Could it really be that simple?

TURN & SEE....
                                                   Photo by:  Jiuck  

Come out from behind the foggy haze, the veil of uncertainty. Life can be a clear and precise experience.  Do you want to see a clear view of real life?

And the Lord said to Moses, Make a fiery serpent [of bronze] and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.  

And Moses made a serpent of bronze and put it on a pole, and if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked to the serpent of bronze attentively, expectantly, with a steady and absorbing gaze], he lives. Numbers 21:8-9 AMP

I am fascinated that the Old Testament (of the Bible) is a foreshadow of the New Testament.  I sure didn't get this at the beginning of my journey.  It's a shadow of what was to come.  

We see it plainly in the story of the fiery serpent that needed to be put on a pole for healing.  Do you want to look on LIFE?  Every day we are given choices.  How wonderful is that!  We get to choose what way we will go in our lives.  The choice is yours to turn and look!  See and consider your choices.  

And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life.

For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him.  John 3:14-17 NLT

To truly live is to RECEIVE His life.  Life is found in Jesus Christ, the son of God who died on the cross, the perfect sacrifice, to take away our sins. Today, will you look to Jesus and turn (make the choice to go His way) from your selfish ways (repent), and receive the new life in Him.  

Turn and see, look and live.  It is the life we were always intended for!

In search of confidence!

Allow me a moment to brag on Emily, who makes my every visit to her salon a relaxing yet fun and don't-want-it-to-end experience.

During my appointment last week, I asked Emily if she was ever nervous about cutting someone's hair.  She gave me an emphatic no and said she is completely confident in cutting hair.   She told me her confidence comes right behind her salon chair.   

I wanted to know more, so I asked!  She told me that after a bad relationship and trying to rebuild her life, she read an article that challenged her to think of where she felt most confident.  She called it, "a place where nobody could break my smile!"  

Emily is exact in knowing her confidence is found right behind the chair, as well as her time spent with her little girl, Ellee.  She further told me that standing behind her chair, she could talk to anyone as plain as day, tell them anything on her mind & hear what was on their mind too - not thinking twice about the conversation.  No shuddering and no second guessing she said!

God has given each of you a gift.  Use it to help each other. This will show God’s loving-favor. 1 Peter 4:10 NLV

It thrills me to meet someone who knows that place…the place of confidence.  I understand it's their gift from God! I then began to laugh as I pictured Emily carrying around her chair outside of the salon and people asking her, 'Why are you carrying around a chair?"  She would simply say, "Sit down and let's talk!" ha ha

Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ.  

1 Peter 4:11 NLV

Do you recognize a confidence inside of you?  A confidence to be just who God made you to be.  The living gift you can give to others....it comes easy, you love to give your attention to it and where you feel most fulfilled.  It's something you give to others, and in turn, fills you.

Ultimately, true confidence is found in a relationship with the One who knows you best - Jesus!  He died on the cross to pay the penalty of the sin of mankind.  If you want to know Him today, choose to turn from your self-will of doing your life your way, and ask Him to take control and direct your life.

It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.  

Psalm 118:8 NKJV

Chasing the carrot

What does carrot dangling mean?  "It's a false bait to take advantage of you.  A carrot dangler is someone who promises something to help you out, to give you something, to introduce you to someone…and never comes through.  When you try to collect on the promise, there is always some reason why they can't give it to you right then."

- unknown

Have you ever chased a carrot, only to be let down?  

Sure, there are many outward things we can pursue and obtain in this life.  I wanted to include love & joy in the obtaining, but realized that love & joy can only be known fully through a missing link.  This link makes it pure and complete. 

No carrot dangling here!  No state of uncertainty with this promise, but a sure thing.  Here is a promise of love & joy perfected.

If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love…these things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.  John 15:10-11

This is not a fleeting love or joy but one that is a continual discovery.  A love & joy that can be known through the one who IS love & joy in totality.  

The link to this promise is found through Jesus who paid the ultimate price of death on the cross, to pay the penalty for the sin of humanity.  

If you do not know Him yet, repent (choose to turn from your sin) and ask Him to come into your heart and be your everything.  To lose your life is to gain it!  The promise of His joy & peace is for those who believe in Him. 

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God... John 17:3 

Don't be like them!

Wisdom?  

Mom has given me a few one-liners of wisdom that have stuck with me & helped in many circumstances of life. Hope it will be helpful to you too :)

Some years ago while I was in bible school, I was sharing an apartment with a friend.  I wanted to show her my gratitude by words and my actions, always looking for the opportunity to help her in whatever she needed. 

This particular day, I was stuck at the mall and called my friend for a simple ride from the mall to our home.  Her behavior proved to be quite odd as she rudely rejected me for thinking I would ask such a thing of her.  Stunned by her attitude, I chose not to retaliate.

I eventually made it home and immediately called my Mom because I wanted to express my hurt from what seemed like harsh words spoken to the innocent (me!).  It was as though my mother did not even hear my complaint and said to me, "Don't YOU be like them."  Imagine! "Don't YOU be like them" is what I got.  She didn't try to make me feel better, but instead was telling me that I was going to have to choose the...well you know, the 'high road' (the hard road).  YES! The hard road, which is difficult but leads to LIFE.

Just recently, while reading a scrippy, I found the very words she spoke to me and did a little inside dance over it, knowing it to be true!

Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.  Matt. 6:8 NIV

If He is telling us to not be like 'them', then 'who' is He telling us to be like?  Imitators of HIM!

Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do.  Ephesians 5:1 NLT

For those who have decided to follow Jesus, we are to be imitators of Him and not those who choose to follow their own ways of decisions.  They only have the dim light of their nature to guide them.  It would be shameful for us to do as they do when we have a divine revelation for direction from above.

I can't get no satisfaction

Surely you have heard the song by Mick Jagger which conveys his feelings of dissatisfaction through the words in his song.

I can't get no satisfaction

I can't get no satisfaction

Cause I try and I try and I try 

and I can't get no, I can't get no

When I'm drivin' in my car

And that man comes on the radio

He's tellin' me more and more a

bout some useless information

Supposed to fire my imagination

I can't get no, oh no no no

Hey hey hey, that's what I say

We have so many things to desire in this world! Yet, with all the 'getting' we are still not satisfied.  What is the missing ingredient to fill us continually with the happiness of life we crave?

The Word suggests that we can decide on true life fulfillment.

Why spend money on what is not food? Why work for what does not satisfy you?

 Listen carefully to Me. Then you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the richest food there is.Listen and come to Me. Pay attention to Me.  Then you will 

live. 

I will make a covenant with you that will last forever. I will give you My faithful love.
Isaiah 55:2-3 NIRV

On what terms is happiness offered to us?  On the basis of making the choice to not only listen to, but also in choosing to come to Him as your answer. We cannot find satisfaction anywhere but in knowing Him.  It does not matter what substitute you may search for to fill the longing, after it is attained, there is an emptiness that follows.
  
"All the wealth and pleasure in the world will not yield solid comfort and content to the should.  They do not satisfy even the appetites of the body; for all is vanity and vexation.  Let the disappointments we meet with the world, help to drive us to Christ, and to seek for satisfaction in  Him only." Matthew Henry

Will you make the choice today to listen and come to Him so you will know true satisfaction?

Prisoner?

My brother John is behind bars.  Is he a prisoner?  

Is it possible that there are two types of prisons?  One behind bars and one without bars?

Though not confined behind the bars of a correctional institute, many may find themselves in a prison in their life...a prison of selfishness, laziness, alcohol, drugs, etc.  I believe many are in internal prisons, barred up in the thoughts of their minds, unable to escape.  And though from the outside, it may seem that life if fine...they suffer in an inward turmoil.  Is this prison not sometimes more confining than the the state of a prison with bars, security & fences?    

There is a way of escape to true freedom that surpasses anything that man could possibly strum up.  There is a freedom from self that is so freeing like a weight that has been lifted off the shoulders! 

This freedom can only be found by accepting the One who gave His life for each one of us that we could find and know eternal life through Him, Jesus.
And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.  Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.  John 8:32, 36 NKJV

Please hear my heart, as I speak from one who knows a family member behind bars, as well as myself who was once a prisoner to darkness.  I understand and know that true freedom can be found in Christ. 

Here is part of a letter I received from my brother John today.  John told me that Jesus is his best friend, who truly understands him (as of April 2013).  I feel his experience will reveal that, though he is still behind bars, he is a free man.

You know, before I came to the Lord, I thought I knew everything there was to know, and had all the answers.  Well, the Lord proved me wrong and I am so glad for that because the Lord teaches me something new every day.  And what's so good about it is He teaches me things about myself whether they are good or bad.  That's what I like about the Lord is He doesn't hold anything back because He wants us to learn everything we can about Him. 

Do you want to know this freedom - the freedom to be and know the real you?  You can!  It is found in a relationship with the One who created you. Accept that He paid the price on the cross for your sins, and allow Him to come into your heart and set you free from the prison cell!  It is said in scripture about Jesus...

The Lord has anointed me to tell the good news to poor people.  He has sent me to comfort those whose hearts have been broken.  He has sent me to announce freedom for those who have been captured.  He wants me to set prisoners free from their dark prisons.  Isaiah 61:1 NIRV

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the letter ended...

…home is wherever you are.  

This was the end of a beautiful love letter from my husband to me.  I wondered...did he literally mean home was any place 'I' was, and not a physical home?  

Over the years, I have come to better understand that home is where your heart is (given to).   

What does home mean to you?  Is it a place or a person?  People long to be at home; your home is whatever place you long to be.  Home is a place of rest, security….of love.  

While reading the scrippys (His Word), I began to see that Jesus wants to make His home with us, in our hearts.  He wants us to know His friendship and love so that no matter where we are, we will be at home! This takes place through our covenant (like a marriage) with Him.   

Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey My teaching.  My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them."  John 14:23 NIV

Do you want to know Him?  Open the door of your heart.  He is one open door away :)

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. Revelation 3:20 NIV

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