You just never know. When you least expect it!

That title is so true. I bet there isn’t a person alive who hasn’t said it or whose life isn't shaped by its meaning.

Every day when I open my laptop and look at the desktop articles, I come face to face with so many changes in our world. None of us knows what any new day will hold. We think we do and that we control our lives, but in reality, we don't.

One unexpected challenge, one other person’s decision affecting our life, one national event opening a whole life-changing set of events we can't control. The list goes on and on. You can probably add some of your own personal surprises. Health issues, financial issues, family issues, accidents, slips or falls, careless actions, things that you cannot take back. Or one moment in time that you’ll reap the consequences of for the rest of your life or the life of someone else.

Reality is a hard place to live sometimes. We have to face it head-on. Ignoring it or hoping it will go away only prolongs the pain. I think the times in my life that I fought what was happening took me so much longer to overcome.

Aging—My aging has taught me so many things. I’m not at all the person I was. In so many ways I’m glad that younger me is gone—or most of her.

I woke up this morning thinking about the friend who introduced me to the Lord. Our lives were joined by God’s plan. Although at the time, I don’t think either of us knew it. It was quite unexpected. I was a hairdresser then, new to the town and trying to build a clientele. Some days I sat for hours with nothing to do. The tension and frustration grew. Then one Friday afternoon I answered the phone and a woman introduced herself as Geri Greer. She worked out at the boys’ ranch, and she needed to find someone to do her hair on Fridays. It would take her about 30 minutes to get here, but she would become a regular.

My first thought was not positive. That meant sitting all day if business stayed so slow and then being late picking up my son every Friday. That didn't look like an option for my dilemma. But for some reason I agreed.

Sure enough, most Fridays Geri was 30 to 35 minutes late arriving. But the crazy thing was that we hit it off from the start. Her personality was the complete opposite of mine. I was negative, constantly frustrated, and often angry deep down inside. Long story short, we became hard and fast friends.

I watched her life like a Hawk. She had three kids, and I had one. We joined our families. But where I was moody and irritated most of the time, Geri was happy-go-lucky and wasn’t always a second away from loading the bullet like I was.

One day I couldn’t stand it anymore and asked her point blank, “Geri, what is wrong with you? How can you be so happy about everything?”

I was expecting any answer other than the one she gave me. A smile spread even wider over her face, and she said, “Sue, I have a hot one to heaven!”

Needless to say, a four-letter word came out of my mouth, and I groaned in even greater frustration. My dear friend was about to try and sell me on religion. But that wasn’t the case, and she made it very clear. She wasn’t trying to sell me anything. She was telling me about her relationship with Jesus.

I’d known ABOUT God but hadn’t heard of Jesus. But at the moment, not only was I even more frustrated, when another of the Trinity showed up—The Holy Spirit. Although it wasn’t a short period of time, I’ll shorten it here.

The Holy Spirit went to work on me, and He would not give an inch. Every single day and night now, He had been unleashed on me, and I couldn’t get away from the hounding feelings. Geri tried to give me all the help she could, but she knew this was something I had to deal with on my own. Finally, the struggle ended in my bed at around two in the morning.

I literally said out loud, “OKAY! OKAY! I give in! If you want my life, you can have it. But first you have to make me two promises. First, that you will never leave me or forsake me.”

I had been left and forsaken so many times in my life that I didn’t think I could stand one more. And if this thing of giving one’s life over to God was real, then this was my last chance to ever change.

That night, the Holy Spirit filled me with His presence, and I became a Christian. The next night, when I walked into Geri’s kitchen, the first thing I said to her was, “Geri, what does it feel like to become a Christian? Because I think I did last night.”

Her eyes filled with tears and she said, “Sue, I knew something had changed when you came in tonight.”

And the rest is history. It would take a much longer post to tell you everything God has done in my life since that night. Deep, deep internal healing. Mental and emotional healings, even physical healings. I am NOT the same person I was 54 years ago. And the Holy Spirit is still changing me.

So why was this brought back to my mind when I woke up today? Because I was thinking about someone I know whose life needs this same thing to happen to them, but it looks unlikely. Whatever happened to them in childhood or even today, they are so in need of God. But they resist every single attempt anyone makes to share anything with them. And the worst thing is they believe that they ARE saved because God loves everyone, and there's no way he is going to send anyone to hell. They truly believe this!

I’ve prayed so much for this person, wondering if there is even one small opening that the Holy Spirit can get through and bust them wide open. In my heart, I know that it’s not the Holy Spirit failing; it's them. Has their heart hardened with a lie to the point that every day they grow more and more resistant to God? It's more than sad. It’s tragic.

There’s a life that they have no idea is waiting for them to just give the Holy Spirit one minute, one second of surrender, and their life will change beyond their imagination.

I know… because it happened to me. And not just me-millions of other people. So why are they so hard?

So, I’m going to ask the Precious Holy Spirit to quicken the title of this posting for me…You just never know. When you least expect it!

I bless you.

I’ve never been a PROTESTOR!

Let me start with a disclaimer concerning my title. All my life, I have never joined any picket line, marched waving a sign for some right I think is being violated, or anything else that would cause me to join a public mob. I’m just not that kind of person.

Maybe if you are a “cause fighter,” you would accuse me of letting others do all the fighting. Maybe you would be right. But you would be asking me to do something that I am not personally wired to do. I believe people who hit the streets moments after and continue to camp out have what I call “an in-your-face personality.” To explain myself one more way, if I got pulled over when I drove, instantly, when that police officer walked up to my door: They represent authority to me!

These people who won’t roll down their windows and instantly start shouting their rights, refuse to step out of the car, on and on; to me, they are in the wrong.

They are causing themselves a trip to jail, in my opinion. Even the police will say to them as they are handcuffing them and putting them in the back of the cop car, “all you had to do was just cooperate.” Most of the time, there is alcohol or drugs involved. This is not a world you will ever find me in.

So now let me talk about what is on my mind and perhaps most people's minds who listen to the news. My first remark is that, even though I’m not a marcher, I do spend a lot of time in prayer about the issues of the world that I feel compelled to address. I try very hard to give over my opinion to the Lord and ask Him to guide my thoughts.

In the matter of the Clancy trial, I’ve had my sleep and daily life invaded by a lot of thought and prayers. I knew before I made any remarks one way or the other, I had to look at this woman, and as hard as it is to forgive someone who has done such an unimaginable, inhumane thing as this, God says that we are to forgive. None of us deserves forgiveness, but all of us can be unconditionally forgiven by God.

According to what I did listen to, there is no argument that Clancy is guilty of killing her three precious children. The WHY is what has been at the top of the deliberations.

It might be cherry-picking on my part, but these things would have convinced me of my verdict.

I think Clancy is very intelligent.

She did her homework.

She withheld important information from those trying to treat her illness.

She threw in hearing “a male voice” with vague instructions. It seemed like a last-minute idea to help her mental condition.

One minute she’s a functioning person making normal choices and decisions with no evidence of what her defense has tried to present as severe psychosis.

She seemed to pick and choose when she wanted to present as having a problem and when she might have been tired of keeping up the front. I think this was absolutely premeditated when the time came. She got her husband out of the house. Lengthened his time away with the phone call to go to CVS.

She knew when and how she was going to kill her children. There was no voice during this time giving her exact instructions.

Her attempts to kill herself were lame. She knew exactly where and how deep to make the cuts; she did neither. All of this was documented and confirmed by professionals.

It could have ended in the bedroom. By the time her husband got back, she would have bled out or been close to it.

Dropping from a second-story window, in my opinion, would not assure death. And it didn’t.

 Her interactions, once she realized that her plan had failed for her: she requested a lawyer. Her concern for her children's safety was secondary. The only reason, in my mind, that she even asked about them was: if her entire plan failed, what would she be convicted of going forward?

I’m sorry, but when I look at her, I see a very smart, manipulative individual. I think she took in a lot of people. If she was so tired of life and supposed to have loved her children so much, why didn’t she just take her own life? In Clancy’s case, what differs from other women who killed their children is that there were many voices either convincing them of demon possession that needed cleansing or some other constant verbal agitation. Clancy’s voice was one and done.

The needed assurance of timing, found by googling and calling to confirm the time she would need, is absolutely premeditated.

The main thing in my mind as I see her sitting in that wheelchair is the one thing she didn’t plan on. Forgive me, I’m not usually a suspicious person, but somewhere in me, I think that one day there will be a news report about feelings miraculously returning to her legs.

My summary:

I won't be marching in a pink shirt cheering for this woman who brutally killed her precious children. So, I asked myself, trying to put myself in that basement, asking this question: “How could a mother squeeze the life out of her little children while watching them fight for their lives until they stopped? There had to be some level of momentary insanity. To do it not once but three times goes beyond everything that is holy and moral. So, any argument that anyone would present to me that she was this loving mother goes completely away.

Finally, I’ve been called for jury duty but wasn't picked. So, I admit I don’t know the full intensity of serving. But being at the point we are at right now, with a hung jury that didn’t ask to see any of the evidence that might have cleared up what was keeping them from being in total agreement, is “fishy.” I could be wrong, but given the magnitude of this case, is it easier to declare a hung jury and walk away without being the 12 who ended up voting?

Again, this is only my opinion. I completely understand that jurors have to give up their lives for a brief, if not longer, time. This jury went home each night and swore that they didn’t listen to or watch ANY news that would have influenced them. To my knowledge, they are not 12 blind and deaf people. Lastly, I would definitely find her guilty of manslaughter.

One last thing that needs saying. I realize that these 12 people have to go on in their lives. No matter how much has been done to hide their identity, you know it will leak out either nationally or within their neighborhoods. And depending on why they voted, there will be “crazies” who make death threats or harass them.

So, yes, I can completely have compassion on any set of jurors in this day and age because we are living in a different era.

Regardless of all this, I pray that the majority will lay aside the mother’s guilt and her future and prayerfully remember those three sweet lives that were lost. THEY have been overlooked. That to me is the true tragedy.

After all is said and done, and every issue brought to the world’s attention, the bottom line is that we, as a people, have to do better!

I bless you

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hidden for a purpose.

I hardly know where to start this posting. So many things are running through my mind that have shaped my life lately. First, you never know what a day will bring. I’m sure you have heard that before and have had it be a reality in your life.

The good things we can handle and are often welcomed, but the not-so-good things are harder. Recently, a friend reappeared in my life who was supposed to have been here for me when I moved to Florida. We spent maybe 5 times together before she dropped out of my life. It hurt. It confused me. It broke my heart to know that she could do that to me.

I went to God. I held on while the waves kept trying to pull me under. Finally, one day He lifted me into that rowboat I was so desperately in need of. It’s amazing when you get to the end of yourself and put everything in God’s hands that the light begins to come into your situation.

When I moved here, I prayed that my relationship with God would become more real and deeper than ever before. That He would become number one in my life.

Well, guess what, in order for that to happen, He had to move the number one person I was depending on OUT of my life first. To clear the way for my prayer to begin to happen, my friend had to go.

I won’t go into great detail about what was going on in her life that caused her to decide to step away from me, but hearing about all of it now with her return—it all makes sense. She was drowning in her own life. I might have thought that I was a casualty, but really I was the easiest to set aside. She knew she could walk away from at least one of the problems she was dealing with and trusted our friendship.

I sat listening to her tell me all that had transpired since she left. Believe me when I tell you it was MORE than a plate full, and it's not all over yet. Some of the major things have been resolved, but the residue still needs to be dealt with.

After our conversation that night, I heard the Lord speaking very clearly to me. “Susan, I allowed it for two reasons. You prayed for it, and I saved you from having to be in the middle of things that you couldn’t do anything about.”

What was a terrible disappointment and heartbreak, now with understanding, became a blessing. It took me about four months to come to the first realization that God had hidden me away here to become my closest friend—just like I asked. It humbles me to know how much God loves me, and with all the billions and billions of people in this world, he wants to be with me.

It's hard to understand God's presence because we can’t see Him. Everything about Christianity is based on faith. You have to believe. But the more you do believe, the more God gives you a sense of His presence in such a real way that you just know when you are hearing Him, and He has drawn you near to Himself.

Maybe you feel like you are alone or forgotten. I’ve been there too. Let me suggest that you take a deep breath and allow yourself to think that maybe it's not that you are alone, but God has hidden you so that He can become everything to you.

Yes, we need people, and God is the one who said that it was not good for man to be alone. But He wants to be FIRST in our lives. If we trust His wisdom and love, we’ll find that being hidden away has a purpose. And when you least expect it, that day will come, and you’ll see the full picture.

As always, I bless you.

 

 

Here today and gone tomorrow…

I’m sure you have heard this phrase at some time in your life. We apply it to all sorts of things: seasons, gardens, jobs, and various other things.

But the greatest one that we all will have participation in is—death. I went to the memorial service of the father of a friend of mine the other day. I went to show respect and love. I hadn’t met her father, but I was soon to get a vivid picture of who the man was.

She was given the joy of sharing memories about her father; I listened intently as she began to paint a picture of a man who was a father in every aspect of the title. My mind was listening, but my heart was trying to avoid the stirring feelings as I heard her words.

Her father was an incredible person. She started with his early childhood, talking about stories he shared with her and her siblings. Some were humorous, and somehow he wondered how he made it through those years. He suffered more than his share of childhood dings and dents. His lust for life put him in precarious situations that perhaps most boys his age would have avoided. But he made it through and became a young man with new desires and dreams.

One of which was to join the military. It’s one of the often-told stories of being underage and having to have a parent sign for them—which his mother did. His father, as it turned out, wasn’t too happy about the decision.

But the military helped him grow up, and he shuffled through a mixture of jobs. Settling on driving supplies to the soldiers. It was very evident as my friend shared these stories that her father was a dedicated giver.

He found the Lord in mid-life and felt the need to serve even more. It became his lifelong pursuit. What stuck in my mind was how he treated his children. Here was a father who actually loved his children, played with them, laughed with them, and gave of himself to them.

I didn’t have such a father. To this day, whenever I see a man loving his little girl, it amazes me. Yes, most men want a son, but there is something in the eyes of a man who looks at his little girl as a prize he won in life! My friend’s father was such a man.

I came home and was surprised by the lingering feelings that followed me even into my sleep. I kept thinking—this man is gone. Not to sound morose, but he was cremated. So, I guess you could say that he isn’t completely physically gone. That’s not making light of the fact that he will never be gone because of the legacy of his life he left behind in memories with those who loved and knew him.

But what bothered me throughout the night was the fact that one day we are here and the next we are gone physically. I thought about the millions of people that I have no idea even existed.  Of course, some famous individuals did something significant enough in this world that they are still being remembered to this day. We who interacted with those who have passed away are the only ones who remember that that person existed.

Going to a funeral makes you think about who will remember you when it’s your time to leave this world. I wondered how many people lived such a solitary life that there was not a soul who remembered that they even existed. I’m sure there are cases where this happened. They were here today and gone tomorrow without a single person remembering that they too once were a living, breathing human being. I thought that no matter what the lifestyle, whether a loved friend or a lifelong hidden-from-the-world person, there is a void. But voids never last. Something always fills a void-life goes on.

Leaving this world will be the same for all of us. It will be like a door opening; we walk through it, and it closes, and we never come back. It’s the memories we make by interacting with others that, even in the smallest circle, we say we were here.

As a Christian, I know that this life is only a brief one. Whether I’m remembered by even a few, that’s not the end of me. My friend’s father laid aside his earthly housing, walked through that door, and is physically gone.

You and I will do that very same thing one day. If you don’t know the Lord, then there is a big difference between us. I have someone waiting on me to walk through the other side of that door who will welcome me home. It’s where I started, and it’s where I will eventually go back to. The Word says that we were all with Him before the foundation of the world.

You might not believe that you existed with God before you existed here. One way or the other, you will end up standing back before God.

It’s always my prayer that someone who stumbles upon my blog will be convicted of their need for salvation. Maybe today it will be you.

I bless you.

 

 

Harboring an offense…

Have you ever woken up feeling happy and ready to enjoy your day, only to get hit with an unexpected offense out of the blue? One of those things someone says or does that you were not expecting. Wham! It hits you right in that vulnerable spot that you didn’t think you still had.

As a Christian, God has done an incredible work in me. It’s taken 54 years, and there’s more work to do. No one will ever be perfect this side of Heaven. But, when I realize how much God has healed me of in my emotions and attitudes, I am SO grateful!

One of the crazy parts of what happens when we are offended is that it can be by the smallest thing. Satan comes at us and hits us in our most vulnerable spot. That one “word” spoken by someone, whether friend or foe, can turn into a festering boil inside of us.

Such was what happened to me this morning. This is going to sound silly, but it goes to show that no matter what is said or done, it can reach into us, and we find ourselves slipping from joy to mulling over an offense all day if we are not careful.

I recently made a purchase I probably shouldn’t have, on a whim. For that, I take full responsibility. But I decided to right the wrong of my spontaneous purchase and list it in the community Newsletter. Because of my love of writing, I wrote what I thought was a humorous ad that would at least bring a smile to someone’s face, even if they weren’t interested in buying the article.

I submitted it and waited in anticipation for the Newsletter to come as it does every Thursday morning. Well, here is where that sinister dart found its mark. The ad I wrote was NOT what they printed. They took my creative description and boiled it down to three lines. They might as well have said, “Dead cat for sale, call this number.” That was about as exciting, or should I say would have been more exciting.

They simply said what the item was, what I was hoping to sell it for, and a number to call. When I read it all, all I could think was, “Why?” Maybe they thought all the other descriptive additions were just for their information? Maybe they don’t consider the FOR SALE section of the Newsletter a place for anyone to display their sense of humor?

Needless to say, it stung! Now what am I supposed to do? Within a few minutes of waking up with joy and anticipation of my day with the Lord, I have now been offended, and it’s all I can think about.

Do I want to email this person and tell them exactly what they did? YES! Do I think I deserve to have my say in the matter? Yes! Will I send my poison-darted email to this person, thinking that I’ll get closure? NO! Most likely, it will cause me even more pain and humiliation when they repost my ad with their comments.

So I came here, to my safe place. But first went to the Lord asking HIM to help me forgive this person through whom the offense came. I don’t want to carry this in my heart. I rarely run into this person where I live, and don’t want the OLD Sue to rear her ugly head and be rude to them. The sad part is that the people who are doing the offending most of the time have no idea they have wounded someone.

We are told to forgive those who offend us. That’s not easy on your own. I know because for years I could dredge up offenses like a net full of fish! I can’t afford to let this continue today. As I have gotten older, the Holy Spirit has helped me let go of so many things because if I don’t, it breaks my fellowship with the Lord, and NOTHING is worth that!

My heart goes out to anyone reading this post who has been offended and has allowed it to turn into a painful, poisonous boil in their heart and mind. Please, if you know the Lord, ask Him to help you let it go. If you don’t know the Lord, then this is a good time to come to Him, and let His love and forgiveness bring salvation to your life. I can’t think of a better outcome for being offended than being turned into one of the most Glorious decisions in your life.

I bless you!

Do you know that God knits?

I am a crafter. I’ve loved all kinds of crafts, but one day the Lord asked me to narrow down my creativity. Of course, writing was no. 1. When I looked at the boxes full of unfinished crafts, I realized that I started all of them with great intentions of finishing them, but I didn’t.

But writing books has been what I go back to and complete them as God gives me the stories. So I boxed up all the many crafts and donated them to a thrift shop. It was hard to do, I have to admit. But once I decided that writing held my heart, I could give the other things away, hoping that someone would finish them and have great joy in doing so. But God finishes what he creates. He knits. Yes, he actually does knit. Here is proof of it.

Psalms 139: 13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit them together in my mother’s womb. 14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous—and how well I know it. 15 You were there while I was being formed in utter seclusion! 16 You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your book! 17-18 How precious it is, Lord, to realize that you are thinking about me constantly! I can’t even count how many times a day your thoughts turn toward me. And when I wake in the morning, you are still thinking of me!

Isn’t that amazing?! When I read this scripture, my creative mind can see God kiting every part of us. He fashioned each one of us to be uniquely perfect. When no one else had laid eyes on us, God saw every detail while He finished us. But that’s not the end of His loving attention to every detail about us.

Read this again.

How precious it is, Lord, to realize that you are thinking about me constantly! I can’t even count how many times a day your thoughts turn toward me. And when I wake in the morning, you are still thinking of me!

Maybe you are feeling alone in your life right now. Maybe you wonder if anyone even sees you. God does!

When we become a Christian, and the Holy Spirit moves into our lives as teacher, guide, and helper, God’s focus becomes even greater. He loves being my friend. He loves spending every moment with me. I think there are times when I don’t see myself as precious or appreciate the fact that I am God's workmanship. But God continues to admire his handiwork, which I am.

Think about that. Have there been times that you made something with your own hands and stepped back and thought how perfect of a job you did? Well, that’s what God does with us. He looks lovingly at us, admiring his handiwork. God doesn’t make anything imperfect. When he fashions each one of us the way he does, he sees us as perfection.

I don’t know if God used knitting needles when He knits us, but He certainly loves what He creates. I hope today that I will look not only at myself but also at everyone I encounter and see us all as God’s handiwork.

I pray today that you will believe that God sees you right now, no matter where you are, and if you have not welcomed Him into your life, would you accept His salvation?

I bless you.

If you love to read, perhaps you would go check out what I have finished of my writing. Each book will open up the door to characters, places, and stories that God wrote through me.

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Susan-Todd/author/B0082D161E?ref=ap_rdr&shoppingPortalEnabled=true&ccs_id=1ebb91f4-2949-4faf-8904-7635a841bf26

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Unbelievable!!

Well, here I am at last posting something new. I’ve had a few things floating around in my mind and spirit, but never could nail any of them down until today.

Recently, I have been reediting all my books. It’s hard to open them and see that there are so many things underlined in red, especially since I thought that I had edited them so well before. I have never been a good speller and admit to not having a handle on grammar either. But that hasn’t kept me from writing.

I always thought how strange that God gave me such a desire to write a book, and yet I am so poor at being good at these two highly needed skills. I guess just admitting to my fault will help any readers to forgive my mistakes.

One of the books that I have just finished reediting again is Living in My God-Given Square.  https://www.amazon.com/stores/SusanTodd/author/B0082D161Eref=ap_rdr&shoppingPortalEnabled=true&ccs_id=1ebb91f4-2949-4faf-8904-7635a841bf26

It’s about my life and how the Lord has healed so many emotional hurts that I endured because of what other people deposited into my life.

I live in a Christian community, so I guess that I take it for granted that other people living here have a similar relationship with the Lord as I do. Believe me, I am NOT perfect, nor do I think that my relationship with God lacks more work. God will never be through with any of us until we step into Heaven.

I guess when I’ve had the opportunity to share things about my life with someone I’ve met here, I’m amazed at how quizzically they look at me. I realize even more the difference when they say that they have never had any experiences with the Lord, as I have.

I know the real truthful answer to that is maybe they aren’t as NEEDY as I am. I have always needed the Lord. If it wasn’t for Him, I don’t know how I’d have made it this far in life. Reediting this book has been a reminder of just how much God has changed me. I was such an emotional mess. Day after day, the same old records ran around in my head over and over. I could remember every word that person said to me, even down to what they were wearing and where we were at the time. Sometimes I truly believed that I would go crazy and have to be committed somewhere.

All I wanted was to be normal. But what is normal? I don’t think I’ve ever run into a normal person. There have been times when I envied a person’s life just because they weren’t plagued with my problem and never had been. But today, as I have an occasion to meet new people and, within a few minutes of talking to them, I see that their problem might not be the same as mine, but they are still dragging around baggage from their struggles.

God is no respecter of persons. I am not a special case. (Although I am the Apple of God’s eye!) But so are you. How He can make each one of us feel that we are His special child, I don’t know. But I was never anyone’s special person growing up and years into my adult life. Other than God, having the love of my son has made me feel special. I know that he loves me and that I love him beyond words. So many parents are estranged from their children or at least one child, and I can’t even imagine how that feels. I have been so blessed with my relationship with my son. Because of that, the hurt in the eyes of another person who doesn’t even know where their child is, let alone have any communication with them, leaves me saddened.

I hope that will be one of the first things God does when he brings a renewal and revival to the world one last time before He comes back. When I think about how God must feel right now, being separated from one of his children for whatever reason, and it being compounded over thousands of times—goes beyond my imagination. Not to mention people who have never accepted His love and forgiveness. Having to watch these people every day, knowing that He can help them and change their lives, and they refuse Him over and over.

If you know the Lord and what He has done for you, take a moment to thank Him for all He has done for you.  But if you are still running from Him, thinking that you don’t need God, I pray that today something will cause you to stop, acknowledge God, ask for forgiveness, and step into your New God-Given Square! What a glorious thing will happen to you!

 

I bless you

Step up to my soapbox.

I’ve never considered myself to be one who made resolutions every year, mainly because I knew that I wasn’t going to keep them. My main concern about the New Year was always that my birthday is January 5^th. There have been a few years when turning another year older bothered me, but not many. This year, I did the same thing I always do—I forgot to add a year. I was born on January 5, 1949. So when I start counting up the years, I completely forget to add in that first year. I know, I know, what you think.

Consequently, once again this year, all of a sudden, a whole year flashed past my eyes. I went from thinking I was turning 76, but no, I’m 77. Ugh. It isn’t being 77 that bothers me, it's that mental block that irritates me. How can someone not know how old they are?

Also, while I’m on my soapbox, I need to take my own advice from the last posting. Because I’m not a resolution maker, for some reason this year, I’ve been flooded with thoughts about things I need to change this year. I can’t do any of this. My mind has insisted on keeping the list that I refused to put down on paper; it keeps getting longer.

My health is the biggest—biggie.

Trying to find a good gluten-free lifestyle?

Find a healthy remedy for sleep?

Try to extend my life through better habits all the way around?

Get back to writing more.

BUT HOW???!!!

So, yes, I have become overwhelmed. What is overwhelming me most of all is the mindset that I’m destined to fail in all categories. So, the Lord sweetly told me to go back and read my own last posting and follow my own advice. He’s always right. Instead of beating myself up and running in circles, I need to STOP! There is only ONE thing I need to do, and I can't even do that. Years ago, the Lord spoke this phrase to me during one of my frustrating times of life (of which there have been many). He said,

“Susan, let me let you let me.”

He said this because when I boiled it all down in my head, I had said, “Lord, I can't even do that! I can’t even let you help me.”

When I heard that phrase, I realized that where I needed to start was to hand over my—let-er. So, I’m asking the Lord once again to help me start there, by admitting that I have to depend on Him to even help let me let Him let me. I know it sounds confusing, but if you’re struggling with realizing that to ask God to help you, you can’t even do that without His help.

We humans are so annoying. I don’t know how God stands us. But He does more than that, He LOVES us UNCONDITIONALLY.

I stopped spinning my wheels today, laid it all down, and in prayer told the Lord that He already knew that these struggles would come. I’ll start this journey with my own advice. I’ll seek Him FIRST, and all these things will be added to me.

I even stopped the mental list-making. God knows what and where I need to start after seeking Him first. I felt relieved. Like the self-inflicted burden was lifted off my shoulders.

Now, every morning when I wake up and say, “Good morning, Lord.” I’ll ask Him to direct my path. All my life, since becoming a Christian, He has never failed, not once, to direct my path until I’ve found myself sitting right here in this apartment in Florida. I’m sure along the way, no, let me rephrase that, I’m POSITIVE he had to use some very strong prodding methods to get me back on the path when I had ventured off it.

My heart is so overwhelmed right now with a sense of His love and forgiveness. I don’t know what I’d do without Him.

Once again, I’d encourage you to reconsider seeking God’s salvation message if you are not a believer. One day, and I think it's coming soon, life as we know it will end. You don’t want to be one of those people who will realize that there is a God and you were wrong. That you’ll be staring eternity in the face and hear the most devastating thing any man or woman can hear God say, “Depart from me for I never knew you.”

God does know you, after all, he created you. What He’s saying is you, and He did not have a relationship.

So, please reconsider accepting the Lord.

I bless you.

 

Those pesky resolutions.

The only resolution you need to make this year comes with an ironclad promise of fulfillment is James 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.

I can absolutely guarantee you that when you get serious about your faith, God will meet you. Even before the words come out of your mouth.

How can I make such a claim, you ask? Because I’ve done it so many times. One of the conversations that I have with God when I have gone through a period of being apathetic about time with the Lord is this: “Lord, I give you just the slightest moment, and you pour your presence on me in a bucketful.”

You CANNOT outgive God, you just can’t. We give a speck, and he gives equivalent to the sands of the seashore. It humbles me every time.

I ask myself why I get complacent when I KNOW that time spent with God is the most valuable thing I can do. The word familiarity comes to me. It’s no different than when we do it with friends or family—especially those we trust to always be there. And those are the very ones that we should give the most honor to in our lives BECAUSE they are trustworthy.

As I began to make a list of things I have been putting off doing for an hour a day, time with God was No. 1, but it made me sad. I shouldn’t even have to put Him on a list that limits Him to one hour of my time.

I talk to God all day. I include Him even in my dishwashing time. Or when I’m going down the hallway to take my trash or go get my mail. I’m aware of His presence every minute of my day, so I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about that sweet, door-closed, undistracted, one-on-one time with Him. Just like we do when someone comes to see us and we give them our undivided attention. If anyone deserves such attention, it is God.

What usually happens when I do this is I find myself being more productive in those other areas on my list. It's amazing. One minute, I had no desire to go back to writing on a book I started months ago, or teach myself to play the piano, or walk down the hallway and back twice a day, and other things I want to do.

The Holy Spirit in me fills me with new strength and the WILL to do these other things. I can sit here and tell you about this experience, but when you decide to do it yourself, that's when you’ll truly understand. The only thing you have to do is be sure that you are a Christian. That sometime in your life you dealt with believing that Jesus is the son of God and that He paid your sin debt on the cross, and asked Him into your life.

Many people think that just because they believe in God that they are saved. That’s no more true than going to church every Sunday saves you. The question you have to answer is, do you have a real close relationship with God? You’ll know if you do without my even asking.

The saddest verses in the Bible to me are Matthew 7: 20-24 

Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. 21 Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. 24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

People take these verses to mean that God doesn’t know that you exist. He knows every person on the earth. What Jesus is saying is that you never had a relationship with Him. I know a lot of people. Some by occasional conversations, and some just in passing enough to say, “Hi, how are you?” But I don’t really KNOW these people. But the people I feel that I know are those I spend time with—intimate, close times of sharing.

As 2025 closes and the calendar rolls over to January 1^st, we always have another chance to stop putting off the things we put on our lists. I threw my list away. I only bowed my head and asked the Lord to forgive my apathy towards Him because of familiarity. Then whatever other things he wants me to spend my time on, He’ll make known to me and give me the desire and the strength to do them.

So, my dear reader, if you want your life to be different and wonder if there is really a promise that you can depend on other than yourself, I guarantee you that there is.

God.

I wish that you would take the next few minutes and do the first thing to change your life this year.

I bless you.

 

 

 

 

 

Do you know that God is waiting on you?

This morning, as it draws near to Christmas, there are so many devotionals and even worldly postings about the birth of Jesus. Most speak about the way the Maji were led by a star shining more brightly in the sky. A star that had been predicted. I thought about how God has everything lined up to happen exactly when it's supposed to happen. God leads us even when we don’t know that he’s doing it.

I wasn’t looking for God when He drew me to Himself. I knew there was a God, but had no idea about Him or Jesus or the Holy Spirit. They were never mentioned in my life. Then, when I first moved to Live Oak and went to work at a local beauty shop, God’s plan for my life began to unfold.

Her name was Gerri, and she worked out at the boys’ ranch as a secretary. One Friday afternoon, I answered the phone, and it was Gerri wanting a late-night hair appointment. She said that it would take about thirty minutes after five o’clock before she could get here. That meant that I would have to stay late on Friday night. Being new in the area, my clientele hadn’t grown yet, so having to sit and wait on a client that late was asking more of me than I thought I could do.

But something prompted me to agree to her request and promise that she would become a regular customer. So not only was I about to stay late this Friday, but all the Fridays after. When Gerri arrived, it felt as though we were meant to meet. Doing her hair didn’t seem like the reason we met. Soon afterward, we became close friends. We blended our kids (she had three, and I had one) and became one family. Most nights, we ate supper together and talked for hours afterward. I began to watch Gerri closely. No matter what happened in her life, she always had this way about her. I, on the other hand, a way too, but it was being depressed, frustrated, and overwhelmed when something happened to me.

Finally, I asked how she stayed happy. I think I almost blamed her with my tone of voice as if she was doing something wrong. She smiled at me and said, “Sue, it’s my hotline to Heaven.”

I groaned and offered a few words I won’t repeat here, but I did say, “Oh, please Gerri, not religion!”

She said, “No, you’re right, it’s not religion, it's Jesus. I have a relationship with Jesus. He’s always with me, and He helps me with everything.”

That night, I grumbled all the way home. That wasn’t the answer I wanted from my friend. I wanted some sort of action I could take when hard times hit—and there were a lot of hard times for me. As the days went on, I questioned Gerri more, seeking a different answer, but she always gave me the same one. Gerri wasn’t perfect. She got mad at her kids, smoked, and complained about life sometimes. But that smile always came back on her face. But it wasn’t just Gerri who was constantly reminding me about Jesus; it was the Holy Spirit, although at the time I didn’t know it.

I came under such conviction that one night I couldn’t sleep. I sat up in bed and nearly shouted out loud, “What is this? What is happening to me?”

I felt for the first time in my life that God was not just a thought, but He had a voice and He was speaking to me. At first, it scared me. It was so real. My mind was saying things that my mouth wasn’t. Then my heart got involved, and all the words Gerri had spoken to me over the past weeks came rushing in. I didn’t understand what was happening, but I felt such a relief that I cried and surrendered to God. I said, “God, if you are really real and want my life, I give it to you. I need you. I can’t keep living like this.”

Something happened to me sitting there in my bed, something that needed more explaining. So the next night, when I went to Gerri’s house, when we were alone in the kitchen, I asked her what it felt like to be saved. She smiled and told me. Then I said, “Gerri, I think I got saved last night.”

Again, she smiled widely, and tears came to her eyes. “Sue, I knew the minute you walked in tonight that something was different about you!”

I now had the same Jesus living in me that Gerri had living in her. But God wasn’t done yet. I asked her what I needed to do now. She explained being baptized and making a public confession. She also said that she knew my walk with the Lord was going to be different than hers. She knew that I was going to go to church every time the doors opened, and she was right.

A customer of mine had given me a copy of The Living Bible that previous Christmas, and I’d glanced through it, but that was a far as I went. But now I began to devour the pages. I couldn’t get enough. I grumbled about having to find a church and be baptized, asking Gerri why I had to do that. Wasn’t just accepting the Lord enough? But as the days went on, I was so convicted that these steps had to be completed in my life. So on a summer morning, I finally decided to go to Westward Baptist Church. I stood as the invitation song began, clutching the back of the pew in front of me. Finally, I couldn’t stand it any longer. I brushed past the people sitting to my right and nearly charged down the aisle. I remember all too well the startled look on the preacher’s face. I don’t know if he had ever had anyone like me in such a state of mind that morning.

I quickly told him that I had accepted the Lord and wanted to do it publicly. What he did next brought on even more tears, so much so that my mascara was now running down my face. I was one mess. He announced that I was coming today to join the church. Inwardly, I was shouting, “NO! That’s not what I’m doing! I’m confessing my acceptance of the Lord!”

Everything moved quickly. I was handed a 3x5 card to fill out, and then he encouraged the congregation to come and welcome me to the church. From there, all I remember is one woman who really must have known what happened to me. As she hugged me, she handed me a Kleenex, smiled, and said, “God bless you, Sue.”

That woman became another friend and helped me begin to grow in the Lord. There were so many things happening to me. Things that, now, I’m so glad that I hadn’t had any teaching about. The Holy Spirit was guiding me and showing me in the Word and through people brought into my life the truth.

I couldn’t get enough. I was so thirsty and needy. The main thing I remember, and even to this day, is how it felt to finally not be alone. I had the Lord ever with me. I now had my own “Hotline to Heaven.” I understood what Gerri meant.

One of the first prayers I asked of the Lord was that He would promise not to ever leave or forsake me. To this very day, He has kept that promise. All through these past fifty-three years, not once has God ever forsaken me or left me to fend for myself. Most of the time, if the truth be known, it's me who has wandered away trying to do something on my own. But each time I’d end up back before Him, asking Him to forgive me and help me surrender my problem to Him.

I want to close this posting with this thought. I love God. I love Him more than anything. He was the One who sought me through the Holy Spirit and never gave up on me. Yes, you too can go to God at any time, and He will welcome you into the family. No matter who you are or what you think you have done that you don’t deserve God’s grace, you are wrong.

That’s exactly who God is looking for. So I offer you this Christmas season a gift from God with this posting.

And as usual, I end with blessing you.

This is part of one of the devotions I read today that prompted this posting.

Again, led by God, the Magi followed His lead rather than reporting to the King. Like the Magi, we don’t come to Jesus in the manger on our own, but are led by the guidance of His Holy Spirit. Without Him, we would not be able to find the Messiah, just like Herod couldn’t.

How did you wake up this morning?

Every day in the senior apartment that I live in, they make it a daily point to check on every resident. If by a certain time we don’t check in, the person manning the desk will call us. I joke with one of the callers that I’m up, I have a pulse, and can talk and take in nourishment, so he can check all those boxes. It’s a pleasantry between us, but this morning the Lord really reminded me what a blessing every one of those check marks means to my life.

It’s a cold, damp, rainy day here in Florida. There’s a massive cold front coming to the northern and mid states that they say is going to be extreme. My weather here today might cause some extra stiffness to my old bones, but nothing like what some people are going to experience.

Then, as my mind began the conversation with the Lord, I thought about people who will be out in the weather today. Some by choice and some by no choice of their own. People who once owned a home, perhaps through financial loss, health loss, or job loss, will find themselves living on the street or in their cars and even under a bridge. That is an incredible thing for me to even imagine. I was close to living in my car several years ago, but by the grace of God’s hand, he moved me into the middle of his plan for my life.

One step after the next restored my life, and here I sit today by no other means but the mercy and love of God. I acknowledge that fact every day. This last move had some hard bumps along the way in having my expectations in another person instead of God alone. But this morning, my heart is so happy being where I am right now.

Then I remembered the day I went to administer medication out in the community as a nurse in the local health department tuberculosis clinic. I never knew where I would find some of the cases I brought the medication to. One case always comes to mind this time of year.

It was a family of about five, with the mother usually the hardest to catch up with. On this particular day, I was redirected to a trailer sitting just off the side of the road. When I knocked on the door, the eldest little girl let me in, who was probably only about ten years old. It was two days after Christmas, so some of the remains of what might have been these children’s gifts were scattered on the floor.

As she went to get two of her siblings up, the youngest little fellow was sleeping on the living room carpet. She made him sit up and told him to get up and go to the table, that the nurse was here. Still in his sleepy state of mind, he stood to his feet and somehow made it to sit in the chair at the kitchen table. I remember so clearly how my heart felt when I observed two things about him.

The lower part of his shirt was wet, along with the front of his shorts. He obviously had wet himself during the night. The smell of urine was very evident. He was in no mood for anyone to try and persuade him to take a pill. But it was important that he did. But how do you explain that to a sleepy, urine-soaked little three-year-old? Even with the aid of applesauce that I always brought with me for such an occasion, he was having none of it. Even with his sister’s consoling, he pushed the spoon away. Something far greater was on his mind. The sister began to understand his frustration over the fact that he had lost something very important to him.

Lying on the carpet where he had slept was a tiny red mesh Christmas stocking that had probably held a couple of pieces of candy and maybe some small toy. If so, they were long gone, but the stocking was still the object of his affection.

When the sister retrieved it for him and handed it to him, his face lit up, and he stopped crying. He clutched that empty stocking in both hands as if he had just been handed the greatest gift in the whole world. As he now willingly opened his mouth to receive the spoonful of applesauce along with the small pill, my heart was about to pour out of my eyes.

I hardly made it to my car when my tears would not be contained. Even now, as I find myself in a place where I’m out of the weather, cared about by others, and able to start my day off acknowledging God’s love and mercy for my life, the tears come.

I’m reminded in this moment that there are people who are so less fortunate today. Somewhere in the world today, there’s another little child who will hold to something so minor as an empty, cheap dollar store Christmas stocking, and it will bring them peace.

Every day that we find ourselves awake and aware the we have a pulse and in a place of peace and care, there should be on our lips an offering of Praise and Thanksgiving. So I ask you again, how did you wake up this morning? My prayer today is that, for whatever reason, some people find themselves somewhere less than me, that God would have mercy on them and move on their behalf in such a miraculous way this Christmas season.

I hope that little boy found his way in life, where he was lifted out of the place he was in. God is no respecter of persons. I did nothing but yield to the Lord and let Him help me back onto my feet.

I bless you.

 Thanksgiving doesn't get the attention it deserves.

 

Thanksgiving has become all about eating turkey and all the fixings. Family gatherings and playing games out in the yard. Or for some, it’s another day of being homeless and hungry. Thanksgiving wasn’t meant to be either.

Thanksgiving, sadly, many Americans skip over the truth of how God was faithful to lead Christians who longed to openly serve Him, leave their homelands and everything behind, and risk their lives to set sail for a New World. Historian Rod Gragg explains in The Pilgrim Chronicles how, in England around 1606, the Pilgrims began as a group of Christian separatists seeking to worship Jesus in the purity of the Gospel, based on their beliefs and understanding of the Geneva Bible.

However, what they wanted to do was illegal and prohibited, resulting in harsh persecution for the Pilgrims. So they fled to Holland around 1609. But that was short-lived, as their children were being influenced to follow worldly Dutch ways in the Netherlands, prompting the Pilgrims to seek new living options. The hearing of the Jamestown settlement, the Pilgrims set out to borrow funds and request King James’ permission to make the Mayflower voyage.

Let me stop here, and let’s focus on what exactly is happening. Here’s a group of people about to get on a ship and sail off to somewhere sight unseen. That takes incredible strength and trust in God, not to mention an inner drive that they could not give up.

Columbus had sailed in fourteen ninety-two, reaching the Americas in October. The Pilgrims arrived on the Mayflower in sixteen twenty, about a hundred twenty-eight years later. Thanksgiving is about the faith of the Pilgrims. Our foundation was laid in biblical truth by the Pilgrims and led America’s Founders to establish godly principles. These biblical truths have given us the right to worship God freely.

Lincoln signed it into law on October 3, eighteen sixty-three, just before the Civil War got any worse. It set the last Thursday in November as the official day. He honored Sarah Josepha Hale’s request by proclaiming the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving.

So you see, Thanksgiving involves a whole lot more than whether Publix has its turkeys on sale.

Put yourself on that boat that morning. Take very few possessions with you. Unsure of whether you’ll even live through the trip. Dealing with the elements, sea sickness, and perhaps even the loss of loved ones.

Our lives stand this Thanksgiving on the shoulders of some incredible fellow human beings. Surely, we can shut down the TV noise in the background, get quiet, and bow our heads to stand in silence, thanking these brave individuals for the freedoms we have today, our lifestyles, and so much more.

Our hearts should burst with joy over this Holiday before we put the last of the dinner preparations in the refrigerator, shut off the light, and head to bed.

I hope sometime during your celebration, you will take stock of all your blessings and realize they came with a cost that other people paid for you.

I bless you. Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Please hold on if you are at the brink of despair and hopelessness.

I listened to a young woman who has been furloughed from her government job, and her message hit me hard.

She was being as open and honest as a person could be. When she listed the things she has done over the years to better her life and the lives of her 4 children and husband… she broke down sobbing. She said,” I did everything right! I worked, went to school, and bettered myself after being in the army….I did everything right!”

She wasn’t asking for a handout; she was screaming out her mental, physical, and emotional pain, clearly displayed. She and others who have been the victims of this schoolyard fight between the two political parties are devastating this young woman and thousands of others.

Her next remark hit the core of this government shutdown. “All those throwing punches at one another go home to their families, not missing a beat. Their children are eating, their bills are being paid, and they are being paid. It’s the average hard-working, dedicated American individuals who are suffering.”

I’m not personally involved in this layoff, but it’s touching me anyway because it's touching my family. The big question is, what do you do when your income just STOPS? And there’s no end in sight?

I’ve been to that jumping-off spot so many times in my life. I’ve felt like this young woman who can hardly speak, let alone breathe. Hanging between where life has forced you to go and the pain of letting go is real. You find yourself dangling over what you feel is an inevitable loss.

It's hard not to hate right now. It’s hard not to want to scream in the faces you see in the news whose lives are in control of your life, and they are saying and doing nothing. It’s like a huge schoolyard fight between grown men and women who are punching the air while those around them are getting desperate.

I’ve had times when I just had to let go and let whatever my fate was going to be. Sometimes I thought I’d never see the next five minutes.

All I can offer to anyone who is suffering in that “what am I going to do” place today, might think my suggestion is lame.

It’s crying out to God, looking to Him and not the situation. Christians, you know Who your source is, and those of you who don’t know God… He’s right there with you, ready to catch you.

I’m living proof of a person coming back from the brink of despair and hopelessness. God NEVER left me nor forsook me.

I always bless my reader. This blessing is to encourage you to please reach out to the hand of God and watch him deliver you back on solid ground.

 

I bless you.

You always have something to give

It’s a clear autumn/fall Florida morning. The turkey buzzards have been circling over the river for hours. Obviously hunting breakfast. This thought led me to think about other references to God’s care for the birds.

Matthew 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

When you think about the animal kingdom, you find that they pretty much live day by day. We humans have to store vast amounts of things to ensure our future necessities are met. I’m not saying that it is a bad thing to be prepared for an emergency, but daily we should take no thought.

At this stage of my life, I have pretty much scaled down to mostly necessary daily “stuff.” I look around my apartment and am determined with this last move that all I wanted around me were things that hold a memory.

My dearest treasure is a teapot with little chubby legs wearing polka dot socks and Mary Jane shoes. The set includes two cups, a creamer, and a sugar bowl. These precious little character-laced charmers bring joy to my heart that words can’t describe. My son gave me these as a gift on Mother’s Day with the forewarning that when he saw this gift, it reminded him of me.

As the anticipation increased the day the box arrived, and I began to carefully move the tissue paper aside, the first thing I saw was a white lid to a teapot. I was pretty sure a gayly painted teapot was about to emerge. The more I uncovered the handle, spout, and finally the little round belly of the pot, it was all white!

I thought my son thinks his mother looks like a plain white teapot? Imagine how my heart filled with an unspeakable joy as my eyes overflowed when I pulled the teapot out to find its little legs and shoes!

I could hardly breathe. By the time the whole little family was unwrapped, my heart had been won over. Maybe it was my creative writer’s heart that caused me to see these new family members each having their own personality from that day on.

I shared about how hard it is sometimes to find where the sugar bowl has gotten off to. You probably have heard or said that something you’re looking for has grown legs and walked off! It gives me added joy to envision them trotting about the apartment at night while I’m sleeping.

Giving of gifts is one of the love languages. My son certainly hit a home run with this gift. He has, with many others, too, but this one has always been the best.

Which leads me to my title today. There is a gift that we always have to give to someone that is perfect. It fits every person in any walk of life. Man, woman, or child. That Gift is giving them Jesus. When Peter and John went to the temple, they ran into a lame man begging alms. They didn’t have any material thing to give this man, but they didn’t just walk away. They offered him what they did have in their possession. “Silver and gold have we not, but in the name of Jesus, rise up and walk.” That day, this man was given the most precious gift anyone had ever offered to him. It was a life-changing gift. Being lame had robbed him of all the everyday life events.

What if Peter and John had simply looked at their empty coin purse and said, “Sorry, we don’t have anything to give you,” and walked off? But they knew from being with Jesus that they had been given an endless supply of what other people need in their lives. And had been told to give it freely.

Isn’t it amazing that the most costly gift we as Christians have to give to another person was free to us and is free to give away?

But the truth is, this gift wasn’t free to the One who fulfilled the gift. It cost Jesus his very life. It cost him everything he had in this world. He was sent by the Father and cared for like the birds of the air. Every day, every second, Jesus was given what he needed for his life and those who walked with them. This man Jesus never owned anything, never had a big financial bankroll, no warehouse filled with material goods, and yet in every single situation, Jesus had exactly what was needed. Sometimes it was just to hear the truth. As Christians, we carry with us the perfect gift to give away to anyone God brings into our lives. And like my son’s statement of it looking just like me, Jesus fits everyone.

If you don’t feel like you have anything to give today, but you have the Gift of salvation through Jesus and the indwelling Holy Spirit, then you have a gift that will fill another person’s life with everything they need. And we can give it away freely!

Freely we have received, freely we are told to give.

I always end with I bless you… that blessing is offering you your own walk with God.

I pray that you will receive this offer today.

I bless you!

This post is partly about something I can’t even begin to imagine.

I will ask you to go with me to the last moments of your life. I realize that it isn’t what most people want to think about, so we humans put it off for as long as we can. But it’s more than the punch line,“ the only two sure things in life are death and taxes.”

It seems that we will usually do anything to humorize the inevitable. I’ve been thinking recently of the only two outcomes of dying. First, I should clarify that no one actually dies. We only leave this world to enter into another. Everyone is going to live somewhere for eternity.

The choices are taking the Gift of God, His Son’s death on the cross as our substitute payment for sin by confessing with our mouth and believing with our hearts that the Blood of Jesus paid our ransom. A Christian’s death is a celebration, a HOME COMING!

When all of us left Heaven and our Creator, He sent our soul and spirit into a minuscule beginning of reproducing human matter that would become our dwelling place. Everything about who we would become entered that watery womb. What was being built in secret was simply a housing for our soul and spirit. During that time, we had no idea where we were going or into whose human hands we would be gifted. But God knew.

You are not a random collection of “parts” that God threw together and sent you forth. It’s nearly impossible to understand the depth of thought that the Almighty God put into creating each one of us. He set us adrift into this world, watching and anticipating our return Home to Him. Some of us have had a tremendous journey. Stumbling, getting back up, and falling again. Periods of calm and occasional peaceful days, where we breathe a sigh of relief. But even in those days, our feet are still leading us to the last moment of our life, where the decision will have already been made, either Eternal Life or eternal death. For a Christian, the grave was swallowed up and the sting taken out of it for us by Jesus. But that reality has to come to each one of us through activating our Faith before that last day comes.

Once the clock ticks forward on that day to the last moment, every decision we made or neglected to make is final. Game over! But it’s not a game; it’s been an orchestrated plan that was laid out for us to make choices. God, all the while knowing the outcome, has been cheering us on, sending things we were expected to notice as signs pointing in His direction. Sadly, and as unbelievable as it is, some people will believe that God doesn’t exist, or if He does, they choose not to believe in Him. Their human understanding of where they will go when death comes knocking, asking for that payment, they will simply cease to exist—poof, they are gone.

So here is my original thought at the beginning of this post—What does an atheist do when they step out of this world only to see that they were wrong!? There stands the Holy Son of God, Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit as their greeting committee. Will they scream, “Oh, God! I was wrong!" And shudder at the thought that they made the biggest unchangeable mistake of their life!

Someone recently asked me if God is so loving that surely he won't send a decent, good person to a tormenting hell. Their explanation to me of what they thought hell is going to be like comes from man’s replication of their imagination. It usually contains devils with pitchforks, flames leaping higher than the person’s head, and burning, unquenchable, heaping coals of fire for all eternity. I am no authority on that. No one is. God has given evidence of such things in His Word, which ought to send shivers down the spine of any nonbeliever.

This returns me to my original thought. Here stands an atheist who now knows the truth and that what they held to all their life was a lie.

Here is my personal understanding of what hell will be like for them. Knowing now that they will be eternally separated from God. Not another person will come witness to them, not another gospel hymn on a radio will be heard, not another coworker will share Jesus with them ever again. All the chances will flash before their eyes over and over, creating a suffering that I can’t begin to understand, such suffering, and it will never end. Knowing that you had a chance for a completely different outcome, and they turned it down time and time again. I have to pause here for a moment because my heart is breaking for these people.

So, now I will give you my personal belief of what will be my experience when my clock ticks forward in this world for the last time.

First and foremost, my eyes shall finally behold my Savior—Jesus Christ in all his glory! What I only knew in shadow will have now stepped out into the Light, and I will see Him face to face! I’ve carried this next part in my heart as my personal entrance into the presence of God.

Jesus will tenderly welcome me, extend His arm toward me, and gently entwine my arm around His. He will cover my hand with His and ask me a question, “Susan, are you ready?”

I honestly don’t know if I will be able to get the words out to answer Him—yes. Then, as the Bride, I have become He, and I will begin that slow, purposeful walk down the aisle leading to the Throne of God the Father. My eyes will be fixed on the Person I have waited a lifetime to behold.

The closer we get, the more I’ll hardly be able to take another step, but the strong arm of Jesus will steady me. When we take that last step ending at the Throne, Jesus will turn to the Father and say, “Father, Susan is home.”

I’ve never written this out; I’ve only verbally shared with others that this is the welcoming Home scene that I play in my mind. My tears come every time because it’s the very core of what I believe when I became a Christian. I want to see God—I WILL see God at last.

I don’t know what or if your last moment here contains either of these possibilities. I pray that some form of your entrance into eternity has for you something similar to mine.

Because my spirit and heart are so emotional right now, the contrast at the beginning of this post begs a moment of prayer. Who can afford that? Who can come to the end of their life and realize that life isn’t really over, but the chances of doing differently are.

Because God is Merciful and Righteous, he will have given that person numerous times to change their minds. My other thought about all this is that God didn’t create one soul with the intention of sending them to hell. He gave us all a foolproof solution. A Gift of His own Son suffering and dying an unimaginable, tormented death on a cross, stripped bare before the world so that we would be saved. Who turns that down? What possible reason could they give for doing such a thing, yet some will do that very thing.

So I end this post torn between my eyes, seeing my promised entrance into the Throne Room of God and my precious Escort. And that picture of the moment or realization dawning on an atheist who now knows the truth, but it’s too late.

If only one person reads this and it gives them pause to reconsider where they will spend eternity, then I have given them thought.

I bless you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Believe it or not… It’s never too late

 

I started my day with a devotional about regrets. The writer listed several regrets she, as a nurse, had heard people who were near death state.

I read the question at the end to fill in the blank of what I regretted, and I had to stop and think. I’m ashamed to say that I wasted so much of my life by putting off things I should have gotten up and started.

Now, at my age, that habit hasn’t grown easier but harder. I have this long conversation telling myself that once I get up and get started, it will get done. (The elves have never come in overnight and done any of my projects.)

It's strange that when I was younger, I remember saying to myself, “Sue, take it easy, or you’ll burn yourself out and have nothing left when you get old.”

I should have listened. You wouldn’t believe what I could do in one day when I was younger. I didn’t know how to pace myself. I thought I had to get it all done in one day.

Now I spend so much time trying to convince myself to just get up. Now that I’ve confessed, the thought came to me as I contemplated my regrets, when the Holy Spirit clearly said, “Sue, no matter what you regret having not done, you can start right now.”

I thought about that. Today is the day that the Lord has made to rejoice and be glad in. Even if today is the very last day I see this side of heaven, that thing that I kept putting off, I can start today.

When I moved here to Florida, I wanted a new beginning. The main thing I prayed for was that my faith in the Lord would be the same on the outside of me as it is on the inside. I wanted God to be more important to me than anyone or anything else. I thought at seventy-six it was surely time.

God has been answering that prayer, but not in the way I thought. Several things took a turn I wasn’t expecting. It threw me. But once He loved and comforted me and got me quiet, I began to see that He really was answering my prayer. Nothing is like having your schedule wiped out along with things you thought were going to happen.

I had no choice but to draw close to the Holy Spirit. I was so discouraged and hurt. But if the things I had been planning once I got here had happened, I wouldn’t have drawn nearer to the Lord. We think we are going to do something when, in fact, if you are like me, you end up every night telling the Lord I promise I’ll start tomorrow.

Don’t let the lie of it being too late overwhelm your mind. The other thing that the Holy Spirit whispered to me was, “Why not start now?”

No matter how much time any of us has left here, we can use it wisely. We can start with rejoicing and being glad in this day. We can focus on the goodness of God. We can tell Him how thankful we are for another day. Then let that lead to listing the blessings we have. Before I knew it, I was sitting here writing this post that I had been putting off.

Whatever you regret in your life, if you are physically or mentally able to do it, start right now. Begin by telling the Lord, Thank you for this day and see where it goes.

 

I bless you.