Lord of the flies

Good Morning Friends!  Wise and Wonderful is our God Wednesday.  Last evening when I got home from work Kim and the boys were in the pool.  I walked over and said hi, then went in, changed my clothes and joined them.  I didn’t feel like getting in, but I happily sat on the deck sipping a cold drink enjoying watching my boys.  There was one problem…..the flies were terrible!  I mean tons of them all around, sticky ones landing on me and all of our drinks.  I covered up the boys cups with a towel, but the nasty flies were everywhere and bound and determined to annoy me, pushing me to the point of being angry…..As I sat angrily swatting at flies my thoughts were drawn to Pastor’s sermon on Sunday.  He read from Matthew 10 where Jesus is giving His disciples instructions as they go out and do HIS work….HE warned them that it wouldn’t be easy, mentioning Beelzebub (Old Testament)…New Testament, Beelzebul the word for devil…..the meaning of Beelzebub, “Lord of the flies.”  How apropos is that!!??  Oh my gosh, as I sat there getting more and more agitated with the nasty, pesky flies puking on our cups, undoubtedly leaving their brown specks everywhere I couldn’t help but acknowledge the definite connection between the devil and flies….OH how clever our Father is to name the fallen angel, “Lord of the flies.”  The devil does his best to agitate us, to provoke us to no good….and he is everywhere just like nasty flies.  He tempts us with all the things that our Father hates….sticky and nasty just like flies.  However, Jesus didn’t just drop them into the devils hands to fend for themselves…NO WAY….nor does he leave us on our own…No, Jesus tells us to watch out for the devil in 1 Peter 5:8-11, but declares He is with us….”Be self-controlled and alert.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion (or a nasty fly) looking for someone to devour (agitate, frustrate….)Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.  And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.  To Him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.”   Our God loves us, “God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.  1 Corinthians 10:13.”  Yes, we will be tempted, pestered, agitated, frustrated, but if we stand firm in our faith, we will get through….Father, as you instruct us in Matthew 26:41, help us to, “Watch and pray so that we will not fall into temptation.  Our spirits are willing, but our bodies weak.”  Thank you Father, All glory and honor to You.

 

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strong hold of my heart and my portion forever.  Psalm 73:26.

Love you all!

The seasons of our lives...

Good Morning Friends!  Wise and wonderful is our God, Wednesday!  Last night when I got home from work, Kim was nowhere to be found, figured he wasn’t far, so was enjoying putting around the house.   After about 15 minutes or so, I saw Kim and his helper come in the drive in the backhoe hauling hay for the donkeys.  Then my phone rang, “Come on out here.  We are closing the pool up” was all he said.  A little bewildered, I responded, “OK”  and headed out the door.  I really had no idea he had planned that for our evening!  Closing up the pool is really the official sign that summer is over and winter on its way…..The change of seasons….Taking proper care of the pool for winter is really very important, saves the filter from freezing and the winter chemicals help keep it clean, and of course covering it up is so important!  Last year, we never did get it done and what a mess we had; luckily, the filter didn’t freeze, but the pool was gross and took hours of hard work and chemicals to get it clean again…..Here in Oklahoma we truly have “changing seasons” each season so different from the one before and the one to come….In the spring we have to get the storm cellar ready, summer get the pool up and going, fall close it up, stock up on firewood, winter make sure everything is insulated and lots of feed on hand for the livestock….you get it right….each season, winter, summer, spring, or fall brings unique situations….As I sat on the deck holding onto the cover while Kim got the ladder off, I got to thinking about seasons….our lives are full of seasons aren’t they…..seasons of contentment…seasons of discontent…..season of health….season of illnesses…..for us…our lives….everyday might confront us with a new season……we need to prepare for the changes in our lives, just like we prepare the summer pool for upcoming winter…..How we handle the “changes” in our lives depends on how well prepared we are…..And the way to be prepared is…..lots of time with our Heavenly Father, keep Him posted on your life through lots of prayer time, find wisdom and guidance through HIS word, and strength from worshipping with your Christian family!  Our Father Is always there for us….how close we stay to HIM directs our “change of seasons.”  Father help us to be prepared for all the seasons of our lives by being close to YOU.  Give us wisdom and strength to know YOU and follow YOUR will for our lives.  Thank you for being Changeless! 

 

Keep me safe, O God, for in You I take refuge.  I said to the Lord, “you are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.” Psalm 16:1-2.  You  turned my wailing into dancing; You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to You and not be silent.  O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.  Psalm 30:11-12.  The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer.  1 Peter 3:12.  Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.  Hebrews 4:16. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.  Proverbs 3:5-6.

Love you all!

Yuck! Our pool is green! August 30, 2013

Good Morning Friends!  Forever His, Friday!  Didn’t we have an awesome break in our typical summer heat this year!  Oh yes it’s warm right now, but gosh our temps were so nice and the rain….Wow!  Fantastic!  The only negative I could find in the pleasant break was it was too cool to swim….the water in the pool got really cool!  Well, after last weekend Kathyrn and I decided that it was time for a dip with the kids, so Monday after work they came over for a much anticipated swim!  The kids came into the house looking for me, so excited in their swim suits!  I had mine on too, but was brewing tea, so sent them on out.  In just a few minutes I headed out too.  I could hear the kids squealing with delight, but it’s what Kathyrn hollered to me as I got close that threw me for a loop!  She said, “IT’S GREEN!!!”   I couldn’t believe my ears…..Green….there’s no way!  True we had not been swimming in a couple of weeks….but Kim had run the filter…..Oh my gosh, I couldn’t believe my eyes!!!  GREEN, really GREEN and full of debris from all the rain and wind…leaves, bugs…tons of dead june bugs floating….gross!  Kathyrn cleaned the plugged filter and began skimming, I begrudgingly got in and played with the kids stirring the water so it would filter better.  We filled the chlorine containers and just shook our heads……when Papa got there, he couldn’t believe it either, stating it wasn’t green on Saturday…..Well, after the kids left home I couldn’t help thinking about our green pool…..how quickly it had turned from a clear, clean pool to a yucky, murky GREEN one!  Talking about it with a friend here at work, he said the same thing had happened to his pool….he said, “All the conditions were just right.”  Conditions….just right……to turn clean to GREEN…..that’s when it hit me!  Oh my, how often is my life like the green pool….How often do I let “conditions” in my life, turn me GREEN….murky…..stressed, anxious, worried, ill-tempered, short, grumpy, jealous, hateful…My heart and mind are not “clear”……not clearly focused on the pure love of our Heavenly Father…..Rather I let “conditions” turn me murky……like the green swimming pool I am undesirable to those around me…..and I know that my Father is disappointed…..Thankfully, conditions can change.  Our Father, unclogs the filter of my heart and mind, refills me with HIS love and skims off my sinful actions through the blood of His only Son, our Savior……Clean again I pray that my actions will sparkle with HIS love…….me, HIS child, loved and forgiven…..Thank you Father, for the loving clean-ups!  All Glory, honor and Praise to YOU!

 

My flesh and my heart may fail, but my God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.  Psalm 73:26.  I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me.  Jeremiah 33:8.  God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16.  Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name’s sake.  Psalm 79:9.  The Lord bless you, and keep you:  The Lord make His face shine on you, and be gracious to you:  The Lord lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace.  Numbers 6:24-26. 

Love you all!  Have a great holiday weekend!  Be safe