What God Finds Funny and WHAT YOU FIND Funny can be two totally different things.
WELL, it’s been a LONG week and I DO believe Jesus has made progress. I also realize HE IS using MY …OUR Journal for more than just MY reaching out to Others. ;) Naturally. It took me a good week to get to this post, but it was worth it for HIM and I’m happy for Jesus that I did…because somewhere around Thursday night somewhere deep in the Audio book of HEBREW…Jesus’ light got through to a stubborn little HEART that loves Him A LOT.
It’s why I realize He’s using ANYTHING He does for EVEYRONE, which is okay with ME…because I’m okay with showing you HOW AWESOME Jesus IS. :P Even if my um…sorry Jesus…babbling gets confusing and make me look a little ODD. I’m trying NOT to babble. I’ve learned those about that, and I’ve noticed those moments when God HEARS those few words in your Spirit and BOY He IS ready to reach out FOR IT. Guys, God is HUNGRY FOR YOU and HE wants YOU. If you are hungry for ‘something’…it’s like the sticker on my car window says, TRY JESUS. I can PROMISE…GOD IS WORTH IT. Now, if I can go to sleep and SEE Jesus in my dreams like I did ALLL those years leading up to now… I don’t see Him as MUCH anymore…it’s RARE and the thing is…NOW I WANT TO…then years ago…I HATED IT. Mind you…I’m not saying whether at ANY time it WAS Jesus HIMSELF. Keep THAT in Mind. *shrug*
I could turn THAT into a whole post of its own, I WON’T and I’m NOT, but know this… it used to really bother me and I’ll tell you about that later in this one. BUT…at one point, I started seeing HIM and when you don’t LIKE Jesus and have a PROBLEM with HIM…you get nervous about going to bed and thinking… ‘What if I see that Jesus guy again tonight?’ I remember being in bed… AFRAID to SHUT MY EYES. I did lay awake for HOURS…looking for anything to do….accept go to sleep and dread what I’d see. HIM and ‘those Jesus dreams’ I’m sure could ‘analyze’ that…and that’s fine…apparently Jesus DID. He’s good at that.
I ended up taking …. A LOT of pills…and not always the legal kind…nor healthy kind…to STAY awake and focus on OTHER things…besides sleep and what I was seeing in those dreams. I didn’t want to SLEEP and during the day, when I was tired…I had to stay awake, so I took things to stay awake. See the problem it caused? Well, thankfully, God has a way of getting to things LIKE that. But that’s just the TWIST of things now….NOW I WANNA SEE JESUS in my DREAMS. I just want Jesus. :P I love the Lord. I want to do FOR God…I want to be OUT THERE FOR HIM…I see a lot of people LIKE ME and …like the man pushing his bike up the road today…and no…he wasn’t doing it for sport. OR the guy with I <3 Jesus on his Truck I talked to in the Gas station. We had a GOOD long chat about how Good God is. Again…sorry for any mistakes on this post, I’ll recheck it, but I want it DONE for this week…and I DO want to go to bed. <.< I want that dream. I KNOW I get the PROMISE…but I still….that’s what happens when you are Chasing after God…you realize the best you can do is love Him and once you realize what HE loves, you GET TO WORK FOR HIM.
I will tell you a little …what I call a ‘funny’ that happened while I was eating at my church…as I am apt to do. Since I have this little poke at the Lord that I’m Chasing after Him…HE gets it…if no one ELSE does…I had went to the Chinese place to get my lunch and apparently HE gave ME a response to THAT in my cookie. Actually, even though they are CUTE…I never paid MUCH attention to those little messages…until a few weeks ago…when I did THIS…
I said my blessing and while I was eating, I, as I am APT to do, kept a usual ‘empty’ seat beside me that I consider for Jesus. It’s NOT weird or religious. WHEN you know the difference between relationship and religion you’ll understand. I actually had someone hint that my chair might be a form of ‘religion’. *sigh* PEOPLE…. I’ll talk about that chair later. :P God GETS IT, apparently. ANYWAY, as I was eating, I picked up that cookie and just put it in His seat to save for Jayda to eat. I said….
“I guess I shouldn’t be giving Jayda ‘Fortune Cookies’ should I? I mean, I’d take one if YOU put the fortune message in it.” I ate my food and when I was finished I got my stuff together and that cookie and got ready to leave. I don’t know WHY…but I opened it. Again…*Shrug* I don’t know WHY I wanted to. I just did…I think part of me figured the Jayda would just throw it down…whatever…BUT…HERE is what the COOKIE SAID…and YOU tell ME who put that message in there…
“Smile, Happiness is chasing YOU.” ;) Jesus is AWESOME and YES I do BELIEVE HE DID THAT…I SO DO. I stopped IN my tracks and threw up my hands and said, “Well, for GOD sake, catch me already.” No pun intended, but, well anyway…
SO! I’ve learned a lot through my journey with God and today…I have to admit…at least to ME…He has really SHOWN Himself….and even by my standard…and those who remember my old way of thinking…that old agnostic and yes…atheist way of looking at the World…God went all OUT today. I almost felt like it was a finale for the trip we have been on, but when I actually said it aloud…I could hear Him say…
“Don’t you know me by NOW? This is NOTHING.”
What happened? Well for one thing…I can’t really get all into what I was saying to Jesus while I was finishing up my day at my Church…YES…I was hanging out there yet AGAIN...but…I happened to look over as I laughed…and there was a cute little green butterfly just floating around in the breeze.
I said, “That’s beautiful, Lord.” In my mind I could hear Jesus saying, if you like them so much, ask Him for more. There is still a bit of me that is timid on those things, but…I dared…and IN DEED…out from behind a bush…POOF…flew ANOTHER identical light green butterfly. (No…I do NOT make this stuff up and POST IT ONLINE in YAHWEH or JESUS’ name. Guys…I DO have to LOOK at Him one day…you know.)
I actually, glanced OVER to my LEFT and I felt the corner of my mouth tug up. Those around me and I’m guessing after my Pastor admitted to READING my journal…have noticed I’ve had a thoughtful..to say at best…and I needed that little uplifting tug. And…as I heard told you already, I ‘heard’ Him say, “That’s nothing.”
As I kept walking…I was watching what I had usually consider the patch of weeds to my right hand during my usual walk every day. I walk that track every day and I know there is the river behind there, but unless Jayda is with me, I don’t fool with it or look. This time, I kept watching…I was watching those two butterflies…seemingly PLAYING together. They would wavering around each other. One would dart over the other up and down, into the other, but they always…BOTH of them…stayed RIGHT along with me…US.
I kept smiling and I felt laughter bubbling inside…and I kept watching and I then saw another identical butterfly pop up. It was fluttering around and then it moved into join the two that were still apparently dancing around and I shook my head. “I see You,” I said. Yet, as I said that…my eye caught movement in the brush and I looked and throughout the all the bramble and weeds I caught glimpses of all SORTS of butterflies and even a moth. (I actually stopped to encourage him/her that they were JUST as pretty AS the butterflies.) Jesus actually told me that it was nice to share that with the moth, but it KNEW that! ;)
So, walking on along the track enjoying the growing breeze, which was very appreciated…of course I did thank God for…because it was a little warm and I had not really dressed appropriately for it…I had not really anticipated walking…I hadn’t even anticipated being OUT today accept for my doctors office. (I wish I could explain how Jesus talked me into going to the park walking, but NO ONE would BELIEVE it…that the debate of Go walk…Go home…while driving down the road…ended with me sitting behind a white car with the rear plate that read“LOVEDAVID” ended my arguing with “OKAY! I’ll GO WALK WITH YOU GOD! What can I say to THAT? I HEAR YOU already. He knows I love Him :P What do you say to that? I didn’t say anything, I just drove STRAIGHT to the park…laughing…NO not AT HIM…WITH HIM.
Remind me to tell you what happened to me YEARS…YEARS ago…LONG before I ‘loved’ God…when I LAUGHED AT HIM one too many times. I know when I heard the story of Sarah…I certainly FELT her….I DID. God WILL BUST YOU for it…and Yahweh will be there FAST…..real …FAST. By the way…it’s where my ‘Healthy “Dose” of Fear of God started with and that Atheist issue ENDED. SNAP! YES I’ll tell you…sometime…NOT NOW… I…don’t wanna talk about it now. :) Just kidding…actually it was the moment I began to change and HERE I am. : )
So, as I was saying, I was walking and Jesus was showing me BUTTERFLIES. And…I was starting to laugh about it (Not AT Him this time, but just at the fact that as bad as I had been feeling, I was feeling better and it was BECAUSE of Him.) I thought a lot about how people today take for granted the power of God…especially those of us who get it through Jesus. I don’t know WHY…but I take that seriously…and I love God for that.
I remember, when I first came banging down my FIRST Pastor’s door…and he gave me my first Bible…it was the FIRST one I actually sat down and eagerly read, I was feverishly looking to KNOW more about WHO it was that had stopped me IN MY Tracks that night years ago when I ‘laughed’ and WHO it was that had been obviously showing me other things that these ‘brainiacs’ could NOT explain to me…although they seemed to be trying SO hard. Almost as HARD as I had been trying to run from God.
Of course, this is something I have realized all this time later…I was running from Him and HE was asking me to come TO Him.
Actually, I will tell you what happened to me that night. I honestly haven’t told anyone. Frankly, it is because for one…it SCARED ME. Another reason is…now that I have learned more about the Lord…it rather embarrassed me, but I realized another thing and it has been something I’ve been slowly dealing with; it scared me a little TOO much and I’ve been working my OVER fear of God into a healthy fear and LOVE of Him. That was actually the discussion I HAD with Him before this ‘little’ walk I’m telling you about. ;) Apparently, He was pleased with our understanding all these years later. As always HE wins…again….and I learned…as always…when GOD wins…YOU win. That’s just HOW Yahweh IS and I’m still working that out in my heart.
There is a part of me that really wishes people could understand how each individual reaches Jesus…it really IS beautiful and it IS peaceful. I totally understood each butterfly that popped up…even the ones that somehow materialized AT my FEET while I was walking. God always knows how to add special touches just to let you know IT IS HIM that IS doing what you think… “..is HE doing this…FOR ME? Really or am I just being…..no…surly not.”
Oh yes…He did…cause Jesus ASKED HIM TO.
It’s funny though…as I was walking and watching the growing number of butterflies I just sorta listened to my music player and each song that came on…I just smiled bigger because I could hear HIS words in each song. I realize I have gotten to a point where it’s ‘Like That’. At one point…I had started to worry before…thinking…Hmm…maybe this is not such a good thing. Perhaps I’m thinking a little too much about Jesus. Maybe Jesus shouldn’t take up all of my day. Yet…I felt something say…Nikki…did you just HEAR yourself?
That was sometime last summer I was worrying about that. I’ll admit…just recently I saw a movie on David…I’ve been hearing a LOT about King David actually. So, I really wanted to learn. I remembered reading about him on my first trip through the Old Testament, but I didn’t remember that much, but I wanted to know more. I actually found a movie on Netflix and it IS a very good one. (Check it out by the way. I’ll Reference it on the bottom of my Post.)
So, as I watched it, I was right away caught up with the story of how Saul was slapped with that nasty spirit…and I was very MUCH taken with the prophet Samuel. It was nice to see some characters I had been HEARING about. I had even had a dream recently about David and there were characters in the dream that the movie helped me to understand better as well as when I read them in the Bible.
Over all, the one thing I noticed and it backed up something I had already been getting from Jesus…(and this can be up to anyone who wants to debate it. I’m just saying this from MY Spirit. I don’t want to jar anyone. And I’m not saying it was ALL David did.)
I noticed one thing in that movie and afterwards reading his story (And Psalms). And it sums up a lot of the other things He did for Yahweh. Of course, he obeyed HIM…very well….but why? He LOVED GOD. There is something in David’s words that says to me he had a lot of LOVE for God and I remember as I was watching that movie, I was on my bed and…I’ve mentioned this to a few..FEW people…a very little known fact.
Beside my bed, I keep a chair. I had been doing this for a long time actually. One day I mentioned it and I was told it was a Jewish tradition. I blinked and sorta thought that was cool, because it was said they do that for when the Messiah comes. I smiled and I remembered thinking to myself, (And this was before I began really reading about the Jewish people and began to LOVE them and I honestly don’t know why other than I’ll explain THAT in a minute…) …but…I do use it for Him. Technically, I figure Jesus doesn’t NEED that chair. His BODY isn’t HERE…it’s the Holy Spirit.
I occasionally DO run into the Christian that reaaaaaally gets tore up over some of the visuals I do. *shrug* The way I see it…God has turned my heart into a FURNACE for HIM and HIS SON. What’s YOUR problem? He used THOSE VISUAL LIKE THAT. I understand what I’m doing and apparently HE did too. :P
There is a difference in religious and relationship….remember that. ;) IF you can keep that separate…(remember Able and Cain) You and God can have an AMAZING relationship. God and I…found that He blessed me with a very amazing and oddly weird gift that GOD found that for most of my life…I was MISUSING and THAT HE apparently TOOK for HIMSELF. ;) The fact that my heart was turned into a person who was once a fierce hater for the Christian community and Jesus in particular (OH YEAH…didn’t know that about me, did you? I’ll tell you about that in a post one day. NOT NOW… I’m talkin about HOW I love HIM NOW!)
And…that is the point. He will use the gifts HE gave you…that you misuse….for HIM. What some people see as strange or…not so useful….AS ALWAYS…God can do the most AMAZING things. While those people that see what I do at times as … “Hmm.” Or “Eh, I don’t think…” Apparently, HE…liked it. You go from a HATER…to ON FIRE and STILL WANTING MORE chasing JESUS…You have done SOMETHING God likes. :P It’s when you learn MORE about Yahweh that you understand THAT is how HE IS. You don’t LOVE Jesus like that unless GOD brings you TO IT and unless Jesus IS IN YOU. How much of Jesus is IN YOU?
Okay, so back to my night of watching David..and that chair beside my bed. I was laying on my bed watching that movie…it got to that famous part where David slays Goliath. The scene cut to the part where Saul has this LOOK on his face. I made some sort of comment about “Uh oh…but then something made me look to my left…and then Iooked back and Saul and said UH OH.”
But…it was THEN…I looked BACK to that chair and when I tell people, I see Jesus…NO I do not SEEEEEEEEE HIM. OBVIOUSLY to me at this point HE IS UP THERE. And yes, the Holy Spirit can show Him to ME. I know this. I know…someday…I have an appointment. I’ve been promised THAT. I’m excited about it. I also have a very strange feeling…about seeing Jesus too. I don’t know about that…just something strange I cannot explain to anyone. Wishful thinking MAYBE. MAYBE NOT.
Some part of me thinks all this imaging Jesus…I’m always imagining Him with me…that ONE day…I’m gonna turn to ‘imagine’ He’s there…and you NEVER know… I don’t know WHY I get that feeling. : ) Yeah. Of COURSE…I’d LOVE for HIM to do that. WHO WOULDN’T? I’ve HEARD of it. I have a friend who told me it happened TO HIM. :P I’m still talking to Jesus about IT. He KNOWS I want it…it’s sort of a little bit I throw at Him.
“You KNOW I looking to see if you are THERE.”
“I know.” : ) (and a lot of times I almost feel like there is a ‘ ;) ‘ ) and THAT is what gives me tingles.
There are a lot of lessons when you study the Word and PAY ATTENTION closely to the Lord. It may have been at one point, I did not believe in ANYTHING…much less Jesus Christ or His Father….and I may have even LAUGHED at it. I know I still haven’t gotten totally INTO that story…as I said…it IS hard to talk about. Not because I keep trailing OFF on other subjects and other things…sometimes…I learned…in order to understand the first thing…you have to go to another. It’s something Jesus taught me. ;) It works well with people LIKE ME. May not for EVERYONE, but those like ‘me’ it works WONDERS.
Well, fine. Here it is…and I’ll tell you about that ‘loving God’. You get what I was gonna maybe say about David. DAVID LOVED GOD. GOD LOVED DAVID. I noticed THAT. Maybe Jesus was beside me ‘elbowing’ me…maybe…as I’ve noticed MYSELF and I’ll talk about in another post…once I got ‘past’ my issues with God…I couldn’t get ENOUGH of God and I was chasing Him all through the Bible. And what I noticed is…God is ALL OVER THAT. What’s more…if you add to that you get even MORE excited about JESUS…well…I cannot explain it…I’ve listened to it in His Word…but I’m feeling SOMETHING. I just cannot explain IT. I am TRYING very HARD to TELL as MANY as I CAN about IT. ;)
So, here is what happened, and sorry, but I am going to have to (and I’ll try to do it quickly) explain a bit of HOW I was before I loved Jesus. Yes…I said before I hated Jesus…but I don’t think I stated it very clearly. I remember when I was going to my previous church when the pastor was going over the story of Paul.
YEAH. That sorta HATE. And as he started the story out talking about a guy name Saul and how he was out ‘hunting’ down the Christians trying to STOP them…ect…I sorta began to squirm in my seat. I EVEN shifted my eyes up and said, “So…what are you saying?” Matter of fact…I was talking to HIM about JUST that incident last night. I will give you what I GOT later. ;) It was SO Jesus. That wasn’t what I got then though…why? I wasn’t HEARING Jesus at that point very well.
AND…there’s times I catch THAT. I have to be VERY careful…sometimes things can sound an AWEFUL lot like God. I’m slowly learning to STOP and let the Word carefully let Jesus work over what I hear and say before I say anything and take it too much to heart and let it get to the Spirit. Especially as I told Him today before my walk at the park… “If I’m going to tell people ABOUT you…I wanna make sure I tell them GOOD things…and that it IS FROM YOU. I DO have to LOOK at you some day, you know.
I’m talking about JESUS. Yes, I mean JESUS. I don’t want to get up there and run up to give Him a GREAT BIG HUG and Jesus say… “What? WHO?”
Of course…that’s when the Holy Spirit reinforces what I know…and THAT is what is called Spiritual Warfare…and there are a lot of PEOPLE who don’t like to even admit it happens. I am not discussing it HERE, but thank GOD…Jesus DOES Love Me ;)
So, yes, I sat there squirming and as that Pastor went through Paul’s story, I recalled my ‘incident’ that had happened to me some time ago…it seems a long time ago…and I can honestly NOT remember what year it was…it was after my father died and April of 2011…because I was IN that Church of May of 2011.
Yeah. Jesus can DO that. When you hear, The Holy Spirit will ‘open the eyes of the blind’ … let me tell you… HE WILL do it in a matter of a SECOND…do NOT DOUBT IT…for a SECOND. And here is why…. (It is also why when people ask me about being ‘at church’ on Sunday and Wednesday…I AM SO THERE. ;P Church is more than two days a week…and I have come to appreciate those who also see it that way…but as for being there…YES. I’m THERE.
Alright. *breathe* I was in my mother’s kitchen fixing my evening supper, my daughter was already in bed. I always wait until she has gone to sleep to fix my own supper…since she NEVER likes what I eat… and it is hard for ME to eat at the same time. So, I while I was doing all my little mindless food prep, cleaning, wiping down, you know all that little stuff…I would also walk into the living room, doing little cleaning…and past the TV and my mother, going into the laundry room to help do some washing. I was staying busy…being as I sometimes call, mindless…yet in my imagination and BUSY AT IT. Hard to explain to some people, but as a writer and creator…to some people…(and I’ve sometimes felt the Lord poke at me about my imagination) they get what I’m talking about.
As I was doing all this buzzing around, I was very much in My World, but I could hear the TV. They were talking about GOD. It was a subject I didn’t’ care about…but one of ‘those subjects’ that always brought an IRE out of me. Why, I would always mutter to my head, does IT BOTHER me…if I don’t CARE?
The thing about this story is…I cannot tell you WHAT the topic was ABOUT. Why? OH, I remember WHAT GOD DID. I’m too ashamed to say right now that I was too busy blasting Jesus to hear most of it. I was too busy in my head running my mouth about how stupid they sounded and rolling my eyes…you GET the picture. I go about cooking my food, putting stuff together on the table watching the TV as I did so…and really not being VERY nice to ANYONE on THAT program OR HIM.
For the mid to late part of my twenties…I had lost a lot of my feelings towards God. I grew up with Jesus…as child I KNEW and LOVED Jesus…I LOVED GOD. I held on to Him for a long time…and at some point…all the Science I began to feed myself with from the time I was a hungry, intellectual teenager had set in around my early TWENTIES. I still remember hearing my Pastor that day talking about Paul…
A bomb had been set and then he actually made the ‘ticking’ sound and I sat back there really squirming and thinking about this scene in MY head. SAUL got knocked flat on his back and blinded for three days…I may not have literally got knocked ‘down’, but…sometimes…I wonder about what the impact of what it has done to me WILL be. I suppose it all depends on the person, right?
SO! I guess to my friends, SOME of you know I have, and I do like to say HAD a pretty BAD temper when I don’t like things and GOD has done amazing things with my attitude…and my sarcasm. I actually heard Him say, “Sarcasm is not attractive, you know, but LOVE is BEAUTIFUL.”
Yeah, so TRUE….to those who get it :D
Anyway,
My mother apparently caught what I said…because she came into the kitchen and gave me a look that came out of some horror movie. I cannot sum UP repeat it, but it summed up all of what she had been saying to me for the past few YEARS. “I hope that’s not how you THINK of Jesus! I hope no daughter of MINE says that about Jesus…NIKKI! Oh…God….” And she threw me some backwards looks heading for her recliner.
I defended MY right to feel HOWEVER I wanted and that if she was my mother she would love me for ME. She wasn’t buying THAT. I got even MORE angry when she…as I used to call it then…threw that ‘Hell Trump Card at me.’ It was at that I tossed my food into the oven to cook, stalked over, folded my arms and I do remember GLOWERING at the TV…listening. For some reason…I was really ANGRY at the woman talking and there was even a tiny part of ME that felt bad for being mad at THAT WOMAN.
Yet…I do distinctly remember in my head going over this, I was able to over LOOK my wanting to loving to that lady and able to like her because I was so SICK of her talking about God…and JESUS. That was the part that was really getting to ME. (And for those who understand that Spiritual Warfare…ya’ll will maybe understand that like I have finally come to understand it and find peace. IF you understood it, it would probably sum up a lot of my story.)
The lady finally went to talking about how God’s miraculous healing in her life. It had to do with a family member, and I am sorry that I cannot give you the details…I was too busy focused on being ANGRY at her to LISTEN to the story. Sometimes, I think that is why people cannot HEAR when someone is TRYING to tell them HOW GOOD GOD is…they are too busy feeling or thinking something ELSE. It’s also why I understand only the Holy Spirit can open the eyes, BUT it doesn’t mean we cannot TESTFY, healing, and working IN His Name. It IS our Business guys because God made it our business THROUGH His Son.
ANYWAY,
As SOOON as my food was done…I was ready. I was Soooo over that woman. I had listened…because my draw to her had burned out….and I couldn’t get away fast enough. I jerked my food together ran it INTO my room. It was so hot, I figured I’d take a quick shower and give it time to cool. And this may sound like a made up story at this point, but it’s not. (there’s many things I could tell people and I tend to exaggerate to SOME people and at times I have, HEY I’m a STORY TELLER, BUT…this isn’t a time.)
I flipped on MY TV…and I had actually forgotten I had it ON the same channel as my mom’s TV…so there it was. It had moved on to a new lady, but they were talking about the same thing… *Sigh* Or so I felt. I got my stuff together. My bathroom is right next to my room, literally connected and all I have to do is turn the corner.
And THAT is how fast God can BE there. So, that’s why I have a lot of FAITH IN HIM. I KNOW HOW FAST GO ANSWERS. Breathe. THERE. That’s IT. ;) Faster actually, but That’ show fast IT was.
I had my clothes ready and the sound of my TV was going I was going to walked into the hallway like I did a million times, set my thinks down on a little table and listened to another person talk about what ‘Jesus had done for her….how God did THIS for her life.’
I was getting a towel and (I remember this guys, I have an good memory…and apparently things like this you don’t forget…) I rolled my eyes before I said, “Pht, yeah RIGHT. Why would a God do something LIKE THAT? I did one of those laughs you here a bratty teenager do and I spun around do turn that corner to my bathroom…and THEN
BAM.
I actually heard about a person who came up against an angel and couldn’t get past it. I remember as I heard that….my heart was like ‘thud thud’. I didn’t SAY anything…but I was thinking about this moment. It is hard to explain. There wasn’t anything THERE and I didn’t HIT anything physical, but I STOPPED, FROZE SOLID…and I heard a VERY LOUD SOMETHING. Not a voice, not a whisper, not really a thought…I don’t know WHAT YOU can CALL IT.
“Did you laugh me?”
Yes…that’s what I heard and I blinked and did one of these…very…VERY nervously >…..>
<…….<;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
The THING WAS....IT what EVER it was…didn’t SOUND angry…threatening…mean…or DID YOU LAUGH AT ME…IMA GET YOU! It was actually more of inquisitive…if anything….but the ….AREA around me….if that could make sense to anyone…felt like… well let me explain…
I actually heard my Pastor last Sunday say SOMETHING like it and I sorta again perked up…accept His sounded NICE… I feel God in away now…but the only time I EVER felt Him like a THUDNERSTORM was on its way or like…. ‘there’s lightning IN the air’ was IN that MOMENT’ But… I GOT what HE meant and it sparked this memory vividly. Yet…that was what I felt…but what I heard was very…again..DISTINCT, inquisitive, but it certainly, STOPPED ME.
I stood there…in the door frame…really wanting to GET past IT and INTO my shower, but I couldn’t. That I wish I could explain. I actually, looked for a ‘way’ around what I thought might be in front of me. I do remember thinking there was SOMETHING there…I had to get past it…but HOW? At that point…I still was not a believer. I would almost say it was a strange reaction and as a matter of FACT Jesus got to the bottom of it TODAY (which is why you got THIS post….ALL this time LATER.)
At that time, I couldn’t give an answer. But It asked again. Of course I know what IT was…but as for what I was hearing, I can’t say… I wish I could explain. I have ‘heard’ some strange things and some of you know this, but THIS…wasn’t anything, but it WAS something. It asked, “What is so funny to you? Why are you laughing?”
I had that feeling that people get when you KNOW you have done something you KNOW you shouldn’t have done. Ya’ll KNOW what I mean. I know it all TOO well NOW. Some call it your Conscience….I call it JESUS.) I wasn’t able to answer again…yet…I WAS able to move INTO the bathroom…and I was THANKFUL for that.
I went in and sat down on my toilet seat…very fearful and I DO REMEMBER hearing “Oh man…what just happened here?” I got a VERY quick response to it. It replied, “You shouldn’t laugh just because you do not BELIEVE in it.”
I sat there and listened to my…heart…spirit…whatever IT was that was talking…and…just…well…SAT. I finally thought to myself…how am I supposed to have FAITH if I cannot BELIEVE in IT? And it was a hard thing for ME to do. I remember actually starting out having to MAKE Believe….and that’s where that chair started at. ;) Jesus STILL uses it by the way and I think He’s quite happy with it.
God WILL use WHATEVER it TAKES to GET THROUGH TO YOU…and IF it takes ‘make believing’ for you to BELIEVE and for HIM to SHOW HIMSELF to you…then HE WILL. That IS how much HE WANTS YOU. And…by the way…HE WANTS YOU. I’ve figured THAT OUT. He showed me the night before today in Hebrews.
My problem…after he told me that day my MAIN issue and worked it through today…was accepting that no matter WHAT I had done…and how HATEFUL I had been TO HIM…that HE HAS forgiven all of that…and that the only one hurting IS ME and that God takes NO pleasure in MY Pain…especially if it’s caused BECAUSE of MY Passionate LOVE FOR HIM.
Strange Huh? I actually had to take my hate which got turned into such a LOVE for God that was turned into SUCH A pain that kept me FROM Him…that turned into SUCH A FEAR…that it KEPT me from accepting …one what Jesus DID for me…and it kept me from going after what it is I really want out of this WHOLE thing…
JESUS.
And like I told him today while I ate my breakfast…all of that promise is super sweet…but if God will just let me follow Jesus around like a puppy and listen to Him talk….I’ll be TICKLED PINK.
And…then...he talked ME into going the park for OUR walk with the butterflies and that amazing breeze that kept whipping me around…amazingly…the more I said PRAISE you Lord…and especially I LOVE YOU….
God likes it when you tell Jesus you Love Him. (In case you haven’t Caught THAT. He also wants YOU to know HE LOVES YOU and make the two GET TOGETHER. :P)
Am I willing to talk about what Jesus found out about me? MAYBE someday. It actually shocked me. It started with my dad…and then my hating Him…and Spiritual Warfare…and children…and then how God see’s us as Children…and How God forgives us…and that sometimes we HAVE to forgive ourselves too and LET HIM LOVE YOU.
I do remember feeling Him say to me one time…and I cannot explain this…
I remember at one point having a really hard battle…and I called on Him. I heard, “I WANT to help you, but when I come close, you tell me to go away. Every time. LET ME HELP YOU!”
The EXTRA to this post is WHAT HE gave me the day before YESTERDAY that led to today. I went to my church the day before as always to ‘hang’ out with Him…and I do like to point out the fact…and there are those I have realized who DO understand this:
You do NOT HAVE to go to a CHURCH to be WITH GOD. Me? I just LIKE TO. I cannot HELP IT…half the time…I end up BY there any how and just go...and I’m excited to walk into the door to GREET Him.
Thursday when I went in to do some cleaning, I first went to eat my breakfast…and I was not having a good day. I always bless my food and I felt SO bad, I asked The Lord to give me a Word to Help. Usually, something WILL come to mind pretty quickly…but this time, my eyes just fixed on my Book and I picked it up.
The first thing I went to…and I actually am battling WITH doing it this way… ‘just flipping’ to what it turns to. Since I am a former practicing witch…part of me feels like it’s leaving it to chance…and yet…since God IS A Spirit…I know VERY Well HE can turn it too. Part of what Jesus has been teaching me is things are a lot about the choices YOU make. I have a choice and I choice JESUS. So, ANYWAY…
It was Psalm 107:30… and this actually had a big BIG kick for ME today…and it’s how God is FILLED with little surprises. I didn’t even catch it until I was READING it again. I noticed it LAST night…but I didn’t notice the final ‘Easter Egg’ until TODAY. As it dawned on me what God was doing and HAD done…I actually STOPPED reading and …had ‘a moment’ …but QUICKLY out of respect for READING His Word…laughed…RESPECTFULLY in AWE and kept READING with a Smile.
Yeah…I’m sure HE was smiling too.
I’ll post the first part and then I’ll give you the whole verse and explain some more. There was a few things God did with this Psalm…and He actually brought in a whole NOTHER one with it. He’s cool that way.
Psalm 107:30
30 Then they are glad because they are quiet;
So He guides them to their desired haven.
I sighed and said, Yeah, thank you LORD. I’m glad to be here too…let’s EAT. As I ate…I finished reading down through the rest of it and…started chewing more slowly and got to the point where I couldn’t at first swallow the food and then just plain put it DOWN.
To be honest, I cannot right now go INTO the conversation I had WITH HIM about it, but, well it got me to where I’m at for now…yet…later that night…I decided to go to Biblegateway.com to read the WHOLE thing. Usually I DO read it in my Bible…but since I was online…I wanted to see what their…Word for the day was. He used THAT for me that day to. I realized Jesus was ‘picking on me’ that day.
By the way, when JESUS picks on you, PRAISE GOD. ;)
First, I want to give you the WHOLE Psalm 107. Then, I will give you the ‘freebie’. I have read it before, but it was nice to be get it as a ‘drive by Psalming’ when I really NEEDED it and considering how I always call myself crazy half the time…God apparently had a the Last Word on the topic.
As for why it really made me go WOW….
Some of my friends KNOW I go walking at my park every day and that I try to share my love of God with the people there. I leave little cards from my church, handwritten messages, newsletters…ANYTHING. I talk to people from the local churches and really…just about ANYONE who will LISTEN and even those I feel are not ‘in the mood’ to hear it. And I’ve joked that me…and my daughter LOVES doing it…that I love writing Jesus <3 U in the Sand of the walking track.
I also love what I call blessing the court. It was a thing I wanted to do because I remember my ‘stint’ on Superior Court. They ‘claimed’ the ‘neighborhoods around cub creek park’ were the WORST for Drug Dealing and “THAT COURT” was a hangout for dealers. Of course, that was in 2003…but I remembered it.
I started out walking the length of the first section, it was walled off into three sections. The park apparently at some point last year or whenever decided to improve it, but I know God is responsible for THIS… When I would around the fence…I would get to the ‘door’ of the opposite wall which was broken. I made a special prayer that God would make it so that people who NEEDED Jesus could get to Him and He could FIX that door. I myself would try to re Hinge it.
I went in one day and do you know….that entire wall was REMOVED? GONE. Every day when I go into bless the court…I look at where that wall was and I say… God did that. I don’t what anyone says…God took THAT wall DOWN. ;) Jesus took MY walls down and HE can TAKE YOURS DOWN. He can also COME THROUGH THEM.
But, I remembered, I had left a special note that day with a Psalm I had picked out…YEAH…you can see where it’s going, but it goes BEYOUND that. I left it on a bridge that you can cross to get to the highway and move on to the bigger, older park. I even made a point of putting a few rocks on its edges so people could see it before it blew away.
THAT note stayed for a MONTH…and I would walk and see people…stop…read it…and LAUGH. What did I put?
It was something I got from watching a movie with….MADEA. It was a quote she gave Shirley out of Madea’s Big Happy Family. “Are you redeemed by the Lord?” If you haven’t SEEN that movie…I highly recommend it. I watched that movie over the summer during some ROUGH times because LAUGHTER was my ONLY MEDICINE and I LAUGHED SO HARD AT THAT MOVIE.
You can actually ask Shannon (Tell em girl) that we watched it at HER house on HER Wii… we all laughed SO HARD at one point…her Wii FROZE…. ‘mysteriously’ if you wanna call it that. We all looked at each other sorta funny. I still say it was Jesus. He knows when LAUGHTER IS GOOD and when it is NOT. ;)
So, the thing IS…I remembered trying to read it at my local Clinic when I found it…because I wanted to read the WHOLE Psalm. What got me about the Psalm was not the part that Madea said but it was this portion of it and because of the Spiritual Warfare I have personally had to endure, it SPOKE VOLUMES. It said:
Psalm 42-43
42 The righteous see it and rejoice,
And all iniquity stops its mouth.
43 Whoever is wise will observe these things,
And they will understand the loving kindness of the LORD.
Of course, I have an NIV version…and in MINE it says…
And the wicked will shut their mouth.
Of course, as I read it today….I understood God was making a poke at me to remember THIS and I DID…and as I was finished with I certainly DID understand the loving kindness of the LORD…and while I have believed IN GOD…I believed IN His Loving KINDNESS for ME.
The rest of my story and it hit me while we were walking also hit pretty hard and let me realize that Jesus is good at letting you know when things are done. One thing that I have mentioned is the fact I deal with a lot of ‘battling’ and I’m not going to get ‘into’ any of that here OR my journal. I’m just NOT…mainly cause Jesus said NOT TO. :P
BUT…as we walked…and I ‘glanced’ at that bridge where I had left THAT note with THAT Psalm 107…I stopped and looked at that ‘little’ park and I realized something very suddenly and it was stark and again…I understood it was not an accident.
For three years, between 2001 to 2003 I took my lunch there…EVERY day…and for three years…during my brief …and I don’t call it ‘strange and oddly’ blindly out of now where fascination with studying ‘angel’s came at that time.
For SOME REASON in 2001 I got the sudden IDEA to start studying THEM and all the religions I could get my hands on, but mainly THEM and ‘how’ to ‘talk’ to them. I stood there today…staring over at that little park and I just …well..STOOD quietly. I remembered I how I went EVERY DAY with all my books which I spent a LOT of money on, the money I worked SO hard for…and I read…with a LOT of enthusiasm….all because I had a lot of “questions” and I had found a site online. It was a woman who claimed she ‘channeled an ‘archangel’. I wanted to too. I didn’t actually ‘believe’ HER…but I wondered IF it was possible…and IF it was…I was gonna FIND OUT. IF it wasn’t I was gonna find out and BUST HER as a fraud for taking peoples’ money in the name of this ‘God’. I was again…SICK of people getting ‘had’.
Long story short…I got into a LOT of trouble…and you CAN do things you shouldn’t if you poke around too much. But the happy ending to a long story is JESUS is right beside you like he was on the bigger track today with ME. And just as quickly as I stopped to REFLECT on how I used to do that…I took a breath and kept walking with Jesus. I know that sounds sorta dramatic…but that’s really what it was.
Honestly, that’s when I saw that butterfly fluttering at my feet…and I’m NOT kidding. Think God can’t be AWESOME. He IS and HE IS FOR YOU. BE FOR HIM and EVERYDAY can be SWEET. :P He promises IT.
Here is Psalm 107, the WHOLE thing...aaand that little Word for the day I found as a the freebie. You'll see why I smiled when ...I...smiled when I took a quick glimpse as I was headed to 'Grab my Psalm 107'. ;)
Psalm 107
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy,
3 And gathered out of the lands,
From the east and from the west,
From the north and from the south.
4 They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way;
They found no city to dwell in.
5 Hungry and thirsty,
Their soul fainted in them.
6 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He delivered them out of their distresses.
7 And He led them forth by the right way,
That they might go to a city for a dwelling place.
8 Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
9 For He satisfies the longing soul,
And fills the hungry soul with goodness.
10 Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,
Bound in affliction and irons—
11 Because they rebelled against the words of God,
And despised the counsel of the Most High,
12 Therefore He brought down their heart with labor;
They fell down, and there was none to help.
13 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He saved them out of their distresses.
14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,
And broke their chains in pieces.
15 Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
16 For He has broken the gates of bronze,
And cut the bars of iron in two.
17 Fools, because of their transgression,
And because of their iniquities, were afflicted.
18 Their soul abhorred all manner of food,
And they drew near to the gates of death.
19 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He saved them out of their distresses.
20 He sent His word and healed them,
And delivered them from their destructions.
21 Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
22 Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving,
And declare His works with rejoicing.
23 Those who go down to the sea in ships,
Who do business on great waters,
24 They see the works of the Lord,
And His wonders in the deep.
25 For He commands and raises the stormy wind,
Which lifts up the waves of the sea.
26 They mount up to the heavens,
They go down again to the depths;
Their soul melts because of trouble.
27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man,
And are at their wits’ end.
28 Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He brings them out of their distresses.
29 He calms the storm,
So that its waves are still.
30 Then they are glad because they are quiet;
So He guides them to their desired haven.
31 Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
32 Let them exalt Him also in the assembly of the people,
And praise Him in the company of the elders.
33 He turns rivers into a wilderness,
And the watersprings into dry ground;
34 A fruitful land into barrenness,
For the wickedness of those who dwell in it.
35 He turns a wilderness into pools of water,
And dry land into watersprings.
36 There He makes the hungry dwell,
That they may establish a city for a dwelling place,
37 And sow fields and plant vineyards,
That they may yield a fruitful harvest.
38 He also blesses them, and they multiply greatly;
And He does not let their cattle decrease.
39 When they are diminished and brought low
Through oppression, affliction, and sorrow,
40 He pours contempt on princes,
And causes them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way;
41 Yet He sets the poor on high, far from affliction,
And makes their families like a flock.
42 The righteous see it and rejoice,
And all iniquity stops its mouth.
43 Whoever is wise will observe these things,
And they will understand the lovingkindness of the Lord.
“If I say, “My foot slips,” Your mercy, O LORD, will hold me up. In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul.”
Psalm 94:18-19 NKJV
Have I told YOU how AWESOME JESUS IS? :P SEE, UNDERSTAND, and REJOICE THAT. :P God IS AWESOME! (And He has HIS EYE ON YOU.) <3