CALLING ALL COWERING CAVE DWELLERS

They had gotten used to starving and hiding in caves.  STARVING. COWERING IN FEAR.  "They" were the descendants of the people who saw God split the sea, bring down the walls of Jericho, and feed them in the middle of a desert for 40 years. HE DELIVERED THEM ALL THOSE YEARS AGO BECAUSE HE DIDN'T WANT THE PEOPLE HE LOVED TO BE SLAVES.  And now, because they had sinned, God allowed an army to overtake them.   

The army that had overcome them was so scary and barbaric that they were afraid to live out in the open.  They hid in caves. They ventured outside to secretly plant food, and then these armies "thick as locusts with droves of camels too numerous to count" (Judges 6)  came and stole all their food, all their livestock and all their hope. They were slaves again  - with a slave mentality - cowering in fear, starving to death, accepting the awful life they were being forced to live.  

Once again, these people cried out to the God who loved them. The God they had abandoned.   They asked Him to rescue them from this slavery - and-  once again God heard their cry and delivered them.  He choose Gideon, who was also a cowering cave dweller to be their champion.  You can read the story of Gideon beginning in Judges Chapter 6.  God used him to deliver the people and defeat their enemies. 

Nice story. So what.  
Well, I noticed that Gideon kept asking God for signs to prove that He was really with him. Because, let's face it, the armies that God was asking Gideon to stand up to were pretty formidable. Gideon didn't think he had the strength to do what God was asking him to do. AND GIDEON WAS ACCURATE. HE DIDN'T HAVE THE STRENGTH.

Presently, the world is simply and seemingly out of control.  We have no power, seemingly, to stand up against, or overcome the evil flood that is sweeping the planet.  And then, in our personal lives, life can be scary, and sad, and frustrating, and overwhelming.  We feel weak, and limp, and powerless and without strength. 

This verse jumped out to me today: "Then the Lord turned to him and said 'Go with the strength you have and rescue Israel from the Midianites.  I am sending you.'" (Judges 6:14)

"Go with the strength you have"

God didn't tell Gideon, the cowering cave dweller, "Here let me give you supernatural strength to fight this army."  No.

He told him to "GO.. GO NOW.. because I AM GOING TO DO THE FIGHTING FOR YOU. The strength you have is the strength you need."

This reminds me that when I have become a cowering cave dweller because I have forgotten that I am Rescued Royalty....and I cry out to God to rescue me - He will.  He does.  Jesus, my Deliverer says, 

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free.." 

(Luke 4:18)

Whatever is causing me and you to hide in fear - sickness, despair, depression, fear, anger, lust and more - God is calling us to walk out of that cave and back in to the light.  He isn't going to give us the power to defeat our enemy AND THEN WE GO. NO. First comes the GO and then comes the STRENGTH.  Because we are accurate, as Gideon was,  when we say that we don't have the strength. That our enemy is too powerful for us. That is THE TRUTH.  But... we are in a better position than Gideon was. Why? Because our enemy has already been defeated.  And he knows it.

God is saying to us, "Just GO with the strength you have." 

However weak you feel... GO.   Don't keep living in a cave, starving to death spiritually, emotionally, physically, because you have evaluated the situation and have decided that you don't have the strength to defeat whatever is defeating you. 

You don't.

He does.

Remember that you are a ROYAL priesthood.. and.. Walk to the edge of your slave cave....take a step outside...and...  

Go with the strength you have

and

Trust God to do the fighting for you.

Whatever strength you have today is all the strength you need today 

IT'S NOT WHAT YOU SAY. WELL, YES IT IS

(The following is an excerpt from "How To Make A Meatball - Recipes For Living My Mother Taught Me") 

Perfect In Every Way

^“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths,
but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs,
that it may benefit those who listen.”

—   Ephesians 4:29

            It seems to me that my mother learned very early in life that the most loving way to show your love is in the way you use — or don’t use — your words. The words “unwholesome talk” in the verse above means more than “don’t use four letter curse words.” An expanded definition of the word “unwholesome” is  “rotten, corrupted, no longer fit for use, worn out, poor quality, bad, unfit for use, worthless”(Strong’s). A word doesn’t have to be a curse word for it to be unwholesome. It could simply be a rotten thing to say like, “You’re just like your lazy father” or a worthless thing to say like, “You’re never going to amount to anything!” It could be a worn out sentence like, “Dear God, please help me deal with these annoying children” or a poor quality sentence like, “We’re poor. Get used to it.” Tragically, these are actual sentences that actual moms have actually uttered to their actual children that I have actually heard. That verse begins with telling us how we should not talk, and ends with telling us how we should: only what is helpful for building others up, according to their needs. My mother found the way to tell me what I needed to hear when I needed to hear it. If I needed encouragement, that’s what she spoke. If I needed correction, that’s what she spoke. If I needed spiritual exhortation, that’s what I heard. The key is that she knew me. She spent time knowing who I was, what kind of heart I have and what it needed at the moment. Her words always reinforced her love.

“Gracious words promote instruction. Gracious words are a honeycomb,
sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”

—   Proverbs 16:21; 24

You can purchase a copy - or download a Kindle version at Amazon.com.  Click on the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Meatball-Recipes-Living/dp/0996457402/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1440501412&sr=1-1&keywords=how+to+make+a+meatball+by+marie+armenia

"THIS IS GOD. LEAVE A MESSAGE."

Have you ever felt like you're getting God's voice mail when you pray?  In your brain you know that He loves you, and He cares about you, and that He will hear you when you call, but... truth is.. lately....He isn't exactly answering His cell phone when you call. In your heart, you wonder if He's ignoring you. No? You've never felt that way?  Good for you. I have had times when it seemed like God was busy doing other stuff for other people and my stuff for me wasn't really getting His attention.   I use the words "seemed like" because He is always listening. Always.To you. And me.

Furthermore.......(drum roll)... He is doing more than listening to my words. He hears my thoughts and yours too.  Psalm 139:4 says, "Before a word is on my tongue, you Lord, know it completely."  In the one millionth of a second from the time I think something until I actually say it, He already knows exactly what I'm going to say and exactly why I'm saying it.  He is THAT CLOSE to us.  Another verse in another Psalm got my attention this morning.  Psalm 94:11 says "The Lord knows people's thoughts..."   He knows what we are THINKING.  Hello. Nothing is hidden from Him. Not even my thoughts. UHHH-OHHH.

Earlier in the same Psalm, the writer is complaining to God about how He's running the earth. Wondering why He is allowing the wicked to gloat. Wondering why their arrogance and boasting is not getting His attention. He tells God what these people are thinking, ""The Lord isn't looking, they say, and besides the God of Israel doesn't care." (v.7)

And then he kind of reminds himself that, oh yes, God knows what they are actually thinking. Just like he knows what I am thinking.  Doubts about God's ways come to every one of us every now and then.  If you are confused by God and what He's allowing in the world, or in your life, He isn't mad at you for having those doubts.  In light of how dark the world has become, we can think our prayers are hitting His voice mail. 
But that isn't truth.
What does God do when we, His children, have doubts filling the inner recesses of our minds?  What does He do when we, like the writer of Psalm 94, wonder why He is allowing proud and arrogant people to prosper.. seemingly.... and to crush His own people? 
HE COMFORTS US.  I cannot hide my doubts from the One who knows my thoughts. And yours.  If we will allow Him, He will give us the renewed hope we need to get through a seemingly hopeless planet.  He knows what He's doing. Even when we don't.  

"When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer." 

Psalm 94:19

Thank you, Father. 

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WANTED: SMOLDERING WICKS

I can relate to feeling like a smoldering wick with just a hint of the fire that used to burn bright. I know what it's like to remember that fire as if it actually happened to somebody else and not me. I am familiar with the sensation of being a bruised and broken reed.  Too, too familiar.
  
Yes. It's true. It has happened to me more than once in my lifetime. There comes a season when you cannot take another hit. You cannot endure another betrayal. You lose your breath to think of surviving another loss. I've been there. Done that.

It doesn't matter, really, what people say to you to encourage you through the season because it isn't what other people are saying to you, but what you are saying to yourself. You assume that you will not be useful to anyone, anywhere, anymore.  You are convinced that your best days are probably behind you.  The identity you used to have - and the identity you had to the world - has taken a huge hit. For whatever reason.  You feel like a failure of the faith you professed.  It happens. To lots of good-hearted people who tried to follow close in the steps of Jesus.

The problem with being a smoldering wick and bruised reed is that that is actually who and what you are.  You are bruised. You are broken. You are not really a wheat harvest prize. And the fire that used to burn hot and brightly through you (your wick) is barely there anymore.  You are different than you used to be. You are less than you used to be. This is the truth.

Been there. Done that. And so, almost two decades ago, as I was settling in to my new role as a less-than-I used-to-be follower of Jesus, I read this Scripture.  Matthew 12:20 says:

A bruised reed he will not break and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out,till he has brought justice through to victory."
The New Living Translation says it this way: He will not break a broken branch. He will not put out a little fire until He makes things right."

And like a lightening bolt..... like a flash of light invading my dark and despairing heart.. I saw the actual truth:

I was done with me in my present condition but Jesus wasn't. 

I was certain my best days were behind me but Jesus wasn't.

I was convinced I could not burn hot again but Jesus wasn't.

Jesus was still on the same path with me that He had always been on.  To make things right in my life. To bring justice in my life.  To bring victory in my life.

Truth is, Jesus does not despise broken people. He loves them. Jesus doesn't throw us away when our light gets weak. He still wants us. He still loves us. He still has wonderful victorious plans for us.  I gave Jesus my brokenness... and He made things right. 

Whenever we go to Him with our broken branches and our smoldering wick.. He continues to work out His plan for our lives.

I know that some of you reading this may feel like you've messed up too much.

That you are broken beyond repair.

That your light has gone out forever.

That is not the truth.

Jesus is not finished with you. So don't be finished with yourself.

His love can overlook your weaknesses.

He has the power to mend broken lives... and to bring that flame back to its white hot burn.

He loves you.

Please don't give up on yourself. 

Jesus never will.

WEIRD SEASON WARDROBE

Someday... I will see tulips again. Someday....I will see tulips again.
Someday....I will see tulips again.
We all will.  WHAT A WACKY WEIRD WINTER we've had. Tennessee is not supposed to have winters like we've had.

The good thing is knowing that unless the earth rotates off it's 23.5 degree axis we will have Spring and blooming flowers and warm weather in just a matter of weeks.  Right?  Right?  Right. 

When the seasons change, so does our wardrobe.  But FIRST the season changes and THEN our wardrobe follows.   

Almost twenty years ago, when we moved to Tennessee, I was in a new season in my life.  We were living in a brand new and beautiful house on acres of land in the beautiful and rolling hills of Tennessee...and yet I missed my older smaller house that we'd been living in 800 miles north.   I felt like I should be doing something MORE than just enjoying these blessings, enjoying my grandkids who live just a block away...   Most of all, my husband and I found ourselves not involved in full-time ministry for the first time in decades. It seemed strange to turn off that ministry machine motor that had been running at full speed inside of me. 

One day, I was speaking to the Lord about all this.  I felt unable to navigate this new and different season in my life.  And for one split second, I stopped talking long enough to allow His Spirit  to whisper something to me.  And I don't know about you but when the Holy Spirit speaks.. you understand a kazillion things in just one second.  And it's like He explained to me that the main way to adapt and thrive and survive in a new season is to  wear the wardrobe that goes with THAT season.  I was insisting on wearing my old wardrobe:  a pastor's wife, full-time ministry..... and here I was in a brand new season that He had ordained and allowed.

None of us can control the seasons.  With the weather... and with our lives.  They appear out of nowhere.. arriving on the wind...and suddenly the old season is gone.. and the new season is here.
I was in a NEW season.. insisting on wearing the wardrobe of the season I'd just come out of.

It's like He explained to me, "Marie, the heavy clothing you wear when you're outside in January -   BOOTS, COAT, SWEATER, HAT, GLOVES - will keep you alive IN JANUARY. But if you insist on wearing your January wardrobe in the middle of July..
the same wardrobe that kept you alive in January will kill you in July. And vice versa.

I can be guilty of wanting things to stay the same. Of wanting to do the same thing I've always done.  It feels secure.  It feels wise.  But it isn't wise to kill yourself with it.. to insist on not admitting that what I "wore" in the previous season isn't working in this new one.


Some seasons - like sickness, or financial fears, or family wars - become more difficult when we insist on yearning for the seasons when the weather was clear, and our skies were blue. That's wearing your old wardrobe.  God will give you everything you need to make it through this season.. if you will let him take off what you used to have.. what you used to be.. and trust Him to be faithful NOW.. in this season.

As it turns out... because I had time to think.. and pray.. and relax.. and revive inside...God opened new doors... to give me the desire of my heart.  Because the only thing I wanted to be MORE THAN a pastor's wife.. is a writer.  And

I is a writer.

Thanking God for new seasons and the wardrobe that goes with them.

GETTING THE GARDENIAS - 72 YEARS

It's been more than a few years now.. that the owner of the florist shop in our city here in Tennessee waits for me. Wondering if once again.. in January.. I will walk through the front door of the florist shop to order the gardenias.    

And when I do...she smiles with a look of relief, sorta, and says, "Another year?"  And I nod my head with joy and order the gardenias ( a wrist band, a corsage) for my father to give to my mother on their Wedding Anniversary - which is TODAY.. February 20th.  72 YEARS.

On February 20, 1943, my mother's bridal bouquet was filled with gardenias.  The smell of a gardenia always reminds her of her wedding day and makes her smile.  Since making her smile is one of my father's primary goals in life..every anniversary for the past seventy one years. my father made sure she got gardenias.  

Nowadays, he isn't able to drive anymore, but he still makes getting the gardenias his number one priority.  Starting in January he reminds me that February 20th is coming soon and I reassure him that I've got the gardenias ordered.   He makes sure we have the money to pay for them... The florist owner and workers have met them and love them (who doesn't?) and comment - as does almost everyone - how unusual it is for two people their age to still have one another.   It is unusual. It is A BLESSING.  

Later this morning, Phil and I will drive to the florist...pick up the gardenias... bring them to my parent's house.. and watch my saint of a father... hand the gardenia to my saint of a mother.. and she will say, "Ohhhh Honey... You got me gardenias????"  - as if this is the first time ever -  and hug him and kiss him and he will smile.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to my parents.  Their lives are worthy of being honored.. and I honor them.

And while the family gathers to sing to them, watch them they blow out the candles on their 72 Anniversary cake, while we laugh and love and gather at their home as a family... my unspoken prayer will be  that next January.... I will once again walk through the door of the florist shop and place my father's order.  

Getting the gardenias again is all I really want.

I love you Dad.  I love you Mom.

WHAT I DO NOT KNOW

It's too bad for you that I didn't have this blog thirty or forty years ago.   Back then I knew everything.  True, I was a self-anointed know-it-all, but there was a part of me that was simply trying to help people get through life.  I thought I could help them.   I wanted to help others.  Sometimes I did. Sometimes I didn't.  As life has progressed, I have been faced with the reality that there are many, many things I do not know.  

 I DO NOT KNOW:

• ....the reason why the people who make the ketchup I buy insist on putting it in plastic  bottles that cannot be twisted open. 
• .....why some people do not feel guilty about getting on the "Fifteen Items Or Less" line at the supermarket with 900 items in their cart.
• ....why gas prices are $4.50 a gallon one week, and $1.99 a gallon one week later.
• ....God's purpose for chin hairs on post-menopausal women. 
• ....how you can love someone with real, deep love and they can walk away from you in an instant when you do - or don't do - what they want you to do or not do.
• ....how to explain to good and godly parents why they have endured the loss of a child.
• ....what is in another person's heart.
• ....why people are filled with such murderous hate toward others.

And this morning, I read the words God spoke to the prophet, Jeremiah.  Jeremiah didn't ASK to be God's prophet - He was TOLD he was God's prophet.  And because of this, the people hated and persecuted him.  

And so, in the middle of being held captive, and being mistreated by his own people, God speaks to Jeremiah and says, "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."  (Jeremiah 33:3)

He DID NOT say to Jeremiah, "Call to me and I will answer all your questions about why I do what I do in your life."   No, God simply promised to tell Jeremiah WHAT HE DID NOT KNOW. 

I think sometimes, when I am in a valley season in life... I call to God.. because I believe He owes me an explanation for what He is allowing. 

But God is God and I am not.

And when I call to Him.... He will tell me what I do not know.
And maybe it isn't what I want to know.
It's always what I do not already know.

Maybe it's that I do not know.... HIM.

Maybe He reminds me of HIs vast and mighty power.

Maybe He fills me with His comfort that I have never known before.

And I pray that just like His promise to Jeremiah, His promise is to all of us:

IF we call to Him.

He will tell us what we do not know.  

And 

We do not know.......almost everything about God.

And whatever He tells me will be what I need to know.

And usually, I need to know... that He loves me and has not forgotten me.. and will not let go of me.... and will never leave me or forsake me. 

I call.

He answers.

And when He does, I know something I did not know before I called. 

Something He knows I need to know.