For the Lord will comfort Zion
He will comfort all her waste places
He will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert like the garden of the Lord
Joy and gladness will be found in it,
Thanksgiving and the voice of melody
Isaiah 51:3

I just finished writing up an interview I had with Lesli Westfall, a woman who has an online Christian ministry for women struggling with infertility. Dancing Upon Barren Land--Spiritual Nourishment for the Infertility Road has the mission to "inspire belief through Jesus Christ that there is an expected end to the road of barrenness. The monthly disappointments can be turned into God appointments, bringing joy and peace along the journey, as well as offering tools to family members, friends and ministry leaders to support the fertility-challenged, the women traveling to the destination of motherhood".

The site has some great scriptural prayers that address some of the same issues that can crop up when in a desert experience of any kind. Fear, anger, jealousy/envy, disappointment, needing direction, feeling anxious, feeling like God has forgotten you...Though the prayers specifically use the word "fertility" you can easily exchange for words that address your own personal issue.

The site is beautiful, so stop by and take a look. And if you know someone who could benefit from what is offered, please pass the info along.

Dancing on Barren Land--Spiritual Nourishment for the Infertility Road

More new things,,,

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:18-19

A few posts back, I had photographed a bowl of cherries.
I don' t know what the deal is with me and cherries these days. I usually don't eat cherries because of the pits, and cherries are okay, but not my favorite fruit. But for some reason, I've been eating cherries lately.
And then today I took it a step further and decided to make a cherry cobbler. Now I've made cherry cobbler before, but that was using canned pie filling mix. Today I pitted 4 cups of cherries. It took a while because I don't have one of those gadgets to pit them with. I'm still debating if I'm going to bake the cobbler tonight or just wait til tomorrow.

Hmm, maybe these new things are a reminder to me to do as the scripture above says--don't dwell on the past and look forward to the new thing God is doing in my life. I like how in the scripture God declares he is making a way in the desert. Yeah!

My friend, JoJo Tabares, the communication expert, has posted a challenge on her blog to describe yourself in three words. Threeeee words, Let's see . Creative, compassionate... I need another one. I'm going to ask the spouse to describe me. This will be interesting...

On trying new things and being grateful

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Colossians 3:15-17

I'm trying new things. Abstract type art is not something I've ever been interested in, but I decided to try to create something along those lines because it's something to stretch myself beyond what's familiar. Thus my image for today.

What I did was photograph a rose that was hanging on to its last few petals to see if I could create something beautiful out of something that was beautiful no more. Here is the original photograph.
The abstract above is just a beginning step. When I have a little more time, I'll play around with it some more to see what I come up with.

Hey, did you know that most likely you're considered "affluent?" How so, you say?

I’m re-reading a book called “Raising Self-Reliant Children in a Self-Indulgent World – Seven Building Blocks for Developing Capable Young People.”

In the second chapter, there’s a section where four questions are posed to see if you meet the criteria for being a person of affluence. (Definition of affluence: A plentiful supply of material goods; wealth. A great quantity; an abundance.)

These questions are:

1. Do you have more than one pair of shoes?
2. Do you have more than one choice about what you will eat for each meal?
3. Do you have access to your own means of transportation?
4. Do you have more than one set of underwear?

The authors state that if you can answer “Yes” to three or more of these questions, then by overall standards of the world, you are affluent. They further state that fewer than 10 percent of all people who have ever lived have been able to answer “yes” to three or more questions at any one time in their lives.

Wow. I found that amazing—especially the fewer than 10 percent who have ever lived. . Even in the midst of difficult times, many of us are still “affluent.” This helps me, personally, to be even more grateful.

So how about you–do you meet the criteria for affluence?

Oh Lord, How Excellent is Your Name in All The Earth!

Summer is really here. Today was a HOT day. It's nearing midnight as I write this, and it's close to 80 degrees out. The night sky has been interesting. In this image the cloud in front of the moon looks to me like an outstrected hand.

The awesomeness of creation at times just overwhelms me. And I wonder--how can anyone really believe that all of this order just came about randomly from chaos? How can anyone doubt there is a God?

For tonight, I'm just sharing one of my favorite Psalms... Psalm 8 (NKJV)

¹ O LORD, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth,
Who have set Your glory above the heavens!

² Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have ordained strength,
Because of Your enemies,
That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.

³ When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,

⁴ What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?

⁵ For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

⁶ You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,

⁷ All sheep and oxen—
Even the beasts of the field,

⁸ The birds of the air,
And the fish of the sea
That pass through the paths of the seas.

⁹ O LORD, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth!

No limit on Resources

It shall come to pass
That before they call, I will answer;
And while they are still speaking, I will hear.
Isaiah 65:4

What is that a photo?! I know it's kinda weird looking. I'm actually taking a risk by posting that. I do have some 'normal' or rather easily identifiable photographs taken for this day, but decided to post this one as it's posing a challenge to me. For a while now, I've been collecting different images that I can use in someway as parts of designs, and this is a photo of the leaves of a tree blowing in the wind. I don't know yet how I'm going to use it, but I'm going to do something with it and post whatever I create with it, within a week. So I'm making myself accountable!

In looking at our current global economic crisis, I'm also looking at the hard economic times in biblical days to see how God provided for His people then. So today, I was looking at the prophet Elijah in 1 Kings 17. Elijah appears on the scene and declares there will be no rain until God says so. For an agrarian society, that's a pronunciation of doom. Without rain, there are no crops, and the economy then revolved around agriculture.

Elijah becomes a man on the run but God has already prepared a place for him to hang out. God told him to go hide by the Brook Cherith, which becomes Elijah's place of provision for the time being. God commands ravens to bring Elijah his food twice a day, and Elijah has his own water supply with the brook. But after a time the brook dries up because there has been no rain in the land (v7).

Now I thought that interesting...God supernaturally provides Elijah's food, but the brook still dries up because there is no rain. Couldn't God have supernaturally sustained the water supply as well?

Of course He could have, but the rest of the story shows me a couple of things I found interesting. God tells Elijah to "Arise and go to Zarephath...and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you" (v9)

Elijah obeys and sure enough--when he came into the city he saw a widow who was gathering sticks. However this woman was down to her last bit of flour and oil and she was going to cook the last meal for she and her son, and then just die. She didn't have any more resources...she thought. And in the rest of the story, we find that by her doing what the prophet told her to do that the flour and the oil did not run out-- therefore she and Elijah and her household ate for many days.

Now the scripture tells us that God had in someway let the widow know He was sending someone for her to provide for. So that had to mean He was going to provide for her as well. But she got down to her last meal before the answer showed up.

Also, though God could have supernaturally provided water for Elijah, he didn't. Elijah, though a righteous person who was in the will of God, was affected by the drought just like everyone else. He had a resource that dried up and he had to move on. But God had a place for him to go. And he became the answer for someone else. It's like he and the widow formed a joint venture that benefited them both.

As I'm thinking about this series of events, it's another example of how God provides for us when we trust Him. Lets me know that it doesn't matter if the resources I've depended on in the past have dried up. He still has provision elsewhere, and when I'm willing to get out of my comfort zone and move on when He tells me, it can mean not only a blessing for me, but for someone else as well.

Life Is...Isn't.?

Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,
who daily bears our burdens. Selah

Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death. Psalm 68:19-20 (NIV)

I've, at times, wondered why the phrase "Life is like a bowl of cherries" was used to explain idea conditions, especially since eating cherries isn't the most idea experience with the pits you have to deal with.

Perhaps that is what makes life like a bowl of cherries--it's sweet, but with pits.

Anyhoo, I bought cherries today at my local Stater Brothers, and they are really good and sweet. Thus, the photo of the day. And as I'm eating these luscious cherries and spitting out the pits, I'm pondering the subject of salvation.

What do you think of when you hear the word salvation? Probably the main thing that comes to mind is that salvation is being saved from sin and the penalties of it, through repentance and profession of faith in, and living for, Jesus Christ. So true, as that's the beginning, and yet salvation extends on to encompass much more. We have so much more to be saved from--well, at least I do. The effects of wrong patterns of thinking, negative experiences, childhood issues, past wrong decisions... to name a few issues that can affect us.

Just for an example--let's take me having a natural inclination to have a sharp tongue. It's in the blood--people in my family tend to be quick with words and satire. I grew up with a sharp wit and quick tongue,which could be funny, yet that sharpness could turn into biting sarcasm, without me intending it to be so. Also, the sharpness would be there, unintentionally, when giving correction to a child or subordinate in the work environment.
If I wanted to be a late night comedian, I suppose that would be an asset...but in God's book, it's not.

The first eleven verses of James 3, talks about the irreversible damage that can be caused by the tongue. The tongue is described as 'a fire, a world of iniquity', ' unruly evil, full of deadly poison', 'it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.'

Uh oh. Well, I could have told myself that I could just be very careful and watch my mouth...which is good. But it wasn't enough. This was a part of me. Some people may suggest some form of retraining myself, but that's depending on a man-made function which doesn't always work. I had to first of all face the fact that I needed 'salvation' from this problem, and that I needed God to help me. And that's where the person of the Holy Spirit comes in, because He is our helper. It would be arrogance on our part if we thought we could handle all of our issues on our own, in the sense of doing what is pleasing to God, without His help.

In following Jesus' example to fight with the Word (which is living and powerful- Hebrews 4:12)
I found myself a verse to confess over myself, while asking the Holy Spirit to make me aware when I was about to say something that would not be pleasing to God. I used the scripture about the virtuous woman in Proverbs 31, that says in verse 26 "She opens her mouth with wisdom, And on her tongue is the law of kindness."

For a period of time, each day I would say about myself--I open my mouth with skillful and godly wisdom and on my tongue is the law of kindness giving counsel and instruction(Amplified Bible version). In dealing with situations where the temptation was there to 'go off', especially with dealing with a rebellious child that was under my care for a number of year-- the Holy Spirit would do His job to remind me that this was one of those situations, and I would take my stance ahead of time that 'the law of kindness would be on my tongue.'

I took the salvation that was offered me, through submitting totally to the Lord in this, and with this particular situation, I know God saved this relationship from 'death.'

How reassuring it is to me that God continuously offers salvation to us, in so many areas!

Casting Cares

Cast your burden on the LORD,
And He shall sustain you;
He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.
Psalm 55:22

Today was one of those days.
A day where I felt agitated and restless in my spirit, and I didn't know why. Something was bothering me, but I didn't know what. It made me feel grouchy. I was not only irritable, but irritating. And no, I don't suffer with PMS.

It came, it seems, out of nowhere. And then I found myself starting to worry about things that I have been trusting God with... I don't have prospects for work at the moment...what are we going to do for money next month...what if the things I'm working on now don't work...what if God doesn't come through...

So before it got too crazy, I knew I needed some 'me-alone-with-God-time.' I needed to just get alone with the Lord and have Him help me sort out what the deal was. So I retreated to my bedroom for about an hour just to sit in the presence of God, and to listen.

And in that quiet time, I began to see that, basically, it was the cares of life that were bothering me. It wasn't any one big thing or things, it was the culmination of little things--listening to the tragedies of the day on the news; hearing disappointing news about an extended family member; trying to still sort out an error that a company has been lagging on for over 3 months now, and so on-- the little foxes that spoil the vine... Song of Solomon 2:15

I took time right then to address each issue, pray about it, and then give it to the Lord. The issues are still there-- it's in the casting of the burden, the weight of them-over to the Lord, then He can give the support needed, as He is being allowed to give the support. In other words, when I give my cares to the Lord, He takes the burden, the weight of it from me, and I'm in a better position to trust Him and not be moved from what I'm believing Him to do for me.

And God is so good even in the little things. The day was pretty much done and I still hadn't gotten my shot for the day, and He painted the sky this evening...just for me. :)