Tail of Woe

God woke me early this morning.

Ok, so He used my ridiculously sore arms from weed-whacking for over an hour yesterday to do it, but I was up and could certainly use the time with Him. It was so nice to have a hot cup of tea brewed and get a lawn chair on the back deck just before sunrise. Such a peaceful time of the day...

As I sat there sipping, reading the Psalms, and basking in the warm caress of a newly risen sun, my cat excitedly jumped on my lap. We have outdoor cats, and Christy (our oldest black/white kitty) who has been craving attention lately, took full advantage of the opportunity. As she primed and posed to get the best petting position, I was greeted with tail in my face - tail in my tea - cat hair making book marks in the Bible I never intended. Every time I thought she'd finally found a comfortable spot, up came the rear end and tail a-swishing once again. She was driving me nuts!

After about 15 minutes of this - and just before I threw her off my lap - I heard the Spirit whisper to me, "Isn't that how you act so often? Here you are sitting in the Father's lap, but you're so desperate to be in the best position and 'DO' that you are missing just resting in Him. Aren't you glad He'll never throw you off His lap!"

As Christian's we get so busy do-ing and are so result/number driven that we often miss the sweet times of comfort and rest the Lord has for us. Take some time today and 'rest' in His lap. He cherishes time with you too...

Battery or Plug?

Let's say you have to work on a laptop all week. I'm talking you have to use it for your job, it's connected to your house for heat/air/security, you order your groceries on-line, watch all your shows on it, and even use it for an alarm.
Now, knowing all you'll need it for, you can only have one computer. AND... you can choose to power it by battery or plug only.

Which would you choose?

Oh, and here's another thing: In the purchase contract, there is a guarantee there will always be an outlet available to you at all times.

Kinda makes it a no-brainer doesn't it?

Then why, as Christians, do we think we can fill our Jesus battery up on Sunday's with a quick re-charge on Wednesday - if we're running low? We need to remember that we do nothing on our own power and are to live lives completely dependent on the power of Christ.

Christianity: Batteries not included. Plug in.

Crazy Hindsight

King David was a man every follower of Yahweh desires to be like. He's known as a man after God's own heart (Acts 13:22) and a prophet and premier king of the Jews. King David has certainly been a man to emulate for centuries, and certainly was looked up to during his own life..., right? Well, NO. Listen to David's own words in the first half of Psalm 69:

¹ Save me, God,
    for the water has risen to my neck. 

    ² I have sunk in deep mud, and there is no footing;
    I have come into deep waters,
    and a flood sweeps over me. 

    ³ I am weary from my crying;
    my throat is parched.
    My eyes fail, looking for my God. 

    ⁴ Those who hate me without cause
    are more numerous than the hairs of my head;
    my deceitful enemies, who would destroy me,
    are powerful.
    Though I did not steal, I must repay. 

    ⁵ God, You know my foolishness,
    and my guilty acts are not hidden from You.

    ⁶ Do not let those who put their hope in You
    be disgraced because of me,
    Lord GOD of Hosts;
    do not let those who seek You
    be humiliated because of me,
    God of Israel.

    ⁷ For I have endured insults because of You,
    and shame has covered my face.

    ⁸ I have become a stranger to my brothers
    and a foreigner to my mother's sons

    ⁹ because zeal for Your house has consumed me,
    and the insults of those who insult You
    have fallen on me.

    ¹⁰ I mourned and fasted,
    but it brought me insults.

    ¹¹ I wore sackcloth as my clothing,
    and I was a joke to them.

    ¹² Those who sit at the city gate talk about me,
    and drunkards make up songs about me.

    ¹³ But as for me, LORD,
    my prayer to You is for a time of favor.
    In Your abundant, faithful love, God,
    answer me with Your sure salvation...

Psalm 69:1-13

David was considered a freak and a zealot. No one seemed to understand why he was so dedicated in such an extreme way to God. He just didn't make sense to those around him. He took that God thing just too far...

But hindsight (and a word from God in the book of Acts) proved that David didn't take it too far- He had it right. Christ never claimed we would fit in with those around us and have the security of normalcy. Why do we insist He must have meant that?  Well, because we are scared to be fully His. So often I've chosen to fit in rather than stand up for God. I've wanted others to accept me more than I've wanted to be acceptable to God. I've chosen the wide road over the narrow.

This does not mean I am not a follower of Christ - by any means - I just means I've fail too many times and placed my devotion on self-satisfaction rather than God's glory. What a mercy and blessing He gives grace and forgiveness!!

It's my choice: Do I want to be known as a nice little Christian girl now and forgotten in the years to come, or do I care more about the impact my life can have for God's glory in generations to come than in how many people compliment me now?

What's Up With This Jesus?

*The following is what I had to write in explaining the essence Gospel for the first time. Let me know what you think!

Do you know about Jesus?

As hard as it seems to understand and believe, there is a God who created everything. In creating humans, His pride and joy and in His image, God gave us free will. This means we get to choose. Just like we want our children to love us by choice, He desires us to love Him by choice. I guess I’ve always seen it as it being like the first time your child gives you a gift or present that cost them something without anyone telling them they needed to or giving them all the supplies for it. They gave it out of love. That’s what God desires of us.

The difficulty came in with the first selfish choice – against what God made as perfect. That was Adam and Eve’s (the first humans) fall. They were thrown out of Eden which was a perfect garden where they could actually walk with God and have a relationship with Him face to face. Because He is perfect, and holy – which means, set apart in that perfection – sin (which is choosing anything over God) could not be in His presence.

So they were kicked out and started living, as humans have ever since, for themselves. Here’s the amazing thing- Because God has true unconditional love for us, He didn’t just let us destroy ourselves or wipe us all out and start again. In fact, He loved us so much, he planned a way for us to still be in fellowship with Him from the very beginning! He loves us so much even when it seems difficult, and because sin had to be punished since He is Just, He had planned for His Son, Jesus – who is also fully God – to take the punishment for us since we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory He deserves. (Romans 3:23)

Throughout the Old Testament times – before 0 A.D. – God told people about this plan of His to stand in and take our place for the punishment we rightly deserve: His redemption of us. This punishment is what we call Hell, and is a separation from Him. While this doesn’t seem so bad on the outside, we just can’t truly comprehend it. It’s like claiming you don’t need a parachute and never will. It makes sense to you standing on solid ground that a parachute seems ridiculous. Imagine the first sensation you’d have though, as the solid floor under your feet drops out to reveal what you thought firm ground was only the floor of a large plane and now you are falling through the air. We need to be made right so we can be in God’s presence again: We need righteousness. This righteousness is the parachute that seems ridiculous, but is necessary for life.

So the question is, “How do we get this righteousness we need?” Well, we can’t. How can a dirty rag clean a dirty rag? We need someone who has never sinned and who doesn’t deserve to be punished, to stand in our place and take that punishment for us. That’s what God planned through His Son Jesus. It’d be like the parachute maker handing you his own and only chute right before the drop even though you laughed at him till then. That’s what Jesus did. He came to earth – born through a miracle and not the lineage of man's sin – to live on this earth for around 33 years without sinning once. Can you imagine having to put up with everyone you know laughing at, scolding, and mocking you and yet not once put yourself above God’s plan? He allowed Himself to be tortured, killed, and then took the punishment for the sins you committed. He, who had never in eternity been separated from God, allowed Himself to be forsaken by God, so that one day you might choose to love Him and desire to be in the presence of God. What's so amazing is that because He is God, Jesus was able to take the punishment for our sins and then still triumph over death: He came back to life after three days and has been alive ever since! (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)

That’s what’s so amazing! Once you accept this gift, that’s it. You are no longer condemned to be eternally separated from God in hell. There is no condemnation for you in Jesus. (Romans 8:1) Yes, we still struggle while here on this earth since we still have a fleshly body, but we desire to love Him and put Him above ourselves.(Romans 7:24-25) That is what we strive for…to the glory of God the Father. (Romans 4:20)

Stars

I love night time in the country - especially after a storm system has passed and cleared the haze from the sky.

Staring up at the crisp points of light twinkling brightly, I thought about how we know the stars are bright balls of gases burning trillions of miles away. How some of them are red giants, large enough to encompass the earth if it were our sun, and of the white dwarfs, so small, yet with unimaginable heat and gravitational pull. I know that the closest start is only a few light years away (that's around 16 trillion miles away) but that most are so distant the light we see today started well before I - or even my parents - we born. That's really far. We've also named an immense number of the stars, though most have a name like what you can find on your calculator, and we've only skimmed the surface of the vast number of them out there.

We know so much about stars, yet really, comprehend so very little. 


That's how it is with God.
We know much about Him through the Bible: His name, His character, how close His is, and at times how far. But we, in our finite minds, can not truly comprehend Him. His majesty, holiness, worth, love, passion. We have only begun to skim the surface of who He is.

But one day.... One day we will know.

Like flying to the stars- understanding in the depths of your soul the vastness of space, the immensity of the star, the composition from the tiniest molecule to the full diameter:
We will see Him face to face and behold every aspect of who He is.


Amen. Come soon Lord, Jesus. Amen.

A Toothbrush For Your Soul

I clicked on a video today that I didn't much care for. It was suggest by a friend and I thought to give it a chance so as not to miss out on something great. Trust me- I wasn't. It wasn't a bad video, but it certainly wasn't moral either. Basically, my life will continue on just fine without seeing anything of the like.

Afterward though I felt....."gross". You know that contaminated, fuzzy feeling your mouth gets after you eat something you don't care for? It was kinda like that. My brain felt like it needed to brush it's teeth. That's when I realized Scripture was like a toothbrush for the soul.

I brush my teeth everyday - who wouldn't want to? Sometimes I'll brush even more often when after eating something that needs to be quickly cleaned away! Why is it then that I struggle so with reading my Bible everyday? It helps to get rid of the left over particles of life that want to cling on and decay the witness Christ desires for me to be. And here again- there are days when even one "brushing" won't do.

Now, most of what we eat it good for us. (Well.... or so we believe till we start reading ingredient lists.) But there are things in life, that if we indulge in too often will stain our soul no matter how often we brush. Like coffee and tea does to our teeth, daily practicing sin will stain our witness and soul.
For I fear that perhaps when I come I will not find you to be what I want, and I may not be found by you to be what you want; there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder. I fear that when I come my God will again humiliate me in your presence, and I will grieve for many who sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness, sexual immorality, and promiscuity they practiced.
2 Corinthians 12: 20-21 (Emphasis mine)


Take some time today and ask the Lord to reveal what is staining your soul and witness. Psalm 139: 23-24
Then go BRUSH.

Easter Means Nothing

Easter means....

To some:


Nothing but multi-colored Peeps or Cadbury and Reese's PB Eggs.
Nothing but bunnies, baskets, and cute little babies dresses like flowers.
Nothing but new clothes and egg hunts at Grandma's.
Nothing but the herald of Spring.

To others:

Nothing but appeasing Mom and Grandma by going to their church.

Nothing but a guilt trip of how bad they slipped this year.

Nothing but the knowledge this is the last time they'll have to get along with the whole family till Thanksgiving.

Nothing other than how righteous they can look that day.

Nothing other than this should please God enough for this year...

But to yet others........ 

Easter means:

Nothing 
in the tomb.

Nothing
we can do on our own, but accept His sacrifice.

Nothing 
to loose in Christ.

Nothing
of who we were, and everything of who we now are.

Easter means absolutely NOTHING, but Jesus Christ.

I Am NOT Getting Sick!

I'm not.

That's what I decided this morning as I awoke to a sore throat, runny nose, and sneezes loud & rapid enough to make the cat run for the door. I refuse to get sick....

Now there are two trains of thought in the Sick-Denial group:
   1.) I'm not getting sick and I refuse to think or do anything about it.
   2.) I'm not getting sick- but these vitamins and chicken broth will help to make sure...

After popping my mega vitamin D's, I'd have to say I'm in the second group and do everything I can.

Minus the chicken broth which you can't buy without carrot juice in it.  Grrr...

This started me thinking - since I had the extra time as I ran to the tissue box once again - why in the world do so many of us refuse to believe we are getting sick? Some of it is the fun of trying to convince ourselves. You know: Mind Over Matter... Do we really think we can change it? Some say Yes, and others hope for Yes. Still others are stubborn enough to say, "It doesn't matter if it's 'Yes'. I'm not sick..."

As I was sitting there laughing about "not being sick" while making hot tea to soothe my throat and grabbing another tissue, I heard the Spirit prod me, "You all do this with sin too, don't you?"

Satan loves to let our flesh convince itself that We didn't really sin. The two denial groups are evident here too.

1.) I didn't really sin, so there's nothing I have to do about it.
     We all fall for this one every once in a while. The danger is that if you let yourself fall into this too often and don't ask the Lord to show you the offensiveness of your heart (Psalm 139), there becomes a hardening.
Don't let your heart be hardened. Exodus 8:19, Proverbs 28:14, Mark 16:14, Romans 2:5

2.) I didn't really sin, but just in case...
     There is nothing more important that daily communication with the Lord your God. When we doubt, fail, are confused, or are just being pure stubborn, He will correct us and guide us. He passionately loves and longs for us to flourish! Ask Him to search your heart. Desperately reach out to the creator of your soul- He knows what is best, and wants you to have it enough so that Jesus Christ died and took the punishment you deserved.

Allow Him to heal you.

For this people's heart has grown callous; their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; ....

...otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn back— and I would cure them.

Matthew 13:15

Take a hefty dose of Vitamin B^ible

Rejoice! I'm a Slacker...

I know I planned to take a bit of a break, but it has been too long since I've written.
Sorry!

There have been several things I've wanted to share, but never got around to getting together. I am working on something for Easter, but haven't fully hashed it out like I'd like either. The weather has been nowhere near as foggy and cloudy as my brain as been. I'm getting desperate for some sunny, mental weather!
God has also been teaching me so much recently. I fact, I feel like He's come to the point of totally reworking this flawed clay jar. (Jeremiah 18:1-6) I am raw from it! But it's such a sweet time knowing He cares so to work these things out in me.

One lesson that is shining clear through - and because of - all this has to do with Psalm 139:23-24:

  Search me, God, and know my heart;

    test me and know my concerns.

    See if there is any offensive way in me;

    lead me in the everlasting way.

It was said to me this week, "Every time you fail - every time you sin, yet again - thank the Lord. Thank Him that He is answering your prayer to search your heart and reveal your offensive ways. Thank Him for His faithfulness which covers you in His righteousness. Rejoice!"


Rejoice, Tiffany! 

Addicted

Have you ever been addicted to something?

I'm not just talking about drugs, alcohol, porn, or any of the other "bad" stuff. It could be checking the news, caffeine, Facebook, or even a certain routine in your life that brings relief or comfort. What ever it might be, if you've been without for a while, you know what the first sip or look does for you: A big sigh of relief and an internal quiver of calm. Ahhhhh.....


That was me this morning and I never realized I was addicted till that Ahhh-calming moment came: I picked up my Bible and took up reading in 2 Kings. That "calm" came from reading a list of what kings had killed, fought, and seceded whom, must be from the Lord.

Thank you Lord, that I'm addicted to Your Word. I'm sorry that I was gone so long from just Your Words and not stuff about you. I love you. Help me feed my addiction. Every day.

Most Don't Like

On the way home last night after a 3 day trip, my 7 year old son spoke up out of the blue at about 1 AM...

     "Mom, do you know what the second thing is that I most don't like?"

   "Um...no hunny. What?"

     "Fake sugar."

   "Really???" Long pause...... "What's the first?"

     "The Devil."

   "Good choice."


I think it's important to most not like the things that really matter :)

The Necessity of SALT

Then the men of the city said to Elisha, "Even though our lord can see that the city's location is good, the water is bad and the land unfruitful."
    He replied, "Bring me a new bowl and put salt in it."
    After they had brought him one, Elisha went out to the spring of water, threw salt in it, and said, "This is what the LORD says: 'I have healed this water. No longer will death or unfruitfulness result from it.' "Therefore, the water remains healthy to this very day according to the word that Elisha spoke.
2 Kings 2:19-22


"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It's no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled on by men."
Matthew 5:13


"For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if the salt should lose its flavor, how can you make it salty? Have salt among yourselves and be at peace with one another."
Mark 9:49-50


"Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the time. Your speech should always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person."
Colossians 4:5-6


We are to be salt.


I find it interesting that there is no such thing as an allergy to salt (sodium) itself. Salt is necessary for life, both spiritually and medically. What people have developed, are allergic reactions to the additives or chemical processes in getting pretty, white salt. 


Isn't it enlightening to know it's what man adds that become the problem. When someone reacts strongly to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, just remember that it's the sin that man added which is producing the adverse reaction- not the "Salt" itself.


Sow pure salt.

Depart From Me, I Never Knew "Bradford Pears"....

Ah.... Spring time.
It's the season of new growth and life. The air is crisp, clean, and warming with gentle breezes blowing away dead leaves of fall for a carpet of soft new grass shoots to burst forth....


It's also the season intense storms from warm and cold fronts battle for territorial rights, pollen layering everything under a blanket of yellow stain, and sinus headaches and sneezing from..... well, you know.


Don't get me wrong. I love spring. I think that's why God chose Christ's resurrection to crown the newness of earthly growth with the redemption of spiritual ones. But it's the herald of this season which has been on my mind and sinus cavities recently:
The Bradford Pear Tree.


For those of you who have never experienced this beautiful, white blossomed tree, let me tell you a little:
Developers love to line new housing areas and other large buildings with them because they are fast growing and have a full look to them (thick with branches). The problem is that the angles at which those branches grow tend to be weak and if a strong storm comes along, the limbs often break off. Another issue is their root system is very shallow and they love to pop up "suckers", meaning if you have one, you will have more if you don't mow them quickly, or the entire tree will blow over at high winds. They are also ornamentals, meaning that though they are a "pear tree", they never produce fruit. That's a nice thing if you don't want any, but then why is it called a Pear tree? Finally, is the fact that those beautiful, white blossoms smell like dead fish. A beauty to behold, but not to inhale.


So this has been my thought for the last week or more: Why do so many, so-called, Christians behave like Bradford Pears? They hear the "Gospel" and grow quickly, but their roots are shallow and when trials or strong temptations come, they break apart. They look pretty on the outside, but if you get too close they small like death. Also, they produce no fruit. (Galatians 5:22-23)  These people are like the ones Jesus describes in the parable of the sower in Matthew 13. They are the seeds sown on rocky ground and among the thorns:
 ¹⁸ "You, then, listen to the parable of the sower: ¹⁹ When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and doesn't understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the one sown along the path. ²⁰And the one sown on rocky ground—this is one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. ²¹ Yet he has no root in himself, but is short-lived. When pressure or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he stumbles. ²²Now the one sown among the thorns—this is one who hears the word, but the worries of this age and the seduction of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. ²³ But the one sown on the good ground—this is one who hears and understands the word, who does bear fruit and yields: some 100, some 60, some 30 times [what was sown]."
Matthew 13:18-23


We all need to take stock of ourselves spiritually:
Do we produce fruit? Through the Spirit.
Can we weather the storms? -Through Christ.
Are our roots deep? -In faith?
Do we smell of the right kind of death?


 ¹⁴ But thanks be to God, who always puts us on display in Christ, and spreads through us in every place the scent of knowing Him. ¹⁵ For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. ¹⁶ To some we are a scent of death leading to death, but to others, a scent of life leading to life. And who is competent for this? ¹⁷ For we are not like the many who make a trade in God's message [for profit], but as those with sincerity, we speak in Christ, as from God and before God.
2 Corinthians 2:14-17


My great passion and concern is that one day, when standing before our Lord, Jesus Christ, these Bradford Pear Christians who have done "many great things" will hear, "I never knew you! Depart from Me..."

 ¹³ "Enter through the narrow gate. 

For the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction,and there are many who go through it. ¹⁴ How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.

    ¹⁵ "Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing 

but inwardly are ravaging wolves. ¹⁶ You'll recognize them by their fruit. 

Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 

¹⁷ In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. 

¹⁸ A good tree can't produce bad fruit; neither can a bad tree produce good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that doesn't produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

 ²⁰ So you'll recognize them by their fruit.

    ²¹ "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord!' will enter the kingdom of heaven, 

but [only] the one who does the will of My Father in heaven. 

²² On that day many will say to Me, 

'Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name? 

²³ Then I will announce to them, 'I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!

   Matthew 7: 13-23

Kimyal Bible10 Minutes

I cried:

Tears of joy for my brothers and sisters on the Kimyal people.

...And tears of repentance that I struggle to even care enough to pick up His Word everyday to read for myself.

Books To Read

My husband and I are starting a course in which we will be mentored for the next 8+ months. We are very excited!

Besides for the Sonship material - which is the course itself - we have two required reading books:

From Fear to Freedom: Living as Sons and Daughters of God 
and
Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters

Have you read one? What did you learn?
If you haven't, perhaps you can join us. This is what I will be doing for the next few weeks. Check them out!