He Is Forever Faithful

I recently read an interesting article about sunflowers. I learned a few things with incredible spiritual application. Sunflowers love the sun.  A sunflower grows with it's face constantly toward the sun. The sun provides growth from light and causes the sunflower to stretch even closer toward that light source. This process is called phototropism. Now, Heliotropism is the sunflowers added ability to track the sun's movements... slowly moving the face of it's flower toward the sun to receive the full impact of the sun's rays.   The stem of the flower and the leaf's stem contain specialized cells (pulvinus) which alter the amount of water present in order to optimize the health of the sunflower. These specialized cells can reduce their water flow in response to the sun's rays in order to keep the sunflower healthy. Wow, wow, wow!!!! Is it just me or are there a ton of analogies that can be gleaned from the life of a sunflower?  As Believers, we mu...

Psalm 139:13 states, "Certainly you made my mind and heart; you wove me together in my mother's womb." The Lord knows us intimately. He knows us better than we know ourselves. So, obviously, He knows that I am a visual learner.  I learn through nature and every day happenings. If we pay attention, there are spiritual lessons and applications in abundance all around us, every day.   In a recent visit to the beach, I had a few "aha" moments with the Lord. Those of you that know me, know that the beach is my happy place. Perhaps it's the lull of the ocean waves, the gentle breeze upon my face or the warmth of the sun (Son) embracing  me that puts me at such peace when I am there.   On this particular visit, the beach portion was very small and disappeared as the tide came in. There was a large wall at the back of the beach just before the street that ran along the shoreline. Therefore, when the tide came in, it reached all the way to the wall ...

When I say the word memories are you filled with joy, or are you filled with regret? Did you know the Scriptures command us time and time again to remember? But God didn't just tell us to remember. He told us WHAT to remember. We are to remember His faithfulness, His goodness, His mercies, His lovingkindness, His commandments, His ways, His presence, His character, His forgiveness, etc. You see, God, in His infinite wisdom, gave us the ability to CHOOSE what we remember. We can choose what we dwell on. Like many of you, I have a lot of terrible memories. I used to let those memories consume me. They would awaken me in the middle of the night filled with terror.  I would find myself so distraught, sometimes to the point of not even wanting to function for the day. After a lot of wasted hours, I realized that the Lord desires for us to deal with our past and its memories and move on. Why revisit it over and over again? Why dwell on the injustice of it all? Why wonder why a...

I often wish the scar on my abdomen were not so unattractive. My youngest son, Seth was 10 lbs 11 oz and had to be taken cesarean section. Because of his size the incision was vertical rather than horizontal. Many years later due to a benign tumor, that same incision would be reopened. It is a significant scar but I’ve come to the realization that everything we face in life and all of our experiences are framed with perspective.   I can choose to focus on how unattractive this scar is and feel ashamed or I can choose to focus on the fact that this scar resulted in producing the life of an amazing young man that I adore.   This same scar reminds me that God was faithful at a very scary time in my life when doctors were certain something terrible would be found in my body.   In addition, I have another scar on my neck that is a result of my battle with cancer. These scars share a common thread, they all tell a story and they are all framed by the way I choose to view them...

LIFE: Before receiving Christ and committing my life to Him, I had a sense of emptiness. Even when I felt happy, there seemed to be something missing. I always felt there had to be a greater purpose in life. Satisfaction and contentment seemed to elude me. In the bad times the hopelessness seemed almost too much to bear and the sense of aloneness overwhelming. I look back now and realize how thirsty my soul was for a relationship with its Creator. I believed in the existence of God. I believed in the existence of Jesus and even in the existence of the Holy Spirit. But I realize that even the demons believe and they tremble. If I am drowning and someone throws me a life preserver, I have to know how to utilize that life preserver to save my life. If I don't go beyond knowing God exists and arrive at a relationship with Him, I will never fill the emptiness in my heart. The age old question, "What is the meaning of life" is easily answered in the Word of God. We were creat...

Over the 30 plus years I have served the Lord, I have heard Bible verses, quotes and statements made by many believers about growing in grace. However, recently, this idea came alive to me. I am currently enrolled an a theology class being taught by my Pastor. Over the years I have heard him on multiple occasions give the definition of grace (unmerited favor) and even heard him expound on how grace is not a license to sin. Recently, however, he has repeatedly taught us the difference between mercy and grace. Even though they are in some instances very interchangeable, they are two distinct and different characteristics altogether. In rather simple terms, he defines the difference this way: Mercy is what I need when I fail. Grace is what I need so I won't fail. In our theology class last night, Pastor mentioned that the more intimately we are acquainted with Christ, the more grace we receive. I meditated on this for quite some time and of course this makes perfect sense. The mo...

I can remember as a child going to birthday parties and playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey. I didn't particularly like this game because I remember feeling very vulnerable with blindfolded eyes and being spun around and losing all my bearings and sense of stability. To fully surrender and completely trust another with your safety as well as point you in the right direction can be very intimidating.   I have been meditating on this thought lately and how many times in my walk with God, I would not fully surrender. I would feel my plans and my thoughts were better for my life than His. Inevitably, I would find myself in a mess and crying out to God for help. I have come to the realization that I'd rather be in the middle of the most uncomfortable situation and feeling helpless if it's the Lord's will than to be heading on a path of my own desires destined for destruction and less than God has planned for me.   We have all suffered broken trust. Som...