Proclaim!

 

This was Jesus speaking. He did all of those things- healed the sick and brokenhearted, released the captives and oppressed, brought good news to the poor. 

Then, He called us to do the same. Not only proclaim what He did, but live it out with action. My call to you, my friends, is to live like Jesus. 

It may not be your spiritual, or physical, gift to give healing, but I am confident you can bring a meal or give some joy to someone who is sick. Share emotional healing with simple love.

Perhaps releasing the captives and oppressed isn’t your calling, but those who are not released yet (those currently in prison) need ministry, and simple love, too. Their families as well!

And I am POSITIVE that every single one of you can share something with someone who is poorer than you. But I am prompted to give a gentle reminder that money might not be the only thing worth sharing. Time and energy are beautiful gifts

Here is the verse again, in the Passion translation. Soak it up for a minute. 

““The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and he has anointed me to be hope for the poor, healing for the brokenhearted, and new eyes for the blind, and to preach to prisoners, ‘You are set free!’ I have come to share the message of Jubilee, for the time of God’s great acceptance has begun.””

‭‭Luke‬ ‭4‬:‭18‬-‭19‬ ‭TPT‬‬

Be the hands and feet of Jesus, my friends. 

Go out, be a blessing, and be blessed as you work!

Still beautiful

 This post is originally from April of 2020 and I called it “beautiful scars”. 

 Covid was in it’s beginning. I was waiting for my first Litt brain surgery, but already waiting for my hair to grow back from being shaved off during testing. Andy hadn’t retired from the army yet, both my children still lived at home, which was in a different state then now, and the questions of life then were different than the questions of now. 

 Yet now, even with so many things different, I don’t think I would change a thing it says. 

 Beautiful scars are still beautiful, if we choose, and remember, to see them that way. 

 Those wounds that need binding come in so many different shapes and from so many different sources. Some are deep and need stitches to stop the bleeding. Some are more shallow, but so very wide that they seem to stretch out forever. Others will scab over, then get opened again and again and again. I have seen emotional and spiritual wounds that require “surgery”, the complete removal of a limb, for healing to happen. 

 But healing is always happening, if we allow it. 

 The thing is, there are often scars left behind. Healing stops the bleeding. Healing closes the wound.

 But the scars are still there. 

 What do you see when you look at a scar? Do you see something ugly or the mark of a battle won? Are you inspired with pride because you survived?  

 I think they are beautiful. 

 As time passes the scars smooth out. They show how we have grown and changed and matured- but they remain, as gentle and beautiful reminders of the battles we have won and the wounds that our Savior has already healed. 

 There will be new battles and new wounds. We will need new healing, over and over, and there will be new scars along the way. 

 And they will be beautiful too. 

“He heals the wounds of every shattered heart.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭147:3‬ ‭TPT‬‬

One good moment at a time

I tried to write this post several weeks ago but it didn’t have an ending, it didn’t have a conclusion. Andy said that it “was fine”, which is about as ugly as he gets about my writing. So, it didn’t get published. Instead it simply got pushed to the back and ignored. 

It is strange, really, what you discover while you wait. Or perhaps, more accurately, what you learn yet again. 

 I have had John 5, and especially the man by the pool, brought to my attention several times recently. Repeatedly, really. 

 For anyone who doesn’t know that story... there was a pool in Israel where the water would sometimes seem to stir, to move, without any human understanding. The first one who could dunk themselves in that moving water would often receive a miracle. Those who were sick, who needed a miracle, would often congregate around the pool, hoping and praying for the water to stir and for a miracle to occur. 

 However, tradition held that for them to receive the miracle, they had to be the first one in. So, even though there was joy, there was always sadness there too. 

The gospel of John says “One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.” John‬ ‭5:5-9‬ ‭ESV‬‬

When I say this verse was “brought to my attention”, I mean in every way. A Sunday morning sermon, of course. A friend highlighting it on the Bible app so that I see it. It coming up in a devotional I am doing alone and also one with a friend. Then in an actual paper devotional as well, not just the digital ones. Then, just to make sure I was listening, a second paper devotional. 

 

 So, my friends, what am I suppose to learn from the man picking up his bed and being healed? 

 The answer to that is “I still don’t know.” 

 I don’t know what I am suppose to learn specifically from that story. I have had several ideas and I think they have all been “proven” wrong... I still don’t know what exactly I am suppose to be learning right now, from that story. But what I will tell you is that it has made me read more. Search more. Ask more. 

 And what it has led me to is truth, over and over. 

 Learning that “I don’t know” has, in complete honesty, helped me know other things so beautifully. 

 I know I just used it last time I wrote, but this verse says so clearly what my Jesus is teaching me right now. The Lord establishes my steps. 

 I can try to plan my course, have my goals, dream my dreams. None of those are evil. None of those are against my God. 

 But The Lord establishes my steps. 

 I either trust that or I don’t. 

 I either live that or I don’t. 

 

That leads to one of my favorite verses.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭3:5-6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

 

 “Not on your own understanding”. 

 That sums it up my friends. 

 Trust. 

 Even if you don’t understand. 

 He will lead. 

 If you go back to that first verse I posted, the story in John, there is more to the story. You see, the man who was healed wasn’t brave enough to proclaim it. When he was questioned about technical difficulties he passed the blame immediately, rather than pointing out the obvious good. 

 Perhaps that is the lesson to learn? That one hasn’t been pointed out by any of the devotionals I have read but perhaps that is the one I am suppose to share. 

 Don’t make miracles more complicated, don’t make LIFE more complicated than it has to be. 

 Find the good. Choose the good. Share the good. 

 Jesus makes it good. 

 Be blessed my friends. One good moment at a time. 

Progress

 One moment at a time. 

 That is how you heal. 

 More importantly, that is how you live... one moment at a time. We want to plan more, see more, experience more -  But the simple truth is that we live one moment at a time. Having them drill a hole in your skull and burn a portion of your brain resets things a little and reminds you to appreciate that simple truth. 

 My body is struggling a little still. The swelling is problematic at moments. Some seizures are still occurring with the pressure on strange new places. My diabetes is having some confusion in the middle of it all. My brain in general is having some confusion some moments. 

But I will say here the same thing I said on the day of surgery- I am so very confident in what I believe. I am very comfortable that who I am, a follower of Jesus who wants to share His love and live His truth, has not changed. 

 That my friends is enough for me. 

 The brain swelling goes down every day. The part they zapped is being reabsorbed and the rest of my brain is adjusting and figuring out the new patterns. 

 While it figures it out I make the choice, moment by moment, for Joy. 

 Join me! Be blessed my friends, one joy filled step at a time. 

A healing branch

 I love my garden. It is a place of refuge, a place of worship, a place of learning, a reminder of hope. It is where I often speak to God, and hear from Him as well. 

A few weeks ago I missed several days of upkeep in a row. Distractions keep me from going out and checking on it and when I finally did things had grown, obviously. 

I trimmed back some growth that was unhealthy. Picked off some sneaky insects. Removed some weeds that were stealing nutrients. Then, I reached into the tomato bed to tuck a branch back inside the support system, back inside the ring of wire built to hold it up and I moved too quickly. I bent it without caution and it snapped. 

I heard it snap and I immediately thought, “well, that’s over”. 

I almost cut it the rest of the way off. 

I almost accepted failure for that branch, 

I almost gave up any hope. 

But.... there were tomatoes already growing on that branch and I wanted to give them a chance to ripen so I left it. 

The tomatoes that I noticed at that moment have already been picked.

More have shown themselves. 

This, this picture is new growth. 

These are new blossoms, new life, growing on that branch.

The branch that snapped, the branch that looks ugly, the branch that seemed without hope...

It has new life. 

Almost three weeks later, it refuses to give up. 

There are so many things in our world that seem broken, that seem without hope. 

Please, don’t give up! 

Give them the support that they need. 

Move with the gentleness that is required and lift them with the strength they deserve. 

Broken branches can be healed, 

New life can spring up! 

Trim back the unhealthy parts. Pick off the pesky insects. Pull out the weeds that are stealing the nutrients. 

But don’t break off the branch. 

Don’t give up.