Walk Boldly With Jesus

Our Father’s Love (Part 1)Psalm 103:1-2 “With my whole heart, with my whole life, and with my innermost being, I bow in wonder and love before you, the holy God! Yahweh, you are my soul’s celebration. How could I ever forget the miracles of kindness you’ve done for me?"Yesterday, in the prayer group the leader read Psalm 103 to us. I was trying to listen to the psalm and yet I was also distracted. She did her talk about a few parts of the Psalm, so I got to hear a few of the parts again. This morning I decided to read the whole Psalm and ask the Lord to highlight any parts he wanted me to talk about. Well, let me tell you, He highlighted almost the whole thing. I really got the sense that the Lord wanted me to go deeper into this Psalm. I got the feeling that He wanted me to do a series of episodes on this Psalm. This is actually confirmation of a question I got asked last Friday. I was talking with my friend Cynthia and she asked me if I ever do themes or series on the podcast. It’s funny how the Lord will use other people to get his point across. I hear you loud and clear, Lord. I will do a series on Psalm 103.Psalm 103 even has a beautiful title, “Our Father’s Love.” There is so much to our heavenly Father’s love. It is so vast and so all encompassing. In this psalm, His love is broken down into ways that we can understand better. Today’s verse starts with how we should love God. It begins with, “With my whole heart, with my whole life, and with my innermost being, I bow in wonder and love before you, the holy God!” This is definitely something to strive for. What does it mean to love God with our whole heart, our whole life, and with our innermost being?The first thing that comes to mind is that we don't have other things competing for our love that are anywhere close to the way we love God. This may sound easy, and yet it is really isn’t. We my think we love God with our who heart and yet there are so many things we love. What if you had to pick between the Lord and TV, would you pick the Lord? My first response is, “of course I would.” Then I think back to all the times when I had homework to do for Bible study, or I felt the Lord was calling me to pray and yet I decided to watch TV instead. If you had to choose between the Lord and sleep, which would you choose. Again, my first instinct would always be the Lord. I would choose him about all else. Yet, when it is early in the morning and I am planning to get up and spend time with the Lord, I choose to hit the snooze button instead. In that moment I am not choosing the Lord, I am choosing sleep.TV and sleep just happen to be the two things I tend to put above the Lord. Your’s might be something completely different. Maybe you put your phone or playing games on your phone above spending time with the Lord. Maybe you put housework or car work above spending time with the Lord. Wherever it is we are spending our time, that is where our affection is going. Think about a different relationship that you have. If you are married, think about your relationship with your spouse. You hopefully love your spouse with your whole heart. Yet, what happens when you don’t spend any time with that person. What happens when you are too busy doing other things?The verse says, “And with my innermost being, I bow in wonder and love before you, the holy God!” How often are we bowing in wonder and love before the Lord? I was talking with a friend yesterday and we were talking about how amazing God is. We had a really Spirit filled Encounter Ministries class on Monday night and we were just in awe of the way the Lord showed up. My friend said she doesn’t know why we are so in awe each time as He does it so frequently. I think it is good that we are still in awe each and every time. I pray I never take his awesomeness for granted. I pray I never get used to the miraculous way He shows up each time we ask Him to. I pray I continue to bow in wonder and love before the Lord.The next part of the verse goes along with this. It says, “Yahweh, you are my soul’s celebration. How could I ever forget the miracles of kindness you’ve done for me?” First, I love that beginning line. “Yahweh, you are my soul’s celebration.” How beautiful is that? Next, it reminds us to never forget the miracles of kindness He has done for us. I think today would be a great day to look back over your life, or even over this past week and recall to mind all the miracles of kindness that the Lord did for you. When we keep these miracles in the forefront of our mind it makes it easier to find joy. It makes it easier to make it through the hard times when we remember that Jesus helped us through the last hard time that we had.This verse isn’t just talking about God helping us through the hard times, It is also talking about the small miracles of kindness as well. Someone in my prayer group mentioned yesterday that she felt the Lord put upon her heart to start a devotion of the Holy Face at her Tuesday prayer gro

What Are We Waiting For?James 4:13-15 “Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”This verse is so good because it reminds us that none of us know how much time we have. We wake up each day and take it for granted that we woke up. Most of us do not wake up grateful for a new day. If we are being honest, we probably wake up annoyed that our alarm is going off and wonder how it could possibly be time to get up already when we just laid our heads down a minute ago. I think the part of the verse that says, “You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes,” demonstrates how brief our life actually is. We may seem like we are here on earth forever, yet it goes by in the blink of an eye.It sounds like the beginning of this verse is telling us we shouldn’t make plans because we don’t know if we will be around to carry out those plans. I don’t think that is what the verse is telling us. I think this verse is trying to get us to remember that tomorrow is not guaranteed. None of us know the day we will pass on. None of us know if we will wake up tomorrow. I think we need to continue to make plans and yet when we are making them we remember what the verse says, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”We have dear friends that we have not seen in a long time and yet think of often. We met this family when we were stationed in New Jersey. Tony worked with the husband, and since our family was 4 hours away, they adopted us into their family. Their daughter babysat our boys and we got together for dinner. Dave & Susan have this saying that I think is exactly what this verse is talking about. When you check in with them to confirm your plans, such as “Are we going to dinner tomorrow night?” They always say, “If The good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise.” This might sound like a cute saying, yet it reminds us that we can and should make plans and yet we can only carry out those plans if the Lord wills them and if He grants us the gift of another day.This afternoon I heard this song that I haven’t heard in a while. The chorus of this song always gets me. The song's name is What Are We Waiting For by King and Country. The lyrics that always get me are: So what are we waiting for? What are we waiting for? Why are we wasting all the time like someone's making more? What are we praying for? What are we saving for? What if we could be the light that no one could ignore? What are we waiting for?I have two favorite lines in that chorus. The first one is, “Why are we wasting all the time like someone’s making more?” Does that hit you, too, or is it just me? I find myself wasting so much time throughout the day. While I was supposed to write this in the last hour, I got sidetracked with at least three different things. Sometimes, it is things that need to be done. Other times, it is checking my email, my Facebook, and my messages on my phone. Other times, it is watching TV or playing a game on my phone. Time goes by each and every day, whether we realize it or not, whether we are paying attention to it or not. Sometimes, we get so tired of doing things that we wish we could just be done and finished with. However, we don’t realize how important that thing may be.Recently, I have been saying that I want my kids to get their licenses because they are 18 & 19, and I spend a lot of time driving them in the car. Also, Sam does not get out until 9:30, and I would love to be in bed before 10. This week, the Holy Spirit put on my heart that if I am not driving them to work, I may not have much time to talk with them. Noah got his license a few weeks ago, and since he has started driving himself to work, I don’t see him nearly as much. We definitely don’t have that 30 minutes of time to be with each other and talk. When I drove him to work, we didn’t always talk, but we did tend to talk about music or a few other things. Now, I see him briefly before school and when I go in to say goodnight. However, if I am going to be earlier, I will probably be in bed when they get home from work, so I may not even get to hug them goodnight each night anymore. Do you see what I mean about wishing time away?The other line in the chorus that I love is when it says, “What if we could be the light that no one could ignore?” How great would it be if we could be the light that no one could ignore. What if we loved Christ so much, and we were so full of Him, that His light radiated out of us so brightly that those around us couldn’t ignore it? When I ask the Lord, how we do this, He tells me with love. We need to love others the way He loves others. I heard at Bible study this week that this couple was visiting w

The witness today is about Dr. Mary Neal. I saw her story on YouTube. Dr. Mary Neal is a board-certified orthopedic spine surgeon who drowned while kayaking on a South American river. She experienced life after death. She went to heaven and back, conversed with Jesus, and experienced God's encompassing love. She was returned to Earth with some specific instructions for work she still needed to do. Her life has been one filled with miracles and the intervention of God. Her story gives reason to live by faith and is a story of hope. I will retell the story that I heard on YouTube. I will also link the interview below so you can watch it yourself if you want to. CLICK HERE to watch the video. Neal and her husband are avid kayakers. They have friends who are professional boaters who run trips to Chile. One year, their children were old enough so the parents could go away on vacation without them. They went on one of these trips to Chile for her husband’s birthday. They paddled all these rivers and had a great time. On what was going to be their last day of paddling, they decided to paddle a river well known for its waterfalls or drops, not like Niagara Falls, but 10-15-foot drops. These would be exhilarating and challenging but certainly within their skill set.That day, her husband woke up for the first and only time in his life with back pain. Dr. Neal went on the river that day without her husband. She went on the river with her friends, who are professionals, and a few American clients. When they came to the first significant drop, one of the clients passed Dr. Neal and blocked the path to the channel they had selected to go over. This left her with one option: to go over the main part of the waterfall, which is what she did. As she got to the crest of the waterfall, she could see the bottom and the turbulence and flow. She knew it wouldn’t be pretty, but she figured she would hit the bottom, her boat would flip over, and she would have to get out of the boat, get tumbled around a bit, and then get spit out downstream. She said this is not a fun experience, but it is a part of boating occasionally, which is fine.What happened next was something she could not have dreamed up. At this point in her life, she had never lost anyone close to her, so she had never really thought about death or what happens when you die. She hit the bottom, and her boat got stuck under rocks. She is a spine surgeon and is very calm in high-stress situations. She didn’t panic. She set about trying to free herself or the boat, but the weight of the water was too great for her to do anything. She thought about her options, and she realized she was going to die. She made a very active choice that God’s will be done. She felt like she had a choice. She could choose God’s will or fight it. Either way, she was going to die. The minute she chose God’s will, she immediately felt comforted and held by Jesus and reassured that all would be okay. She knew her husband would be ok. It took her a while to admit that she was being held by Christ because she didn’t think she was worthy. She learned in that moment that we are all individually known and loved by God.She is very pragmatic and concrete thinking. God’s time is different. She could experience all of eternity in every moment. She thought she was hallucinating. She was still conscious of what was going on under the water. She could feel the weight of the water. She could feel the water pulling her out of the boat. She could feel her legs breaking but with no pain. At the same time, she was being held by Christ, taken through a life review, and then she felt her spirit leave her body. She said her spirit floated above the river, and when she was up in the sky, Jesus released her to the heavens. She was greeted by spirits. She knew they were people who had loved her during her entire existence. She knew they were tied to her story, but she didn’t recognize them because she didn’t know anyone who had died before. But it could have been like a great-grandparent who would know her, but she didn’t know them.The beautiful thing is when we are reunited with people up in heaven. It is with an absolute understanding of the back story and its purpose. You are reunited with a purity of love. There is just no room for any destructive emotions. She really believes that the destructive emotions we feel on earth are an absence of love. She said you do not hold onto those feelings when you are up in heaven.She would have claimed before this experience that she was a Christian. She said she was a cultural Christian. She went to church because she happened to grow up in the Midwest. That was about it. Now, her number one identity is that she is a beloved child of God, and everything else is secondary to that. She loves being a wife & mother. Those two jobs are critically important to her. However, the only thing that truly matters is that she is a beloved child of God. This experience changed her experience o

Persevere & Receive What He Has Promised!Hebrews 10:36 "You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.”This was one of the verses I typed for our August discernment notes for the Prayer Group. The message translation came up when I looked up the verse on biblegateway.com to check out different versions. I love the message translation because it puts it in our current terms. It takes what the Bible says and uses common everyday language to tell us what they are talking about. Another thing it does is group verses together. So, instead of having verse 36, it had verses 32-39 all lumped together. This way, you don’t take any verses out of context. I don’t always use this translation when writing the devotional, but I frequently look at it to ensure I understand what is being said. Today, I didn’t intend to look up the message translation; it just came up, and the verses blew me away. When I get a verse, I often read it before and after it. When I do this, I sometimes switch to those verses. This morning, the verses before this one give us much more context into what this verse means.Here is the message translation for Hebrews 10:32-36, “Remember those early days after you first saw the light? Those were the hard times! Kicked around in public, targets of every kind of abuse—some days it was you, other days your friends. If some friends went to prison, you stuck by them. If some enemies broke in and seized your goods, you let them go with a smile, knowing they couldn’t touch your real treasure. Nothing they did bothered you, nothing set you back. So don’t throw it all away now. You were sure of yourselves then. It’s still a sure thing! But you need to stick it out, staying with God’s plan so you’ll be there for the promised completion.”I loved these verses because it explains how hard it can be to stick with something. When we start something new, we are excited and go all in, or at least I do. I always want to do it because it is new and exciting. Even if it is hard work, it can still be exciting, and we can still be motivated. However, what about when it is not new or exciting anymore? Think about a hobby you started, and you were so excited about it, and you bought all the things to go with it and did it all the time. When I got married, my neighbor started selling Creative Memories scrapbooking supplies. To support her I started a scrapbook for Tony and me. Then, when I had kids, I got more into scrapbooking. I would stay up late doing it. My fellow moms and I would have scrapbooking nights going well into the mornings. I bought more and more stuff, and I loved it. Then as I had more kids and they got to ages where they were into more stuff, I slowly got away from scrapbooking. Now I have two bookshelves full of supplies, and I rarely ever scrapbook. I also got into running during COVID, and I was excited to go out and run. Not excited every day, but excited enough to get myself out there. I don’t think I ran much at all this past year. Our interests come and go. Our relationship with the Lord is something that should remain a constant in our lives.The letters to the various communities in the New Testament addressed the people of the early church. Jesus came here to set up a new kingdom in this world. This religion was new and exciting. It was familiar in some ways and radically different in other ways. People were excited, and they were all in at first. People were excited about this new religion, and yet it was not an easy life for those who believed in Christ. Nowadays, if you believe in Christ, you may have some persecution, but nothing like they received back at the beginning.Right after Christ died, there was a lot of persecution. Many could not openly worship and if they were caught they were put in jail or they were killed. Peter was crucified, Paul was beheaded, Andrew was also crucified, Thomas was pierced through with spears, Philipp was arrested and cruelly put to death, Matthew was stabbed to death, Bartholomew was a martyr for the Gospel, James was stoned and then clubbed to death, Simon, the zealot, was killed after refusing to sacrifice to the sun god, Matthias was burned to death, & John was the only one to die of natural causes. It was not easy to be a Christian when these letters were being written. This is why the early church father’s wrote letters to their people. They wanted to encourage them to keep believing.These verses do just that. “Remember those early days after you first saw the light? Those were the hard times! Kicked around in public, targets of every kind of abuse—some days it was you, other days your friends. If some friends went to prison, you stuck by them.” This is reminding them of how they felt when they first came to know Christ. They are reminding them that times were hard even from the beginning and yet they followed Christ anyway. They were kicked around, and they were abused in all sorts of ways, and yet

Forget Yourself Long Enough To Lend A Helping HandPhilippians 2:3-4 “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”I had no idea this verse was in the Bible, yet it could be the answer to so many of our problems. Imagine what the world would be like if we did nothing from selfishness or empty conceit. Imagine if we all regarded one another as more important than ourselves. Imagine if we weren’t just looking out for our own best interests but those of others as well. I run into many people these days who clearly regard themselves as more important than those around them. You can tell in their voice when they talk to you that they are sure you do not know what you are talking about. You can tell by their actions they do not feel you are more important than they are.Here is the verse above in the Message translation. Philippians 2:3-4 “Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.” How many of us are living like this? How many of us put aside what we want to help others get ahead? I love where it says, forget about yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. I wish we could all lend a helping hand a bit more. What a better world we would live in if we did. I am not saying people aren’t doing this. I have seen people lending a helping hand. However, I have also seen far more people walk right by without stopping. I have seen people go out of their way to be mean to those less fortunate they are.I can see extremes in two different ways. First, the person who thinks they are more important than everyone else. They don’t understand why they have to wait in line. They don’t know why the cashier can’t be faster or more efficient. They don’t understand why everything can’t be done for them. Most of their actions are done from selfishness and empty conceit. They care about themselves and no one else. They are definitely looking out for their own interests.Then there is also the other extreme of those who never look out for their interests. The person who always puts others’ interests before his/her interests. This person has not been treated well and has been told they don’t matter. They have been taught that what they want isn’t as important as what those around them want. They have come to believe that what they want doesn’t matter. They think their worth is found in giving others what they want. They are not really choosing to put others first. They don’t know any other way.None of the scenarios listed above are good. Yes, it does say to regard one another as more important than yourselves, but it doesn’t tell you that you don’t matter. It says, do not MERELY look out for your own personal interests. What you want and think matters. We should look out for ourselves. We shouldn’t make that our first priority, though.We need to make sure we know who we are in God’s eyes. Even though we are called to regard others as more important than we are, we can’t forget that we were all made in God’s image and likeness. Jesus did now submit to others because He thought He was less than them. He didn’t humble himself to serve others because he had to. He did it because he wanted to. I feel this distinction is essential. This is shown in Philippians 2:5-6 “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.” Jesus knew He was God. He did not empty himself, humble himself because He had no other choice. He did this for us. He did this to show us what we should be doing. He is the “perfecter of faith.” He shows us how to love God perfectly.The verse above asks us to humble ourselves and to put others before us. Yes, we want to be accepted into the kingdom of heaven. However, this verse tells us we don’t have to prove to God how great we are. We don’t have to act better than everyone else so that God will see us and favor us. Jesus was willing to humble himself. He was willing to empty himself to be fully human with us. Because He did this and because He was willing to be obedient to the Father, the Father lifted Him up and honored Him. Jesus tells us whoever is first on earth will be last in heaven, and whoever is last on earth will be first in heaven. Don’t we want to be first in heaven? Why are we trying so hard to be the best here on earth when this life is so short compared to eternity? Let’s all take some time today to think about how we can help elevate others instead of ourselves. How can we love others enough to regard them as higher than ourselves?Dear Heavenly Father, I

A Way Through The WildernessIsaiah 35:1-10 “The wilderness and the desert will be glad, And the Arabah will rejoice and blossom; Like the crocus, It will blossom profusely And rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, The majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the Lord, The majesty of our God. Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble. Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you.” Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah. The scorched land will become a pool And the thirsty ground springs of water. In the haunt of jackals, its resting place, Grass becomes reeds and rushes. A highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for him who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it. No lion will be there, Nor will any vicious beast go up on it; These will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk there, And the ransomed of the Lord will return And come with joyful shouting to Zion, With everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away.”This is much longer than I usually do. I typically pick a verse and go with it. I heard the last few verses of this chapter in Isaiah at prayer group yesterday, and I really liked them. Then, when I read the whole chapter, I would pick a few verses in the middle to share. However, there were a few places in the verses that I didn’t understand. I was going to just explain the ones I did understand, and then I remembered how every time I look up the meaning of the verses I don’t understand, I am so glad I did. Whenever I look up the importance of the verses I don’t understand, I learn something interesting. Today is no different. I decided to look up the meaning of Isaiah 35, and I am happy I did.I decided to use the middle verses because they talk about the eyes of the blind being opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. I know many people who need healing right now, so I thought these verses would be perfect. Yet, when I read the article about the meaning of Isaiah, it talked about that verse meaning our spiritual ears and eyes. It was remarkable all the things that were discussed in this article. I will place a link for it in the show notes, as it was a fantastic article to read. The article is called The Holy Way by Tony S. Everett. I will share with you the things that stood out to me.“In today's lesson, the people of God have been living as exiles in Babylon, approximately 500 miles from their homeland. The mighty Babylonian army, under King Nebuchadnezzar, had conquered Judah, shattered the city walls of Jerusalem, and left the Jerusalem temple in ruins. As was the custom in those days, conquering armies would relocate thousands of leading citizens in order to prevent any organized rebellion. The only way home was through this vast, frightening, and overwhelming wilderness. Perhaps even God had forgotten them. Their hands were weak, their knees had grown feeble, and their hearts had become fearful. There appeared to be no hope, no help, and no way to be restored and renewed.”We have all been in the wilderness at some point or another. A dark, scary place where we felt alone, scared, and forgotten. We feel overlooked by friends and family and sometimes even by God. Times when we thought we couldn’t go any further. The terrain was too challenging, and the hardships were too much. It was too dark to see where we were going. We lost all hope, we lost our way, and we just wanted to give up and hide under a blanket forever. Have you ever had a time like this? Maybe you are in a time like this right now.Today, God promises that way. It is God's holy way through the very wilderness space in our souls. "A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way ... it shall be for God's people: no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray" (Isaiah 35:8).I love what the author talks about next. He states that God did not promise to get rid of the wilderness. He did not promise we would never have to enter the wilderness again. He promised us a road right through the middle of the wilderness. He promised us a way of holy living in the midst of the wilderness. I love that! The author says, “The Lord is about to establish a new and faithful kingship in the world. Again, God will do this not by eliminating any and all wilderness space but by 1) changing the very wilderness itself, 2) changing the way God's people perceive the wilderness, and 3) transforming the way God's people behave in the wilderness.”“First, God changes the wilderness. "Waters and streams shall n

Guilty Enough To Go Into The Fiery Hell?Matthew 5:21-22 “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.”Yesterday, the Gospel at mass was the beatitudes found in Matthew 5:1-12. While listening at Mass, I felt I was supposed to teach on those today. However, while reading them this morning, I felt the Holy Spirit nudge me to read further in the chapter. As soon as I got to these verses, I was told I could stop. What struck me about these verses is the importance of what they say and how easy it is for us to do. How easy is it for us to get mad at someone? Frequently, I would say. Mostly, I would say I get angry with people most when I am driving. I am not an angry driver and am usually pretty calm when driving.Lately, I am still calm; however, I have noticed myself commenting on other drivers. It seems that people are driving worse and worse as the days go by. However, it could just be that I am getting old and less patient. I am not sure. However, I have noticed lately when I am driving, and someone cuts me off or drives in and out of the lanes, I think they are driving like an idiot. Sometimes, I might even say they are an idiot. This is exactly what I was thinking of this morning when I read this verse. The verse ends with, “And whoever says,‘You fool’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.”Did you catch that? If we call someone a fool, we will be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. I was talking to my dad one time about heaven and hell. We were discussing how Jesus died for our sins. We were discussing how some religions believe you have to believe that Jesus is our Lord and Savior and you get to go to heaven, and we were talking about how Catholics believe it is not just believing in Jesus, but it is your works as well. I have always believed that you will go to heaven if you are primarily a good person. My dad reminded me of what Mary told the little children of Fatima. She gave them a vision of all the suffering in hell, and she said to them that more people than we know are going there.This concerned me, and I have spent some time thinking about it. Then, when I went to an Unbound training, I heard the story of the priest whose heart stopped. He died for a few minutes, and instead of going to heaven like he thought he would, he went to hell. When he saw Jesus, he was told he went there because he had unforgiveness in his heart. He wished God would punish those who had hurt him. I know we hear often that we must forgive, but I am not sure we understand what is at stake if we don’t forgive. The stakes are pretty high. The Our Father prayer says that God will forgive us as we forgive those. I think many of us don’t realize what we are saying when we say that prayer.I believe God is highlighting these things for me because I am searching. I want to spend eternity with the Father, and God knows our thoughts. He knows our hearts. If we seek the truth, He will provide it for us. I don’t want to be writing about things on this podcast that might be leading you down the wrong path, or that might be false information. Before writing each episode, I pray that the words that come out are the Lord’s words for you, not mine. We will gain understanding if we seek to understand the Word of the Lord. The Lord said in Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”I often think of this phrase when I am asking for something. However, the Lord reminded me of its last part: seek and you will find. Let’s start seeking the truth. Let’s take our concerns to the Lord. Not just our prayer requests but also our concerns. Concerns such as, am I loving my neighbor? Do I love you, God, with my whole heart, mind and soul? Did you know you can ask the Lord to show you how you are falling short in your life, and He will? He won’t show you in a condemning way. He will guide you in a gentle yet convicting way. He also won’t show you a hundred things at one time. I believe the Lord will show you one or two things you can work on, and when you prove to be faithful in working on those, He will show you a few more ways.When we make a conscious effort to live the way God calls us to, I believe God rejoices in heaven. I think it makes Him so happy that we care enough about Him to stop and ask, will this bring me closer to the Lord or further away from Him? A few months ago, I was talking with my mother-in-law about whether we would go to heaven. She had a conversation with a friend, and they discus

This morning, I want to witness how God always provides. At prayer group last week, one of the members talked about a time when she truly understood what it was to believe without a doubt that God would do something. Her husband had died at a very young age. They had two very young kids. She remembered the mass she had said for her husband one year after he had passed. Her husband had a big family. His mom had about 5 siblings, and dad had about 5 siblings. I am unsure how many siblings her husband had; I think she had several. She had invited the families to the mass. However, most lived out of state, so she only expected the few nearby to come to the mass. After the Mass, she invited everyone to her house for dinner. She had made a big tray of American chop suey. When she got to mass, she found out that his parents had invited the entire family, and they all came! There were so many people, and they all headed to her house afterward for food. She drove home in the car with her mom and dad. They asked what she was going to do. They knew she didn’t have enough food for that many people. She told her mom it would be fine. She said she knew God would provide. He wouldn’t let her run out of food. The father-in-law stopped at the store to get some potato salad. So they had one pan of American chop suey and some potato salad for all those people. I imagine it was a lot when you consider spouses and children. Agnes said she did not doubt that there would be enough food. After everyone left, they still had a whole pan of American chop suey for leftovers. God is so good!I have also seen this abundance in my house growing up. My mom would make us grilled tuna melt sandwiches, and there would be so many of us kids, and yet my mom would use two cans of tuna, and it was as if it never ran out. I was always amazed at watching my mom cook when I was younger. I mean, imagine how much bread you must have to have to make enough French toast for 11 kids. I feel like we are always out of bread here, and I have three. Yet God always provided. We never went without food, even though my parents had little money. God definitely provided for my family.Another example was given at the Life in the Spirit seminar. Our sister Caroline was at a Conference where the worship leader had a screen she used to show the words to the songs. They were outside, and some people in the back said they could not see the screen. The worship leader said, “That’s ok, I’ll pray.” She said, “Heavenly Father, you have appointed me as worship leader here, and as your appointed worship leader, I am asking you to rearrange the clouds, move the sun, or do something so people can see. Thank you, and amen.” Caroline was amazed. She was wondering what was going on. She asked the Lord to rearrange the sky. And then the Lord did, and all could see! God is so good!One last one that I might have told you about before but is so good it bears repeating. My dad was on his way home from work, and our car died. There was no saving it. My dad didn’t know how to tell my mom because if he didn’t have a way to work, then he couldn’t make money, and without money, no bills get paid. He always gets home at dinner time, so he figured he would tell her when the kids left the table after dinner. During dinner, there was a knock on the door. When my dad opened the door, it was a neighbor. My dad and this particular neighbor had exchanged words before and they weren’t exactly friends.This is another reason why what happened next was such a miracle. The man handed my dad a set of car keys. My dad was so confused. He asked the man what this was for, and he said, you need a car. My dad said, yes, but how do you know I needed a car? I just got home, I didn’t tell anyone yet. The neighbor said he felt he was supposed to come over to the house and give my dad the car keys. His wife doesn’t need a car, so they don’t need two. The vehicle is a gift to my parents. If my dad got another car and wanted to return that one, he could, but they were not expecting it back. It wasn’t a loan. They were giving the car to them free and clear. My dad didn’t know what to say. God is so good. He ALWAYS provides.Where has God been providing in your life? What have you been attributing to good fortune that has really been the work of the Good Lord above? www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace