Simple Thoughts

 I have a confession. Yesterday evening, I had a bad attitude. Call it hormones. Call it sleep deprivation. Call it whatever you want. I am sure I could have come up with tons of excuses, and I’m sure I used all of them in defense of my complaining. I spent the whole evening feeling sorry for myself. Finally around 3:30 am, I was up for a feeding, and it was almost like I could hear the Lord asking me a question.   “Are you done?” It caught me off guard. Then I felt like He reminded me how many hours I had been complaining.   Then I heard the phrase, “Count it all joy.” Jam 1:2-3 - My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. It hit me then how much I had been complaining the entire evening. I thought of Job and the intense amount of things that he went through. I thought of the many excuses he could have used and did, and yet, God said “Prepare yourself like a man and answer me.” Comp...

My husband gave a fantastic devotion last night at family dinner.   He really should start a blog.   He has such awesome insight that the Holy Spirit reveals to him. He spoke on Job and how God knows our heart and draws out the deep things – the things that we don’t even think are there that only come out in trauma or crisis. God has a way of pulling things out of us to reveal our hearts and to change us.   When he spoke this, it reminded me of a situation we had yesterday with my 5-day old son. My husband and I were taking him to the doctor yesterday for a check-up, and apparently, the little guy hates the car seat, and being driven around. While he was screaming at the top of his lungs, I told him, “Samuel! There is purpose in the torture! I promise! We are your parents! We aren’t going to torture you for no reason.   There is always going to be purpose behind the torture!” While my husband spoke, I thought of that situation, and could just picture myself someti...

I was discussing martyrdom and suffering with my husband the other day, then the conversation shifted to Good Friday. And a thought occurred to me. Why is it that in the American church, we come together on Good Friday, and we discuss the sufferings of Christ – we may shed a few tears thinking of what He did for us, and may express our thankfulness – but we totally miss what Jesus is looking back at us and saying… “Yes, I did that for you. But I want the same from you!” We completely overlook suffering – the fact that we are called to share in the “fellowship of His suffering” (Phil. 3:10). He told us to take up our cross and follow Him (Luke 9:23). He told us to go to the nations and make disciples. He didn’t say, “Go to the safe nations to make disciples.” As Americans, we have been thankful for our “safe” Christianity. But here’s a question… if Christianity is safe, convenient, and lacks persecution & suffering, are we really living like Christ has asked us to? Are we b...

I was reading Daniel 7 this morning. While reading about the end time saints, the antichrist’s prevailing against them for a time, and the ultimate victory of the Lord’s judgment in favor of the saints, the Great Teacher made a connection for me. The Holy Spirit whispered to my heart, “Mordecai.” Suddenly the parallels began rushing into my mind. Mordecai, Queen Esther’s uncle, was influential in the saving of his people. Check this out… Mordecai, which means “Warrior”, was hated by Haman, which means “Magnificent, Illustrious”, because Mordecai would not bow to Haman. The end time warrior saints will be hated by the Antichrist, who will appear magnificent to the rest of the world, because they will refuse to bow to his idol and to his kingdom established on the earth. Haman made war on the Jews because of Mordecai. He commissioned the King to write a law that would allow for the annihilation of the Jews and for the plundering of their possessions on a certain day. The Antich...

2Ti 1:7 - For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. I read this verse today. And thought of child birth. After all, I am 30 weeks pregnant. Fear is not of God. But power, love and a sound mind is of the Lord. It's almost like thinking about the pain of prophesied crisis, or future end times tribulation, or martyrdom. Expected pain. I went to get my blood drawn today. I HATE getting my blood drawn. I think because you are sitting there waiting on the pain to come, expecting the pain and then bam! They stick you with a needle to draw blood, and you look away and bear it, gritting your teeth until you are done and have given enough blood. Expected pain. I don't like pain. I guess I don't know anyone who does. But it's the expected pain... or more so, the expectation itself of that pain that seems painful. I suppose when it boils down to it - it is truly a fear of the pain to come. But God has not given us a spirit ...

It’s that time of year again. The time of year when azaleas bloom and Japanese magnolia trees bloom, and everything comes to life again. The high temperature for the day is 70-something degrees, and it feels like the perfect springtime day. It’s that time… that time… except for the fact that this is the end of January???? Don’t get me wrong. I’m loving the weather. But it would feel more appropriate if it were March or April – not January. Out of season. Have you ever felt out of season? There are times that God will take certain people and call them to be forerunners, and they will appear out of season. They may even feel out of season. They may be doing things and speaking things that just don’t seem like what everyone else is saying or doing – or may not seem like what is typical of the time. But let me go back to our weather comparison for a minute. It’s January. But suddenly, instead of waiting for spring, I am now craving spring. I am longing for that amazing weather. I ...

I watch so many people daily. They are chasing dreams… chasing things that will not fulfill them… that will not leave them satisfied. They are “running after broken cisterns.” I just want to scream it from the rooftops… “There is something more!!! There is a love that will satisfy the longing in your heart! God has a dream in His heart for you to fulfill that will complete every desire of your heart! He has called you to greatness! He will take your emptiness and your ashes, and He will give you beauty and fulfillment! No applause of men, no sensual gratification, no amount of wealth will ever fulfill your heart. Never. It will never satisfy. BUT GOD. He knows you more intimately than anyone. He is the very one who put desires and dreams inside of you. HE is the one who knows how to fulfill these desires. And He will! He will! He doesn’t just tease us into following Him and then not deliver! He gives such fulfillment and grace in the midst of even our pain and growing. TRUST HIM!...