Father knows best!

"Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.   There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand."
Proverbs 19:20-21


Not always easy for anyone... especially an almost 50 year old woman.  Human logic says that by now there should be a plan and it is a little late to go changin' things.  BUT God is sovereign and He has the best plan!  So, this ole mama dog gonna learn new tricks...or this old burro is gonna learn a new path to where she is going!  (Don't freak out not leaving Mexico or ABWE or anything like that!) Details forthcoming as God reveals them!

said the mama bird to the little bird...

I have been confronted by alot of "impossibilities" lately.  i confess that I have not always met those challenges with much faith or even desire to have faith. 
Today I have been thinking of one of the special mentors that God put in my life.  Her name was Norrine Senters.  She has been in heaven for awhile now but her influence in my life goes on!  I can remember her singing a song to me, on a day I really did not want her to even talk to me, let alone sing to me!  The whole song is written below.  She sang the chorus like 4 times till I stopped walking away, uncrossed my arms, cried and then we prayed together about the "impossible!"  So for you Norrine, I put it God's hands one more time and wait for Him to do the impossible!
I read in the Bible the promise of God,
That nothing for Him is too hard;
Impossible things He has promised to do,
If we faithfully trust in His Word.

Chorus
Nothing is impossible when you put your trust in God;
Nothing is impossible when you're trusting in His Word.
Hearken to the voice of God to thee:
'Is there anything to hard for Me?'
Then put your trust in God alone and rest upon His Word;
For ev'rything, O ev'rything,
Yes, ev'rything is possible with God.

The Word of the Lord is an anchor secure
When winds of uncertainty blow;
Tho man in his weakness may falter and fail,
His Word will not fail us we know.

'All things are possible,' this is His Word.
Receive it, 'tis written for you:
Believe in His promises, God cannot fail,
For what He has said, He will do.

Creator of all things, with infinite pow'r.
He spoke! They appeared by His mouth;
Impossible things are not known unto Him,
He made us, He ruleth the earth.

--Eugene L. Clark

 

I Didn't Ask For This written by Samantha Reed

"He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8 (NIV 1984)

I didn't ask for this. Not this. This mercy ruthlessly strumming the strings of my soul. It's too much and unwanted, really.

Mercy has attempted to get in my fortressed heart for so long. Mercy ... so tender to accept; yet, too hard. A damaging force I haven't time to reckon with.

That's why, brick after brick, I construct a dam. Listening ceases - I slap mortar on. Empathy cinches up - I hold back the river of compassionate tears. Situations are avoided - another layer binds the unmovable bricks around my heart.

A tall dam goes round and round and round allowing little- to no- caring about others. Safely confined, I don't have to deal with the trouble or dig through pain or face the fears of others. It's easier this way.

Then a small pair of beat-up tennis shoes arrests me. Cracked leather pings a hole in my tough mortar. Untied frayed laces push one brick out. Once white soles, now stained brown, crack my stronghold.

Her shoes tucked shyly under the rocking chair in my guest room. Their tongues are still. Without a word, without an ounce of force, this broken down pair breaks through my hardened exterior.

And there, in my guest room, Jesus invites me to be His guest. Beckons my unreliable heart into this ancient exhortation:

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)

My dam crumbles; releases a flood of pain within. Nearly unbearable else for His grace of walking with me, holding me up. I'm washed with salty tears, empathizing finally with the loss from destruction that pain has wrecked in her life.

His gentle words remind me He's longed for me to grasp this. To take His hand and see these shoes. The heart behind them. The pain and shame and grief and brutal losses. Her trembling desperate hope that has walked in these shoes.

How He's longed for me to walk a mile in them. Love their story. Love her. Love mercy.

This pain doubles me over. How could I be so cold for so long? Distanced and blind to not see ... really see ... the pain around me? My clinched heart opens (still reluctantly, mind you. It's a scary thing to invite mercy in) to love.

I didn't ask for mercy, but mercy asked for me. For my heart, my ways, my life. Strong-arming mercy for long times was my way; an acceptable thing as it wasn't my number one "spiritual gift." But that which the Lord loves, my soul is created to love. Through Him, for Him, walking with Him.

Dam destroyed, I don tattered sneakers; wade through crumbled bricks and mortar. Walking with my God, I pick my way gingerly through tangled habits of avoidance, retreat, disdain. Going back, looking for those in need of mercy; moving ahead, eyes peeled for those in need of mercy.

If we run into each other, please have mercy on me as I learn how to embrace another's pain; as He teaches me to love mercy.

Dear Lord, thank You for the mercy You showed me on the Cross. Every time I've been in need, in pain, in dire straights, Your mercy never fails. Please teach me to love mercy and walk humbly with You. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Application Steps:
Do you disregard and avoid mercy? Memorize this verse and draw upon it when you do not want to be merciful. "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8)

Reflections:
"True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less." Tim Keller

Power Verses:
Matthew 5:7, "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy." (NIV 1984)

And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; 2 Corinthians 3:4-5

Sometimes the words of another say it best.... Rebuilt a devotional by Amy Carroll "Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God." 2 Corinthians 3:4-5 (NIV) "Are you sure you're ready to have a tiger by the tail?" mom asked with a big grin. That was her first response when my then-boyfriend Barry asked my parents if he could marry me. It still makes me laugh, because I was certainly a strange mix of rule-following, first-child with a wide streak of sassiness and fierce independence. I'm still not sure Barry had any idea what he was getting into when he said, "I do." That was over twenty years ago, so when Barry asked an unexpected question during our family vacation, it opened my eyes to some of God's difficult work in my life. Barry and I sat on the deck overlooking the ocean talking in low voices about the topics that concern many of us-finances, parenting, plans for the future. Suddenly, he asked his startling question. "If you could change one thing about me, what would it be?" My mind went blank except for the thought, Whew! This is a really loaded question. At first I didn't want to answer (why ruin a great evening?), but I finally answered, braced myself and re-asked the question, "What would you change about me?" I had a pretty good list going in my mind of what I thought he'd say-I wish you weren't so critical. I wish you wouldn't talk so much. I wish you would cook dinner more often. What he actually said surprised me. "I want you to get your confidence back. When I married you, your favorite phrase was, 'I'll do it myself!' I've watched you lose your confidence over the years, and I want you to have it back," he replied. A move, a couple of friendships with bad endings and struggling to find a place in my new home town had knocked the stuffing right out of me. I had fought and lost against my own tendency toward comparison, perfectionism and an overdeveloped sense of responsibility. Little by little, I became convinced that I couldn't and that I wasn't. My confidence had been shaken and finally crumbled. But sometimes things have to be torn down before they can be rebuilt. Was it God's plan that I would move, fail in some friendships and beat myself up trying to be somebody else? No! He did, however, use this bad place to bring me to a better place. God began rebuilding confidence in me a few years ago, and He capped it off when I got home from Proverbs 31 Ministries' She Speaks conference that year. There He spoke to me over and over again about trusting my life to His control. The scripture in my Sunday school class the following Sunday was our key verse today, 2 Corinthians 3:4-6: "Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant-not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." (NIV) For years I walked in my own strength of "I can do it," but God brought me to His strength and the knowledge that "He can do it in me." He has brought me out of my own power, which is so limited and flawed, to being dependent on the infilling power of His Spirit. Confidence in myself has very limited power, whereas confidence in Him brings limitless possibilities. I know that I'll still have days of struggle with confidence, but my rebuilt and renewed sense of confidence is now firmly in Christ. It's a beautiful place to be. Dear Lord, I have depended on myself so many times and fallen short. My confidence has been shaken. Rebuild me by helping me to put my full confidence in You. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

It's the simple things that really matter

Borrowed this from a friends facebook page...I love yellow and so love flowers and double love wild flowers and triple love camping!  And the older I get...I quadruple love simple things and pleasures!  Thinking I need to go for a walk tomorrow morning.  All the rain we have been having has to have cleaned things up and made all the flowers bloom!  Take a moment tomorrow to just enjoy the things around you!