shadow

Articles from August 2015

God Can Use ANYTHING!: God’s Discipline

Posted on: by: Comments: Leave a comment

God can and will use ANYTHING to speak to our hearts.  Join me this week as I share one of His creepy crawley visual aids!

 

God’s Discipline

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

FRIDAY5-897x1024As I watched my hero take control of the situation and finesse the snake out from under the steps, the immediate life lesson the Holy Spirit brought to my attention was the fact that just as I was so proud of my clean garage, we often get too proud of our clean lives.  Truth be told, they aren’t really as clean as we think they are, but we do look better than Joe Schmo down the street or Larry Loveless at the DMV!  After we’ve walked with the Lord for a while, it’s easy to forget that our lives are clean ONLY because of Jesus.  All of our righteousness is as filthy rags and there is no one who seeks to do good apart from God … no one!

About twenty-five years ago Darin and I went through an intense discipleship program, and we had to memorize a number of presentations and a ton of Scripture.  After six months of this, my heart got a bit puffed up.  My excitement over what I was learning turned to spiritual pride and as any good father would do, my Heavenly Father disciplined that right out of me.  Here’s how He did it:

I saw them as they were making their way down the street … black pants, starched white shirts, ties … you’ve seen them — Jehovah’s Witnesses.  “Come on, Baby, I can take you!  I’ve got the ‘Disciple’s Cross’ memorized ,and I’ll slap a few Scriptures on you … I’m ready for this!”  Let me just say that within thirty seconds, I had bolted into the house and was facedown on the carpet wailing in repentance.  I was so ashamed and promised the Lord that if He would send a teacher, I would study to show myself approved unto Him, no one else, HIM!  Within a few months, God had me in a Precept Bible study and He was teaching me His truth, His way.

It sure seems like once we have everything in order, the enemy comes slithering along and attempts to destroy God’s good work in our lives.  While we definitely need to be on the alert, we can also rejoice that we have a Heavenly Father who loves, protects and disciplines His children.

From my heart to yours,

Tami

God Can Use ANYTHING!: Tale of Two Serpents

Posted on: by: Comments: Leave a comment

God can and will use ANYTHING to speak to our hearts.  Join me this week as I share one of His creepy crawley visual aids!

 

Tale of Two Serpents

“If you stop listing to instruction, My child, you will turn your back on knowledge.”
Proverbs 19:27, NLT

woman-screaming-2You can only procrastinate for so long … the garage HAD to be cleaned.  Our two-week old puppies would soon need to be relocated, so the big push was on.  It took several days to get everything off the shelves and systematically piled in the driveway.  Barren shelves made it easy to see that a coat of paint was definitely in order. If you’ve ever painted anything, you understand that one stroke of the paintbrush leads to everything in sight getting painted!

Fifteen extra-large garbage bags and one over-sized trip to the Salvation Army later and my garage was spotless!  I was so elated that I even posted pictures on Facebook!  Driving into the garage was pure satisfaction, and I think my chest even puffed out a little as I strolled from my car to the back door.  Ahhhh …. I had done well!

Oh, I suppose I should mention that my son Jordan was the one who gave me the extra push at the very end when I was ready to call it quits.  The crowning blow was our neighbor showing up with a slithery five-foot black snake dangling on the end of his shovel.  Jordan and Ronnie wrestled that thing to the back of our acre lot all the while I was screaming, “Don’t let that thing get in my Day Lilies!”  What?  It always intrigues me to hear what absurd thing comes out of my mouth in a crisis.

Clean Garage. Check. Survived snake sighting.  Check.  My illogical logic reasoned that since this was the first snake larger than 12” I had seen in fourteen years, there surely wouldn’t be another one any time soon.

Tuesday was a great day.  After all, I had a clean, freshly painted and well-organized garage, I had survived a snake sighting, and did I mention that I had a clean, freshly painted and well-organized garage?  Well, Tuesday was a great day until I opened the back door to step out into my clean, freshly painted and well-organized garage to get the dog food, and I noticed about two feet of a black tail slithering under the steps.

I’m not quite sure how I got there, but I found myself in the driveway guarding the steps from a distance until my husband got home from work.

To make a long story short, Darin wrangled all six feet of that serpent out from under the steps and finally managed to kill the beast.  It was quite an ordeal … all the while, the Lord was speaking to my heart about some very important matters.  I’ll share those with you as we move through the week … one Dose of Encouragement at a time!

From my heart to yours,

Tami

Take Time to Remember: “You are not alone.”

Posted on: by: Comments: Leave a comment

I co-parent teenagers. The daily dilemmas, disputes and doldrums can leave any parent feeling pretty defeated by day’s end. If I don’t carve out time to remember who He is and who I am in the midst of my week, the frequent storms will wear me down.

Together, let’s take time this week to recount a few basic yet extraordinary truths to help us stay emotionally and spiritually afloat as we cling to Him in the midst of the mundane and marvelous tasks of the day before us.

 

“You are not alone.”

They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support [my stay]. He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me.

Psalm 18:18-19

You_are_not_aloneI still remember when Hurricane David came through Florida in 1979.This category 5 hurricane ravaged the Dominican Republic and was forecast to come through my town. Schools closed for two days and everyone began to prepare for the worst. My mother told my sisters and me to hide in the bathroom if she prompted us. To soothe ourselves, we loaded the bathroom with a few of our favorite things-pillows, blankets and of course, our beloved stuffed animals. We ended up playing in there for hours until suddenly we could hear the rain pelting against the roof and windows. Filled with fear I called for my mother, but she would not respond.

Even now when trouble comes my way, it sure is easy to hide, create barriers or distractions to cope with the feelings of angst that won’t subside. I replace pillows, stuffed animals or the comfort of a parent with food, books, music, media or a million other things that might temporarily soothe me. But like the storm I faced as a kid, I know I need something much bigger than myself to bring lasting comfort in life’s storms.

In Psalm 18:18-19, David looks back at his life and praises the Lord for the way he supported him in times of trouble. The Expanded Bible translates the phrase “the Lord was my support” as “the Lord was my stay.” God stays with us in the midst of our calamity. We are not alone. And in His perfect timing, He will deliver us to the “spacious place.” He does this, my friend, simply because He loves you and always cares for His own.

Jackie