OH BEAUTY OF WINTER ABOUNDS

Oh Beauty of Winter abounds, many times without making a sound.

My Lover, my Lord come dance with me, under the snowed-chiseled trees.

I am your Creation, your own personal manifestation, thank you for my beloved Nation.

I am but a servant of your love, I cry out your message, like a soaring dove.

You are the One and only true God, I desire only you, I thirst for you every day, I seek the morning’s dew.

My beloved, my dearest soul partner and friend, I no longer want to ask you what is beyond the bend.

The bend in my life, that used to cut my heart like a knife, I seek to rest not live in strife.

Rest in your strong and beautiful arms, I will ignore fear’s alarms, and fall in love with your charm.

You ARE the man of my dreams, my every fantasy, please forgive my unjustified pleas.

Thank you for the people you have sent to me that love me back, I have everything I need, I don’t lack.

Oh beauty of Winter abounds, no need to make a sound, I was looking so desperately but I have found.

Found in my Lord Jesus all that my heart had desired and cried for, and to others now I implore.

Don’t knock on future’s door, instead be like a child and wait for what is in store.

For there is so much more for those us who truly believe that the Truth can set you free so you just be.

Set you free like an eagle coasting above still waters, free as can be….oh how free you can be.

That is my plea and desire. So answer the call, invite Him in and He will forget your sin, and you will win.

Win the greatest prize of all…His Amazing Grace. It will erase all your pain and sorrow.

I will meet you all at the summit perhaps today or tomorrow, but don’t fret, God isn’t done yet.

You just met, so ready set go, there is an adventure waiting for you, who knew?

It would be so easy to lay it all down, and instead of wearing a frown, smile for a while.

Smile like a child and relish your moments, your days, your months, your years on Planet Earth.

For it is here that you can stop and say I want rebirth as Spring slowly shows her face.

And the past slow fades away as God Himself writes your present story and the rest He promises to erase.

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ANEW

So the New Year has begun, and some of us have a laundry list of resolutions to pursue. Others of us, take life as it comes, taking each challenge as it comes.  Either way, starting a new year offers fresh beginnings and also a chance to say goodbye to the old.  I personally decided to just reflect what happened in 2016, and promise myself as well as hope that 2017 will be a better year.  A lot happened in 2016 in our world, including voting in a new President for our Country. I am not very political person so I would rather ponder on the word that has been lingering in my mind for the last week: Anew.

What a beautiful thought this word generates in me. It makes me recall a verse that got me through the hard times of 2016. It’s Psalm 30: “Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.”  Yes I did a lot of crying this past year.  I mourned over a lot of things, but this verse kept me strong because I knew that this time of hardship would not last forever. “For change is the only constant in life,” as Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher stated thousands of years ago, and it is true!I I have faith that the season I have been living in and enduring this past year will soon end and a new dawn will be upon me.  It is written in Isaiah 58:8: “Then your light will break out like the dawn, And your recovery will speedily spring forth; And your righteousness will go before you; The glory of the LORD will be your rear guard,” The new dawn will be upon many others too, who I know have had not so good of a year either. It was those people, in many cases, where I found the shoulders to cry on, and into the arms of others who were also needing comfort.  I am so grateful that my God heard my weeping and brought forth His presence and Truth.  “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh” (Luke 6:21) There is also no doubt that my truest comfort and healing also came from my faith in my God. Without Him and my close friends and family, I really don’t know if I would have made it out the darkness that I had found myself in.

As I prepare to embark into the new year, I came to some realizations that now I know who really are my friends and people who genuinely care for me. They are the people that are there to offer you shelter, an umbrella, a raincoat, whatever you need to survive your trials. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance” (Romans 5:3) I certainly don’t diminish my Facebook friends, who give me “likes” on my posts or send me occasional texts. That is fine in most cases and I am grateful for that.  But when you are really suffering beyond all knowing, reflect back.  Who was offering you to pray for you, cry with you, listen to you, pick the phone up, yes pick it up and call you to see if you are ok.  “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4) Please “get me” again. I am not complaining.  I am very thankful for all my friends that do stay connected with me in some matter or another.  But, I am making this point because I gained insight into this part of my life, when I was meditating on the word anew. I got it that maybe I need to clean out my Facebook and my phone of some people that for whatever reason have moved on and so have I.  And with that said, I send a prayer out to them that their new year be filled with great health, joy and prosperity. “Now turn back and go in peace” (1 Samuel 29:7). It’s the same thing as cleaning out your closets at home of old things in order to make room for new things. Or even better, giving your old clothes to Goodwill and go out and buying some new outfits.  Fresh starts are really refreshing to the soul.  After all when the rubber meets the road, as a believer we are to embrace newness.  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

These are some of the things that came to mind when I thought about the word anew. I also took a real look at myself, and found that I had some attitudes that I needed to replace, because they were effecting me in a negative way and also the people around me.  It is hard to change your ways, especially if you been wearing them like an old, familiar coat.  But with a new year ahead I pray that I will be able to shift how I perceive life as it comes thru the lens of love “Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:8).  I also hope that with any problems or challenges that come my way, I will step out of the way and let God manifest a miracle thru them. And lastly, build up my faith in my Lord again, that He knows what He doing, in regards to me and my life, and that by putting my faith and trust in Him, He will do what is best for me.  “He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20).  So Happy New Year to everyone and may we all experience the newness of 2017 with great expectation, health, joy and prosperity. And so it is, Amen.

GRACE

Grace is such a delicate yet a strong word I would say. When I think about it and how it is usually used it brings to mind, gratefulness.  A word that flourishes in the sphere of the word grace. We might as well include gratitude as well.  I guess what I am tryng to lead into is how powerful the word grace can be.  If only we exercised its power more often, I think we would be amazed at the outcome of it in our lives and those around us.  First we need to keep in mind what the definition of grace is.  It means to get something that you do not deserve; unmerited favor.  The most obvious example of that is what Jesus did for us at the cross so we can reap the benefits of being His believers.  “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

But let us be reminded now of some of the other places God shows his grace. In 2 Corinthians 12:9 it says, “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” What a powerful picture phrase.  Every word draws for us a sense of inner assurance that when you are weak God is strong.  So when things don’t go your way, rest in His grace.  When you don’t get the job you wanted, rest in His grace.  When you are having troubles at home, rest in His grace.  You would think it would be simple to do, but what stops us is our fear of letting go of the control and accepting the outcome of our situation to just be.  Just be.  Oh God, how I yearn to be able to do just that.  Oh how I yearn to just rest in His strong, loving arms and let Him do a work thru me.  It can be done. I have met people who live their lives in a state of daily gratitude.  It is amazing to see. They have such a peace about them, such grace to be frank.  And my yearning for that kind of life, places me close to my God so I can learn from others on how to do just that.

So I kneel down and put my face to the floor and envision myself before the thrown of God, for it is written in Hebrews 4:16 “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” There is that word grace again and again.  That is really in a nutshell what we are talking about here. We are in constant need of this in our lives.  When we get this then when trouble ensues us, or calamity succumbs we can withstand it because strength is at hand and at work on our behalf. 

Now my closing thoughts which cannot go without saying, and will lead me to the obvious. The grace of the birth of our Savior.  To think that God would choose an innocent gracious young virgin to bear his only begotten son, so that He can come into this world and shower us with His grace.  So that we in turn can be forever grateful for His love and mercifulness upon mankind.  What an amazing feat of mercy, a fearless act of the kind of grace, that had to be present in that manger and for all who were there to behold it.  Thanks be to God for his mercifulness for Him to do what He did for us.  So, show mercy my friends, to your Enemies, to the stranger that gave you a dirty look on the street, for the manager that didn’t promote you, to your family members that have hurt you, and most importantly to the person looking back at you in the mirror.  In the name of Grace, just do it and you will find a freedom that cannot be described.  Do it daily, do it every moment of the day.  Your warning sign that you are not exercising gratitude in your daily life, is you will feel the evilness of unforgiveness creeping into the crevices of your heart which is an enemy to grace: God’s merciful gift to you. Remember Hebrews 12:15 says, “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.” Thank you for being one of my readers, I am grateful. Merry Christmas.  And so it is, AMEN.

BE STILL

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When I often think of those words, I think how hard it is to implement them into my daily routine. “Be still, and know that I am God,” (Psalm 46:10) doesn’t necessarily mean, don’t move, don’t take action.  I think it means quite the contrary.  If there is a storm raging around you, standing still while it wreaks havoc in your life is not how you are going to survive it.  You have to be still for a few seconds perhaps to access the best escape route or action that will guarantee your safety. But in less threatening situations, such as a broken heart, which believe me, feels like the end of the world, or the loss of a job is also the end of the world, you have to be still enough to rationally decide what is going to be your plan of action.

I recently have found myself in a predicament, much of which was caused by my own demises. Demises I know is a very finite word, but right now it really suites the situation I have found myself in.  No one else is to blame for it, no unforeseen disaster befell on me. I was the cause of it all.  And I am absolutely devastated because of it.  I wish I could blame someone else, I wish I could point the finger at someone else but that won’t work.  All I can do is be still and own it.  Go thru it and wait till the dust has settled.

Sure I want to run away from the fallout but I can’t. I can’t say “hey, “it’s not as bad as it seems, when it is.”  But you know, we have all heard of others who have had it so worse.  People who have lost their children to unforeseen diseases, or people coming home to what is left of their home after a devastating fire.  Or even more heart rendering, expecting your loved one to come home from a tour defending our Country but instead getting a visit from someone with foreboding news.  My predicament is truly peanuts to those sort of situations.  That is why I am being still.  Because I know it could be worse.  And I also have been here before. This is not my first time down this familiar road with all its treacherous steep slopes and dead ends.

I guess what my message is, is that if you don’t have the answer to your dilemma or question or hardship, someone out there has been there and has done it and has survived. When the storm finally has settled, have the courage to step out into the light and take a look at the consequences of your actions, someone else’s or something out of your control.  The solution will surface.  It will unveil itself.  I for one, am still waiting for the dust to settle.  “Then I will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything I can understand” (Philippians 4:7) and I will be ready to listen.  It’s not always easy to hear the answer to our why, especially in the cases where we were the culprit, we were the guilty party in what happened to us. Tears come to my eyes because I feel the pain I have caused myself and those close to me.  But I know that the answer, the solution is quite simple but I it is so hard to step into it.  When I do, I will discover what I knew all along; it’s forgiveness.  Gosh forgiveness is the answer.  Forgiveness you say?  Yes Forgiveness!

Forgive the storm that destroyed your home, forgive the war that your son or daughter fought in and didn’t come home. Forgive the things you did that devastated your marriage, forgive the things you did that almost destroyed you completely.  If you are still long enough, the power that gives you the ability to forgive WHATEVER it may be will well up inside you like a spring of warm, soothing water.  That well is Love.  “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18), can defeat anything this world tries to come up with to destroy you or me.  Love settles the storms, soothes the wounds, and heals hearts.  It has the power to restore anything we destroy or the world destroys.  How it restores doesn’t always look the way we want but it will always be for our better good.  And the silver lining usually offers multitudes of lessons learned and blessings.

So start small, take a little dose of Love like a healing balm, place it on the wounds deep in your heart and forgive. Start with yourself.  So having said that, I step out of the darkness of my own doom and gloom and whisper the simple words “I forgive you,” to the woman looking back at me in the mirror.  Give it a try even if you don’t feel like it.  If you have any “what ifs” or “if only I did” haunting you, you deserve the first of many forgiveness’s. Make room for the miracle of Love to step in and start healing you and your circumstances.  You are worth it!  And so it is, Amen.

 

FEAR NOT

Often times people view fear as a negative emotion and for the most part it is. But, it also has a flip side.  It can motivate you to take action in a situation that you have been putting off.  Or it may give someone the courage to change something in their lives that is manifesting dismay.  Either way, I recently figured out in my own life, that I have been viewing fear in just a negative way.  It has made me move into freeze mode and had disabled me from doing certain things in my life that require my attention.

Fear has become my bedfellow to some degree. I have been going to bed with it and waking up with it.  Now I know that I have to do something about it or my life will be profoundly affected.  I am currently dealing with some health issues and at the same time my father is getting treatment for prostate cancer.  At first I was shocked and I couldn’t believe that cancer had found its way into my family’s life.  I have been so weakened by my own tribulations that I had nothing left to utilize and cope with my father’s situation.  Since then, I have been going back and forth with fear chasing after me and making my hardships greater than they need to be.  In Isaiah 41:10 God guarantees the following: “fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”  I found this verse AFTER God put on my heart the two words, “Fear Not.”  But, as you can see the entire verse holds such power and reassurance.

As a single person, it is sometimes really hard to see past our marital status. There are days you really yearn for the companionship of a mate.  In my case, a lot of my fear stems from this.  But, I have to believe what the Word of God says clearly and plainly.  He will uphold me with His righteous hand.  Oh how I have prayed for peace in this area of my life.  In fact, recently I let go of my hope in God having someone for me.  It was draining me and inserting fear into my heart.  Fear has no place in our hearts!

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear,” is what is stated for us in 1 John 4:18. I have realized with my bouts with fear and worry I have come to know God more and it has moved me to submerge myself in His Mighty Truths.

Lastly, I am reading positive books along with the Bible, for there are a lot of wise people out there with wonderful things to share. Just today I was reading in one of my books that the only way we can experience miracles in our lives is to shift our perception to love and think about situations in a miracle-minded way.  In order to do that I have to allow God to cast out of my life the fear that has consumed me.  Instead of viewing the situations in my life, is to ask God to help me see the predicaments that I am faced with differently. And so it is, Amen.

WALKING IN YOUR OWN SHOES

“Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.” ~Buddha~

“We stumble and fall constantly even when we are most enlightened.  But when we are in true spiritual darkness, we do not even know that we have fallen.” ~Thomas Merton~

Lately I found myself wondering what it would be like to walk in someone else’s shoes. The thoughts I pondered didn’t last, because I can only walk in my own shoes.  But as I pass by other wanderers, I realize I am not alone in this journey. Most of us are just trying to find our way to that place that is meant just for us.  Some of us have become numb and disenchanted because of what life has thrown at us.  Living life from a spiritual level can be hard, but it is really the only true way. One of the biggest things I have realized, is that the mind and body are so easily misguided. We are not our minds, and our bodies just encase our spiritual beings so we can fulfill our Divine purpose on this Earth. This truth may seem profound at first but it is what it is. Our Spirits are well protected within us and hold the compass that can lead us out of any storm or tribulation and into the light. Yes, we can only wear are own shoes.  Who has time to try on somebody else’s?  But look around us…we are all interconnected spiritually.

Sometimes enlightenment comes upon an individual, group, community, or organization suddenly.  When it happens we just “get it.” It can be a revelation about a company we work for. We may go to our job one day and realize we have been working for thieves. We may be part of an organization that is supposed to be helping our community, but instead is a front for money laundering.  I am not suggesting that every awakening reveals negative circumstances, but the reality is that our world has lost touch with the essence of why we are here to begin with. We were designed to be Lovers. Lovers of Mankind and the Earth we live in. When we activate our Spirit, we gain the guidance, knowledge and power to change the course we are on. If we ignore it, and let our mind, which is just a computer regurgitating data regardless if it true, ethical or morally sound, we get lost.  If we allow it, our mind will rationalize a situation to the point of utter disgust, and we will be left with a complete sense of confusion and our personal power will be diffused.

As human beings we cannot waste even a second on something or someone that is only out to steal and destroy us. When it comes to our mind, it’s not at fault. It is just doing its job whether it is corrupt or not. The great news is we are the gatekeepers. We need to do a daily dump of the negative things we collect in the form of judgements, assumptions, accusations and countless other forms of trash. If we don’t, our minds will just keep using what it has, and throw out conclusions that we assume are true and are based on skewed facts.  So many of us think we are “aware” of what we are doing and that we are in control, but the reality is that we have bought into a lie.  We all have at one or more points in our lives.  If and when we do, we are acting according to what our minds and bodies are telling us to do.  We are behaving no differently than a typical animal. We can “think out” and rationalize our decisions and actions to the point where we resort to doing whatever it takes to “survive.”

Self-preservation is not the problem. It is how we go about it.  No spirit-led person would ever do anything that opposes the Law of Love.  If we allow God to speak to our Spirits and actually take the time to listen, we are guaranteed 100% that the guidance we receive will only promote Love and prosperity for ourselves and our fellow beings. Regardless of the sacrifice we may have to make, ultimately it is about being able to wake up every day and say YES to Life and no to death. You can be breathing, talking, texting, walking, going to board meetings, playing with your kids but still be “dead.”

We were designed for such greatness, and how we respond to each other will control the destiny of our lives. The choice is always ours. Free will is a God-given gift, but very few of us know how to control it and use it to our advantage so we can further the progress of our lives and humanity.  We are being called on a universal level to STOP and ask ourselves, “When will I begin making it more than just about me?” Let us join together in the movement that we deeply need, in order to continue to generate progress on all levels of life for ourselves and each other.  It is an invitation that is extended to us all, in all situations that we find ourselves in every day…all it takes is a willing heart!