Tag: Hope
We are Dust
Anoint My Head With Oil
I found this on my facebook feed and it makes perfect sense.
Anoint my head with oil
“Sheep can get their head caught in briers and die trying to get untangled. There are horrid little flies that like to torment sheep by laying eggs in their nostrils which turn into worms and drive the sheep to beat their head against a rock, sometimes to death. Their ears and eyes are also susceptible to tormenting insects. So the shepherd anoints their whole head with oil. Then there is peace. That oil forms a barrier of protection against the evil that tries to destroy the sheep. Do you have times of mental torment? Do the worrisome thoughts invade your mind over and over? Do you beat your head against a wall trying to stop them? Have you ever asked God to anoint your head with oil? He has an endless supply! His oil protects and makes it possible for you to fix your heart, mind, and eyes on Him today and always! There is peace in the valley! May our good good Father anoint your head with oil today so that your cup overflows with blessings! God is good and He is faithful!!”
Who Has Your Heart
Through a Glass Darkly
He will Make Our Path Straight
Self Love
Many times when we here the phrase, “Self-Love”, we cross our eyes with self-scorn. We haven’t yet learned that it is more than okay to not only like who we are but to love who we are as well. That includes flaws and all. It took me many years to understand that it was okay to love myself. I finally understood that before I could love or even like someone else, I first had to love me and accept me.
That was a very hard lesson to learn. When I learned it was okay to love myself, I also learned I was worthy, I had value and I had something to offer others. When I took the blinders from my eyes and understood that even as flawed as I am, I can offer those things to others it was as if a burden had been lifted from my shoulders. I was no longer my own worst critic.
I didn’t have to worry about how others felt about me. Because it didn’t matter. I belonged to my creator and he gave me worth. He believed enough in me that he sent the thing he loved most to give me life. He sent his son and watched him die for me.
When we can accept our self-love and understand that we all have a purpose, we all have value and we all have worth great things happen in our lives. People begin to respond to us. We attract people who respect our energy, our value and our worth. They want to know how to be like that.
When we can embrace our self-love, we can embrace others who are not yet aware that it is okay for them to have self-love. We get teach them by our example that they are worthy, they have value and they are okay where they are in life. It gives them the ability to understand they can grow.
We become like a magnet to folks wanting to know our secret. People want to be around us maybe hoping that whatever special thing we have will rub off on them.
Learning Self-Love is a daily process, it is not something we embrace overnight. And yes, we even find that we fall back into the old habit of not feeling good enough. When we do that, we must remember, our creator believed we were worthy.
As you look in your mirror each day while you are getting ready for your day, find something you like about yourself, remind yourself about that positive thing. Then tell yourself that you not only like you, but you love you. Then go out and watch the blessings you receive and give. We are the mirror that others see themselves in. Make that mirror shine. 
Faith Is Not a Spare Tire it is a Choice
I read a saying that really hit me between the eyes. It went something like this. “Faith isn’t a spare tire, it’s an everyday choice.”
It took me a moment to absorb that thought. I had to ask myself how I looked at my faith in the past. Did I use it as a spare tire, to change when things began to go smooth once again in my life and pull it back out when the waters became troubled?
I have to answer that question as yes, I did. I look back at the things that happened in my life early on and wonder how in the world I have arrived at the place in my life where my faith is no longer a spare tire. It is a choice. That choice is without my faith I would not be able to function. I would be angry not only at life, but God and everyone else around me. The things that have happened in my last the past seven years, could have sent me into the abyss, running on that spare tire.
However, by the grace of God, I learned that my faith was a choice and my choice was to wrap that faith around me like a coat. To know that God knows the big picture, that all things work
together for those who love the Lord and called according to his purpose.
When we look at how a spare tire is supposed to work, we understand that it is only a small tire and will only run for about fifty miles before it blows. When our faith is like that spare tire it too will only work for a short distance before it blows up in our face. But, if we make our faith a choice, it will sustain us even at our lowest ebb. It will never fail us, and it will give us peace that passes all understanding.
The more I take this journey of life the more I appreciate my spiritual ancestors who made the choice of faith, even though they were human and sinned many times over, their faith never wavered. The more I understand that faith was not a spare tire, it was a choice, it was the thing that drove them to be the best they could be – human failings and all.
As you go through your journey, make faith your choice, not your spare tire. Know that God has the plan, the answers and holds us in his hand.
How We Walk With the Broken Speaker Louder Than How We Sit with the Great
This morning as I was scrolling through my Facebook page, I saw something made me stop in my scrolling and not only read it but soak it in. “How we sit with the broken speaks louder than how we sit with the great.”
That one sentence speaks volumes. It puts in perspective how Christ walked on this earth. He sat with the broken, he walked with them and he healed them. When asked why he did this, he said that the broken was the reason he came to earth.
The great don’t feel they need healing. They think they have all the answers to the questions already. They understand all, know all and they need nothing. Sadly, this is not true. The broken know they are broken, they are looking for healing. They are looking for a better way. They are so broken the only way they have is up.
As children of God, should we not follow that example? Sure, our human nature wants us to be right up there with the great. They can offer us something. The broken can offer us nothing. We need to reverse that way of thinking. The broken can offer us something. They offer us the mindset of Christ. They offer us the ability to be humble, giving, and kind.
The great on the other hand, many times have to idea how to achieve the above much less put them to use in their lives. Would you rather sit with the Great and feed the broken the crumbs that drop from your table as you soak in every word of the great? Or would you rather walk with the broken to find more than crumbs and learn why and how they became broken then show them a greater way of life?
Would you rather sit with the great and never be challenged or would you walk with the broken and find way to help them on a different path.? Sitting with the great is indeed comfortable, however walking with the broken is challenging and rewarding. It teaches us as we help them.
When we are no longer sojourners on this earth, we will not be known for how many greats we sat with, in fact they probably won’t even show up at our service because they will be too busy. We served our usefulness and when we are gone, we will be replaced. The broken on the other hand will be there to pay their respects and honor our lives. They will be the legacy that lives on to shine as a light for others to follow.
Again, I make this statement, “How We Walk with the Broken, Speaks Louder than How We Sit with the Great.”
Think about how you walk with the Broken. Is it healing and helpful or is it condemning and destructive? Would you rather play it safe and Sit with the Great?
Planting A Seed
In nature a seed is planted so that something might grow. Notice I said might. Just because the seed is planted does not mean that thing will grow. There could be a myriad of reasons. The seed was to young to old, diseased, infertile, etc. However, the one who plants that seed will not know that until the seed is in the ground.
If the farmer was to afraid to plant his seeds in the springtime there would be no food to harvest. If we are too afraid to plant our spiritual seeds there will be no harvest. To add to that there will be spiritual starvation for lack of food.
In Galatians 6 : 9 we are told:
Galatians 6:9 English Standard Version (ESV)
9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
We are promised that in due season we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
In 2 Corinthians we are told ;
2 Corinthians 9:6 ESV
The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
Let us not grow weary of sowing the seeds, for even though not all of them will sprout, some will, and those will be the ones we tenderly care for so that the harvest will be rich.
Be willing to plant a seed, be willing to watch it wither, be willing to watch it grow. That is our mission. Be willing to produce a harvest.
The Good News A Journey Through the Bible 