If So

I have found myself, on occasion asking that most horrible thing....

WHAT IF....

What if I had done things differently? What if they had not behaved that way? What if I had more money? What if I had less??

What would my life be like if I hadn't met Him?

Aahhh! That's one I can answer. I can see the path I was on, trace the course to my imminent destruction.

My great-niece was dedicated this past Sunday. As usual, I am hundreds of miles away. I hate the distance. But, there is always a reason.

It was this beautiful child's grandfather that introduced me to Him. His zeal, his persistence, his prayers. He literally did lead his family to the Lord, and he didn't stop with us. He continues to seek the lost, reach for them.

What if he had never met the Lord? Well, that's one I would rather not dwell on.

And what if we were not hundreds of miles apart? If so, would there be a work here in Douglas? Would our Pastor have felt that burden for this city? I don't know.

But there is a church here, God wants a church here, and if He put a church here, if He put that burden in our Pastor, in us...then it's SO.

There are great things happening right here in Douglas, Georgia. He is doing great things, and if he is doing great things here, I am so glad to be a part!!

Thank You, Jesus, for my family, for the burden of a brother, for the burden of a Pastor, and for a church that loves Truth!

Never Surrender!

There are times in our walk with God that we are called to put on our armor and fight. We fight for our homes, our families, our church, our cities, our very souls.

Now, more than ever before, I feel the call to battle. I feel the drive to push through to victory in areas of my life that have long been a battlefield.

I am making preparations now to dig in and fight. I know that warfare is always costly, but it is worth the price.

It is time. Time we drew a line in the sand, time we took a stand. It is time to get up off our couches of complacency and lift up our battle cries.

As we have become comfortable in our surroundings, as we have grown used to the sights of Sodom, we have been losing ground. I cannot wait for an Abraham to come to my rescue. I am prepared to fight my own way out, I am prepared to lead the way, if necessary.

There is no time to waste, no time to contemplate, no time to sit still. There is a battle raging around us. Either we chose to fight or we allow ourselves to be consumed.

Winston Churchill stood in the House of Commons on June 4, 1940 following the evacuation of British and French armies from Dunkirk as the German tide swept through France and said,

"We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing-grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender!"

When things look hopeless, we shall fight. And as we fight we will gain strength to fight again, to fight harder, to recruit more to fight with us. The battle is His, and He has called us to get suited up for battle.

Can you hear the cry? "Never give up, Never give in, NEVER SURRENDER!!"

Guarding The Inheritance

Each day we make choices, and each choice we make has an effect on our lives and the lives of those around us. Nothing happens in our lives without a cost.

As you read through the Old Testament you can see account after account of children who paid the cost for the mistakes of their parents. Sometimes it would be generations later that the transgression would reappear.

And you could also catalog the children moving further and further away from the God that their parents or grandparents or great-grandparents served which in many cases was a direct result of a day in the past when this long gone relative made a bad decision.

I was thinking yesterday that it is time I took inventory of my own life, my own home. What am I leaving my children? Generations from now, what effect will my life have on those that I may never know?

Have I taught my children to love the Word of God? Have I shown them through my actions how to be consecrated in service to Him? Is there a love in them for the ministry, for the preaching of God's Word that can be attributed to my own love?

Can they pattern their lives after mine? What do I do when trouble comes? Am I praying like I should be?? What kind of wife have I been?

When my children tell their children stories about me what will those stories be?

We had a great deal of rain a couple of weeks back. We were heading out of town to a party when we saw the most unusual sight on the side of the road and we had no idea what it was until we investigated further.

Sticking out of the sand where a creek had been engorged with the over abundance of rainfall were hundreds of orange 2 liter soda bottles, their labels littering the trees nearby.

We asked our friends about it and found out that over 10 years ago a truck overturned there spilling its contents of orange sodas. With all of the rainfall and the rapid movement of the water they were turned up again in the soil they had been embedded in for all these years.

Apparently they were unable to retrieve all of them and the product of this driver's accident is still there all these years later.

Is there something in me that I will leave behind that may turn up down the road for my children to have to clean up?

I want my children to have an inheritance that of faith, of a love for holiness and godliness, a love for the Word of God that will carry them through the trials they will face long after I am gone, a prayer life that will bring them to His feet. I want them to remember me as a servant, as a priest, and as a warrior. And I want to give them enough that those attributes will be ever present in their lives.

So, I am guarding myself, my home, and my family from the influences today that would rob us of all God has for us, of all God wants from us, of all God EXPECTS from us. I am guarding their inheritance of Truth, for if they live in Truth they are rich beyond measure!

The Reason Why I Sing

Because He is my everything...

Because He is always present...

Because He has never let me down...

Not because I am talented...

Not because I want praise or adoration...

But because I Praise and Adore Him...

I sing because He holds me in His hand...

I sing because He is My Jehovah Jireh...

I sing because of where He brought me from...

I sing because of where He is bringing me to...

I sing because He came...robed Himself in flesh...

I sing because He died for me...

Because He knows me...

I sing because I face trials...

I sing because there are sorrows...

I sing because I have been broken...

And because His hand has put me back together...

I sing to my best Friend, my Rock, my Fortress...

I sing under the shelter of His wings...

And I sing alone on the back side of the desert...

To the One I love...

My Alpha...

My Omega...

I SING! I SING! I SING!!

Up To The Challenge

I have been facing a battle. I have been fighting and slaying and fighting some more.

I have been on the battlefield, and I have been alone.

In some cases the enemy I have been fighting lately is me.

And I am willing to do that, too.

Walking this trial alone I have learned some things about what matters, and what doesn't matter.

I am now going to attempt to record some of what I have learned for myself, for the next battle, because it will come.

I have learned that love is all that matters. I have so much love in me to give, but I'm not going to waste my time giving it to someone who doesn't want it. That's over. There are too many others who need love to beat myself up over someone who won't accept what is in my heart.

I have learned how thankful I am for who I am, the way that I am. And I am so incredibly thankful for my family. I have learned over and over again how wonderful they are.

Do you know I have sat back in wonderment lately and observed the children my husband and I have raised. I have been awed by them.

I have seen my daughter face some hurt and opposition over the last few months and instead of tucking her tail and acting like a coward she has become stronger, better, more beautiful to me than I ever thought possible.

And my son has stood up to the painful challenge of his own mistakes and allowed God to use them to bring him to a higher place in Him.

I have learned that I have No idea what I did to deserve them.

I have learned that I hate the devil more than ever. I hate the way he uses people as his tool to hurt and destroy. I hate it.

I have learned that there is nothing I hate more than him but I hate back biting almost as bad. I hate people who feed on others misery and use the pain of someone hurting to make themselves feel stronger. They are poison.

I hate discord.

I have learned that I don't have the patience to be drawn into drama. Never have.

I have been challenged within myself. Challenged to refocus. Challenged to put my energy into something that is worthwhile. Challenged to move forward instead of hanging back trying to drag along someone who does not want to go.

I am building a foundation in my life. A solid foundation. A foundation that will last till that glorious day. And I'm not stopping. I don't have a moment to waste.

I don't care about the pettiness, I don't care. I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and work. And I intend to be so focused on the task at hand I won't even notice the mess going on in the world around me.

I am building on my forever. And that includes my GOD, my husband, my children, my family, and my church. I want to take someone with me, someone who is hungry as I am, for I have never been this hungry before.

God has challenged me today.....

And I am ready.