Seeking Him

As I sat and listened for God's words tonight, these are the words and the scripture He laid on my heart.

Seek Me and you will find Me, my child. I am always here waiting and wanting to talk with you. I am here in your times of joy. I am here in your hardships. I calm all fears. I dry every tear. I am always here with you, loving and comforting you.

Seek Me with all of your heart and all of your soul. If you seek Me, you will always find Me. I stand ready and waiting to hear what you have to say. I want to hear about you. I want to hear about your day. Tell Me your most intimate secrets. Tell Me of your fears, your hopes. I am your best friend, waiting to spend some time with you. Please don't ignore Me. Accept Me and embrace Me as I accept and embrace you. Come to Me now, I am waiting.

Psalm 34

¹ I will extol the LORD at all times;
   his praise will always be on my lips.
² My soul will boast in the LORD;
   let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
³ Glorify the LORD with me;
   let us exalt his name together.

 ⁴ I sought the LORD, and he answered me;
   he delivered me from all my fears.
⁵ Those who look to him are radiant;
   their faces are never covered with shame.
⁶ This poor man called, and the LORD heard him;
   he saved him out of all his troubles.
⁷ The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him,
   and he delivers them.

 ⁸ Taste and see that the LORD is good;
   blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
⁹ Fear the LORD, you his holy people,
   for those who fear him lack nothing.
¹⁰ The lions may grow weak and hungry,
   but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
¹¹ Come, my children, listen to me;
   I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
¹² Whoever of you loves life
   and desires to see many good days,
¹³ keep your tongue from evil
   and your lips from telling lies.
¹⁴ Turn from evil and do good;
   seek peace and pursue it.

 ¹⁵ The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous,
   and his ears are attentive to their cry;
¹⁶ but the face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
   to blot out their name from the earth.

 ¹⁷ The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them;
   he delivers them from all their troubles.
¹⁸ The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
   and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

 ¹⁹ The righteous person may have many troubles,
   but the LORD delivers him from them all;
²⁰ he protects all his bones,
   not one of them will be broken.

 ²¹ Evil will slay the wicked;
   the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
²² The LORD will rescue his servants;
   no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

Healing Rain

Today I feel lead to share a journal entry from September 19, 2011. It describes a time when I strongly felt the presence of the Lord around me.

Sept 19, 2011

I am sitting outside on the front porch. The rain is gently falling, cleansing the earth. The summer was hot and dry. We had very little rain. I have learned to really appreciate the rain and be thankful for it. I am almost in awe of the gentle, soothing sound it makes as it hits the leaves and ground. The overcast sky with a fog-like mist adds to the peacefulness of the rain. I have never enjoyed the rain like I do now. I have missed the rain. I sense more than just rain. I feel like God is telling me that He is here, surrounding me with His love and peace as He gently cleanses away the filth of my sins. This same cleansing rain also serves as water that soaks into my roots, quenching my thirst for Him. This water provides the very life to my soul as well as my physical body. This water can only be provided by the Lord and it will sustain me forever - for eternity. The healing waters of the Lord wash over me and flow through me. The rain has picked up. It is coming down very hard now. The air is thick with rain and I can see it bouncing off the road in front of our house. I can feel it's mist on my body. I can hear it pouring off the roof, creating a stream on the ground.

The Lord is here and He will sustain me. He will fill me. He will quench my thirst. He will cleanse me. He renews me and makes me whole again. Without Him I am broken . . . I am nothing and can do nothing without Him. I will stand against the devil's schemes and put on the full armor of God. I will stand firm in faith. It reminds me of one of my favorite verses, Jeremiah 17:7-8:

"But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in Him.
He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes:
its leaves are always green
It has no worries in the year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit."

I felt the Lord interacting with me that day as I sat on the porch enjoying the rain. I could feel Him drawing me near. I felt like God was the rain, comforting me and surrounding me with his cleansing presence. I feel like every one of God's children can experience him in this personal way. He wants to know us intimately. If you have never experienced the Lord in this way and long to have this kind of relationship with Him, get down on your knees and pray what is truly in your heart. When you are done praying, sit and listen for His response. You may be very surprised about what He has to say to you, I know I was. Don't be discouraged if you don't hear from the Lord. We all have our own unique gifts and He reveals Himself to us in different ways. If you regularly pray and listen from your heart, God will meet you there. Go and see where your journey takes you!
http://www.biblegateway.com/

Salvation

Before I go any further, I need to share how I came to know Jesus. It is a long story, so stay with me.

My husband, Mike, and I had been married a few years when we decided we wanted to add a child to our family. We were not Christians at the time and neither of had really been exposed much to the things of Christ. We did not attend church. We were spiritually clueless. We had no idea what we were missing and we really didn't give it much thought. Anyway, we tried to conceive for a couple of years without success. We sought medical attention with a fertility specialist. We underwent multiple rounds of various invasive testing. I took fertility pills a couple of months with no response. I then started taking fertility shots twice a day. I had ultrasounds every other day to monitor the progress. Finally, the third month I took these injections, we conceived a child. We were ecstatic.

This is me very pregnant.

My pregnancy proceeded well. However, I had an unsettling feeling. I felt like we needed to start going to church. I didn't really know why I had this overwhelming desire. I think it had something to do with raising our child in a church because it was "the right thing to do." We tried a few churches and finally found one that was right for us. We continued to be unsaved. We attended worship services about every other Sunday. Our baby, Ryan, was born. He was precious and we loved him more than we could ever imagine.

Mike and Ryan

Me and Ryan

We continued to attend church about every 2 -3 weeks. Pastor Greg gave wonderful sermons each Sunday. About one year after we started going to church, I can remember being at home one day when I just felt like I wasn't living right. I had always tried to be a good person and do what was right. I felt the Lord calling me to Him. That day in my home, I accepted Jesus. I asked him to come into my life and take control. I acknowledged that He sacrificed His life for my sins so that I could be with the Lord and spend eternity with Him in heaven. He paid my ransom and rose again. He lives today, within me and all of those who believe in Him.

At first, my salvation wreaked havoc on my life and in my marriage. Mike couldn't understand why I was different. Many arguments and a lot of tears resulted. Mike then came to know Jesus and accept Him. Everything got a little easier after that. We still have trials and hardships, but we have Jesus there to help us through them. We are far from perfect. Jesus died for us so that we could be perfect through Him. Think of it this way. You come before God on your judgement day. He will only accept those who are perfect into heaven. The Lord asks you, "Are you perfect?" You stand behind Jesus and say, "No but Jesus is perfect and he has me covered."

Jesus paid my ransom and He paid your ransom, too. He's just waiting for you to ask Him into your life. Imagine what He can accomplish in you and your life if you let him! Matthew 6:33 reads "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Are you seeking Him?
http://www.biblegateway.com/

biblegateway.com

Revelation Song

Check out this video. This is one of my favorite songs. It is such a wonderful worship song!

A New Start

Hello everyone. I am new to the blogging venue. I never would have thought I would be starting a blog. I actually had no real desire to start a blog. God placed on my heart that He wanted me to do this to further His kingdom. I know many of you may be skeptical that God Himself actually told me to do anything. I know that I used to feel the same way. I didn't come to know the Lord until I was 28 years old and before that, I never heard from Him at all. (Or at least I never realized I was hearing from him.) I was a clueless person back then. I just went through the motions of life with no real purpose or satisfaction. I never felt like I was actively rejecting the Lord then, I just didn't know Him. I had very little exposure to the things of God. I didn't really know what I was missing and I didn't give it much thought.

Well, anyway, I have found Jesus and He has saved me. Now I have a relationship with Him that is very unique and personal. I hear from Him. I usually don't physically hear his voice. His words come to me in written form. I sit with pen and paper and His words flow through me. This is how it started. I was in Sunday school class one morning and the teacher said. " You can pray all you want but unless you sit and listen for a response you are just having a one-way conversation." That statement was absolutely profound to me. Sit and listen for the Lord? Would He really talk to ME? Why? How? What would He say? Well, to make a long story short, He did speak to me and He sure had a lot to say. I felt like I was going crazy at first. I didn't tell anyone because I thought for sure they would think I was a freak. I was getting pages and pages of words from the Lord. I was afraid of these words and I didn't know what to do with them. I needed some help. I finally told a few trusted friends and went to speak with my pastor about everything. He confirmed that I am indeed not crazy and that I was very well getting some words from the Lord. He told me to be careful about sharing messages specific to a particular person and to use discernment.

It has been over 2 years ago since this journey began. I would like to be able to tell you that I have grown tremendously in this gift and all other aspects of my spiritual life. Sadly, this is not the case. I did grow quickly and fervently at first but lately I have rarely made time to spend in the Lord or His word. I have felt distant from the Lord of late. I feel almost embarrassed and ashamed to admit that I have been blessed with an amazing gift that I'm not even using. What do I do with this gift? Does He want me to write a book? I started praying about it. He revealed to me that blogging about His words would be a great way to further His kingdom. I had some concerns at first. I prayed more. He revealed some things to me yesterday that confirmed this plan. First, the sermon that Pastor Greg gave yesterday spoke to me. He actually gave a testimony about a time he was sitting at his computer and words from the Lord flowed out of him. He described it as an "out-of-body experience" and said that the words were not his own. I related to this experience and feel the same way when I receive words. The second experience occurred at a Chinese restaurant. I rarely open my fortune cooking and read my fortune because I feel only God knows our fortune. Well, I did read my fortune and this is what it said, "Trust him, but still keep your eyes open."  I looked up scripture referencing eyes being open. I found Numbers 24:15,16.

The oracle of Balaam son of Beor,

the oracle of one whose eye sees clearly,

the oracle of one who hears the words of God,

who has knowledge from the Most High,

who sees a vision from the Almighty,

who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened.

These verses are talking about Balaam, who was a sorcerer that foretold of the coming of the Messiah. To me it says that God can and will use anyone to accomplish his purpose.

I am here, ready and willing to share the things of God. I trust in the Lord and I have a notebook full of words to share. I hope I have captured your attention and peaked your interest!