Friday, March 27, 2009

Glorify the Lord with Me

I awoke this morning at 4 a.m. My mind was flooded with the "mountains" in my life. I began to pray about all of my "mountains" and the Lord gave me a vision of a magnifying glass. He said to me, "Tammy, you are magnifying your problems. I want you to magnify Me!" I thanked him for the peace that came over me as I began to magnify/glorify Him.

He is bigger than any mountain in your life. He is greater than any depth you have fallen. The mountain of his love has no summit...it is endless!

Glorfiy the Lord with me...

Psalm 34

I will extol the Lord at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips.
My soul will boast in the Lord;
let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
Glorify the Lord with me;
let us exalt his name together.

I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.
This poor woman called, and the Lord heard her/him;
he saved her/him out of all her/his troubles.
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.

Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
Fear the Lord, you his saints,
for those who fear him lack nothing.
The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days,
keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies.
Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their cry;
the face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;
he delivers them from all their troubles.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

A righteous man may have many troubles,
but the Lord delivers him from them all;
he protects his bones,
not one of them will be broken.

Evil will slay the wicked;
the foes of the righteous condemned.
The Lord redeems his servants;
no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Sonshine!

The sun is shining! I love it when the sun is shining! It brightens my mood immediately.

The Lord has also brightened my mood with his love. The Son is shining deep in my heart. He has lifted my head and helped me to see him. He has shown me the err of my way. He has encouraged me to "get going". "We have mountains to climb and views you haven't seen yet. I have more...so much more! More than you can even imagine!"

I've asked for a love to love when it hurts. He wants that! He wants me to take the love that he has lavishly poured into my life and give it away. As I empty myself, he fills me back up. He fills me to overflowing. How great, how deep, how wide is the love of God. It is indescribable!

I am so unworthy. He already knows that, but chooses to love me anyway. Extravagant, undeserving love is the theme of my life.

He loves you!!! He wants you to know that love too ~ to feel it deep within your heart. I am praying for you today! I hope your day is overflowing with Sonshine!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Get Up!

Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame. Ps. 34:5

This morning in my devotion I had to answer the question, "When you sin, how quickly do you go to God?" I had to admit, I am slow to go to God for forgiveness. I am ashamed for disappointing the Lord and somehow try to "pay" for my own sins for "awhile". I don't want to take his forgiveness flippantly.

As I've grown in my love for him, I don't want to hurt him. I don't want to disappoint him. As he has revealed to me the pain of the cross, the cost of the cross and the ultimate betrayal of the Father, I am grieved over my sin. I am sorry for putting him there.

The more I learn, the more I have to learn. God is so big! I know that I am a sinner. I know that I will sin. But, I'm asking today for the conviction of the Holy Spirit to keep me in a place that my face is never covered with shame. And that when not if I do sin, I quickly go to God for forgiveness.

I pray that my life would be radiant with joy because of His life in me. I can't do this on my own. It requires something of me. I have to be willing to lay down my own desires, my own wants and my own agenda to seek him, to read his word, to spend time in prayer. To some that may sound like a burden. Somedays, it seems easier to skip it...who has time?

I have found that the reward is so great! The peace is priceless. And knowing that the God of the universe, the One who calls every star by its name and has numbered every hair on your head, is working in your life and on behalf of you is amazing!

The other day I was reading the story of Jesus healing a daughter who had died. The girl was only 12 years old and her parents were devastated. They sent for Jesus. When he arrived he said that she wasn't dead. And the crowd "laughed at him". Can you imagaine? He could have slain each one of them at that moment, but he didn't. Jesus entered her house and took her by the hand and said "Get up!" and the little girl got up. Then he told her mother to feed her.

I think that is a word for you today.
Do you feel your life is radiant with his joy? Praise God!
Or are you feeling lifeless and your days seem to have little meaning? Then, today is YOUR day!

The Lord would say to you today "GET UP!" and start "LIVING!" And feed yourself. Your spirit is malnourished. Invite him into your house and seek him. Run, don't walk and ask him to forgive you. Tell him what you need and praise him for speaking into your life. Read his word. Start in Psalm 45 if you want. You will not be disapppointed. He is the LIFE! And He is faithful to forgive us!

Those who look to him are radiant,
their faces are never covered with shame. Ps. 34:5

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

She Said "Yes!"

My daughter...she said "Yes!"

I am overwhelmed with emotion. My little girl...my sweet, beautiful little girl. My angel and the sunshine of my life. Did I mention she's beautiful??? She is now a woman. And she is getting married. It is slowly sinking in. She has been watching for a husband. She has not been in a hurry...she has waited. God has picked the right one for her. I laugh and cry all at the same time!

Her time has come. She will be united with him in a few months. She will take his name, she will make her home with him. She will belong to him and they will be one. She is glowing. He is too. So much to get ready, so many decisions to make. Of course, I want her to have her dream wedding. But more than that, I want her to be loved. He loves her. He has promised to keep her and never let her go.

I can't help but thinking of Jesus. He has picked his bride. It is me...it is you! Have you said "Yes!"? He has purchased us for his own. His timing is perfect! We will one day make our home with him. In the meantime, we wait...he waits. He is making all the preparations for the wedding feast. He wants it to be perfect! Oh, How He Loves You and Me...How PERFECT!

Do You See What I See?

I was so blessed by a story my little boy told me after getting off the bus yesterday. He has an eye for the imagination and God's creative hand. He has been looking UP!

About a month ago, he told me that while on the playground he saw a heart-shaped cloud. The first one he has spotted on his own. He couldn't wait to tell me about it. I was so excited. I told him that was awesome. And then I asked him if he told Jesus he loved him when he saw the "love note". He so sweetly said, "Yes, I did." I could feel the joy in Jesus heart. I was so blessed that God was reaching down to my son and that my son was reaching back to Jesus.

As parents, we think we have to carry such a heavy load for our children. For some reason we think that we hold their very lives in our hands. Here's a newsflash for you: We DON'T! God has not given us that responsibility. He is their Father, He is their Savior and their Redeemer. And guess what...He knows them perfectly. He knows how to speak to them and to reach areas of their hearts that we don't see and even if we did, we would never understand. He is their GOD!

A few weeks ago, he came running into the kitchen for me to come and see something! He was so excited and so adamant. I was trying to get lunches ready and he was insistent. A bit irritated at my interruption, I followed him to his room. Out his second story window was an enormous upside down heart-shaped cloud. In the center of it was another much smaller heart right side up. He was in awe and again I was too. What a way to start the day! I was so concerned with what I HAD to do, I almost missed it.

Yesterday, he came home with another fascinating sighting. While on the bus, he saw a cloud. He described in detail how it looked as if the cloud was an angel. The angel was laying down on its back with both of its wings spread out. It even had a halo. He said it was directly above someone's house on his bus route. I was so amazed and asked if he knew whose house it was. He didn't know. His little face just glowed and my heart did too.

I am so thankful for the way that God is speaking to my son. He is a personal God and he knows that he will be glorified in his little heart. And it is helping me to let go and to trust Him!

Do you see what I see??? Oh how he loves you and me!!!

Monday, March 16, 2009

Searching for Words

This morning during my devotion I meditated on God's greatness. I didn't have words to describe the incredible feelings of my small-ness and the incredible feelings of his big-ness! For those of you who are concerned with grammatical correctness, I do know that these are not really words. Therein lies my problem. I don't have the right words. I just know how I feel.

When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him? Ps. 8:4

I went outside on my deck to tie out the dog, and there was a huge fluffy sideways heart-shaped cloud. Wow! So, instead of rushing inside I felt the prompting to just sit down. I stared at the cloud and just started telling the Lord again how awesome He is. I looked out another direction and there was another smaller, more perfect shaped heart cloud. This one brought me to tears. And now I have counted at least four more.

What a God we serve! He has made us and we are not our own. And He finds time to show us His great love by the work of His fingers.

What is your life? You are a mist that appears for alittle while and then vanishes. James 4:14

Like the clouds, we are just a mist. The clouds dissipate so quickly and James tells us that is what our life consists of. Just a mere mist. And I had to ask God, why He would take the time to create just for me.

The reply came..." because I want to...I love you!!!"

Oh, how he loves you and me! I just don't have enough words...

Friday, March 6, 2009

Look UP!

I have plans this morning to wash windows and prepare for a party. The Lord has other plans for my life. This morning, I feel like a Martha, so concerned about outward appearances. He wants me to be a Mary, and be still and learn from him.

When I was a little girl, I used to sneak into my mom's bedroom and remove her old leather Bible from her night stand. I don't know why, but I didn't want anyone to see me. I would flip through the pages, looking at all of the beautiful pictures. The most amazing picture to me, was the image of Jesus coming in the clouds. I would just stare at it and envision it REALLY happening. At times, I would look up in the clouds, and wonder if it was ever going to happen or if it was just another picture in a storybook.

When I was about nine years old, I had a friend tell me that Jesus was coming back. And that we should all be afraid because it was going to be horrible! No one would know when it was going to happen, but that it would happen suddenly. My glorious picture turned to fear. What I had thought was a beautiful scene had now become something I dreaded. I was afraid of God for many years.

When I trusted Jesus and he became the center of my life, I no longer feared him or his return. The morning after I asked Jesus to come into my life, the sky was the most beautiful blue - a blue I had never seen. The grass was greener and my world "looked" amazingly different. It's as if I had a new set of eyes - literally! I knew that I was loved in a way I had never known! Twenty two years later, and I still stand in awe of his creation. And I am still in awe of his love for me and for...YOU!

I have my cloud picture on the desktop of my laptop. I look at it several times a day. I feel the Lord is pressing another message into my heart concerning the vision he gave me. If you look at the cloud picture again, you will notice a LION. There is a lion beneath the crown and to the right. It is a profile of a lion and it is rising from the clouds. You will see its front legs, head, mane, back and tail. Everytime I look at the picture I see the lion and the crown. This morning, several scriptures came to mind.

Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him... Rev. 1:7

See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. Rev. 5:5

Now there is in store for me the crown of righteiousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day - and not only to me, but also to ALL who have longed for his appearing. 2 Tim. 4:8

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father - to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. Rev. 1:5,6

Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. Rev. 1:17

The world is in a crisis. We hear it everywhere we go whether in a store, at church, on the radio, TV or on the internet. The WORLD is in crisis, not just the United States. People are full of questions...where do we turn? when will it end? who do we trust? when will things get better?

I'm not a Bible scholar or a financial analyst. But, I do know who we can trust and I do know where to turn. I turn my eyes on Jesus. One of the first hymns I learned as a new believer has the words: Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of his glory and grace. I find myself humming it often.

If you are like me, I quickly realize, that this world crisis is TOO big for me. No amount of stressing, talking or waiting is going to change anything. What I have found is that when I am in God's presence, sitting quietly, listening for his voice, looking to him...the problems get much smaller compared to his greatness. He is the God of the universe and of my little world. He has it all under control and as I put my trust in him, the problems of this world and my own little world, grow strangely dim.

Like me, you have probably been warned at some time in your life that Jesus is coming! I'm not afraid of his coming, I am looking for it. It may not be now, it may not be for another thousand years. The bible says, no one knows. But, I'm going to keep looking up!

I encourage you to fix your eyes on him, trust him and keeping looking up! He may have a message just for you! He loves us so much! Be blessed today!