let's have some fun...whatcha say...

I LOVE this time of the year!!!! The Fall is my favorite
season. I love the temperature change. It just makes me
feel good inside! It was mentioned to me the other day
about having fun. This week that thought has been on my
mind...having fun. It had been such a long summer and
things were a bit disappointing and so the season
changed. Praise the Lord!! Yesterday I was able to grab
my camera and take some photos for a friend of her
family. I must say that was so much fun to me. I love
capturing things with my camera. That is something
fun I love.
God has also sent something unexpected my way...
a new friend. There is nothing like it. It's our preacher's
wife. They have three kiddo's that are under our feet
and I love it. The kids call me Aunt M just like my own
do. This summer she asked me to help with the Ladies
Ministry and we had a ball!! This is so much fun to me.
This year God has introduced me to you Girls! I have
loved getting to know you guys and doing life with you.
I have found amazing friends here and faithful prayer
warriors! You my friends are some kind of fun to me!!
Then we have this Amazing amazing Father God in
Heaven Who loves us beyond measure!! To walk out
a day in our life should be about being happy because
we have Him!!! I don't know about you but I'm ready
to have some fun....we are the child of the King...we
are allowed to have some fun!!

moments with Him...

On the mountain top with Jesus...what a wonderful place to be!

It would be nice to stay there forever...wouldn't it?! My thoughts

are here today after reading O. Chambers. Here's what he had to

say...

"We have all had times on the mount, when we have seen things from God's standpoint and have wanted to stay there; but God will never allow us to stay there. The test of our spiritual life is the power to descend; if we have power to rise only, something is wrong. It is a great thing to be on the mount with God, but a man only gets there in order that afterwards he may get down among the devil-possessed and lift them up. We are not built for the mountains and the dawns and aesthetic affinities, those are for moments of inspiration, that is all. We are built for the valley, for the ordinary stuff we are in, and that is where we have to prove our mettle. Spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mount. We feel we could talk like angels and live like angels, if only we could stay on the mount. The times of exaltation are exceptional, they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware lest our spiritual selfishness wants to make them the only time.

We are apt to think that everything that happens is to be turned into useful teaching, it is to be turned into something better than teaching, viz., into character. The mount is not meant to teach us anything, it is meant to make us something. There is a great snare in asking - What is the use of it? In spiritual matters we can never calculate on that line. The moments on the mountain tops are rare moments, and they are meant for something in God's purpose."

I thought about the scripture in Matthew 17 where Peter, James

and John had the amazing chance to be on top of the mountain

when Jesus transfigured before them with Moses and Elijah.

Remember Peter's words..."Lord, it is good for us to be here...".

Oh, yeah Peter it's good to be there and I'd love to stay and

enjoy a longer stay with Him. He and I have work to do down

in the valley. When we discover the rough or the ordinary

time have a purpose it makes it so much easier to put one

foot in front of the other.

I love what Mr. Chamber says about the mountain

top moments are meant to make us something. God please

mold me and make me what You have me be.

a moment in time...

Two friends
Two prayer warriors
With clasped hands tight in urgency
So tight that the feel of heartbeats are felt
Heartbeats of both physical and spiritual
Two hearts crying out for Him
One God Who bends down to hear
Two hearts crying out for Him
One God bends down and touches
Two hearts that are crying out to Him
In urgency they pray
In urgency He responds
m.c.

If you read my last post you'll know that last weekend was a
rough one for me. Like I said in that last post...the thing going
on last weekend is a thing that God has left in my life to remind
me that it's Him I need. Not that we don't need each other
because we do! That's the way God created us. I've been
praying about posting this particular post....some heart to heart
talks require energy. There are just somethings like this that
drain you to walk back through. That's why I decided to take
some time off from blogging to regain some energy from last
weekend. Satan is crazy if he thinks I'm going to forget God
and I already one this thing!!!
I'd like to share first the devotion that God prepared for me
to receive on Monday...yeah the day after I decided to stand
firm in the victory already won....


Please Don't Leave!
Marybeth Whalen

"Do not leave here, I pray You, until I return to You and bring my offering and set it before You. And He said, I will wait until you return."
Judges 6:18 (AMP)

Devotion:
My two year-old daughter has learned a new phrase that tugs at my heart. Whether I am going on a date with my husband, or walking out of the room after putting her to bed, or just running quickly to the library to return books, I hear the same thing: "Mommy, don't leave me!" As she has gotten older and more aware of both my presence and my absence, she is much quicker to express the desperate feeling she experiences when I am not with her. She responds with a heartfelt cry--one that is not unique to a two year-old. Whether we are saying it to our spouse, our children, or our friends, we all know that desperate feeling of not wanting to be left.

It is no different in our walk with God. In the story of Gideon, we see him wrestling with many issues that we wrestle with today. Did God really ask me to do that? Am I capable? Am I worthy? Do I have what it takes? And we see him reacting as I think many of us do. We look to God in the midst of our wrestling and say, just like my two year-old, "Don't leave me while I sort this out!"

The more we walk with Him, the more aware we become of the benefits of resting in His presence. We know what we receive from Him and we crave more. We have felt the warmth of His embrace and we want more time in His lap. We know the power only He can infuse us with and we want to stay connected to that. And yet, as we scurry about in our busy lives, we are likely to look over and accuse Him of leaving us--when really it is the other way around.

I love God's response to Gideon as he desperately cries out for Him not to leave. Very lovingly and patiently God replies, "I'll be right here." I see God saying the same thing to all of us today. As you race to pick up your child at school, you call out over your shoulder, "Don't leave me!" As you rush off to work, your mind filled with the things you need to do, you say to Him, "Please don't leave God!" As you carry out the things He has called you to, needing Him more than ever, He lovingly replies, "Go do what you need to do, and I will be right here." The New American Standard version of this verse says, "I will remain until you return." He is a God who remains.

Gideon's story comforts me not because he went on to fight a victorious battle and become a hero in Israel. Gideon's story comforts me because he knew he needed the Lord and he understood his profound need for God's presence. He experienced an abiding relationship with God that became his foundation and his fortress. I love knowing that when I desperately call out, "Don't leave me!" He will lovingly reply, "I'm not going anywhere." Every time.

I have read the story of Gideon many times...but never caught verse 18.
Each of us has a very unique personality...it's like the color of His creation.
The Psychology major in me wants to tell you about each different one
but we would be here awhile. I think the understanding though of the
different personalities would help us all in our reactions and resposes to
another. Anyway, let's get back to Gideon...;)
The title of this devotion just says it all "Please Don't Leave!"
It just plays across that chord in my heart that plays deep urgency.
The thing God and I walked through was a deep seeded fear of
abandonment. I've always asked and wondered...why this was the
thing I had to walk through. So it was and so I...now...am.
See my Mom passed down to me the thing that was passed down
to her from her mom. A heavy spirit of depression. Not even as
a child do I remember not wearing it. I would go through a whole
school day and not speak a single word...to anyone. Not a teacher
or another student. I had a teacher in the 1st grade that would
get me by the shoulders and literally shake me to answer her.
I was when I became an older teen that I began to pray about this
thing that at first I called shyness. The battle got bad as I entered
my early 20's. If it had not been for my mustard seed size faith
in a mighty God that claimed He loved me I'd never made those
teenage and ealy adult years. It was when I turned 30 that I'd
had all I could handle. That's when the facedown prayers began.
God and I walked hand in hand through many self-help books and
counseling sessions....and we made it.
There were two life changing realizations that came. One was
when I was finally able to forgive my Mom....forgivenss only spoken
in the heart. I tried forgiving her over and over in my heart but it
never came so I could let go. Until I understood the fact that she
couldn't be the "mother" because all she was able to do each day
was keep her head above the water. When I heard God speak that
to my heart...I let go and forgave. And a change began to enter my
life for the first time.
The other thing that happened was a very vivid picture God painted
in my mind oneday. I could see it as clear as a picture I had taken
with my own camera. I saw this 7 or 8 year old girl with long brown
hair that almost touched her waist. She was behind a waist high wall
bent down in the "tornado drill" position. I knew this little girl...she
was me. When that little girl would come home from school some
days her mom would either have her bag backed or talk about doing
it and claim when daddy came home she was leaving. How was that
little girl to know that that day would actually never come. To me it
seemed to be a day that would come it would happen. As God showed
me that little girl....He let me know that I was taking care of everyone...
Mom, sisters and keeping the peace....but that I had forgotten to take
care of me. I was in my late 20's with no friends...in my early 30's with
no family of my own. He helped me start the long journey of opening
up and allowing people to come into my life and love on me. I
described it someone last weekend as this...someone's house burns to
the ground and they build a new one. Then when it's time to move in
they don't decorate it because they are afraid of losing everything
again. There is such a fear isn't it of opening up, investing and trusting
in another.
There is One though that has assured us in His Word that He will never
change and never leave us. I'm so grateful for being brought up in the
church. I never worried about God leaving. I often worry about my
wondering away....if anyone moves it's us.

I pray that if there is something that you and God have walked
through and gained victory over that you/we want allow satan to
shake that knowledge. I pray that if there is something you and
God need to walk through to gain victory over-that you find the
courage and strength to.

Thanks for listening...

In my last post I quoted the third line of the old hymn
Rescue the Perishing. That line was brought to my
attention in a sermon our pastor gave a couple of weeks
ago. I'd like to share some of it with you...


"On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the
synagogues, and a woman was there who had been
crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent
over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus
saw her, he called forward and said to her, "Women
you are set free from your infirmity." Then he put
his hands on her, and immediately she straightened
up and praised God." Luke 13:10-13


The woman had a hurt in her life...a burden, problem
a load. There was a spirit of weakness that was
emotional in nature. Satan had used this weakness
and bound her. She was bound to the point she bent
over and couldn't straighten up. Just like us satan
bends us lower and lower until just as she we reach
the point we are unable to look up and see the blue
sky, a sunset or the eyes of others. When you are in
this shape you can't even see all the wonderful things
He has for you. This state can bring about bitterness,
depression and negativity. She couldn't straighten up,
I can imagine like some of us she had tried so many
times. She had hope though because...it was the
Sabbath day and Jesus was there! She knew He
could meet her need. He touches broken people...
Allow Jesus to touch the broken areas of your life.


Girls, through that whole sermon I was saying in my
heart...Thank You Jesus...Thank You Jesus!!
See I was hearing the story of my life echoing back
through this woman's story. That woman was me
over five years ago. I was in my second year back
in college. At the age of 31 when God and I began
this journey of healing. I want to share with you
how the beginning stage of the journey started. I
knew that I was cycling back through another round.
I knew this time that I couldn't handle another one.
I began to beg and pray at the foot of the church
alter and at the foot of my bed for God to please help
me. The "Faithful Summer" at youth camp...He told
me if I would lay it down this time we would walk it
out. And we did...five long years but we did it.
However, this past weekend satan tried to attack that
area of weakness in my life again. Even though God
and I overcame many things in my life, I think this
area of my life will be the "thorn in my flesh" that
He will leave to remind me that it's Him that I must
depend on.
There were seasons in my life I thought I would
never overcome...but then there was an eye opening
Sabbath day where Jesus came and touch me and
hope became a reality.

I think this past weekend was a wake up for me and
I realized that God is wanting to spend some time
with me...and I've been craving Him too. So if I'm
quiet for the next few days...I'm just going to be
hanging out with my Jesus! I'll be praying for you
while I'm there.....Love you Girls!!!!!

Do you guys remember the Hymn "Rescue the Perishing"?
I never noticed the third line until this week....

"Down in the human heart, Crush'd by the tempter,
Feelings lie buried that grace can restore;
Touch'd by a loving heart, Waken'd by kindness,
Chords that are broken will vibrate once more.
Rescue the perishing, Care for the dying;
Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save."

"Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue;
be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me.
Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake
of your name lead and guide me. Free me from the
trap that is set for me, for you are my refuge.
Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me,
Oh LORD, the God of truth....You have not handed
me over to the enemy but have set my feet in a
spacious place." Ps 31:2-8

All I can say and think tonight is God's Glory!!

Isn't He so amazing!!! I was sharing this with a friend tonight...

I've been so hungry to SEE Him. He is showing up BIG right now

in front of my eyes. My physical eyes and my Spiritual eyes!

Nothing in my circumstances have changed but my spirit is moving

back where it should have never moved from...at His feet, by His side,

behind the shield of Faith...

There is nothing like a fresh rain of Him after a loooong dry spell...is it?!

My friends and Sisters in Faith....I pray He is raining down on you tonight too!