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Blessed to teach with Ray Anderson

Today has been a year, I can’t believe it’s been a year since I got the worst most unexpected news of my life to date. My best friend, my look and sound alike, my confident, my sister went to Jesus a year ago today. To say that I miss her is an understatement, but I have been so changed by this that she may not recognize parts of me today. I didn’t expect that message that day, I didn’t expect to be told my healthy sister, who had no “conditions” had passed out and they could not get her back. That one statement sent me through a six month whirlwind, that eventually got me to today, the changed person you are reading this from.

First I have to tell you I was in denial about being mad at God, but when I stopped denying it, I realized I was, as we would say, fighting mad at Him. Why you ask, she was a Christian, so I know where she is! That wasn’t the problem though, I had no warning, I had no signs, I had no time, I didn’t get to tell her goodbye or that I loved her ONE MORE TIME!!! She hadn’t been sick, she hadn’t been in any kind of pain, she wasn’t going through testing trying to figure out what was wrong….she was in a great mood that morning I was told, but when it was her moment that was it.

Next came the overwhelmingness of final affairs, and signing her house over to someone else, the emotions of that day are indescribable, so much so that they carried on for days and I didn’t even realize it until I kind of exploded on my daughter.

The point that brought repair was when the Lord spoke to me and told me to get away by myself, I did just that one weekend in May. I rented a house about 4 hrs away from home and made no contact with anyone for 3 days. It was exactly what I needed, no responsibilities, only me and Jesus. This was the point that Holy Spirit spoke the most profound, most releasing words to me… “She was only ever on loan to me, she was always HIS!!!” WOW!!!!!!!! When I allowed that to sink in, it was like the weight of 16 elephants was released off my chest, I truly could breathe again, I could begin to see that I could do this life without her.

Now that doesn’t mean I don’t miss her constantly. There are so many times I want to txt her something. Or I see certain things in the store and think about how much she loved stuff like that. How I want to send her things on pinterest or tell her that Cindy’s birthday dinner was all recipes off her pinterest boards. That I can’t share with her or lean on her as I’m about to move my son and my daughter both off in less then a year. But what I can say is this taught me, I may not have tomorrow.

When a young man I see as another son said wanna go to parent weekend, the weekend I move in to school, 10hrs away, I said yes and went. So when my nephew said he had that day off I invited him to dinner so I could meet his baby then. When my other sister’s birthday rolled around I took her out to dinner asap. When I wanted to see my brother who lives across state, I took off for a week and did just that. I prioritize people more now then “Getting things done”. I will put off an event if someone I care about wants my time, I will take someone I care about to events with me to spend time with them. Do I wanna have lunch with you or spend the day shopping with you just to spend time, why yes I do!!! I may not have tomorrow with you, or you may not have it with me.

Yet you do not know (the least thing) about what may happen tomorrow. What is the nature of your life? You are (really) but a wisp of vapor (a puff of smoke, a mist) that is visible for a little while and then disappears (into thin air).

James 4:14 AMP

So what am I saying to you today? Is your teenager off of work today, then the grocery store can wait. Did you mom or dad call just wanting to talk, take them to lunch. Invite that friend to go see a movie together, or better yet to come by your house and watch a movie in comfort. Invite family to a meal at your house. You never know when the last time you talk to someone will be the last time. Savor the moments and make more of them, memories are oh so precious when they are all you have!!!

So who wants to go to lunch???

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This morning as I was reading Ephesians 6 I received a new perspective on this chapter. We love to talk about putting on our full armor of God, make sure you have every piece of armor on, right? Well instead of jumping immediately to the middle of this chapter, let’s start at the beginning, where Paul is telling us how we are to treat each other. He begins with how children are to be with their parents, then moves to how fathers should act with their children (he points out fathers here but I believe mothers can listen to this as well). He then moves on to slaves and masters, I believe we can relate this today to bosses and employees. I do not think that Paul completely jumps ship with his train of thought here by then moving into the armor of God; I know by reading Paul’s other writings as well, he has purpose in his order of thoughts; stick with me here. I believe Paul is telling us first and foremost we need to focus on how we are treating others before we can go into battle (you do know we are in a spiritual battle, right, that’s a discussion for another day though), before the armor is effective we have to be mindful of how we are treating our fellow Christian soldiers! Our concern for others, especially those we are around on a regular basis should be top priority! The saying goes treat others the way you want to be treated; right, isn’t that what we tell our kids when they are little? Well how about we go a step beyond that, how about we treat others better then we want to be treated. How about we stop using the excuse of “respect is earned” and “I’m only doing to them what they do to everyone” and start being reflections of our Jesus like we are supposed to? If Jesus had done to people as they had done to Him, we would all be destined for hell! Just being real here. Human kind spit on Jesus , made fun of Jesus, picked a murderer over Jesus, beat Jesus until He was unrecognizable, and then hung Him on a tree to watch Him die – like it was a sporting event! But Jesus’ words were not payback is coming, or you will get yours one day, or what goes around comes around, but “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do!” Has that ever been your response to being treated badly, I don’t know that I can say it’s been mine either, but today is a new day. Our God is a God of grace, mercy, and second chances. Focus today on being more Christ like in this area, the area of treating others better then you want to be treated. Back to my point, I believe when we feel like some attack is still getting though our armor, even though we thought we had it all on, it may be because of how we are treating people. If you are being harder on your kids then you should be, or ignoring your parents, maybe you slack off when the boss isn’t around, do you see your employees as less important then you? These things, these ways your are mistreating people in your life, anyone in your life, could be causing a chink in your armor. So maybe next time before you blame God and His armor for failing you, check your armor, make sure you haven’t made a chink of mistreating others, where the fiery darks can get through.

These three words are powerful when you know what they mean. I was praying at the altar last night at church & when I looked up at the glossy finish I saw a reflection & very clearly I heard “Be My Reflection”. To be His reflection we must first know who our God is, what He is like. He didn’t make this a hard thing to figure out, He gave us the Bible and it tells us time and again what Jesus was like when He walked the earth.

When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt (profound) compassion for them and healed their sick. Matthew 14:14 (amp)

Jesus has compassion for people, He didn’t go around angry & judging all the time, He had compassion on those who needed Him, on those who did not know Him.

The Lord does not delay [as though He were unable to act] and is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is [extraordinarily] patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9 (amp)

He loved unconditionally, He knew (knows) who we are, what we as humans are capable of and yet still loves us!

We love, because He first loved us.
1 John 4:19 (AMP)

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, it is much more certain, having been reconciled, that we will be saved [from the consequences of sin] by His life [that is, we will be saved because Christ lives today].

Not only that, but we also rejoice in God [rejoicing in His love and perfection] through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received and enjoy our reconciliation [with God].
Romans 5:10-11 (amp)

So bring His reflection means we show His kind of love, not love when we choose to or when it’s easy or when someone acts the way we want or does what we want; we love everyone unconditionally even when it’s hard, especially when it’s hard.

Lord show us what it truly means to be Your reflection, teach us to be more like You! May our one desire be to be Your light & love in our world today!

…having been deeply rooted (in Him) and now being continually built up in Him and (becoming increasingly more) established in your faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing in it with gratitude.                                  Colossians 2:7

 

I have to say before late last night, when God gave me a picture of what this really means, when I heard someone preach on being rooted, I didn’t think much about it, I actually connected it more with Ephesians 6:13 where we are told “having done everything (that the crisis demands), to stand firm…”.  But wow was I missing the complete picture!!!  We also think about how deep roots will go, through a storm or after years of growth, but this isn’t the picture I was given either.

So, I’m not much of a gardener but bare with me.  When we plant a seed for new growth, we don’t have to dig a very big hole. Maybe you bought a small tomato plant, that takes a bit more of a hole.  But when you buy a tree sapling, or a rose bush, that takes a sizeable hole being dug.  This is the picture God gave me for this verse!  But lets go even further, here in Tennessee the soil is not always easy to dig, you may have some rocky soil or it may be a very dry season & when it gets dry here the soil gets HARD, (yes capital letters were needed there!!).  So now imagine this you not only have rocky soil but you have dry, rocky soil, it is going to take some work to get a hole dug for that tree.  A hole that is deep enough, large enough around to not only stick that tree into but cover that potting soil it came with just a bit.

That is what our Christian life should be like.  See if you just take that tree out of that cheap pot the store had it in and just set it on top of the ground, do you expect it to survive??  The wind could blow it over & kill it.  Their is nothing to hold it stable & that potting soil that is with it will wash away at the slightest rain, it will die.  That is pretty basic knowledge right!?!?  Then, why in the world do we think we can walk this life out without being rooted in the Word????  When God clearly tells us to be rooted.  He doesn’t just mean show up Sunday morning, maybe Wednesday night at your respected place of worship, He means open up your Bible DAILY!!!  Psalm 1:3 tells us to be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water & we will not wither, but look back at verse 2, it says this person firmly planted “delights in the law of the Lord”, in other words he or she delights in God’s Word!  We cannot stand in the storms of life without digging into the Word of God, & I don’t mean while they are happening to us, I mean before the winds ever begin to blow.  When in school you didn’t just hope you would know the answers on the test without ever cracking the book, so why should your Christian walk be any different.  You cannot pass this test we call life without cracking The BOOK!!  If we will spend daily time with God in His Word, we will find when the enemy tries to kick us down with bad medical test results, an unfixable family situation, or thoughts that we are not good enough; then we will kick back because we know who we are in Jesus.  How can you tell the devil he is wrong if you don’t know what God says about your life?

In this day we are “google ready” Christians, “Oh, I have a new problem, I’ll just google where to read in the Bible.”.  But what if when something came at you, you knew from knowledge what the Bible say about your situation?  I can tell you that is so many million times better then trying to  look up the right thing for your situation while you are in the middle, plus you more quickly go to it if you have planted it into your soul already!

I will tell you what else I have learned, the more I read the Word, the more I want to read it, I sometimes can’t seem to get enough.  Start your day off with it.  “Oh, but I’m always in a rush to get to work in the morning, or I struggle getting the kids up & going in the morning.”  Really, what’s an extra 10 minutes, yes I said 10 minutes, promise God a small portion of time of your day to start, don’t try & become an instant giant, too overwhelming!!!  Make a commitment for just a short time, allow God to work in that time, it will grow as you grow.  Just as a tree doesn’t instantly start baring fruit the minute you put it in its hole, you don’t have to instantly be a giant in the faith.  See just like the tree first you make the effort by digging its new hole in your yard, then you water it a little, you don’t want to drown it.  Then after you have watered it some, maybe you get a good rain & it packs the dirt in around it & even though you cant see it, the roots begin to spread out.  Then as time continues to go by the roots go deeper & the tree begins to grow & even eventually give off fruit.  This fruit is sweet to taste, & usually exciting to see, especially by the one who planted it.  Yet another picture of what our life in Christ should be like, sweet with fruit of the Spirit & exciting to see, especially by the One who planted us.  He delights in us, He longs for us to be planted & rooted in Him.  We choose to struggle sometimes, I don’t mean we pick the things that come upon us, those are because we live in a fallen world, I mean we haven’t taken the time to get into God, to get into His Word, to “treasure & store” God’s Word in our hearts (Psalm 119:11).  Why do you think He put that in there my precious friend, because He knew we needed it, He knew that life and the enemy were gonna try & take us down, but if we had His Word hidden in our deepest innermost parts, that we would stay firmly planted in this life.

Then once you have begun this journey you can step back a verse from our key verse today & say you truly do this  “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in (union with) Him (reflecting His character in the things you do and say – living lives that lead others away from sin), having been deeply rooted (in Him) and now being continually built up in Him and (becoming increasingly more) established in your faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing in it with gratitude.        Colossians 2:6-7     When we are rooted in the Word of God, then we can walk in union with Jesus & lead others away from sin.

It’s not too late to start, make a decision today that you will spend time in His Word, that you will become a tree planted by streams of water!

Also the beauty of our technology age is that all you have to do is type a preachers name in & you have a mass amount of sermons at your finger tips (great for car rides, short or long).  This doesn’t replace your one on one time with God in the Word, you still need this, but it can supplement it.

 

Love,

Michelle

 

When I was a young girl I wanted several children, I never had a definite number but I knew it was big, so imagine how heartbroken I was when at 17 I was told that I would not be able to have any.  That was a thought from the world though, I didn’t know it at the time but God had other plans!  When I gave birth to my son when I was 20 yrs old I was completely in awe because of what I had been told just a few years before, so I thought this would possibly be my only one, but then just 4 1/2 short years later I gave birth to my daughter & I had gained my bonus son by this point as well.  At this point though realizing that doctor was wrong those years before & God could do what He set to do, I did have to make a wise decision for myself & my family, to not try for any more biological children.  You see when I was a teenager I dealt with depression, so when I had postpartum depression that sent me into crying fits for no reason after having my daughter when I had not had any with my son, I decided it was best to not chance it getting worse with another birth.  I decided it was ok to only have given birth to two children, plus like I said I had a bonus boy as well.  Truly I have thought of what it would be like to have had more, like my childhood dream many times.  I actually was thinking of that about a month ago when God pointed out something to me that I had not really put into perspective.  You see I have had a few call me Mama Craig throughout the years, & now working with a church in a college town, that name has resurfaced but on a more pronounced level.  So one day after texting with one of the girls from this college/church, God said see you have many children!  Then He began to remind me of the nurturing I have gotten to do through years, in & out of church.  At this realization I could only weep!  I have been blessed to be a person many have called on when needing guidance, reassurance, love, or just someone to talk to.  Even as I type this so many faces & names pour into my thoughts, I well up with tears sometimes at my pride for who these people are becoming, & when they hurt I hurt with them whether they know it or not.  See it’s not about me but it’s about having been willing to say yes to God every time He leads me into a life.  Every time someone starts to confide in me will I say yes to becoming someone they can count on or will I turn & walk away not to be bothered by someone else’s “baggage”?  Also realize being a Spiritual Mother doesn’t necessarily mean that I am older then them, just maybe more Spiritually mature (by the way I have not “arrived” yet, still a clay pot needing more molding).  1 Thessalonians 2:7  says “But we behaved gently when we were among you, like a devoted mother tenderly caring for her own children. (amp)  My children have honestly become so numerous it is hard to count, & I do care for them all tenderly, even when as they grow some have lost touch with me, it’s ok I was in their lives for the season that I needed to be, & if by God’s gracious favor I get to cross their path again I will rejoice, but if not then at least I can still watch from afar, thanks to social media!  I know I am not the only one in this situation, so many women wish for more children, or even one child, but in the lives of those I personally know, I can see where God has blessed them to be Spiritual mothers to so many that have walked across their path, loving them without holding back!  We live in a world where so many need a guide, a gentle hand, or just to be loved; maybe just maybe that is where you come in.  Be willing to answer the call to being available for coffee with someone.  Give away hugs like your life depends on it. And make the words “I love you” a common flow out of your mouth & mean them!  We need more mamas, cause they comfort us when we are hurt, make us soup when we are sick, pray for us when we are down or in doubt & love us no matter what.  I am so blessed & overjoyed that God called me to this even when I wasn’t looking for it.

Her children rise up & call her blessed (happy, prosperous, to be admired)

Proverbs 31:28

How many children do you really have rising up & calling you blessed, or even better call you a blessing to their lives!

I pray God pours a flood into you as you have read this of those lives you have touched, you have changed & molded.  I pray a peace rise up in you about your motherhood status, that you start to see the faces of your Spiritual children running through your mind & that you cherish what God has called you to.

Much love,

 

Michelle

“…But the God in Whose hand your breath is…”    Daniel 5:23

 

This is taken from the middle of Daniel basically chewing King Belshazzar out for not respecting the Lord Most High, but I had to stop & reread these 9 words over again a few times!  We worry so much about the world & what we think people can do to us or how things are going for us, but do we really stop to realize God “Holds are breath”  WOW!!!  He is so Mighty & so Powerful, we concern ourselves with so many things that really in the long run will not matter, but we forget to focus our eyes on the Creator.  Let me repeat that again, “But the God in Whose hand your breath is”, if that doesn’t shout out to you how important your are to the Living God, I  don’t know what does.  There are so many times in scripture that God lets us know how important we are to Him, but my question for you today (and myself) is do we let God know how important He is to us??  Is He important to you?  Then why isn’t He your first thought when trouble comes your way?  Why do we not depend on the One who has proven Himself faithful to us time & time again?  He has not failed us.  “I will never (under any circumstances) desert you (nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless), nor will I forsake or let you down or relax My hold on you (assuredly not)!”  Hebrews 13:5 AMP  That is a promise folks, God doesn’t break His promises or take them lightly, He is faithful as His Word says.  “Faithful & absolutely trustworthy is He who is calling you (to Himself for your salvation), & He will do it (He will fulfill His call by making you holy, guarding you, watching over you, & protecting you as His own).”             1 Thessalonians 5:24   You know what I think is sometimes our biggest problem fear that He will fulfill His promise, I know it sounds crazy, but think about it, our biggest issue in this day & age is trust, so many people have broken that trust that we put out there, so we expect it from God as well.  I mean really He created mankind & we surely can’t trust them so why could we trust God??  We have been hurt by our parents, by our spouses, by our kids, by our friends, by our pastor, & the list goes on & on & on but why do we put that on an Almighty God who is perfect?????  We live in a fallen world people where the enemy runs free & yet we blame God for the bad things that happen, saying “He is teaching me a lesson”  WHAT!!!!!!!  God is LOVE!!! 1 John 4:8  If you love someone do you let them fall into a hole to teach them a lesson, cause that is how you are showing them love?  Loving parent, do you let your kid jump in front of a moving car to show them how much you love them???  NO!!! Love does not teach you a lesson by hurting you.  I know with my kids I try to teach them to avoid things that will hurt them, not push them into pain, so why would a God who LOVES me hurt me to teach me a lesson?  We blame God too often for the bad when there are two other sources for that, number one it is the enemy, he wants to take us down so we are not useful to the Kingdom, if we are mad at or blaming God for the bad in our lives then satan has completed his task of keeping us from ours, for we are not saved for pew warming but we are saved so we can share that love with others & grow the Kingdom.  The second place to look is at ourselves, yes look in the mirror.  I am going to use my husband as an example (cause I know he won’t mind), he works construction & when he was younger strictly did roofing, now in his late 40s his knees give him issues, well he can’t blame God for that (& doesn’t), he did that to himself, he was young & didn’t think about how all that kneeling would start destroying his knees, he just did it & now in hindsight realizes what he did, but that is his doing not God’s.  Yes, I know you are thinking that doesn’t compare to what is going on in your life or maybe you are thinking you have something going on that doesn’t fit into either one of those categories, well maybe you need to look at your prospective of the situation then.  Have you thought that maybe this trial is not a punishment but a growth track.  Maybe He is trying to draw you in to Him so He can save you from something, or maybe save someone else down the road?  If we are willing to allow God to work in our lives & use us as a vessel, to teach or to lift up others what we thought was pain at the time, what you think is painful right now, later on when you are past it will not look so much like pain but like joy hidden from the worldly eye, but when looked at with spiritual eyes is beauty.  Isaiah 61:3 says He will give a crown of beauty for ashes, in the New Living Translation, in the AMP translation it says “The oil of joy instead of mourning”  I can truly testify that God has done that for me, He has turned my mourning into joy many  times, so I know He is faithful to do the same for you, if you will just trust Him to, don’t doubt His faithfulness, don’t blame Him, don’t walk away from Him, run to Him, His arms are open & waiting to comfort & hold you, as He holds your breath, to Love you as only He can do!!!

 

Much Love,

Michelle

A mosaic is a piece of art or image made from the assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It is often used in decorative art or as interior decoration. Most mosaics are made of small, flat, roughly square, pieces of stone or glass of different colors, known as tesserae. Some, especially floor mosaics, are made of small rounded pieces of stone, and called “pebble mosaics”. Others are made of other materials.

 

Have you ever looked at a mosaic, I mean ever really looked at one? Looking at all the details of all the individual pieces, thinking about how they came to look like they do?  They are kind of like our lives, so many small details & large details all coming together to form one Beautiful picture!  That is the amazing thing about our lives, is all those details, the laughter, the love, the loss, the tears, the heartache, the joy, the achievements, the failures, the hard times, the not so hard times – they all come together to make us who we are, who God wants us to be, if we will allow Him to shape is. And that is the best part we can’t see the whole “mosaic” of our lives but God can.  He knows everything, every situation, every win, every failure but He sees them all together as one AMAZING MASTERPIECE!!!  How cool is that, the Word says in Hebrews 13:5 AMP “for He has said, “I will never [under any circumstances] desert you [nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless], nor will I forsake or let you down or relax My hold on you [assuredly not]!”  What an amazing promise!! He knows what we need when we need it better then we do, & even when it is the hardest He has it, even when it seems as though He has left us to fend for ourselves, He is still with us, NEVER does He leave us!!!  I have been there in those times when I didn’t think I was gonna make it through, but I did & so will you dear one I promise, & I can make that promise knowing the Awesome God I (WE) serve!!  Keep the faith because you are adding another piece to your mosaic that you will only get to see the finished masterpiece in Glory!

Much Love

Michelle