The Wells of Salvation

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

Isaiah 12:3
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

(There is a video I recorded of a song called The Well 

if it does not come to my e-mail followers please click on the title to get back to the site)

While I was at the Navigate conference several weeks ago and was feeling kind of fuzzy brained after a very early morning and most of the day spent traveling. The first night's worship service which was wonderfully refreshing. My church experience is more of one of serving and ministering to others, so it is a treat to be able to sit back and enjoy the fruit of the labor and ministry of someone else. I was talking to my pastor who was also at this event and he also shared the same experience. Its not that we don’t experience and worship God during the worship services where we are leading and serving. We do but it has a different dynamic of God flowing and ministering through you rather than simply receiving. I think there is value in making sure your leaders get away to be refreshed from time to time during the year. For me the Navigate conference was a powerful time of refreshing ministry.

As a leader I have learned that unless you become a “well” or plant yourself by the stream of living water you quickly become dried up and burned out. The demands for water from the people you are ministering to will quickly leave you empty unless you are daily spending time in the presence of the Lord to be refilled. By spending that daily time alone with the Lord over time you become a well of salvation where others many come to drink. I have been trying to encourage people to become wells. If you have been a believer very long you really should know how to tap into the river of God's Spirit that flows from His throne. Sadly I find that even people who have been Christians a long time seem to be clueless and come parched and weary running from well to well or drinking from the cups of others. Its time we learn to go to the source.  We do not need an intermediary to go be for God on our behalf. We are kings and priests before our God. We have been adopted and grafted into the family tree. Yet too many of us wander around like beggars when we should be dishing out food and living water to the broken and hurting.

It is possible if you are in a church ministry position for your well to become dry because the demands are great. Its easy to get so busy serving that finding time with Jesus becomes very small compared to the demand placed upon you for living water. It is also possible to have living water flowing through you and not realize that you have a leak. I experienced this myself recently.  I prayed for a woman and I felt the power of the Holy Spirit flow through me in a powerful way, her need was so great that she left me empty. It was in that moment as I tried to be refilled that I realized that my well had a bunch of leaks that made it difficult to refill my own well. I'm sure this is a bit out there, its hard for me to describe. The Lord gives me pictures like leaky wells to help me understand spiritual concepts far beyond my understanding. Its like trying to explain what makes an airplane fly to a child. For me it was an issue of leaky faith. God had told me some things and the circumstances were causing me to doubt what God had said and confirmed to me previously. There are times I feel like Joseph, God gave him visions of his destiny and purpose as a young man. Then he is betrayed by his brothers, sold in to slavery. While in slavery he is wrongly accused and put in prison. While in prison he interprets some dreams and is right on but still he finds himself being tested and tried by that vision that God had given him so long ago. Surely he must be crazy - right? It was 33 years that his life was seemingly on hold.
I am sure he must have had times where his faith wavered and leaked. I'm sure there were days that he felt discouraged and confused. There are some things that no matter how crazy and impossible they may seem that God keeps saying "hold on, I'm working it all out. The story is not over yet. You may have some of those kind of things too. I think Joseph made it through because he new how to be connected to God. Rather than shake his fist at God for his long years of hardship he allowed God to use it to mold and shape him. He pressed and became closer to God rather than turning away.

I am more and more convinced that most of the people I encounter during a day and quite often even the Christians don’t know where to get their own living water. Many Christians run from meeting to meeting to drink from the wells of others. Which is great, thats one of the reasons God raises up leaders in His church. I don’t think in general that people are being encouraged enough to develop that personal intimate relationship with the Lord. We need to move from babies that need to be fed milk in bottles and spoon fed to become mature believers who practice the presence of Jesus and are filled to over flowing.  For a long time even as a leader I did not understand what was happening. I would just find myself running on empty because people were drinking from my cup or pitcher and I would need to go find someone else with water to spare to get filled up. It is funny to think there could possibly be a drought of living water but I have noticed a verse that says in Amos 8:11 there can be a famine of the word of God. So I suppose there can also be a famine. We can become dry. Spring up oh well with in my soul.

 Amos 8:¹¹ “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD,
   “when I will send a famine through the land—
not a famine of food or a thirst for water,
   but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. 

Prayer:

Dear Lord, 

Cause us to become so connected to you that the river that flows from your thrown flows through us. Cause us to become wells that keep not only our own sprit watered but gives us enough to share with the parche and thirsty. Help us to disciple others to go directly to you as their source. 

Lord if there are leaks in our cup, in our pitcher or our well, I pray that you would repair and heal those broken places in our lives. Show us those places where we have started to give up on the things you have spoken to us.  Refresh and restore us even if it is many years like it was for Joseph be near us and help us to trust you. Become our source and cause us to become wells that reach deep into your underground river.

Give Me Jesus

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

Beloved - by Margot Cioccio

1 Corinthians 2:14
“The man without the Spirit
does not accept the things
that come from the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness to him,
and he cannot understand them,
because they are spiritually discerned.”

Today I finished the Beloved Project and I lost track of time cleaning the little pieces of glass. You have to scrape and wash the excess grout away from the glass that sits lower than the others. It will take me several days of fussing over it to get it to a point where I will call it presentable. Its done except for a little clean up.  Anyway I was about ready to go to bed and I realized I had not finished working on a devotional for today. So I will ask your forgiveness this time for making this a little short.

This morning when I got up the song Give Me Jesus by Fernando Ortega kept running through my head so I recorded it earler today and will include it as part of this post. If you are getting this in your e-mail you will want to click on the title to be taken to the devotional page so you can view the video.


Anyway I'm not sure why that song was going through my head. It might have been that I went to sleep knowing that I had accidentally over drawn my bank account.  Even as I went to bed last night I purposed in my heart to not get all freaked out over it. This morning I was able to go to the bank and fix things and only ended up with one twelve dollar over draft charge.  When I went to bed I did not know how I would manage to solve the over draft situation, yet in the morning I had a way to work things out. The temptation to panic was there but I chose to take the matter to Jesus and ask for His help. So perhaps the song Give Me Jesus was running through my mind as a result of my decision to trust Jesus rather than turn to worry and panic.

In the morning when I rise give me Jesus. When I am alone... give me Jesus. When I am afraid....give me Jesus. When I come to die....give me Jesus.

Prayer:
Dear Lord,
I come to you with the things that I am facing today... give me Jesus. You are sufficient for every need that I have. You understand the things that tempt and try me. You desire to help me. Help me lay down my pride and self sufficiency and look to you for help with expectancy and belief that you are able.
Lord I choose to trust you.

Hands and Feet

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

James 1:5 (NIV1984)

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, 
who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 

E-mail folks - you need to click the blue title to go hear Hands and Feet

Through the years I've spent a lot of time asking God for wisdom. Some how in my perceptions of this verse I imagine God answering my prayer kind of like in the movie the Matrix. If they need to know how to fly a helicopter they were hooked up to a port and the information was downloaded into them.

So I have looked at receiving wisdom form God in a similar way. 

Looking back I realize that it really did not happen like the Matrix.  God has given me a wealth of opportunities to gain wisdom, to choose wisdom, to make wise decisions. I would not describe the process as painless. Somethings he has allowed me to practice over and over till I finally really get it.

One of the wisest people I know feels like a total failure some days. I can look at my own life and it is full of failures and set backs and stuff I can't explain. I have other friends who look back on their lives with guilt and shame. I have at times wondered why I don't feel that way, what makes us different. Why is it all a big learning and growing experience for me.

I think that maybe the only difference is the vantage point from which I view my life. I look at it from my position at the feet of Jesus. It is the only place that it begins to make sense. People often joke about asking God for patience. We all know that asking for patience leads to trials that cause us to grow in patience. No one jokes like that about wisdom and perhaps they should.

There is a "gift" called "Word of Wisdom" for me it happens when I am praying for people and I suddenly know how to pray. Then suddenly they are crying and God is healing something.

That kind of wisdom is a bit more Matrix like in that God just kind of drops it into your thoughts un-expectedly. The wisdom I am talking about today is not so much the gift but more of quality that must develop in our lives. Its like patience, we ask for it and we get the stuff that causes us to grow to have wisdom. I like James 3:17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure, then peace loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. I can tell you in my experince that God did not just "poof" give me those things. He has given me many opportunities to practice and grow in each of the things listed in Jame 3:17.

We have a choice to make each day, will we wallow in self pity because our life is hard. Because it often has not gone as we had hoped or planned. Or will we embrace the idea that everyday is an opportunity to gain wisdom and every day we have the blessing of being His hands and Feet.

Prayer:

Dear Lord, 

Help me to find a way to be your hands and feet. Help me to be bogged down by the stuff that did not go as planned and to get on with trusting you. The story is not over yet and who knows how it will turn out. What appears a failure now - may just be a training ground for the future.

Send Me Out

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

Psalm 2:8 (NIV1984)  

Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. 

If you are getting this in your e-mail you will need to click on the blue title to go to the site to see the video.

A year ago I was asked to do music for Vacation Bible School. Only they were not using a pre packaged, just add volunteers, VBS kit. My friend Mary Lou, who has a great heart for missions, had put together a mission focused week for the kids. So I was not handed a music book and cd to use with the kids. I had to pray and go search for songs that would work with a missions theme. There was no master list of great songs to use - so I had to dig a bit. I found some great rock songs by Audio Adrenaline, Fee and Hillsongs. I had to find a way to make them work for me and a guitar with no band and a bunch of kids.  The songs I chose were a big hit with both the leaders and the kids. They came up with motions to go with them, and they played rythem instruments along with me. Kind of scarry, but big fun if you are in the five to seven year old croud.  I am writing about it today because the process of finding and singing those songs over and over for a week changed me. 

God did not send me to Africa or the Middle East or to Mexico but he did send me out of my comfort zone of my nice safe suburban church into the inner city. There I have found the out casts of our society, the homeless, the broken, the invisible, the addicts. People who have lost hope and who often numb their pain and disapointment with drugs and alchol. 

The other day while I was quietly praying and journaling my husband comes in and tells me one of his wierd dreams. He tells me that in his dream I am the keeper of the creatures near the gates of hell. In the dream I am encouraging him to come and pet them. "See they are nice" I said. He responded "no way, they will sting me".  Needless to say I found the dream perplexing. In the midst of my quiet time while seeking the Lord my husband drops this on me. I asked him are you mad at me for something? He assured me that he was not and laughed it off as one of his crazy dreams.  I know from past experience that God speaks to him in dreams and so I have wrestled with what it might mean and why God allowed him to remember it to share with me. 

Today it started to make sense to me. The people from the streets that I befriend are a messy and at times scarry bunch. Change comes layer upon layer after they grow to trust you. We don't make them listen to a gospel presentation to get a meal. I've heard them say "How many time do you have to get saved to get a coat" They have heard the gospel but they have not often seen it lived before them. 

You have to be able to look beyond scruffy beards and smelly, ragged clothes and surley angry attitudes to discover the hurting lonely person beneath the layers of pain. They live thier lives cloaked in a type of horrible inviablilty - people pass them and turn away or quicken there steps in fear.  I don't know how it is that I have gained a heart for them. Its something that God has done in me. I have changed so much in the past year and I look at people now with eyes of hope. I have been trying to encourage other Christians to come and love these people. Jesus said "what ever you do for the least of these my brothers, you have done it unto me". I am learning to see Him in them. 

This past week one of the guys who has lived in our bushes died of natural causes in a near by alley. I will miss his stories of Sandpoint where he grew up. I will miss the gravely voiced songs he would sing to me. I can't remember a time that he sober, but I had some deep talks with him on various occasion. Did he ever turn to Jesus? I can say for sure. He felt safe on our property and some of us knew his name. I hope our kindess eased some of his pain and suffering. 

I know earlier this summer I struggled with compassion fatigue. My heart was growing calloused because change happens so slowly down here. There is so much need and so little help. The harvest is ripe but the workers are few. We resume our feeding ministry this coming Sunday. We had to take a month off - we were all exausted. I look at who Jesus reached out to and it was the lowly, the outcasts, the unwanted and the broken. I know he would be down here loving these people, but sadly few of his people hear him calling to come help. 

So my point today is that sometimes God speaks and confirms things for us through other people. My husbands dream helped me to see how very close to the gates of hell the Lord has called me to go. The result of my sitting at His feet was to hear Him say will you go into the darkness and reach out one last time to those who are tormented and chained in sin. Part of what He has called me to do is to try and help His people see that He is there at the very gates of hell reaching out to the perishing. Some of them respond others do not. In a room of 200 people we might have five sigifinant conversations. We have some wonderful stories to tell of lives touched and changed by the power of kindness, a hot meal, a listening ear, a caring heart. None of these things require one to be a spiritual giant. If I get hit with quesitons that are over my theological head I pass them on to my pastor. Its not that I am so great, I have just spent time at the feet of Jesus and His heart has rubbed off on me. 

There is an old Keith Green song called Jesus Commands Us To Go. I will print the lyrics for you. The first place Jesus is calling you to go - is to meet Him at his feet. To surrender your life to Him, to get to know Him and his heart.  At some point you will feel Him calling you to be His hands and feet. He will probably call you long before you feel ready - you will be a work in process but He will want you to touch others with his amazing love.  He says to ask him and he will give us the nations as an inheritance. I pray He will begin to give us hearts to care not only for the nations but for the hurting people all around us. He might be calling you to go across the street to share His love with your neighbor.  Its time to take that step of faith.

Jesus commands us to go, but we go the other way.
So He carries the burden alone,
While His children are busy at play, Feeling so called to stay.

Oh, how God grieves and believes that the world can't be saved,
Unless the ones He's appointed obeys,
His command and His stand for the world,
That He loved more than life.
Oh He died, and he cries out tonight.
Jesus commands us to go,
It should be the exception if we stay.
It's no wonder we're moving so slow,
When His church refuses to obey,
Feeling so called to stay.
Oh how God comes, as He starts the great judgment of fire,
So He can gain, His Greatest desire.
Cause He knows that the souls of the lost,
They can only be reached, through us,
We're His hands and His feet.
Jesus commands us to go,
It should be the exception if we stay.
It's no wonder we're moving so slow,
When God's children refuse to obey,
Feeling so called to stay.

The Secrets of The Kingdom

Luke 8:9-10 (NIV1984)

 His disciples asked him what this parable meant.  

He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom 

of God has been given to you, 

but to others I speak in parables, so that,

   “‘though seeing, they may not see;
   though hearing, they may not understand.’

          If you are getting this in your e-mail go to the site to see the video.

Our topic this week is about hearing God. Jesus makes it very clear in this verse that the secrets of the kingdom of God have been given to us who believe. To others he speaks in parables. I've wondered about that - you'd think he'd use the Jesus for Dummies Guide for the folks that don't know and understand Him. You would think He would want to make things really, really clear. Yet here He says He purposely speaks in parables so that though seeing, they may not see; and though hearing, they may not understand. Are you scratching your head on this one? I know I did for a long time.

I have come to realize that until someone is ready to hear, there is not point telling them. They might really need to know but unless they can figure it out and own it for themselves there mind is going to block that information.

I am going through my life coaching certification and one of the things that my training has talked about it how your spiritual immune system kicks in and refuses to accept ideas that are foreign. In much the same way your body may reject a organ transplant even though you might really need it.
In coaching rather than give someone the answers the goal is to listen and ask questions so that they can find the answers on their own. The idea to change then comes from them and they are more likely to stick with it to accomplish what they set out to accomplish.  Jesus uses parables that way too. He does not just give out the answer but makes His listeners have to take the time to think it out on their own. When they do - they possess that knowledge in a much deeper and more lasting way. 

You have to want to hear to even begin to understand. Parables make people think and they make us choose. If you think you already know it all, you won't even bother to try and figure out what Jesus was saying and how it might apply to you. Hearing God is like that too. You have to want to hear, you have to make time to hear. You have to stop doing all the talking to hear. Sometimes we don't listen because we are afraid of the answer that we might recieve. Jesus wants to communicate with us. He wants us to get to the place of wanting to have a relationship with him. To get beyond the religious duty of prayer and rattling of un-ending lists of wants and needs. Is He just my spiritual Santa Clause or is He my friend who I love to be with.

In healty relationships one person does not monopolize the converstaion but takes time listening and sharing. I do believe that God wants to show us deep and wonderful secrets of the kingdom but I think He waits for us to seek Him out. He waits for us to dig into His word and to mull it over and to work to apply it by faith to our life.

In the song I have posted called I Love Your Grace. I like the line that says "I love the way you help me when I call".  There are lots of times when I get stuck and can't figure out the answer to some delima in my life. It is in those times that I ask God for help. When I am reading His word and I don't get it. I don't just run to my pastor or other spiritual giants in my life for the answer. They could probably tell me but I would rather search it out and dig and trust that God will give me little helps like bread crumbs to follow. I start by asking God to help me understand. Open my eyes so I can see, and my heart so I can hear and feel and my mind so I can understand.  We pray those kind of prayers and God does not just answer like a jeannie in a bottle - poof you got your wish. He works in and through our life to bring circumstances, people, dreams and in many other ways to cause us to develop in the things we have asked Him to help us with. If you want to hear him more ask Him to help you and watch as he begins to order things in your life to allow you to practice and grow more adept at hearing His voice.

Prayer:
Dear God help me to understand. Open my eyes so I can see, and my heart so I can hear and feel and my mind so I can understand. Help me to really know your voice and follow you. I know you want to have a deeper relationship with me. Help me to lay down my lists of needs and wants and just spend time getting to know you better. 

Blessing in Disguise

Blessings in Disguise
A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

Genesis 49:25-27 (NIV1984)
Because of your father’s God, who helps you, because of the Almighty, 
who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above, 
blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breast and womb.
Your father’s blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains,
than the bounty of the age-old hills. Let all these rest on the head of Joseph,
on the brow of the prince among his brothers.

Note: If you are getting this in your e-mail you will have to go to my Devotional site to see the video.

Today I am sharing a song that has touched my heart this past year. I know for the longest time, I thought of blessings as only the good things in life, my view was very shallow. It is a blessing to be given a gift, friends are a blessing, family is a blessing. Wisdom, peace, healing, and prosperity are all blessings. But what about suffering, pain and trials are they blessings? My dictionary gives bit of insight into the word blessing. It is the act or words of a person who blesses, a special favor, mercy, or benefit, a favor or gift bestowed by God.

I think sometimes blessing can come in odd packages. A friend who is difficult to deal with may be the blessing that helps work the character quality of patience into our life. Not getting what I want, when I want it may be the blessing that helps me to learn to trust God. In the bible you will find the story of Joseph. He is sold by his brothers into slavery and spends years and years in a life in circumstances that are not at all what he imagined. Those years of hardship as a slave and then a prisoner, molded and shaped him. Maybe it knocked off some of his prideful and arrogant rough edges in the process as well. In spite of his hardships, he continued to trust God and made the best of his situation.  Was that time of slavery and the years in prison blessing? Lets not answer that quite yet. 

Most of us know the end of the story. If not you can find Joseph’s story right around Genesis 37.
Keep in mind that Joseph had no gift of foresight to see how his life would turn out. He did, as a boy, have some wild dreams of his brothers and parents, bowing down to him. Sharing those dreams got him mostly trouble. I have found that when God gives me dreams or visions, they generally have a way of trying and testing my faith. There is always a span of time when nothing in my present circumstances indicates that I am anything but crazy to continue to believe what God has shown me.  I am sure it was the same for Joseph. Were those dreams a blessing during his years in prison. Did they give him a thread of hope to hang on to or did they cause him to question his sanity? There are so many questions in this story that challenge my understanding of what I call God’s blessing. Those years of hardship prepared Joseph to be the second most powerful man in all of Egypt.  People got saved from the famine because Joseph was in the wrong place at the right time.

How do we measure what is or is not a blessing in our life?  Might the difficulty you are facing be working in ways that you can’t even see? Could something like loneliness be a blessing if it draws you closer to God or causes you to begin to reach out to others. I like the lines at the end of the song Blessings by Laura Story.

“What if my greatest disappointments, or the aching of this life,
Is a revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy?
What if trials of this life, the rain, the storms,
the hardest nights are your mercies in disguise?

I wonder, are the things you are facing making you more thirsty for God? I guess my challenge to you, is to look at the things you are going through from another angle. I would propose you look upon them with a thankful heart. With a heart that chooses to trust even when things don’t presently make sense. What if the hard things you are facing, are blessing in disguise?

Healing Is In Your Hands

Healing Is In Your Hands

 A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

Matthew 4:23 

Jesus went throughout Galilee, 

teaching in their synagogues, 

preaching the good news of the kingdom, 

and healing every disease 

and sickness among the people.

 

Some of you who are following this devotional blog have let me know that you enjoy my simple recordings. While I was on vacation I did a simple cover video recording of Healing is In your Hands. It is a beautiful song by Christy Nockels that has touched my heart.  I have several friends who are in need of God's healing touch. It is my hope that this song will minister to them and to others who are trusting God to heal be it through the hands of doctors or simply a healing touch directly from the Lord.  However God choses to work is fine with me. I do want to encourage you to trust and to not loose hope. I have found great strength and hope by remembering the many promises of healing found in the Word.  Please leave a comment if you are in need of healing and would like our growing devotional family of readers to stand with you in prayer.

Here are some of my favorite verses about healing:

1 Peter 2:24 

"Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, 

that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness-- 

by whose stripes you were healed."

Isaiah 40:31 

"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; 

they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, 

and they shall walk and not faint."

Psalm 34:19 

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous, 

but the LORD delivers him out of them all."

Jeremiah 30:17 

"For I will restore health unto you, 

and I will heal you of your wounds, saith the Lord."

Psalm 103:2-3 

"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: 

Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who heals all thy diseases"

3 John 2 

"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper 

and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth."

Isaiah 58:8 

"Thy light shall break forth as the morning, 

and thy health shall spring forth speedily; 

and thy righteousness shall go before thee: 

the glory of the Lord shall be thy rear guard."

Prayer:

Dear Lord, I thank you that you have already paid the price for our healing. Help us to trust in your great love as we stand on your word for our own healing or for the healing of people we know and care about. You know the hearts of each person reading today come now and meet each one at the point of thier need.

You Are Still Holy

You Are Still Holy

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

I've been thinking it would be nice to share some of the songs 

that deeply touch my life. I've done a very simple video cover 

recording of You Are Still Holy 

by Rita Springer of Mercy Vineyard. 

I hope you will enjoy it along with today's devotional. 

Blessings, Margot

"Holy, You are still holy 
Even when the darkness surrounds my life
Sovereign, You are still sovereign 
Even when confusion has blinded my eyes

Lord, I don’t deserve Your kind affection
When my unbelief has kept me from Your touch
I want my life to be a pure reflection Of Your love

And so I come into Your chamber 
And I dance at Your feet, Lord
You are my Saviour And I’m at Your mercy
All that has been in my life Up ‘til now, 
belongs to You - You are still holy

Holy, You are still holy 
Even though I don’t understand Your ways
Sovereign, You will be sovereign 
Even when my circumstances don’t change

Lord, I don’t deserve your tender patience 
When my unbelief has kept me from Your truth
I want my life to be a sweet devotion To You"

I awoke this morning with the words of this song running through my mind. We’ve sung it in church in recent weeks.  The line that seems to linger in my head, that I have found running through my mind off and on is the line that says “All that has been in my life up ‘til now, belongs to you”
It has taken it days to surface to my attention. I know there are things that I want to hold on to. Things that I would like retain control and call the shots as to the when and how. Lord help me to release those things into your care. You are my Saviour and I am at Your mercy.

When I went looking for the lyrics to this song this morning I found that it had a 2nd verse. You are still Holy, even when I don’t understand your ways. Even when my circumstances don’t change.
Who am I to say what God is working in me in this season with my present circumstances. I am learning to be thankful for the difficulties, and the delays, they are tools in His hand that shape me.
So I am pondering this song and letting it speak deeply to me.  Yesterday as I was praying the Lord said “ There is yet much in you that needs healed”  I find myself thankful that God can find a use for broken vessels.  That he so tenderly picks up the broken pieces to repair and restore our lives. I am endeavoring to be open and transparent in these devotionals. I don’t generally put in the details of my own circumstances because you have your own details that go with your own life. I also admit that I am not at a place yet to be able to share my details. People look at me and think I am so strong - I suppose in some ways I am but I have to agree with the Lord. There is yet much in me that needs healed and He is still sovereign and He is still Holy.  I suppose it is a process and a journey of dying to myself and learning to be patient to trust and wait for His perfect plan. I’ve included a video I recorded of this song, I hope it will bless you.

Prayer: 
Dear Lord,
Thank you that all that has been in my life up til now - belongs to you. Thank you that you know how to heal and that I don’t need to sit here and try to stitch up my own wounds. I surrender myself to your tender care. I know even when what you are doing is painful that you love me and are working for my good.

The Song You Are Still Holy is by Rita Springer of Mercy / Vineyard