Full of "It"

Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh. (James 3:11-12, NKJV)

I have a theory. We are all buckets. Some people have bucket lists; however, I'm writing more along the lines of, we can only hold...or be full of...any given thing at one time. Some will argue that no one is all good or all bad. We will save that for another post for time sake. 

For example, before Jesus, my bucket was full of bitterness, unforgiveness, and strife. If I didn't have enough strife in my life...I took strife from family and/or friends. I thought I was so noble to always be fighting for a cause...whether that be my cause or someone else's cause. In every conversation, I'd listen intently to the person speaking, then I'd side one way or another and be ready for a fight. I had a lot of "friends" in those days. Mostly because I was surrounded by people who "ran things off in the ditch" then refused to clean up their own mess. At that time, that was ok with me because, after all, I thrived on my current "cause". I was on a fast road straight to hell, living a life of hell, and thought I had everything and everybody all figured out. That's self deceit with a side of self deceit. I wasn't a "bad person", after all, I was most likely fighting for someone or something...based on my opinion of right and wrong. Living like that resulted in being chronically ill with headaches, sleeping problems and infections: upper respiratory, ear, sinus and kidney infections. And all the while, wondering why my life wasn't going well.  *Big Doofuss Alert*

After accepting Jesus, and developing a relationship with Him, it seemed like every time I turned around, I was seeing what a huge doofuss I had been. As I learned to depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. (Psalms 34:14, NLT), my "bucket" began being emptied of bitterness, unforgiveness, and strife. As He taught me to speak His Word and literally use it to change my life, not only did I become well in my mind and emotions but my body also began to thrive. That made room for love, forgiveness, and peace resulting in life in excessive abundance! Praise God, as I yielded (and continue to yield) to His Word, He was (and continues to be) faithful to dump out funk and replace it with life! 

One of my favorite sayings by Joyce Meyer is, "I'm not where I need to be, but thank God I left." I thank God for teaching me to operate according to His law of love so I no longer have to be full of "it". 

Stand Up!

A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you. (Psalm 91:7, NKJV)

Or I could rephrase that to fit this Christmas season. 

Though a thousand at the mall may flip out at your side, though ten thousand at the restaurant/airport/on the highways...though friends &/or family members are flipping out around you, these evils will not touch you.

"Dying" isn't always physical death. We, as born again believers, don't have to let our joy die. We are commanded to pursue peace. (Hebrews 12:14) We have been given the option to choose life. (Deuteronomy 30:19)

Be purposeful in joy. The joy of the LORD is our strength. (Nehemiah 8:10) Abide in joy in the checkout lines, restaurants, red lights...in other words everywhere we go. 

Refuse to use what so many around is doing (no matter what time of year it is) as an excuse to flip out. Is it acceptable to us for our children to "jump off a cliff" just because those around them are?

When does light shine the greatest? When surrounded by darkness. 

We are in this world, but we are not of it...so let your light so shine bringing glory to Him who sent us! (Matthew 5:16)

Stand up, stand out and shine! 

Mahalo Nui Loa!

Thank you all so much for being so patient with me as I took the last month to renew, refresh and replenish! It was an amazing time of spiritual growth and change. He has a good plan for me and He is revealing His perfect plan more every day! (Jeremiah 29:11)

My Father

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13, NLT)

Today is Thanksgiving. All month, my friends and I have been daily posting all we are thankful for on Facebook. Today, I am thankful for all my girls (all 5 of them). Each child is fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14) Each child teaches me different life lessons.

I am blessed by each child individually as each one ministers to my heart in a way only they each can. (Psalm 103:1)

So is my Father!

When my children bicker and verbally attack one another,  my heart is deeply hurt. (James 4:1)

So is my Father's...

I know each child's voice. (John 10:27)

So Does My Father!

When one of my children walk up behind me and wrap their arms around my waist giving me a big bear hug, I know which child it is without looking. I know each individual child's hug. I know each individual child's love. (1 John 4:7)

So Does My Father!

When one of my children are tired, and they lay down with me and put their head on my shoulder, they know they can rest peacefully on me. (Matthew 11:28) I've shown them they are safe with me. (Psalm 91:2)

So has my Father!

When one of my children are hurt, that one voice among many on a playground rises above all other voices when they cry out.  I can hear my child's voice in a crowd of children. (1 John 5:14-15)

So can My Father!

When one of my children operate with a thankful heart, I hear their thankful heart speak through their words, attitude, and their lives. (Psalm 100:4, NKJV)

So Does My Father!

This Thanksgiving Holiday, I pray over each reader right now, let everything we think, say, and do...glory Him who sent us, in the precious name of King Jesus!

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Psalms 103:1

Bless the Lord, O my soul;

And all that is within me, bless His holy name!

James 4:1

Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?

John 10:27

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

1 John 4:7

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

1 John 5:14-15

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

Matthew 11:28

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Psalms 91:2

I will say of the Lord, “ He is my refuge and my fortress;

My God, in Him I will trust.”

Dude...it's dead.

Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14, NKJV)

My husband is a mountain man. He reads mountain man books. He watches mountain man movies. He looks like a mountain man. In his heart, he is a mountain man. Thankfully, he doesn't smell like a mountain man! He is his happiest when he is in the woods. Either preparing for, or gathering food for, his family and friends. 

He hunts for days on end. Being in his stand well before daylight until dark. To further qualify his mountain man status, he prefers temperatures to be in the single digits and he hunts with a "climber". 

For an informative video on climbers, please use this link. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QD_FgVwJBM&sns=em

Yes...he's THAT tough! 

We are thankful to primarily eat wild game over grocery store meat, as is our family and friends. In other words, if you don't agree with hunting, you may want to stop reading now. 

He has been whitetail hunting at the Lake of the Ozarks. A few days ago, he shot a doe. The weather was cold enough to let the doe lay for a while before processing so he stayed in his tree to see if anything else would come through. Not long thereafter, a 7 point buck meandered near where he was hunting. 

The buck was a legal buck but Mike hunts trophy bucks so the 7 point, being fully unaware of Mike's presence, walked under his tree stand and approached the doe. The buck appeared to fail to determine the doe was dead. For almost an hour, the buck went about "steps" to mate with the doe. 

To the buck, the doe looked and smelled like a doe. From Mike's perspective, he knew the doe was dead. 

The LORD spoke to my heart and said, "Life cannot be conceived with that which is dead." 

If God, operating from a higher perspective than you, tells you a relationship is dead...why continue trying to create life with that which is dead?

Then He brought this scripture to my remembrance. 

The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences. (Proverbs 18:21, NLT)

Dr. Larry Ollison (www.faithman.org) teaches a powerful message regarding this scripture. I will paraphrase. "My life and my death are directly linked to my tongue." In other words, my life and my death is not connected to anyone else's head...but mine. 

Not only physical life and death, but all areas of life and death. For  example:

A husband and wife can have a marriage full of life or a marriage reeking of death. 

A person can be physically alive but dead in sickness, disease or be emotionally dead. 

A millionaire can prosper financially but not be well in their soul. 

A parent can have living children who are dead in sin. 

In order to have:

A powerful marriage,

Walk in divine health,

Prosper as our soul prospers,

Train our children in the way they should go...

We cannot attempt to conceive life with that which is dead. So, it is imperative to connect our words with our faith and our actions. It's simple math. And keep that equation in alignment with God's Word. And here is the key, refuse to waver. (James 1:6)

To elaborate:

We cannot confess God's Word concerning our marriage, say we have faith for a godly marriage, then cancel that out by filling our eyes and our hearts with "Mommy Porn"/vampire love triangles, fantasize about every dude on Facebook/Pinterest, flirt with everyone who comes within a 5 mile radius and/or dogging our spouse at every opportunity. 

The same goes for our physical health. Again, it's simple math. 

Caloric intake + exercise (or lack thereof) = body weight. 

The same holds true for our finances. We cannot make daily confessions concerning prosperity but then pass out cash to everyone standing around us with their hand out as if we are card dealers in a Las Vegas Casino! Or have a "hole in our pocket". Helping others is an admirable quality to have; however, we have to insure we are not interfering with God's plan in their lives as well as His plan for our lives. 

We cannot train our children in the way they should go without including the very critical lesson of seed-time-harvest. 

I hear people say:

"Well...God is in control..."

 "Please say a little prayer for me...*sigh*...

"I opened all the bills, put them on a table and said, "Ok God, these belong to you." 

"All I can do at this point...is...pray." *head hanging low*

Those may be religious, cutesy little catch phrases but they are not scripture based and they won't change the law of seed-time-harvest. We must refuse to victimize ourselves, perishing due to lack of knowledge. (Hosea 4:6)

God's Word is Light. 

Negative confession and counterproductive actions are dark. 

What communion does light have with darkness?

The buck could not conceive life with the dead doe.

We cannot conceive life with that which is dead, physically or spiritually. 

What are you conceiving? 

Life Changing!

Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you. (Luke 6:38, NKJV)

Tuesday, I was given the amazing opportunity to volunteer at SpiritFM during their annual fundraiser, Days of Glory.

I started listening to SpiritFM in 2005 when my family initially moved to the Lake of the Ozarks. We had moved to a new town and I had not had time to make new friends. I was home alone all day with an infant and a toddler.

We attended Walk on Water Faith Church and someone mentioned the Christian Radio Station, SpiritFM who advertises they are “Life Changing Radio”. I tuned in and immediately found that to be true.

The transition from Hawaii to Missouri was a very difficult one for me. Some days, without family and friends near, the days at home with two little ones could be very long. Some days, there was a lot of crying going on…some days, that crying was mine!

I was at a turning point in my life. I had just truly began to understand relationship over religion and I had many questions regarding faith. I started playing SpiritFM 24/7. It was this radio station and their staff who helped feed me spiritually during that transition. God mightily used SpiritFM to change my life. During the day and oftentimes during the night while awake with one or both of my little ones, a phrase from a song, or a teaching, or something a SpiritFM DJ would say strongly impacted me. The staff and volunteers at SpiritFM became my friends and family, a source of support and encouragement.

As my children, grew an amazing thing happened. They quoted what they heard on SpiritFM! They repeated the songs and pretended to be SpiritFM disk jockeys!

Once I saw the impact of this radio station on me, my husband and my little girls, we started playing SpiritFM on our boat dock through outside speakers so we could plant good seeds in boaters! Everyone who drove their boat past our house heard SpiritFM, day and night!

We also started playing SpiritFM at our business locations and witnessed amazing changes. One employee in particular, was going through a very difficult time. He had been on antidepressants for years. After listening to SpiritFM for 8-10 hours per day, he started saying things like, “I am blessed and God bless you!” Soon thereafter, he was taken off the antidepressants! He often told me how having a workplace playing SpiritFM for their customers and employees really blessed and changed his life!

After witnessing the positive impact of SpiritFM on my family and those around me, Mike and I decided it was time for us to give back. We made a pledge to financially support SpiritFM. Our initial pledge was $15.00 per month, which at the time, we thought would be a challenge because we had moved a family of four from Hawaii, started a new business and had just built a new house. But, you know what? God was always faithful to provide the amount of the pledge and even more. SpiritFM is a ministry we believe in because we see the fruit in our lives as well as the lives of everyone who listens.

SpiritFM sows into our lives in a powerful way. In return, we sow into SpiritFM who is not just a Christian radio station but also available for teachings, prayer and encouragement. It’s a true partnership!

Even though we have moved away from the Lake area, we continue to listen to and support SpiritFM via their website at www.spiritfm.org.

Please do me a huge favor. Listen to SpiritFM at their website and consider making a pledge to support them. I believe as you give, it will be given unto you good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom!

Tsunami, 10/12

Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. (Mark 4:39, NLT)

October 27, 2012 was a very busy day for us. We woke up early, made the 45 minute drive to Kohala and spent the day at the swim meet finals. Once finals were over, we returned home to do laundry and pack. We were leaving for our trip to the mainland the next day. We were ahead  of schedule and things are going so well when all of the sudden...I heard the Tsunami siren. 

Hoping it wasn't...I asked Mike' "Is that the tsunami siren?" 

Knowing it was, He said, "I think it may be." 

I got angry, personally, I hate demonic activity. Tsunamis are not an "act of God".

(James 1:17, John 10:10) 

And I don't really like the sound of the tsunami sirens! I think they should be changed from that blasting, screaming sound to a nice, calm, granny voice...saying something like, "Aloha, this is your friendly tsunami Tutu siren, sweetly advising you to calmly prepare to evacuate." See? Isn't that much nicer? Besides that, did I mention, we were leaving for vacation the next day? And I refused to be robbed of my vacation! 

I digress, please forgive me. 

Mike began gathering information as I began to speak, "Peace, be still !" to myself. As one can ascertain, I needed it!

I started to get some things together, preparing to evacuate.  I could feel myself getting tense. I was so tired from our long day and had so much to do, laundry/pack for our trip/clean the house...plus, we were leaving for vacation the next day...I didn't have time for, nor was I in the mood for, an evacuation! My list of things to do did not include stopping what I was doing to organize an evac! Mike walked up to me and said, "I know you don't like chaos but we are going to work all this out." Then he gave me a good plan. He is so akamai! 

Mikea, my nine year old, came and said, "Momma, I know God did not give me a spirit of fear but I'm feeling a little fearful right now." I was able to console her by explaining we were all together,  we were safe, we had a plan and by speaking, "Peace, be still!"

Mike and I decided to walk the dog and reevaluate the evacuation order in 1/2 hour. While we were walking, we continued to speak to the storm and say, "Peace, be still!"

On our walk, we were approached by three different families in our neighborhood who were vacationing and not familiar with our area. We were able to tell them where the evacuation route was, where to wait, when they would most likely be allowed to return and calm them by speaking, "Peace, be still."

We finished our walk, went back home, re-evaluated and being led by the Spirit, decided not to evacuate while still speaking, "Peace, be still!"

The Pacific Tsunami Center projected the first wave in Hilo to reach seven feet and increase from there. Typically, it is the third wave that is the highest as the wave gains momentum. However, when the first wave hit Hilo, it measured at eight inches. A direct result of  faith filled believers standing in agreement speaking, "Peace, be still."

 Luke 10:19

John 14:12

Hebrews 4:12

Your Race is Set!

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, (Hebrews 12:1 NKJV)

I read this scripture today and I saw something I've never seen before. 

"the race that is SET BEFORE us" Does this mean, we aren't just haphazardly bouncing from place to place but we have a race that He has set before us? 

What happens "in the natural" when a race is "set"? The Ironman was just completed on the Big Island. The Ironman is one big race! I've never been involved in setting a race so I am unsure of what all goes on behind the scenes prior to race day. I do know, for the Ironman,  there are parades, community events, highway and street closures, road blocks manned by police (do not ask me how I know that *grin*), store and bank closures, flights, hotels/resorts are booked, and there are no rental cars available. Triathletes fly in from all over the world to compete with local triathletes. There are Ironman Tshirts and memorabilia available for purchase everywhere we look. 

To further elaborate:

An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) consisting of a 2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) bicycle ride and a marathon 26.2-mile (42.2 km) run, raced in that order and without a break. Most Ironman events have a strict time limit of 17 hours to complete the race, where the Ironman race starts at 7:00 AM, the mandatory swim cut off for the 2.4-mile (3.9 km) swim is 2 hours 20 minutes, the bike cut off time is 5:30 PM, and all finishers must complete their marathon by midnight. The name Ironman Triathlon refers to both the original Ironman triathlon and the annual Ironman World Championship. Also called Ironman Hawaii, the world championships of the event, held annually in Hawaii since 1978 (with an additional race in 1982), are now preceded by a series of qualifying events. Ironman Triathlon became known for its grueling length, harsh race conditions, and television coverage.

Thank you Wikipedia!

So, experiencing the sights and sounds of Ironman and witnessing the preparations I COULD actually see made me think of "the race that is set before us".  The race that is set before us is no small event. 

• He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing! (Ephesians 1:3 NKJV)
• He has commanded His angels to keep charge over us in all our ways! (Psalm 91:11, NIV)
• His race is perfect! (Jeremiah 29:11)
• We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses! (Hebrews 12:1)

He has set the race for you!