a calling in the wind...

Jennifer knew all about the Lord..she knew He had created so many things and that with the Lord, all things were possible! However, Jennifer had never understood why God was there or what might happen if he were not, or even why we truly worshipped God. In fact, in Nazarene churches everywhere as the pastor would say, "God is Good!", and the congregation would repeat, "All the time", Jennifer didn't really know why she was repeating that phrase! Simply put, she accepted on the testimony of others that God was good all the time! Jennifer yearned to dream that crazy wonderful things would happen in her life. After all, life was so exciting and full of wonderful things just waiting to be experienced.  For instance, moving from Southern California to Seattle could mean wonderful new experiences! Jennifer gazed up to the lamppost outside the bay window of her house just before bed. Not only was the wind playing with the evergreen trees that decorated the cul-de-sac in Bothell, Washington, but the weather had turned bitterly cold! "Oh Lord", thought Jennifer.."Will it snow?" Then Jennifer dared to pray a simple prayer to the Creator of all things,
"Lord? Jennifer asked with all the hope a 9 yr. old could put into words, "Would you make it snow right now?" Jennifer heard her mom calling her to come up the stairs to brush her teeth and jump into bed! Just as any 9 yr. old, Jennifer reluctantly began to crawl down off the couch when she saw a tiny little flurry of snow begin to swirl down under the lamppost. Jennifer's gaze held the little flurry tightly as she watched it slowly dance on the edges of the wind and hit the frozen cement! "Mom!" Jennifer screamed with sheer delight, "It's snowing!"  "Thank you, Lord", Jennifer whispered to the God she really didn't know. Quickly, she ran up-stairs at lightening speed to jump under the covers and dream of what the next day might bring! Under the covers that night, Jennifer snuggled to keep warm! Every time she thought about her little miracle, she could hardly keep in the giggles of joy that warmed her from the inside.  In fact, just the slightest wind reminded her of God's faithfulness; windy weather reminded her of the wind that night when God made it snow! Perhaps the wind reminded that little girl that God was near! Wind can be scary and wind can bring promises, but God is not in the wind...!! He comes to us all in a still small voice, promising not to fulfill our human desires, but to bring us life everlasting in Him, the only everlasting Light!  When I was a child, I thought like a child...Most of us are all too familiar with that Scripture in 1 Corinthians 13! Too few of us are not familiar with the fact that we may be adults, while still looking at life as children..darkened in many ways by the futility of our thoughts.  Isaiah reminds us all so clearly that our thoughts are not His thoughts and our ways are not His ways...In light of that truth, let's keep God's words front and center...without His word, we are lost in the darkness! Not unlike a little 9 yr. old child named Jennifer, who was about to learn more about the Savior and how he calls His children! In the spring of the same year, Jennifer's mom gave her a very special Bible and told her to start reading a devotional! Well, one of the first devotions was referencing the book of Romans! Finally, Jennifer was about to learn the answers to many questions that she had wanted answered! The bible grabbed her young mind right away and offered so much about God and why He came to save, why He needed to come, and how much we needed Him to come! The whole of the story seemed to be right in these pages! An insatiable desire to learn more about God filled Jennifer and a new favorite activity consumed her heart like fire: reading God's word! Friends, without God's word, we will never know which way is right..His word is the Light to our darkness and the answer to our confusion, the hope to our despair and the infinite to our finite!  The Word was with God and the Word was God and the Word was with God in the beginning!! 


A word from the book of Jude,

A Call to Persevere

 ¹⁷ But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. ¹⁸ They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” ¹⁹ These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

 ²⁰ But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

 ²² Be merciful to those who doubt; ²³ save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.^[f]

Doxology

 ²⁴ To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— ²⁵ to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.


Why stumble?? Why be deceived?? Why fall?? Why walk alone at all??? He's Love and He waits to hold you in that Love!! When was the last time you were caught waiting for something good to happen...When was the last time you sought a miracle...something special that God might do for you??? Don't do it!! It's never what God can do for you..it's about what He did do on that Cross on Calvary..It's who He is that's calling you tonight..It's not the snow..its the one who created it in the first place...His name is Jesus and He saves you from your sin and His Spirit guides you from within...More on His call and relationship with a Good God tomorrow...Happy New Year...and Good Night...it's not the miracle...it's the Miracle Maker...

Running from the visible storms never calms the storm within the soul!

We are going to camp for a while in the first few verses of Jonah. After all, the Bible is so action packed with truth in every verse that it's good to really let it soak in to the soul! So, what do we know?? Jonah is called by God to go to a very great city! Incidentally, do any of you realize where modern day Nineveh is located?? It's in the Kurdish territory of Northern Iraq! O.k. ! Right there...do we grasp the nature of this place even today?? Oh Goody...where do I sign up?? Before we start to judge Jonah, perhaps we should look within to see how willing we are to go where ever He leads us!    Sometimes we are less likely to get out of our boat when the storms are raging on the horizon. Sometimes we'd rather get in a boat that is heading the other way if God's way means Nineveh, being single, having no children or you fill in the blank.  Perhaps we need to tell a little more of one little girl's story to understand how Nineveh didn't receive a standing ovation!  Remember the surface of the water? Remember the serenity?? Friends, there once was a little girl who thought her world was serene and every best dream she dreamed was possible! The problem with the possible part is that we can make certain dreams come true! Aye, there is the rub! Let me impart a common phrase of wisdom, "just because we can, does not mean we should!" Do we realize how off base we are in our desires sometimes? Do we understand that the Lord is Good..and all the time? Jeremiah 17:9 clearly declares, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" The only time we should reach for the impossible or the possible dreams is when they are God's dreams.  Only when God's dreams meet our dreams and teach our dreams proper direction should we desire them to come true in our lives. Of course, we must first make Him Lord without any rivals! We must first choose Him as the only source of wisdom and strength and power! Have you dethroned yourself today? Will you decide that His ways are better than your ways? Tonight I will be telling you more of my story...a story of a little girl who knew all about God, but did not truly know How truly Good God was all the time! Do you? Do you know how Good His plans are for you?? Do you know He is a loving God when the waves threaten you with sorrows and calamities??  We must always start with the understanding that we are not our own!! Two verses for you today to set the stage for tonight's story, Jeremiah 10:23 "I know, O Lord, that a man's life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps." As well, I would like to leave you with 1 Corinthians, 6:19-20 "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price.  Therefore honor God with your body."  One of these verses refers to humanity knowing that God is in charge.  While the other echoes the need for God's sovereignty, the verse is very specific to how we behave physically. The point that both verses share is the fact that God must be completely in charge. Therefore, every area of our mind, soul and body must know the fullness of His Sovereignty or surrender will not be sincere for any of us!!  When was the last time you wanted to surrender but didn't quite make it? When was the last time you questioned if God really knew what He was doing?  Hope to hear from you...your sister in Christ, Jennifer

The Storm, the wind and the waves

The waves were calm and the sea was like glass! A little girl...age 9 gazes in to see her reflection. Beneath the surface of the water, so much was going on that only time would tell and only God could reveal! Yet, for now, there was a little 9 yr. old named Jennifer Eileen Little and all was just as it should be. Jennifer knew that God was good and that she was loved! As for the sea, all was serene; the surface of the waters were still and reflecting God's light.  Jonah, a prophet of God rests quietly, remembering that God is good and His Love endures forever.  So too, the waters are calm and the sea is like glass, reflecting the light of the Lord! No one would guess the waves would come or that the wind might roar! Not ever could the storm come to such a perfect scene, a scene that was calm, serene and peaceful! Though the sea be calm and the waters still around us, we must always remember that things are not always as they seem! In other parts of the world, the world we do not know, there is great darkness! In the beginning...God created the heavens and the earth and the Spirit of the Lord hovered over the waters...!! God said, "Let there be light" and then there was light! God created humans in the image of the trinity...for relationship with Him; perfect love was ours to reflect and to share! Moreover, the waters were calm and the wind was still and the sea was like perfect glass. Then, in a single instant, sin entered the world and shattered the stillness! Darkness! Darkness filled the sky and the sea and death threatened the beauty of God's plan! Even though the Bible tells us the truth about the fall and that we could not see our reflection as before, we forget! When things seem right, we forget how wrong things are, how dark things are, and how dangerous it is too let sin reign anywhere! Winds are blowing around the world and seas are raging higher and higher! Millions in the world are dying due to the separation they have between themselves and God! Even though we are commissioned to do something, we strangely hesitate! Anytime we serve the Lord and it becomes uncomfortable, painful or confusing, we waiver a bit as the waves begin to look ominous! Perhaps the prophet Jonah wanted to serve God for he loved God, but Nineveh?? Lord, Jonah must have thought, I wont just get wet going down that road! Lord, surely I'll drown!! No, never! " The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of amittai: 'Go to the great city of Ninevah and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.' but Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish." Jonah 1: 1-3 NIV  I'll simply go somewhere else! Well, isn't that what many of us say to God??  Nails a little too painful for you when the Lord calls you??? Consider friends the nails...the road...the cross!! The truth is that Jesus walked the Via Dolorosa for us all..the way of suffering..the weight of glory for all to be revealed...What nails intimidated you lately?? When was the last time taking up your cross was too daunting?? Your verse for the day..."Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far out weighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18  Please respond if the Lord leads you to do so!! Tomorrow..we will continue with the Storm...the wind and the waves...Grab your life preserver and read tomorrow's post.

The only way Home is through the Light!!

Hello friends and Family in Christ...My name is Jennifer and I would love to tell all of you a story! At first I thought that the story was someone else's, or perhaps the story was simply for someone else! My story, God's story..the Word of the Lord is for all of us and actually every bit of it can be very personal for each of us as we allow His word to sear itself upon our souls. Please know that this information is difficult for me to share, but it's all the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. So we begin...! Tonight I'll post the first chapter of a wild, wet, dark, scary, adventurous, crazy whale of a tale of how God brought me home..!! Always friends, the only way to the Father is through the Light of His Son, Jesus Christ...To you Jesus...for shining your light and bringing me into your truth and into full surrender to your plan!!