Used Up

  

I use to say if I lived to be a hundred I might smoke again since there was a time I enjoyed a smoke after a meal.   Foolishness is not only bound up in the heart of a child but a few of us adults also. God has so changed my desires, took some away totally, like cigarettes but mostly replaced them with His desire to be a Holy vessel for  His use.  

A short study of the life of Joshua brings encouragement today:

 As a young man, Joshua was sent to spy out the promised land. Only he and Caleb believed the Israelite could conquer the enemies living there. So the people wandered 40 years until the exodus generation perished—save the two spies. Then, succeeding Moses, Joshua led Israel into the promised land. Though he was about 80, Joshua captained Israel to victory over six nations and 31 kings.

Fast-forward 20 years. Joshua 13:1 somewhat understates, “Joshua had grown old.” It is estimated he was around 100 years old. Joshua might have expected God to send him on vacation: go float atop the Dead Sea or fish in the Lake of Galilee. But God didn't offer Joshua a retirement plan. Instead he said, “There are still very large areas of land to be taken over.” Joshua’s next task was to divide the land.  

Sometimes I wonder just how much time I have left on this earth. I've looked for an expiration date but I can’t find it. One thing I do know is that I want to leave this earth having “used up” every gift, every resource…everything that He’s entrusted to my account. And that thought makes me want to love more, give more, laugh more…living every day and making it count!! I’d rather leave this earth “on fire” with nothing in my hands than just “fizzle” out holding onto what God meant for me to give away! How about you?   "Safe Haven Bible Study"

Ace and I  were just ask last week when we were going to retire.  Like Joshua, God has not offered us a retirement plan.   In this dispensation people do not live to be as old as they did back in Joshua day so we may not see 100.  But no matter my age I too want to be used up for the Lord, making every day count.  I want God to give me large areas of land to be taken over. 

          You got any plans for your "old age"?

Simple Testimony

                                  How To Share Your Testimony.

1. Memorize your testimony and practice it until it becomes natural.
2. Share your testimony with loving enthusiasm in the power of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 2:3-5).
3. Smile often! Ask the Lord to give you a happy, radiant countenance. Use a natural speaking voice.
4. Avoid exhibiting nervous habits (especially with your hands) and other mannerisms, such as rubbing your nose, jingling coins in your pocket, swaying, clearing your throat, and using uh's and ah's. Exhibit good posture. 
5. Avoid arguing and using other high pressure methods to obtain a decision for Christ. Remember, men are born of the Spirit, not through persuasiveness or logic of men, though God can use both. 

                                 

                                How did she do?

Early Bird Worm or Night Crawler

• The Night crawler  worm eats soil, a red wiggler eats decaying matter. like manure, vegetable matter, rotten fruit, etc. Red wiggler worms will actually eat your kitchen waste.

• Night crawlers  go deeper in the soil but must come up to the surface when there is lots of water making them easy to find.  
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• The Night crawler  also remain alive for approximately five minutes while under water. This means their movements can attract fish.

  

  My husband   

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• Environmental Impact 

• While some areas consider night crawlers to be an agricultural pest, they provide a valuable service to gardeners, farmers and the earth. Their tunnels introduce air to the ground and allow the soil to breathe. Aerating gets oxygen to roots to aid growth, helps fertilizer and water reach roots and loosens up compacted soil which helps roots grow. Plus, their waste transports important nutrients and minerals from the underground to the surface.
• Bet you can tell where I am going with this?
• For years I have berated myself for not being an early riser, by early I mean somewhere between 4 and 5 in the morning.  In fact the only time I rise this early is when we are traveling and we have to catch a flight.  Sometimes I am just getting to sleep at that time.  I mean, isn't those who rise early to meet with the Lord going to get the best He has?  The early bird gets the best worms, doesn't he?

Thank God He is not a respected of time or person or worms.   I am just as highly favored when I crawl upon His lap at midnight as one who get there in the wee hours of the morning.  

Coming early to Him does not always mean time according to the clock.  He wants us to come early, at the beginning of our struggles.   

I do my best praying when I am suffering insomnia which is more chronic with me then just an occasional spurt of it.   Could I be so bold to say, it's my thorn in the flesh?   Except I don't want to waste this thorn and God does not either so He always meets with me at any time,  He is always awake and fresh and passionate about me.  He doesn't care what kind of worm I am, He created both and uses each one to catch fish.  

This night crawler is looking forward to a new body that will not suffer with insomnia.  While here I will offer my body up to be a fisher of men and women.  

Which worm are you,  the early bird worm or a night crawler? 

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Battle Worn Boots

They say the front line in a war is where the battle is the bloodiest.  If that is true, when was Jesus battle the bloodiest?  The cross, the garden where He sweated drops of blood, when He wrote words in the sand or at the temple driving out the money changers?   Where was the front for our Lord?  I believe every time Jesus declared who He was, God in the flesh come to save the souls of mankind a battle front was forged. 

Many have used that term, "front line" referring to those of us  who are foreign missionaries.   But I must tell you, it has never set well with me because I believe the front line is anywhere, anytime we give the gospel out.  The enemy of our soul will not fight  against us being religious anywhere in the world, but try giving out the gospel.  Fear will cause our hearts to race, our minds will tell us we will suffer rejection if we speak about Him, excuses will come quickly on why we should be silent.   We'll find a way to leave the front lines if it makes us feel uncomfortable.   

  Little did I know a battle was raging for my soul the day a Sunday school teacher from a near by church sit in our family room and presenting me with the choice of accepting God love for me or rejecting it. 

Little did I know the battle would continue even after I accepted God's free gift and open a bible to learn more about this amazing God who loved me enough to send His Son to die in my place so I could have a relationship with Him. 

Little did I know a battle would rise up when I sit down with my family and shared why there was such a radical change in my life.  

Little did I know how much of a battle would occur when we submitted to enter into full time ministry and later head over seas to serve the Lord.  God was enlarging our battle field. 

A few years have passed since  all those battles and a new one has risen.  We're back to stateside living where it easy to get to church, sit in a comfortable room, hear great music, shake a few familiar hands, eat at a good restaurant then drive home to our comfortable apartment.    We have been boots on the ground in two foreign countries yet it's this battle that is the hardest, the battle of ease.   We have taken off our battle worn boots and replace them with comfortable shoes that don't like to get bloody.  Our easy chairs call us to come relax, you've done your part, enjoy the abundance of ease.  And all around us people are dying without Christ, in America of all places where there is freedom still to speak our faith.  

My heart is convicted as I read post after post of those standing in the gap for God all over the world.  Time to put on the those  bloody worn boots, lace up and get back in the battle  on what ever ground God has placed me.  It's not the location of my  bodies but the location of my  hearts that equips me to fight the good fight.  Like me, if you are His you are a soldier of the cross...lets wear our uniform with boldness and humility.  

This post is a part of a series of stories shared over at The High Calling. This week you will find a community of wordsmiths sharing stories of living out faith in the line of fire.  Grab a cup of coffee and an open heart, settle into your favorite chair and join us as we share thoughts and encouragement to lift you up.

Spiritual Discipline/Boot Camp/Boot Straps

Part of the missionary training we had for living overseas in a remote location was called, Boot Camp.   Our mission no longer uses that term since it offends or gives the wrong impression.

  Our day started with classes on practical life dealing with relationship with family, friends, saved, and unsaved.  Culture classes consisted of studying a group of American Indians  to learn the process of learning how others view the world. These classes required tons of reading which meant we had discipline ourselves to meet the requirements.

Jungle camp house built during Boot Camp,  made by small poles cut from the woods,
draped in plastics,  homemade mud oven for cooking.   Home made table and benches,
for eating the food we canned to last 6 weeks. 

Jungle house in the jungle.  Amazing how the training paid off.  

Afternoons were taken up with work detail  to help maintain  the training center.  In doing that we learned to work along side  someone with a different back ground and views on work among other issues.  

 Everyone looked forward to volleyball after supper.  Nothing like playing sports of any kind to bring out a lack of spiritual discipline. Even the most talented player could get in the flesh.  Pride knows no boundaries and all of us fell into it at one time or another.  It was a great time to put into  practice the spiritual disciplines we had been learning

 During that time we moved out in the woods for six weeks,  lived in tents while we built a jungle camp house, cook on a mud oven, learn to live without electricity, running water and indoor bathrooms.  The missions goal was to prepare the best they could for some rugged living.  Be flexible was the theme that went along with everything we learned.  

At times the training seemed hard and other times you had to wonder if there was any value in this.  Then you land on the shores of a country like Papua New Guinea where everyday you have the unexpecting happening.  Knowing how to order our day became an invaluable tool that kept us from completely falling apart when trials came our way.  

Some spiritual discipline come a little easier, because it involves our choices, like praying, reading our bible, giving, all doing disciplines. I am all for all the things I named and more but there is also a danger in these kinds of disciplines.  The Pharisee were very discipline in, memorizing scriptures, faithfully went to the synagogue, taught others, gave money, obeyed biblical rules, prayed, became leaders and they looked the part too.  Their faith was in their faithfulness not in God's.  

Then there is the discipline that comes with a trial,  the kind of spiritual discipline you have no choice in, James described it as trials of many kinds. They come in all shapes and sizes and knock us off balance in our walking faith.   If we could we would forgo that kind of discipline because  it's out of our hands.  Yet it is those trials that shows where are our faith is.  It brings out of us how much we love control, how much we love the "doing of discipline" better then a faith walk.  That old saying, "pull ourselves up by our boot straps" works well until the boot straps break under the load of trials.  

My boot straps have broke several times and no amount of doing the normal things a Christian should do, like read my Bible, go to church, etc, fixed them.  Only God in His perfect timing along with His perfects methods can fix those straps. Trust me I don't look forward to more of those broken boot straps but looking at the past ones I know beyond a shadow of a doubt I grew more from that kind of discipline then the ones I had a choice in.  


Great quote from Mary Demuth...Instead of obeying in the moment and experiencing powerful growth, we wander around in circles of chasing ease, trusting in ourselves to solve our problems living  a Godless life.  

      How's your boot straps?

Resurrection Talk

Hearing the resurrection story over and over never gets old.  It  has the power to reach through a difficult language groups buried deep in remote jungle locations and convict their hearts of their need of the Savior.  

As you listen to the Easter story in the Moi language watch his eyes shine with the light of the glorious gospel.  Hear the wonder in his voice, the assurance that God loved him enough to send someone to live in their primitive village, learn their culture and language, teach them to read and write their language, translate the bible in their language, teach the bible so they can hear the story of God's love for them.  

                              

There will be no Easter baskets filled with goodies, no frilly dresses and hats or fancy shoes as they celebrate the  Easter story in hundreds of small remote villages.  Believers will stand and give testimonies to when they heard the resurrection story and how it changed their lives.    

Let me tell you of my resurrection story.  As a lost woman of 35 God sent several people my way to boldly ask me what would happen to me when I died.  That question haunted me for I knew somehow deep inside me I would go to hell.  For a few weeks I wrestled with it as we attended a local church they invited us to.  Conviction was heavy on my soul till finally I gave in and admitted I could do nothing to get to heaven and believe I needed Jesus to save me from eternal separation from a Holy God.   His love  drew me to the cross where I found the ground level and Him waiting with open arms to receive me into His family.  Then my voice took on a new tone, a freedom tone, my eyes became bright with the love of God and the desires of my heart changed. No longer did I want to walk in my ways, I desired to be obedient to the one who loved me.   Like the man in the video I have to share the resurrection story, it begs to be told over and over and over.  

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL WHO READ THIS

now go tell your story. 

Jerusalem

Reading or watching the news on a daily bases can be discouraging if one think this is all there is.  Looking to God's Word keeps my perspective eternal.                                    
Revelation 21:1-27   verse 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes: and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying , or pain, the first things have passed away.  

  

         

How's the news affecting you lately?   

A Vapor That Counted

James 4;14 says life is like a vapor  and a few days ago a Godly   vapor (Toni Stuart)  left this earthly whelm and soured to the heavens, now face to face with her Savior.  

Toni and Jason Stuart serve in Papua New Guinea with New Tribes Mission, they were married 11 years with two children.  

Below is an update written a few days ago from Jason.  If there was ever a vapor that counted for the Lord it was Toni.  

Dear Friends,

Things have gone so fast it is almost hard to process. Three weeks ago we returned to Australia thinking that Toni had a tropical disease. A week and a half ago we received the news that she had an inoperable brain tumor. Tonight at 7:30 she went to be with Jesus. All we can do is take things from the Lord's hand as He gives them to us and trust Him thru it.

Yesterday we had our family picture done (will share that with you at a later date) and Toni was in good spirits. She was tired and her voice was weak but she was joking with the nurses as usual. This morning I went to see her and could tell that she was having a downward turn. She didn't want to have a conversation, but could still talk. The doctors felt that she probably had too many painkillers, but by the afternoon she was showing some worrying signs and had stopped talking. I went and got the kids from school and they were with Toni for a bit and then I took them home to get dinner for them and a friend from church came to sit with Toni. I knew Toni wasn't going well, but neither the doctors nor I realized how quickly she would go. When dinner was finished we got a call that we needed to go to the hospital and by the time we got there, Toni had already passed on.

The kids and I have talked thru this a fair bit and they are accepting it, though they are very sad. Their reactions are a study in male/female emotional responses. Ella Jo is feeling this deeply and is thinking thru all aspects of it and was having a hard time falling asleep because her little mind was turning so fast. Jedidiah accepted it more simply and was easily distracted by cars/trucks/rainbows/anything at all, but then later felt guilty about not being sad enough for Mummy. They will both have emotions to work thru and I would appreciate your prayers for them at this time, and also as I seek to parent them in the long run. I have never had good parenting ideas; those always came from Toni and raising the children in the right way in the future is weighing on me at the moment.

We don't have plans yet beyond tomorrow. Tomorrow I will start working on funeral plans, etc. I had started the process of getting permanent residency in Australia, but Toni would have been my sponsor into the country and I will have to investigate what to do about that. The kids very much want to return to what is "normal" for them in Papua New Guinea and we will need to figure out what is best in that respect.

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for healing. God has answered that prayer and given Toni a perfect eternal healing.

I Corinthians 15:53-55, "For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: 'Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?'"

In Christ,   Jason and Jedidiah and Ella Jo 

I decided to do a post on Toni because she was a friend, a fellow missionary.  Also so you could pray for Jason and the children who must live without Toni now.  She had a tattoo of a sunbeam on her wrist.  She was exactly that to so many, a sunbeam that drew  all into her life.  Many friends sent pictures with sunbeams drawn on their wrist to honor Toni.  

None of know when our vapor will take flight but we can be a vapor that counts for the Lord.  We can chose to allow the "son" light of God's love to shine through so men and women will be drawn to us.  Will you pray for this dear family?  

Rattling in my brain..

Lately I've had a burden that seems to put me in a downtrodden state because  my focus is the burden.  Needing a lift I turned to music and as I listen to a song by Gordon Mote it hit me.  I am going to miss His glory that surrounds this burden I carry.  Oh, I know all the advice everyone would give me...keep you eyes on the Lord not on the problem.  Just pray and God will take your burden away.  Stay faithful, for He is faithful.  All things work together for the good of those who love the Lord.  ETC.  God knows I have given out this same advice to those who are hurting for someone.  

One thing for sure, my burden is not going to go away over night, in fact there is no guarantee it will ever go away.   A friend sent me a great post yesterday containing three words that kept rattling around in my mind.  Powerful words that lifted my spirit as I reverted back to them in the middle of my burden.  "Make it count".

As I listen the to the words in the song, I begin to pray those three words combined with the title of the song.   God, make it count, this burden that I carry, make it count and please don't let me miss your glory in the midst of it.  

     

                                 

How do you carry your burdens?

A Change Of Prayer

How often have you prayed for a health issue, your children, a job, extra money, material things?

This hit me so hard as I read these scriptures for our bible study.  I confessed to the woman I had never prayed  these things in Col for them.   They assured me they had never prayed this way for me either.

Col.1:9-12    So we have continued praying for you ever since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you a complete understanding of what He wants to do in your lives, and we ask him to make you wise with spiritual
wisdom.
 Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and you will continually do good, kind things for others. All the while, you will learn to know God better and better.
 We also pray that you will be strengthened with his glorious power so that you will have all the patience and endurance you need. May you be filled with joy,
 always thanking the Father, who has enabled you to share the inheritance that belongs to God's holy people, who live in the light.  NLT

Our challenge for this week is to do exactly that...pray Col. 1:9-12 for each other.  

Can I pray this for you also?