Take Cover - A Storm is Coming!

As Hurricane season for 2010 comes to an end, Hurricane Earl has surfaced and is making his way toward the Eastern coast of the United States. The meteorologists are frantically trying to determine where and if he  will make landfall. It is a category 4 right now with winds at 135 mph. Forecasters are saying that he may not hit the coast but take precautions just in case he turns. Take cover! 
A hurricane is one of natures most destructive forces. It causes flooding, rip currents, choppy waves. Add in high winds, lightning and sometimes hail and you have a soup of distaster.  As destructive as it's outer bands are, it's eye is calm. The eye ( the center) of the storm is quiet and  no wind is blowing at all. It would lead you to believe that all is well, then the other side of the storm comes in full force. 

Isn't that life? The winds are blowing hard, hitting us from every direction and we take cover. We cover ourselves in the word. We hunker down and focus on protecting ourselves until the storm is over. Then comes the calm. The quiet! We let our defenses down and start picking up the pieces.  We put down our covering for we think we are safe. Safe for now it seems. Then it hits. We are blindsided by the rest of the storm. The wind hits us square in the face and we fall back to our knees seeking refuge once more.

Some of us try and stay ready at all times. We stay prayed up and read up. We praise, we worship and still we find ourselves in the storm. Don't feel like it's something you did or didn't do!! Just as Hurricane Earl is no respecter of person, neither is God. Acts 10:34 (The Message) - Peter fairly exploded with his good news: "It's God's own truth, nothing could be plainer: God plays no favorites!"  HE is sovereign and gives to whom He chooses.When He provides the sunlight, HE doesn't say to the sinner, "This sunlight isn't for you!" So, as the storms rage, He doesn't say, "Saved man, you will bear no storms!" What HE does say, is that HE will have mercy & protect us.  Seek Him and He will cover you even in the storm. Romans 9:15 (New American Standard Bible) says "For He says to Moses, "I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION."  That is God's gift to us.  1 Peter 1:5 (New Living Translation)  says, "And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see."

Even in the midst of a raging storm, when all seems dark and lost our MOST MERCIFUL GOD is protecting us and covering us. All WE have to do is have FAITH! Easier said than done? Which would you rather have, God's mercy, love and protection or .......I think you already know!

Have a safe weekend!





 

Nobody Loves You?

"You ain’t gone be nuthin! You so bad! You just like yo daddy and he ain’t nuthin. You stupid. You dumb! "

NOBODY LOVES ME!

How many times have you heard someone speaking these nasty negative statements over their children. Hurtful stinging words that I’m sure at first cut to the core of a child. Eventually these rants and abuses can become common once heard over and over again. It’s sad. If negative statements are spoken over and over again and they are not countered with positives, that child, that woman, that person will eventually believe what they hear. Then they will become what they are told they are. They may never become the person that God destined them to be because using their own free will; they chose to believe what has been ingrained in them. “nobody loves me.. I am nothing!”

THE POWER!

I have believed in the power of the tongue for as long as I can remember. My grandparents and parents spoke positively over us and learned never to speak negatively over my children. I didn’t call them “BAD” even when they were. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t spare the rod, but I refused to speak words that could be deemed harmful over them. People mindlessly say things over our children without even realizing what they are doing. How many times was a “little Johnny” told that he was going to be nothing and he believed it. We have to build our children up at home to counter those negatives that they may hear otherwise. I always tell my children that they are smart, beautiful, gifted, anointed. They believe it and will quickly tell me if someone tries to imply otherwise. They have the POWER instilled in them. The POWER of God and HIS Word! The Power to do all things!

SOMEBODY!

I believe that there is POWER in what we say. I believe there is POWER in what we pray. As a new school year begins think about the little Susie’s and Johnny’s in your life. Even if you don’t have children, I’m sure you come in contact with some. Lift them up. Say a kind word. Encourage them. Your positive voice may be the ONLY positive word that they may ever hear. Don’t take it for granted. Your POWER may be what FREES them to live out their destiny. Turn a life around. A Nobody into SOMEBODY! The POWER is in the tongue.


Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue

Father forgive them; for they know not what they do!

Father forgive them: for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34)


Jesus said it. “Father forgive them; for they know not what they do.” I believe it. Yes, I believe that people say and do things and do not realize that they are hurting others. I think people say things without thinking most of the time. I won’t say people, I will say “WE”. Yes we say and do things out of emotion or just mindlessly. How many times has someone come up to you and made an off handed comment and you thought to yourself “I know they just didn’t say that!” (smile) Comments such as “Have you put on weight?, You’ve lost weight..are you sick?”, Girl who did your hair?, Man why’d you grow that mustache?, Is that your car, why’d you buy that one?, etc. etc. etc. I am sure you can think of your own.

What about the rumors? When we hear the words, “I heard and THEY said” we should run! Who is they and heard is hearsay. Social classes teach us that there is always someone that someone else confides in. So if you tell your confidant, “don’t tell anybody” and they tell their confidant, “don’t tell anybody”, how many people eventually will know? Just like the game we used to play as kids, when one person would whisper a word in your ear and it would be passed around. How many times, did the word end up as something else by the end of the line? I’m not saying ALL people can’t be trusted, because that isn’t true. I can speak from personal experience, that fortunately, I have people that I can confide in and KNOW that it won’t go anywhere. That is a true blessing. I ask you this though. How about confiding in Jesus? He knows the answers and HE won’t tell anybody unless HE is sending a message to you through another. In that instance you KNOW it is God because HE is the only one that you have told. (I digress)

Back to forgiveness. Forgive doesn’t mean you have to forget but if God can forgive and forget who am I to think that I am better than HE. He gives us so many chances. Is there someone that you need to forgive today? Forgive them in your heart! Let it go and have a fantabulous Friday!

He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Micah 7:19


For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
Heb 8:12

Faith for the Weary

Just Believe

We are human. We are flesh.


Without HIM, we are weak. Weak to the ways of the world & all that it throws at us.
We want to be strong. We really do. We’ve been taught to be strong. To shake it off! We want to appear to be able to handle it all. We put on our strong face masks and go out and tackle the world. We go to work and school and church and pretend. Pretend that EVERYTHING is fine. People say, as a courtesy..”How are you?” and we say, “FINE!” When we learn foreign languages, some of the first greetings that are taught are, “Hello, My name is___, and How are you? Fine!”

What do we do when it gets to be too much? When the mask begins to slide? When the fact that we are human and frail becomes apparent? When are no longer able to pretend to be super human. Do we call on our friends, family, and church family? Of course we do, but they are human too. What happens when they too are tired and life gets in their way and they can’t be there for us? They want to, but simply can’t be there 24/7.

What do we do? We call on our FAITH! Today my daughter posted “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Yes, it is our FAITH that pulls us through. It is our faith in our God and knowing that although we cannot see Him, He is there. We SHOULD call on HIM first, but our humanness/weakness sometimes clouds our judgment and we try and handle it all on our own. Praise GOD, that HE understands us. That HE knows that His children will come to HIM for help. He is our father, waiting with open arms, a shoulder to cry on, and a lap to sit in. He says, “Come to me all ye who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

I say to you today. Remember, you are human; you are flesh. It’s okay. Really it is. You don’t have to hide behind the slipping mask. Remove it, breathe easier, fall on your knees and depend on your faith then lift up your eyes to the hills whence cometh your help. HE’s there for you with all the strength you need. When you can’t walk He carries you. My God, Your God, Our God! All that we need!



Isaiah 40:28

Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The LORD is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary


and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,

and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the LORD

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint.

A Breath Away

My dearest friends lost loved ones this week. Both suddenly. One had been sick and one had not but it was sudden nonetheless for death is sudden. No matter how long a person has lingered or how quickly someone has not, it is still sudden. Sudden because death is but a breath away. The last breath in a series of daily breaths. Breath that we don’t think about but breathes that we can’t live without.

Please continue to lift each other up. Someone is going through something right now. Yours might be the only prayer lifted on their behalf. You never know.

God gave me this poem entitled:

Daily Breaths by Gigi

It doesn’t matter how we start

The end result’s the same

Whether we linger or pass away quick

We leave when HE calls us by name.



Our lives are filled with daily breaths

Of moments that turn into years

Of victories, troubles & happiness

Triumphs, celebrations & tears



HE calls us home when it’s our time to go

Though loved ones would rather us near

Our MASTER, our GOD has the final say

For you, and I and those we hold dear



So remember my child as you miss your loved one

That the MASTER was there from the start

HE is with us each second, every day of our lives

And your loved one lives on in your heart.


Daily Breathes by Gigi Monique 2010