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| Revelation 7:17 |
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the LORD, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts
Two hundred posts ago I wrote the following words "He desires to heal and set you free that you can with your words - tell others, be thankful and celebrate and share what has been done for you. He desires the fruit of your lips. What comes out of your mouth is an offering of thankfulness to Him for doing what you could not ever do yourself. He waits patiently for us to figure out that we are powerless to fix our selves. He waits for us to come." For two hundred posts I have been using my words to tell others, to be thankful, to celebrate and to share what the Lord has done for me. I am amazed that every day I come up with something to write. I am amazed every time someone tells me they liked a post or it challenged or encouraged them in some way. Over the past two hundred posts God has been working in my life and healing and restoring. Every day I am realizing new things and God is helping me to face, erase and replace with His help. He sends me little reminders of his love and I am encouraged to trust him. To remember how he has helped me before.
Today I received a royalty for some songs I had co written probably 20 or more years ago. Its funny because we tried so hard to make it as song writers. We got so close and our songs would be number two. Maybe we gave up too soon, maybe it just was not Gods time. I never wrote the words to the songs so they would become big hits. They were just prayers that I sang to the Lord that expressed my heart at the time. It seems that all these years later someone somewhere is still singing them. It blesses me to know that they have gone beyond me, they have found a life of their own. They are touching someone, like Rich Mullins and Keith Green's songs still touch me long after their race has been run. It is a reminder that we never know when the seeds that we plant by faith will suddenly spring up and grow.
Today I received another gift of sorts. I now have a studio from which I can teach guitar and vocals. A place where I can meet my coaching clients. Maybe do some small art classes. For a while I have thought that God was wanting me to move in that direction but just did not have a good place. So I have waited and watched and today a workable solution presented it self. In some ways the past months while I have written these posts God has been helping me to little by little create a life where I am doing more and more of the things that I love to do and am gifted to do. It has taken me a while to see myself in a different light. I think for a long time my focus has been on my weakness and the very broken places in my life. God is beginning to help me to see my strengths and to realize that he as wired me to be good as some things, and to be passionate about some things. In some ways it feels like when I am in the midst of doing the things that I love, and feel called and anointed to do it is as if I some how join into the great dance of love between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
I'm still praying for the right name that some how encompasses the things I love to do. I realize that in this instant I don't have the right name. I have played with all kinds of word combinations and none of them seems to fit quite right. I realize there is a puzzel piece that is some how missing. That suddenly some thing will happen and I will know the name. In the mean time I wait and pray. I am confident that God is working even when I can't see that anything has changed. I don't know how, or when some promises take a very long time to grow up. Then suddenly like this song writing royalty they spring up as a reminder that God never forgets the seeds that have been planted or the tears that have watered those prayers. His timing is perfect even on days when waiting for his answer seems terribly long - thats just how suddenly's work.
Acts 16:26
And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.
We don't know what is around the next turn in the road. We can't see but God knows. I have seen God move His people about to accomplish his purposes. Yesterday we were stuck today we suddenly have the long awaited answer to our prayers.
That suddenly happend with my church about a year ago now. We were with in a month or two of having to close our doors. We had done everything we knew to do. It was God's church and the way ahead did not give any of us reason for much hope. We did what we could each day and waited and prayed and suddenly things changed. I still walk around in the miracle and marvel at how good God is and how when there seems to be no way that He makes one. I am thankful and I have grown to trust Him even more for having gone through that experience. There were days when the weight of the responsibility of being chairman and the thought of the church dying on my watch, was so heavy that is was exhausting. The Lord during that time just kept saying to go about preparing our fields, that he would provide the seed, and that in time those seeds would grow. I suppose there are seasons where the farmer has planted the seed and now must wait even though the ground seems like nothing is happening. He must wait for rain, and things that are beyond his ability to control. So you and I must tend the ground of our hearts. We need to remove the chunks and clods of hard ground, we must remove the rocks, we must clear the weeds. Its hard work but we can know that the seeds we have planted will be able to grow up in good ground and produce a great harvest.
Chin up beloved of the Lord, God is working. He sees your heart and he knows the things that frustrate you. He knows how he wired you, he knows those places where He still needs to shine his light, he knows those places that need healed and transformed. He knows what seems to you as completely impossible. He says to you that he is the "I AM" to your every need. I AM Your Healer, I Am Your Strength, I AM your provider, I AM your peace, I AM your all in all, I AM all that you need. I AM your hope, I AM the way...
Prayer:
Dear Lord, Thank you that you are able, that you care, that you see, that you hear the cry of our hearts in this moment. Thank you that you understand when we struggle to even understand our selves.
Help us to look to you and to trust that you are able and that you are working. Come now Lord and wrap your loving arms around your beloved ones who are praying this prayer. Help them now, give them your peace and cause faith and hope to rise up in them in this moment. Give them joy and strength for today.
Thank you Lord for seeing me through 200 posts be with me as I continue to write each day.
