had ever seen. Thousands of people were losing homes, jobs, and all that they had saved and worked for years to attain. It was so bad that people had to call a business to make sure they were still open before going anywhere then. Like most families, my family was struggling to keep up with the massive burden of our mortgage and IRS bills, but those issues were nothing compared to what I was suffering over the torment of the images that played over and over in my mind of my mother dying in front of my eyes for a week.
Although I was in church to hear the message, I had never known God before then. I always wanted to believe that there was something more, but I had never seen any evidence or even found a church that wasn’t filled with a bunch of bitter and judgmental people shaming anyone that wanted to believe. That was all about to change with just one glimpse of hope from Pastor Aaron McRae though. I remember he caught my attention immediately when he said that most people believe that God won’t give us more than we can handle, but that was not actually in scripture. He said that people didn’t understand that God never said that we wouldn’t suffer. In fact, he said that we will suffer, and he warned us, so that we would be ready when those trials and tests come. Who knew? Not me or anyone else in the crowd obviously, because that would mean that we actually read our bibles. (Of course, I have read it many times since then)
He said that God didn’t want us to suffer, and he gave us a way to get through the worst situations, because he said that we should cast our cares on him, because he cares for us. That seemed a little too easy to me, but I listened intently, because I was desperate to escape the weight that was causing me so much suffering from condemnation and guilt over not doing more to keep my mother alive.
Pastor McRae went on to show how we could literally take every burden and worry and pretend like we were throwing a baseball with the issue in our hand and tossing it straight to God. He said that it might not seem like it was enough, but he made it clear that it was the only way that he and his wife could manage to keep going everyday as their daughter was clinging on for her young life with negative reports filling their ears about her chances of survival. The Pastor said that God’s word is true, and if the people would just try this casting of their cares to God, then they would be filled with peace and God would work on the issue that the people couldn’t do anything to change anyway.
I went home ready to give it a try. As I started to speak to God, I was sobbing and told him that I knew that I wasn’t a good daughter, and I should have done so much more to help my mom, but after bearing the guilt and grief for two years, I couldn’t stand the thought of my own children having to suffer from my state of depression. I said, “God if you are real, and Pastor McRae was right about you wanting to take my burdens, I am asking if you will please remove this pain and suffering from me, so that I can be a mother and wife to my family again.” Before I had even finished the words, I felt this massive weight lifting out of my body. It went right from my shoulders and it was 100% gone! It was unbelievable to me, and I could never deny what happened, because it was so clearly felt when it left my body. From that moment on, I have never been able to cry or feel that grief over my mother’s death. I no longer focused on the days before her death, but I was finally able to remember all of the better days of her life, and I had peace in place of the pain.
My dad died on June 20, 2017, and it was a bit of a shock even though he had been sick and in and out of the hospital for years. I just assumed that God was keeping him alive for something bigger, and that he would be completely healed at some point. I realized that he was actually just waiting for my dad to have time to spend with my older sister and her children before departing. He went to live with my sister for the first time ever about a month before he died. They had never been close, and I guess that God wanted to give my dad the chance to spend time with her family, so he kept him alive until that happened. My dad had everything from a brain aneurysm to lung Cancer and all sorts of stuff in between, but he seemed to be invincible. I guess we are all invincible until God says we can go home, and so my dad passed away while my sister was at work.
My sister came home to discover my dad on the floor of her living room. She was consumed with unbearable guilt, because my dad had asked her to stay home that day, but she had to go to work, and told him that she would be off all weekend to spend with him. My nephew was also bearing the weight of feeling like he was somehow to blame, because his phone was dead when my dad called and left him a voicemail that day. I knew what was happening immediately, because I could see right through Satan’s tricks of deception now. I began praying for peace for all of my family and specifically for her and her son. I did my best to comfort her and told her that God was actually in control when he sent her to work that day. I know if she would have stayed home to see him dying and not be able to save him that would have been far more traumatizing. She had other friends share the same thing with her, and one that told her how bad it was to watch her mother die in a similar situation, so my sister was able to see God’s love for her by making her go to work that day.
I never had any tears after the initial shock of just hearing that my dad was gone. I only cried, because I thought that God had abandoned me and my family for the first five minutes of hearing about his death, but I quickly understood that wasn’t what happened at all. I was filled with a peace that I can only describe as love that just kept pouring over me. I was laughing and serving food to 200 homeless people in Phoenix a few days before the funeral. I didn’t cry at the service, and I actually felt bad for not looking more pathetic for the people who were there to comfort and support my sisters and I. I wore sunglasses so no one would notice that I had no tears in my eyes.
I just wanted to share this story, because everyone goes through the death of a loved one at some point in life, and I have experienced the worst and the best. The worst being without knowing God yet, and the best being so closely connected to my Heavenly Father that even the passing of my dad whom I loved more than anyone most of my life, simply couldn’t shake me. Proverbs 3:5 was my dad’s favorite scripture.
Do you want to know how to change the world?
It is through kindness, acts of mercy and being generous to others even if it means doing without that extra pair of shoes or night out for dinner.
What if this year everyone gave up just one thing, and that thing they gave to someone that would never have it otherwise.
For example, tonight I could go to dinner with my husband and kids, but instead our family takes that money and buys dinner for a family that would never have the means to eat a meal at a nice restaurant or any restaurant for that matter.
Instead of taking a week long vacation, we take six days and the money saved from the seventh day, we use to give a family a trip to a local water park or trip to the movies and dinner.
It doesn’t have to be money, your talents and time are precious and should be used for more than just self indulgence or working. Give the gift of time to a child who has no family to support them and encourage them. If you can play the guitar, teach a child who is in a group home or has no means to pay you, how to play for free.
What if we all just did something wonderful for the people that we know could never repay us?
That could also be providing help with an electric bill or school clothes for a family or any number of things that you can come up with to be generous to others out of acts of selfless giving.
Teach someone how to read! Help a homeless young adult get an ID card and access to resources to help them get off the streets. Stop and pray with a person that is hurting and feels abandoned and alone. Be the loving arms that wrap around the broken-hearted. Just pour out love and blessing everywhere you go! That is how the world changes! It takes love to destroy evil. If you are tired of the evil, then stop speaking oppression and start loving and blessing others.
Just a thought
“Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled, the oppressing city! She listens to no voice; she accepts no correction. She does not trust in the Lord; she does not draw near to her God. Her officials within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves that leave nothing till the morning. Her prophets are fickle, treacherous men; her priests profane what is holy; they do violence to the law.
The Lord within her is righteous; he does no injustice; every morning he shows forth his justice; each dawn he does not fail; but the unjust knows no shame. “I have cut off nations; their battlements are in ruins; I have laid waste their streets so that no one walks in them; their cities have been made desolate, without a man, without an inhabitant.
I said, ‘Surely you will fear me; you will accept correction. Then your dwelling would not be cut off according to all that I have appointed against you.’ But all the more they were eager to make all their deeds corrupt. “Therefore wait for me,” declares the Lord, “for the day when I rise up to seize the prey. For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all my burning anger; for in the fire of my jealousy all the earth shall be consumed. “For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord.
From beyond the rivers of Cush my worshipers, the daughter of my dispersed ones, shall bring my offering. “On that day you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me; for then I will remove from your midst your proudly exultant ones, and you shall no longer be haughty in my holy mountain. But I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord, those who are left in Israel; they shall do no injustice and speak no lies, nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue. For they shall graze and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
“Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil. On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach. Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” says the Lord.”Zephaniah 3:1-20 ESV
http://bible.com/59/zep.3.1-20.esv
“Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in; hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things. Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons, for they had rebelled against the words of God, and spurned the counsel of the Most High. So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor; they fell down, with none to help. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! For he shatters the doors of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron. Some were fools through their sinful ways, and because of their iniquities suffered affliction; they loathed any kind of food, and they drew near to the gates of death. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!
Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters; they saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works in the deep. For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths; their courage melted away in their evil plight; they reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits’ end. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! Let them extol him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders. He turns rivers into a desert, springs of water into thirsty ground, a fruitful land into a salty waste, because of the evil of its inhabitants. He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water.
And there he lets the hungry dwell, and they establish a city to live in; they sow fields and plant vineyards and get a fruitful yield. By his blessing they multiply greatly, and he does not let their livestock diminish. When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, evil, and sorrow, he pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes; but he raises up the needy out of affliction and makes their families like flocks. The upright see it and are glad, and all wickedness shuts its mouth. Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.”
Psalms 107:1-43 ESV
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