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.

Where Have I Been????

Well, in case there is ANYONE out there wondering what has happened to me, my Internet has been down. But, we had a healing service at the house tonight and are back up and running.

I have been really preoccupied with life lately, so fixing it faster didn't land high on my priority list. I did call the provider last night and after 20 minutes with an automated woman that I was hoarse from trying to communicate with, she hung up on me!!! I was incredulous!!

So, I took some NyQuil for my hacking cough (which may be why she couldn't understand me) and I went to bed.

My life has been a little Topsy turvey lately. Nothing too unusual for me, just my regular life on speed, I guess.

I have made some right turns on my walk, but, I have also made some WRONG turns. If God were like my GPS, He would be yelling "Turn Around When Possible!!"

Sometimes when I am cruising along I take a different path than my GPS tells me to and it has to reconfigure my route. Yea, that happens in my walk with God, too. He may be telling me to stay the course I am on, and I THINK I know a shortcut. For a while He will still be trying to get me on the path that HE wants me to take, but after a while He reconfigures. But ALWAYS my choice of paths leads to detours through troubles and heartaches. And sometimes the bumps on the road can even cause me to break down.

My daughter and I were driving along one day listening to a CD when we heard this scary voice. We thought it was in the CD, so I started the song over and we turned it up. Sure enough, we heard it again.

Well, I was having none of that!! I started rebuking the devil! "If you're in this car, you might as well get out, devil, cause I'm not putting up with you!!"

Things got quiet again as we rode a little further.

Suddenly, there it was AGAIN!! My daughter grabbed my arm in terror, when it hit me...

It was the *Crocodile Hunter* saying "RIGHT TURN AHEAD!"

Somehow my GPS had turned itself on, even though I had not used it in weeks!

And you know, sometimes we quit listening to the Lord when He is trying to direct us. We get so accustomed to tuning out His voice instead of tuning in that we don't even recognize Him when He speaks.

But, I know the direction to take on the rocky road of my life....

DOWN...

On My Knees!!

That's where He can speak to me, where I can hear Him, where I find MYSELF again and again and again.

Long Black Limousine

It is important to point out that I live in the rural south. So, when riding down the road on a Thursday afternoon, I would not expect to encounter a limo.

But, I did. Cruising along at warp speed was a stretch limo with dark windows that encourage intrigue. Who would need a limo in the middle of nowhere?

I often get bored driving all alone and this leads to some distracting speculation at times. For instance, during my periods of road rage I will *talk* to the people that are putting a halt to my progress. NOW I am not talking to them as you might suppose, but I ask them questions like...

"You have no where to go, do you? You are just riding aimlessly with no destination in mind."

"You have a bunch of tickets, don't you? And if you get pulled over one more time you are loosing your license, right?"

"You saw me coming so you decided to see how fun it would be to go 10 miles under the speed limit knowing I couldn't pass you, huh?"

"You are an escaped convict trying not to get caught by the law, aren't you?"

So, here I am, riding along, minding my own business when I encounter a limousine. My brain kicks in, wonder WHO was in there. Could it be a movie star, a politician, Bill Gates??

I know there are people who would LOVE to afford that kind of lifestyle. That would be the ultimate for them, cruising the miles of farmland in a long, black, limousine, turning heads everywhere they go.

I speculated a while, just to pass the time. What would it be like to have someone drive me around to do my job? I could just kick back, drinking Sprite Zero, looking over the information for my next stop. Needing to take an office out to lunch? No Problemo! I could load them all up. Talk about impressive!

But, you know, that just doesn't do it for me. Perhaps I could have had fame as I wished to when I was young. But that long, black, limousine would be awfully lonely to ride in by myself.

And what would be the true cost to get to that point? What is the real cost of fame and riches?

I began to think of Elisha, standing by as Elijah was taken away in a chariot of fire. Elisha knew where the true riches lay. When given a choice he asked for a double portion of the spirit of Elijah.

I will probably spend the rest of my days on the outside of a limousine, but that is ok. I have found something far better. Like Elisha, I know what I want, what I need to be rich.

I want a double portion of my Man of God. I want to live my life in such a way that God can use ME instead of me using others for my own gain, because isn't that what is important.

I am longing for the day He calls me home, the day I travel to meet Him. What a day that will be!! It won't matter on that day what kind of car I owned, or how much money I had in the bank. The only thing that will matter is did I serve Him well.

That is my desire above riches and fame, Him, only Him.