Speak Lord, Your Servant Is Listening

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

I can't remember the last time I unintentionally over slept. I am usually up by 5:30 or 6:00 and have time to slowly wake up while talking to the Lord. Then I have time to write a devotional post. Today has not been like that I surfaced from the land of vivid dreams at 8am which means there is only a half hour to get kids moving and out the door in time for school. Its about the same time that I always wake them up so their morning was about the same. Mine is off to a weird start. I have about 45minutes from dropping kids off till I need to be working in the church office.

I am pretty sure the Lord is trying to get my attention about something because there were some types of people and places that are repeated from other dreams. So I am trying to put the puzzel peaces together to figure out what the Lord wants me to see. So my mind is crunching those puzzels in the background while I am hopefully writing something that will encourage and help you today.

I guess it might help to share how I deal with types and places in dreams. The place to start is to pray ask the Lord to help you to understand. Samuel in the Old Testament goes to the priest Eli several times thinking Eli has called him. Finally Eli instructs him to say next time he hears the voice calling him, to say "Speak Lord, your servant is listening." I know that when I have very vivid dreams that often the Lord is trying to help me see something. So "Speak Lord, your servant is listening" is a good place to start. That story about Samuel is in 1st Samuel 3.

Who were the people that populated the dream? Did anyone stand out, was anyone someone I actually know?  People generally represent a kind of person not the actual person in my dreams. So I look at what that person might represent to me. Sometimes the person is actually acting as a mirror of yourself because it is easier to see things in other people than it is in ourself. So I might look at what I like or respect about that particular person or what I might see as a character flaw. How am I relating to that person might show some area of need in me that is not being met. Did that person in the dream make me feel at peace or was I anxious. I ask those kinds of questions.

Where does the dream take place? What might that place represent or mean to you. My dream took place in the church. So is God speaking to me personally or to me about my church. In my dream I worked at the church and we had lots of visitors and I was supposed to be showing them the offices but I found myself showing them a very hidden secret place in the basement. I was showing them a hidden place in the basement of the church, in that place were antiques that belonged to someone from the past and I was showing people the cool old stuff I had found there. I do find history fascinating. I had been in that place before in other dreams but I had not ever shown it to more than a few very trusted friends. So more than likely this dream the Lord is talking to me about yet another of my secret places. Its not surprising that it is hidden in the church because for the last 30 years my life has taken place in and around church. So now I need to puzzel out what exactly is the Lord trying to tell me. There are treasures that I have found and kept hidden away. Perhaps I am to share them with more people. We are not the first generation of believers and there have been some really interesting people who have waked with Jesus.  Maybe I am to share some of those treasures that I have discovered.

So I will keep running this through my thoughts as I go about my day. Sometimes the Lord will use someone during my day to jar or trigger some memory that will shed light on the puzzel that is before me. The thing that I can tell you is that for me, the Lord will often make me work something out to find the answer. It then becomes my own revelation or discovery. In coaching we ask people questions rather than tell them what they should do. The reason being is because the mind has it's own kind of immune system. A foreign idea will be quickly dismissed often even if it is a good one. If the person can through questions come to their own idea and conclusion they will be much more likely to put it into practice and carry it out in their life. So I think the Lord often works with me in the same way.

Well I have run out of time for this post - I hope it has been helpful.

Prayer:
Lord you search us and you know us inside out better than we know ourselves. Speak to us and help us to see things in our own life that need to change. Help us to puzzel things out so that the revelations you are showing us become our own.

Photo Challenge 10

A Devotional by Debbie DeRienzo
Prayer by Margot Cioccio

Who doesn't like a clean house? Can we always a achieve it? For me, no. But I do my best. However sanitary is another thing altogether! Do I like to be sanitary... YES!! Ah, those little germs that like to come out of anything and everywhere. And if you had a little guy like mine who brings in slugs, snails, lizards and such, you would have some of this stuff handy at all times. WHY? Because it offers PROTECTION. It makes me feel safe knowing these little babies wipe away 99.9% of harmful bacteria.

The other day when my little man was ill, I was using these quite a bit. We put our hope for protection in so many things... security systems for our homes and our cars, weapons hidden in closets or under beds...pepper spray in purses...hidden cameras....etc etc. But what can protect us when it comes to our spiritual battles? When that sneaky Satan wants to get at us... mess with our heads, throw trouble our way... tempt us. Lysol is NOT going to kill that evil germ! So what do we do? Ephesians 6:11 tell us to "Put on the full armor of God." It goes on to say our struggle is not with men, (flesh) ... or even germs... in this world but against the spiritual world.

So what is the Armor of God. Of course it is all metaphorical but this hits home to those of us that are military....

THE BELT OF TRUTH AROUND YOUR WAIST: 

truth in knowing that God is God and we can stand firm in the truth that He is Lord!

BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS: 

the breastplate guards our hearts. Can thwart an attack from the enemy.

SHIELD OF FAITH: 

a shield protects from objects being slung at you... 

 like Satan's little arrows that would try to hurt us. Faith is what gets us 

through situations that may be difficult and that faith will keep the enemy 

from breaking our spirits.

HELMET OF SALVATION:

Helmets protect our heads. If we know we are in Christ and are saved 

we can prevent the useless thoughts that Satan tries to put in our minds... 

 we are not good enough, pretty enough, smart enough etc etc.

BOOTS FITTED WITH READINESS:

Boots protect our feet and allow us to walk many miles. 

These boots help us get off that proverbial couch and make 

some movement to contact and reach others with the Good News.

FINALLY we have

THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT: 

Swords are offensive weapons... used to kill and destroy and inflict damage. 

Up until now all of the armor has been defensive in nature, protecting using

some way but the Sword Of The Spirit is our only offensive weapon. 

It is the Word of God, the Bible. The bible is our instruction manual 

and serves as our way to attack the enemy where it hurts. 

Even Jesus used the Bible to defend Himself against Satan when He was being tempted in the desert. Satan told Christ to turn a stone into bread so Jesus could eat after starving from His many days of fasting. Jesus quoted scripture, "man does not live by bread alone but by every word of God." Satan tempted Jesus a second time saying that he would give Jesus all the power in the world if He would bow down to Him. Jesus again quoted scripture, "You shall have no other God's before Me." And finally Satan tempted Jesus one last time saying that if Jesus would throw Himself off a cliff that the angels would come to His rescue. Again, Jesus quotes scripture and says, 'Do notput the Lord your God to the test." After that Satan flees.
So everyday when you wake up, before you sip that first cup of Joe or brush your teeth, put on that Armor of God and each day while you battle you will be victorious!!!

What a great reminder  - Thanks Debbie
Prayer: Lord, Right now we take the time to put on your armor. Thank you that you have dressed us in the robes of your righteousness and over that we add the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, the boots of readiness, and we pick up the shield of faith and the sword of the spirit. We invite you into our day, help us to be sensitive to the leading of your Holy Spirit. 

Love and War

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio 

Photo by Niah Ferlito 

I was bought a book about six months ago and read the first couple of chapters and set it aside. I don't know how to fix this, its too hard I thought. I'm too broken, and I convinced myself that my husband was to simple to even begin to understand. Yeah, you might say I had a massive log in my eye. In the book I found the following quote last night. 

" God lures us into marriage through love and sex and loneliness or simply the fact that someone finally paid attention - all those reasons you  got married in the first place. It doesn't really matter, he'll do what ever it takes. He lures us into marriage and then uses it to transform us.  Come back to the fairy tale - in every one of those stories, the boy and the girl each carry a fatal flaw. If they refuse their transformation  - which is the essential to the plot of the story - they'll never make it. Evil will win, they will lose heart and split up and there will be no happily ever after." ~ Love and War by John and Stasi Eldredge

Its funny to me at this point because I think I'm a pretty good communicator - which throws the responsibility of communicating in such a way that the intended recipient can understand back on me.  For example I teach a number of guitar students and each one has a unique set of challenges in how they learn.  One can foolishly think when you first start out teaching that what worked for you or for one student will work for them all. I am finding that I may use some of the same tools and materials with all my students but they each learn differently. I have one young girl who has dislexia the song sheets just confuse her. For weeks I tried and tried to get her to stay on track that way and we got no where. It finally dawned on me that I needed to change how I was teaching in some way so she could understand. I might as well have been speaking a foreign language to her.  So I prayed for wisdom, and sought some advise from other teachers and took the music away and started to teach her to play by ear and to memorize the song with out the music. It was a break through and she is progressing in her playing. 

It is easy to blame lack of communication or understanding on the other person when the problem might be you are speaking in a way that just does not connect for them. My husband has hearing problems and even with a hearing aid, talking with him can be frustrating.  If I'm honest the problem really was not him but me. I stopped wanting to even try to communicate. I got hurt and disappointed enough that I just gave up and retreated behind my walls. So six months ago the book Love and War by John and Stasi Eldridge was much too positive and hopeful and was more than I could manage. Sometimes we are not ready to admit that we are part of the problem, we would like to believe its all the other persons fault. 

So I've been praying and talking to the Lord about not knowing how to fix some of the broken places in me. Little by little he keeps showing me things that I need to repent of and to allow him to help me change. One of those things is my self-sufficient style of relating to people. The Lord has been showing me how because I did not let people in they wrongly thought I did not need them. They gave up and moved on and I felt rejected and in some cases abandoned so I trusted and needed people less and less. There you have it a vicious cycle. 

A bit more from the Eldredges: " Our style of relating is born out of brokenness and sin, and it is the Number One Thing that gets in the way of real love and real companionship, the shared adventure and the beauty of marriage. It is really this simple. The number one thing that gets in the way is your way. I don't mean insisting on getting your way - dimming the lights or finding a better parking spot. I mean your way of going about life, your style o relating. We are all of us utterly committed and deeply devoted to our "style", our "way" our "approach to life" We have absolutely no intention of giving it up. Not even for love. So God creates an environment where we have to... It's called marriage. 

Take the fundamental differences of a man and a woman. Add to this the fact that opposites attract and our peculiarities are nearly always at odd. Toss in our profound brokenness, our sin and our style of relating. It's the perfect storm.

Now listen carefully" God wants us to be happy. He really does. Ive come Jesus said that you may have life and have it to the full John 10:10 He simply knows that until we deal with our brokenness, our sin, and our style of relating, we aren't going to be happy. Nobody around us is going to be very happy, either. Most of what you've been experiencing in the last twelve months is God's attempt to get you to face your style of relating and repent of it. "   

Last week I had the idea to try opening up and writing lunch box notes to my husband. In the first note I outlined the rules as follows "Anyway... so here's how it works, I share something and then you respond to it and you share something then I respond to it. Then repeat. I don't think we can get to warm fuzzy love notes with out wading through the pain and damage first and the stuff too long, swept under the rug. " To my surprise and amazement it worked and we are communicating on more than a how was work and the weather kind of level. 

Amazing it was so simple and I just could not see it, I was blind and now I see. Thats just how God works. 

 So I think I might actually be able to read Love and War at this point and not just feel totally frustrated by it. I just flipped it open in passing last night and found the quotes that I included in this post. Sometimes I think God has to keep holding the mirror in front of us till we realize that we are the problem that he needs to deal with. It is my stubborn self sufficient style that has to stop. I have to let others in or the enemy wins. 

Well I'm out of time. 

Prayer: I pray that the Lord will help you see your own fatal flaws. That he will help you to repent and to forgive and that he will do a great work of healing in your life. Don't give up even though your situation seems hopeless and impossible. God will help you to find a way to freedom and abundant life in Him. 

Harvest Thoughts

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

I took this photos of pumpkins on one of my trips to the grocery store over the weekend. Today I was thinking about what to write about and was inspired by the pumpkin photo and thoughts of the harvest season we are currently in. I am certainly not even remotely agricultural and struggle just to keep house plants from dying. It seems that plants need consistency and I am way too scattered for plants. Thankfully my husband has a green thumb and we do have as a result some lovely plants.   I do understand that it is easy to become weary doing good. Its easy to get burned out and discouraged. It is easy when we are weary to make decisions based on our exhaustion rather than on the truth.

Thankfully the Lord created seasons. There is a time for planning, then planting, then waiting and tending, and finally harvest. There is work to be done in each season but the kind of work changes. If you are trying to harvest in the winter when you should be planning you are going to be messed up. Just about the time we get the hang of one season it comes to its end and we find ourselves in the new season wondering why the thing that used to to work, don't anymore. I think the words "at the proper time" are very important in our verse today.

What season are you currently in in your life. Is it a time of planning or getting more training in your particular field. Or are you in the Spring where you are preparing the ground and planting the seeds? The summer's can be very hot and long sometimes and it is easy to think they will never end. There are times where we feel like we have been waiting far to long for things to turn and change in our life. It is in those times that you don't want to give up on what you have planted. You also may need to take a break or get refreshed in some way. As you move through those times that seem like deserts look for the oasis places that the Lord is providing for you. Harvest is coming. Don't forget how the story of Job ends - and don't give up.

Prayer: Lord I pray that you help us to see from your perspective what season we are in the various areas of our lives. Help us to look to you for wisdom to know what we should be doing as we pass through each one. Help us to stay close to you particularly when we are weary.


A Note Card from todays design. If you would like to see this design on other things let me know.

Happy Harvest Note Card by MargotsDesigns

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Mini Encouragement Card with envelope. This 3.5" x 5" panel card has the image you see on the front and the words "I'm praying for you. Don't give up!" on the back. 

Harvest Mini Encouragement Card by MargotsDesigns
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Becoming Real

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

I've been thinking about gardens today. I had a lovely photo of some white roses that I took a few days ago. Since I was not really sure what I wanted to write about I decided to play with the photo for a bit. Photo editing is something I enjoy doing. You can take a fairly ordinary photo and turn it into something special.

So I started with the photo that you see to the right and created what you see to the left.

I wanted a verse that talked about things blooming and I found one in Song of Songs 7 that I liked.



I guess my devotional thought for today is that we are not often aware of the work that the Lord is doing in the hearts of others. Sometimes we need to get up early and go see if the vines have budded and if the blossoms have opened up. Sometimes we need to allow the Lord to take us into the gardens of our own hearts to see what things have come into bloom and what things might need a bit of tending and tidying up. I've included a few quotes from a favorite book, The Secret Garden that tie in with my thoughts today.

“The Secret Garden was what Mary called it when she was thinking of it. She liked the name, and she liked still more the feeling that when its beautiful old walls shut her in no one knew where she was. It seemed almost like being shut out of the world in some fairy place. The few books she had read and liked had been fairy-story books, and she had read of secret gardens in some of the stories. Sometimes people went to sleep in them for a hundred years..."
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

“However many years she lived, Mary always felt that 'she should never forget that first morning when her garden began to grow'.” ― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

I am a very good wall builder and I can so easily shut others out. I enjoy my own company and am by nature more of an introvert. I believe that the Lord does not intend for us to live in isolation - we need others to truly bloom and grow. So I am learning how to let others into to my secret gardens. It was at first only the Lord that I could trust enough to let it but I'm learning to not be afraid to let others in.

Secret gardens are odd places once the Lord helps you clean them up. They are the places of memories and broken dreams of lost loves and friendships that are no longer possible.  Places I once thought easier to lock away and forget - "just let it go and move on", I thought. The Lord began a journey with me several years ago to beging to unlock those trunks of sorrow, pain and regret. I've found that once you work through forgiving, those memories finally are able to heal. I thought having forgiven and repented and put them away clean that now healed I could be done with them and move on. Perhaps grieving, which I have discovered can be delayed and put off a very long time, is even so, once embarked upon a longer process than I first imagined.

The feelings of shame, guilt and fear would trap us in darkness and in isolation must be overcome by letting others in. I am finding as I share my writings that there are many people who read the things that I write and find the courage in knowing that they are not alone. That others struggle with many of the same kinds of feelings. We don't have to stay locked in darkness or journey to freedom all by ourself. It does however take courage to let others in. I am finding we are all broken in one way or another and we all think for a time that we should hide it and try to appear to have it all together.

Anyway so I will end this with a couple of quotes from another favorite book, The Velveteen Rabbit. I guess my quest is that of becoming "real". To discover more fully who God created me to be and what He created me to do.

“Real isn't how you are made,' said the Skin Horse. 'It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

'It doesn't happen all at once,' said the Skin Horse. 'You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.” 
― Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

Prayer:
Lord help us to become real, to take off our masks, to unlock the bars and doors and to allow you in first and formost to bring much needed healing. Then Lord help us to let others in that we and they might discover that we are not alone. We all have places that hurt and places where we don't live up to our own expectations. Things that we try as we might, we still manage poorly. Lord help us to put down our pointing fingers and instead take someone by the hand and walk together in love in spite of all our flaws and failures to become the people you call us to become through the power of your resurrection.

White Roses Card by MargotsDesigns
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White Rose Journal by MargotsDesigns
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White Roses 10 x14 Puzzle by MargotsDesigns
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Suddenly

Photo by Margot Cioccio 

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

Today is my birthday! 

I've gotten to watch a miracle un-fold this week. I have watched what was impossible and seemed hopeless for many years all of a sudden change. I'd like to tell you there is a simple formula to follow and whaa la you can have a miracle too. I'd like to tell you exactly when the change took place, but I can't. What I can do is marvel at how our awesome God can take the impossible and make it possible. 

So I'm sure you are now sitting at the edge of your seats wondering what happened? It might not even seem like such a big deal to you, but a relationship that was formally stuck and just existing suddenly changed. Hearts that were hard softened. People who were not really talking to one another began to listen and to care again. 

It still feels surreal at this point. As with all seemingly sudden changes there is a long long back story of things that changed bit by bit. God's healing can come at times in an instant but most often its a step by step journey with a suddenly that catches you by surprise.

Since its my birthday, I'm going to keep this short today.  

Prayer: 

I pray that you won't give up. I pray that God will give you the courage to try again and inspire you with something new to try. I pray that if he has done a healing work in your life he will help you to finally take off the protective bandages and test out what He has healed.

My Soul Finds Rest Dry Erase Board by MargotsDesigns
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My Soul Finds Rest Card by MargotsDesigns
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Photo Challenge 9

A Devotional by Debbie DeRienzo
Prayer by Margot Cioccio

Meet the other two members of our family... Coconut the cat and Cinnamon the rabbit. This photo was taken upon their first meeting. I LOVE the intensity of their eye-to-eye contact! They just do...

n't know what to make of each other. Two entirely different species... and in the wild.. one eats the other!!! One is an herbivore.. one a carnivore. There are many other differences too... obviously, they have differect color fur, different eyeballs, different ears and SO much more. But as you look closer, you can see some similiarities. Their back legs are shaped the same and serve a similar function. They both LOVE being cuddled. They are quick and agile and can get away from danger very quickly. So, while upone first meeting they may have seemd to each other quite strange. After time you get to see that they share some things as well. 

 This makes me think of the apostle Pauls letter to the Galatians, when he announced, "In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28). This also makes me think of the famous quote.. "Why can't we all just get along?". 

 Many times we can be jugdemental of others. We can compare them to ourselves and if they somehow don't fit in with our ideals we allow ourselves to create friction with them. Jesus hung out with some VERY different people. Lepers, tax collector, fishermen, SINNERS. None of His friends looked like Him, but... He loved them unconditionally. He embraced their individuality and used it to further the kingdom of God! I am guessing that some of you reading this have issues with a co-worker, or an in-law, or even a spouse. Perhaps you just don't see eye to eye. I would encourage you to embrace the uniquness of the people God created around you and learn to love outside of the quirks/differences another has. Love and acceptance can move mountains and break down many barriers. So, today if there is someone you are having trouble accepting, make an effort to show some kindness, some unconditional love. And who knows, you may discover (like Coconut and Cinnamon) that you can have a friendship/relationship you never though possible.

Prayer: 
Lord today we lift up that person who seems so different to us. That person we just can't see how to connect with. Lord we pray that you will bless them and help them to be the person you have created them to be. Help them to experience your love, give them mercy in the places where they are falling short of your plan. Fan the flames of the places in their life that are burning brightly for you. Help us to see them with your eyes. Help us to look past the differences and to see where there are things we have in common so that we can begin to understand one another. Help us to have the courage to experience the wonder and uniqueness of someone else with out fearing loosing our own identity and uniqueness. Make a way where there seems to be no way that this relationship may one day speak loudly, another testimony of how you are God of the impossible.