Take Me to the King

Life can be rough. Right? You, of course, know this. Many of you, dear ladies, are under such HEAVY burdens. I know, because I talk to many ladies like you.

A while back, I stumbled upon a song and it's message was exactly what I needed to hear. See, ladies, I do get you. Sometimes, I feel I am DONE. I can't just put a smile on my face and act like everything is ok. I am so burdened down by the load I am carrying, I am burdened down with the loads my friends are carrying.

...but I was reminded, through a song, that I need Jesus. I need the Healer.

I love my friends, I love my family, I love my church BUT it's Jesus I need. I need my Savior. I need my Father. I need the Holy Spirit to fill me up, I just need MY KING! Take me to the King!

Now, I don't know what music style you like and, for many of you, this may be very non-traditional ...but the lyrics give the straight-up message that you may need.

 Take Me to the King <-(Listen to it here)


Dear friend, I get you. Sometimes you're done. ...but that is when you need to shout "Take me to the King."

...our God the Father, the King, our Lord, our Savior. He wants to hold us tight. He wants to take that broken mess and put it back together. He wants to heal us and help us.

 "I don't have much to bring. My heart it torn to pieces but it's everything I have. Here I am Lord."

So, dear friends, "Lay me at the throne, leave me there alone." He is the only one who can do ANYTHING about it. ....and He will!!!!

TAKE ME TO THE KING!!!! - Rejoicing in the Present

The Last Breath

Recently while listening to Steve Brown's You Think About That, I heard an analogy that I just had to share.

He mentioned that he was a former lifeguard.  One of the biggest concerns to lifeguards is having a large, mean man start to struggle and drown in the water. The lifeguard has to wait until he takes one of his last breaths and then reach out to save him.  If the lifeguard doesn't do this, the person could fight to stay up on his own and, in doing so, could drown the lifeguard.

The drowning person must have meekness and complete trust in the one who is attempting to save him.

Are you fighting?  Are so full of pride that God has to wait to save you until you hit rock bottom OR until you are on your last breath?

..or until you are crying out to God as David once did in Psalm 51....

" Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.... Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit...

There is a Savior for every area in your life.... but have you finally given up on YOU and trusted in HIM?

...and as Steve Brown says "You think about that." - Rejoicing in the Present

Our Neighbor

His name was Doug. He was 57 years of age. He was our neighbor and a good one at that.

My husband grew fruit trees and he grew tomatoes and the two would exchange their produce. We used to joke that we were going to set up a fruit/veggie stand.

We talked about a lot of things. We talked about the fact that he was a Michigan Blue fan. He knew J. was a pastor. We talked about church. He used to attend a church years ago. (He grew up here.) We invited him to church. He shared a Christmas-lights timer with us. Once, he even gave us a cup of salt when I was low. He was just a nice guy.

About 3 weeks ago, he went to the hospital in pain and found out that he had cancer in his colon. We knew something was wrong when there was a bunch of cars at his house. That was not Doug. He lived alone and not many people came by. (He liked it like that.) We heard about it later; we were told that the doctors said he had 2-3 years.

One day, when my son came running upstairs to tell me that there was a fire truck in front of our house and an ambulance that took Doug to the hospital, I knew it couldn't be good.

J. went to see him and prayed with him. However, because of the presence of other people in the room, he wasn't able to have any serious gospel conversations with him.

Of course, we thought we still had more time, but we didn't. He died only 3 days later.

On the day we found out, "A" was in a talkative mood and wanted to talk about Mr. Doug. (He had been praying for Mr. Doug, because he knew he was sick.) Every time he heard a fire truck he would say, "is that Mr. Doug in the ambulance?" Then he asked if Daddy had gone to see Mr. Doug again in the hospital. He just wanted to know where Mr. Doug was.

Every question kicked me in the gut until I had to just go remove myself and weep

....because I had no clue where my neighbor was.

This is a bitter lesson to swallow. Doug could very well be in heaven, but, all the same, he might not be. I don't know, because I thought we had time to talk about that. God loves us but He is also a righteous God. He judges our sin and if we do not have a Savior, then we are lost...forever.

What would you do differently, if you knew that your neighbor had only 1 week left? - Rejoicing in the Present

Sing it, Girl!!!

I just love my sweet & spicy little drama queen of a daughter but sometimes her drama is too much for this mama.  I don't know about you, but if the teenage years are anything like toddler-hood, I may just lock myself up in an insane asylum.  :-)

I have learned, though, that if she is having a huge melt down, one of the things that calms her down is singing, either myself or via the radio.  In fact, I sang at the top of my lungs just to block out her "craziness" and then noticed it started to calm her. 

In the Bible, we see how music can effect people.  One of the most famous stories is that of David, who played for Saul to calm his spirit.  There is a whole book filled with his psalms (songs) of worship. 

...and the Bible commands us in Psalms to sing.  It doesn't say if you want to bless or if you want to sing.  It says BLESS, SING.  Do it!!!!  :-)

Worship through music is powerful!  I love what Beth Moore says about what worship does. 

Worship...

1. Exalts God to the highest place
2. Relieves the sojourner of the backbreaking burden of ego.
3. It defeats our enemy. 
4. It answers grace with gratitude
5. And it ends in joy. 

Girl, when you feel like you don't want to sing, THIS IS THE TIME!!!! God will be glorified through our gratitude and the devil will get kicked in the britches.  Friend,  it helps us to "get over ourselves", while at the same time, it gives us joy.

So, sweet ladies, as Psalm 134 says..."Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord." - Rejoicing in the Present

ALERT!

I was sitting at my computer working when my phone went off. It vibrated and beeped loudly to tell me that another child was missing. It was the Amber Alert. Once again, my heart sank to know that another mother or father was heartbroken and another child was without his/her parents.

At these moments I feel the most helpless. If I am in my car, I look around at other license plates but there is a very little chance I will ever help. So, I just pray for the parents and the child.

But then it hit me, THAT IS what I can do. I don't "just" pray. I pray!

I can pray for comfort and peace. I can pray blessings over that family. I can talk to the One who can actually do something about the problem.

Dear friend, when you hear that someone is hurting, when you hear a siren or your phone alerting you, pray. Give that burden to God. He is the best Protector, Healer and "Finder." Pray? - Rejoicing in the Present