God is EXTRAordinary

Yesterday in church I had the awesome privilege of hearing a sermon by John Bevere. He spoke about the extraordinary GRACE of God. You can find the whole sermon here, just look on the right side and click on the one with John Bevere's name.

Today I want to take it one step further and just chat with you about the extraordinary-ness (writer's prerogative to make up a word at will) of God, our Father.

Mr. Bevere explained to us that extraordinary means to go beyond the usual and that it's antonyms were normal, and ordinary. Let me say that again - the OPPOSITE of extraordinary is normal. He went on to say that God does not want us to have a "normal" life, but to have an extraordinary life full of the power of HIS grace.

Well I think God showed us just how extraordinary he wanted our life to be in His creation. Several years ago I had the opportunity to visit the Grand Canyon. Pictures can not possibly do it justice. It is magnificent.


But let's go smaller than a canyon created when God flooded the earth because of man's sinfulness. What about trees. How many varieties of trees are there? Many will say "man" has made the majority of those varieties, but God had to have had His hand in it. How else could man do anything? "Without Him I can do NOTHING." (emphasis mine) A quick Google search netted me a page that says there could be close to 100,000 species of trees. One-hundred thousand. That's not the number of trees, but types of trees. Astounding. Look at the Crepe Myrtle in the picture closely. What do you see? Leaves, flowers, branches. But what about all that you don't see? The water traveling inside those branches. The roots beneath the ground ferreting out nutrients.

Now let's turn to a sunset. Brilliant colors all mixed from a palette made by God's own hand. Yes, you can tell me it's from the sun reflecting on this, that, or the other, but I'm going to tell you that it's there by the hand of our EXTRAordinary God.

The water cycle - rain, vapor, clouds, then rain again. EXTRAordinary.

I have tons of pictures of God's EXTRAordinary-ness. Many I've posted here before. Others I'll post at another time. What I want you to see in what I've posted today is that God has made creation EXTRAordinary because He is EXTRAordinary.

One more example and I think it the best of them all. A child.

During this season, we celebrate the birth of a special child - Jesus, the Messiah (Christ). If you celebrate any form of Christmas, you celebrate his birth. But what of ordinary children? How are they special? Let's consider these facts, which I found in numerous places, but took from here.

• Heartbeat by day 21
• By week 7, organs are forming, blood type is established, eyes are forming
• Week 8: hands and feet are visible, baby moves around inside the amniotic sac
• By week 20, fingernails and toenails are formed, baby recognizes its mothers voice
• Weeks 38-40 - baby is considered full-term, lungs are mature

Forty weeks. That's all it takes. Is man responsible for this EXTRAordinary creation? No. We are privileged to take part. The responsibility of caring for this miniature "image of God" rests on our shoulders, but we can not claim responsibility for his or her perfection. Each finger and toe in the right place. Eyes and ears and nose. Arms and legs. Even if everything is not as it should be, children (ALL children) are a blessing of our EXTRAordinary God. They are here for us to love, even if some are only among us for a short time. 

How can you doubt the EXTRAordinary-ness of such a God?

Many blessings,

Ginger

The Lord is my Shepherd

I'm a little late with this today, but I pray it will still be a blessing to you.

Probably the most well-known Psalm of all declares the LORD is my shepherd. Let's read it.

Psalm 23 (NLT)

A psalm of David.

 ¹ The Lord is my shepherd;
      I have all that I need.
 ² He lets me rest in green meadows;
      he leads me beside peaceful streams.
    ³ He renews my strength.
   He guides me along right paths,
      bringing honor to his name.
 ⁴ Even when I walk
      through the darkest valley,
   I will not be afraid,
      for you are close beside me.
   Your rod and your staff
      protect and comfort me.
 ⁵ You prepare a feast for me
      in the presence of my enemies.
   You honor me by anointing my head with oil.
      My cup overflows with blessings.
 ⁶ Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me
      all the days of my life,
   and I will live in the house of the Lord
      forever.



While verses 2-6 are a beautiful picture of all the Lord provides, for today I would like to focus only on verse one.

"The Lord is my shepherd." What does that mean? What does a shepherd do? I did a little research on the web and this job description caught my attention. I've adjusted the list slightly for the purposes of this blog. To see the complete list, visit this site.

• Feed and water livestock; and monitor food and water supplies.
• Clean stalls, and pens using brushes, and shovels.
• Inspect, maintain, and repair pens, yards, and fences.
• Examine animals to detect illness, injury, or disease, and to check physical characteristics, such as rate of weight gain.
• Herd livestock to pastures for grazing
• Mark livestock to identify ownership.
• Provide medical treatment, such as administering medications
• Shift animals between grazing areas to ensure that they have sufficient access to food.
• Patrol grazing lands.
• Protect herds from predators.

Wow, that's alot (and I cut the list in half). It never occurred to me how much a shepherd really does, most of it going unnoticed.

Let's start with food and water... does not verse 5 cover the Lord's care for our nutritional needs. In America, we live in a land of "more than enough" and sometimes too much.

Cleaning up after our messes: How many times has the Lord rescued you from a mess you've made?

Boundaries: Do we not know the line between right and wrong? Is it not written in our hearts, even as very young children? Only society, education, or our own hard heart blurs that line.

Examine: Does God not see our hearts? feel our hurts?

Herd: Has God ever whispered to your heart that you should go to this place? You should worship at this church? You should work at this job? He's herding you - guiding you in the place you should go.

Marking ownership: Has He not written His word on our heart? Has He not claimed us as His own?

Healing: Is He not our great physician? Check out my blog God as my Healer

Shifting us: Have you ever found yourself going in the wrong direction, even if it's only slightly? God gently nudges us to move back on to the path He has designed for us to take.

Patrol: He's ever on the watch for dangers to us. He has sent his angels to minister to us.

Protection: The biggest protection ever: Jesus. He fought the war and won it for us when He died on the cross, and defeated Satan by rising from the dead. He protected us from eternal separation from God. I also believe that each day His hand is about us, guarding us from that which would be detrimental to what He has planned for us.

The second half of verse 1 states, "I have all that I need." What do you need? Not what do you WANT, but what do you NEED? Shelter, transportation, food. Basics of our society, but do you need them? Will they sustain you when time gets tough? Will they be there through trials? Will they love you, protect you, guide you? I think David had all he needed because the Lord was His shepherd.

Truly, Jesus is all I need.

I've asked some tough questions. I pray that you ponder them in your hearts and allow them to change you and make you better.

God Bless You on this Lord's Day.

Jesus is the TRUTH

John 14:6

"Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'"

Dictionary.com defines truth as:

1. the true or actual state of a matter: He tried to find out the truth.

2. conformity with fact or reality; verity: the truth of a statement.

3. a verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principle, or the like: mathematical truths.

4. the state or character of being true.

5. actuality or actual existence.

 

If we are to be like Jesus, then we must be truthful. And yet, how many times do we tell "white" lies? We can justify it to ourselves by saying that it's not hurting anyone, but do you really know that.

 

My husband and I decided early on in our parenting that Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the tooth fairy were not going to be perpetrated as real people to our children. Those are just little white lies that don't hurt anyone right? But what if your child thinks to himself, "If Mom/Dad said their was a Santa and there's not, then maybe there's not a Jesus either."? That has eternal consequences.

 

What is your response (and mine) to the question, "How are you?" Mine is usually, "Fine," or "Good" even when I'm not. But then the person asking typically doesn't care anyway, right? Why not just answer truthfully? "I'm a bit tired," or "I've had a rough week," or even "It's been great." There's no need to expound, but there's no reason to put on the mask of perfection when that's just not the case.

 

Life is short. Don't waste it being untruthful. God despises liars. Don't let him think of you that way.

 

 

A Day of Thanksgiving to a Faithful God

Did you know God is faithful?

1 Corinthians 1:9 "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."

1 Corinthians 10:13 "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it."

2 Corinthians 1:18 "But as God is faithful, our word to you was not Yes and No."

1 Thessalonians 5:24 "He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it."

2 Thessalonians 3:3 "But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one."

2 Timothy 2:13 "If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself."

Hebrews 10:23 "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful."

1 John 1:9 "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful."

On this national day of Thanksgiving, don't forget to be thankful to and for the One who is faithful. His faithfulness is not based on our faithfulness, but on his goodness.

Oh, God, thank you today for being faithful, even when we're not. Today as we celebrate a day of thanksgiving help us to be ever mindful of your faithfulness. Keep our hearts and minds focused on you and not on what we can "get" from the coming season. In all the busy-ness, help us to be in tune with your heart to the homeless, orphans and widows. Open our eyes to help those in need this season. Thank you God for your Son and his faithfulness to follow your will to death. I love you Lord. Amen


God bless you all.

My Teacher

My Teacher

From week to week I don't know what I'm going to share about here on Thursdays. Today's post came to me this morning as I was having my quiet time.

I read 1 Corinthians 10. I felt led to tell you about it today.

Verse 6 says, "Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted."

What things? The next few verses list them for us.

• vs 7: do not become idolaters
• vs 8: do not commit sexual immorality
• vs 9: do not tempt Christ
• vs 10: do not complain

Those verses also list the consequences the Israelites faced. Since Paul tells us twice that these were written to be our examples of things not to do AND listed the consequence, I think we need to heed what the Lord was doing.

• vs 7: if you go to Exodus 32, you find that God was so angry with the people, He wanted to destroy them all. Only Moses' pleading kept it from happening.
• vs 8: 23,000 fell by plague (Numbers 25)
• vs 9: destroyed by serpents (Number 21)
• vs 10: destroyed by the destroyer; a plague that killed 14,700 people (Numbers 16)

"But God..." Those two lovely words make my heart swell. In His infinite mercy, God provides an escape.

Let's read verses 12 and 13, " Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. ¹³ No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." (bold added for emphasis) Hallelujah!

Then later in this chapter there are two other admonitions.

Verse 24, "Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being." 

Ohh, that's sometimes a hard thing. Let's be honest, we all want to be selfish more often than we should. Want something harder? Read it in the Amplified Version, "Let no one then seek his own good and advantage and profit, but [rather] each one of the other [let him seek the welfare of his neighbor]." Reminds me of the New Testament church in Acts. They sold all of their belongings and gave to those who had need, taking no thought of their own WANTS.

I'm going to stop there and let you think about that for a moment....(Take this time to meditate and let the Holy Spirit teach you something new.)

Moving on.

Verse 31, "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

This one seems easier, but is it truly? When I'm writing this blog or a novel or doing something as simple as making dinner, am I doing it for praise for my accomplishments or for the glory and honor of God? OUCH!

God help us all to do for others first and do it for Your glory and not for our own. Amen.

What has God been teaching you lately?

My Healer

Today I am going to focus on God, my healer. It's going to be a little language lesson for you.  :)

In Exodus 15, at the end of verse 26, it says, "For I am the Lord who heals you." The words referring to the Lord are Jehovah Rapha (how we would see them, not the true Hebrew).

The word rapha or raphah means to mend (by stitching) or to cure, cause to heal, physician, repair, make whole.

In my searching this morning I have found that this word is not only used for physical healing, but David in Psalm 41 asks God to heal his soul because he had sinned. A few Psalms later, in chapter 60, David again asks God to heal something, but this time it's about the earth being broken.

Moving on to Psalm 103:1-5(NKJV).

Bless the LORD, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. (emphasis added)

 Look at that verse. I suggest reading the whole chapter; it's awesome. But for this blog, I really want to focus on verse 3.

"Who forgives all your iniquities." Let's stop there for a moment. The Hebrew word for iniquities is avon (with accents that I can't type here). It means perversity, moral evil, fault, iniquity, mischief, sin. How many? ALL. That is so important to understand.

"Who heals all your diseases." Diseases, tachalu (please don't ask me to pronounce that one), means malady, disease, sickness. How many? ALL.

Both the forgiveness and the healing were complete when Jesus was beaten, crucified and then rose from the dead. Keep reading and I'll show you.

Isaiah 53:5

But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed. 

Hallelujah! Praise God!

But this is all Old Testament. Don't we live in the New Covenant? Ah, but we do and now let's go to 1 Peter 2:24, "who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed."

This word, healed, is the Greek word iaomai, which means to cure, heal, make whole. There is another Greek word that also means to heal or make whole, but it encompasses another meaning as well. The word is sozo. It means to save (deliver or protect), heal, preserve, save, do well, be whole. This word is used throughout the New Testament. Most times it is translated "save," but a number of times it is translated "be made whole" or "heal."

It's an exciting word. I encourage you to check it out. I also encourage you to embrace Jesus as your healer, as well as your Savior.

Do you have a time when He was your healer? I would love to hear about it.

Please leave a comment. I read every one. Sometimes blogger won't let me respond, however. It's finicky that way.  :)

As always - under HIS wings,

Ginger

Thank you to www.biblegateway.com and e-sword for the ability to do this blog.

 

The Word

The Word

John 1:1-5, 14

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.    (emphasis added)

These verses say so much that I feel at a loss as to how to add any thoughts to them.

Thank you Jesus for being the Word, for becoming flesh to save me from my sins.

As always - under HIS wings,

Ginger



Names of God Meme

Ahh, it's Thursday again. I GET to give praise to my God for all that He is and for all that He does. Even if no one else joins me, still I will praise Him.

This week I will focus on God, my Creator. Tuesday I read Job 41. It describes a leviathan, which the footnote says is a large sea creature. To me it sounds like a dragon that can swim.  :)  God's description is so specific to this animal, I can almost see it - well, I can, but I really do see a dragon. Go read it for yourself. It's awesome.

What else did God create that is unusual or confounding?

The first thing I think of is a platypus. Those things are downright weird looking; AND they lay eggs.

Man is on my mind now, but we'll get to him in a moment.

Horses: majestic, and powerful. Different horses have been bred to do different things. Coco (pictured here) is a Tennessee Walking Horse. She was bred to WALK, though she tends to want to go faster.

Now, back to man. In the beginning of Genesis, God creates all things. Then He gets to man. The last thing He does is create man in His own image. How awesome to be the very image of God.

I often wonder what God looks like. Every single person is different, even in small ways. He formed everyone of us unique, like the snowflake. I was watching or reading something recently about DNA and music. Everyone knows that our DNA is unique, but did you know that your DNA can be made into music. Each person has a different song. I'm not sure how it works and I couldn't find a reference to it on the 'net (well, not what I'd seen specifically, there are plenty of sites out there).

God is so creative.

A closing thought. Psalm 139 is a tribute to how much God loves us. Here's an excerpt for you, but you really should read the whole thing.

¹³ For You formed my inward parts;
         You covered me in my mother’s womb.
 ¹⁴ I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
         Marvelous are Your works,
         And that my soul knows very well.
 ¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from You,
         When I was made in secret,
         And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
 ¹⁶ Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
         And in Your book they all were written,
         The days fashioned for me,
         When as yet there were none of them. 

God loves you, dear one, each and every bone in your body and hair on your head. He is your creator. He is my creator.

How awesome is Your name O God!

As always,

under HIS wing,

Ginger

My Provider

I apologize that this meme didn't show up until today. I don't usually have weeks like this past one, and when I do, they surprise me with their busyness. Better late than never, right?

Growing up, I didn't have much. My dad, what I remember anyway, was fickle about work. I can count a number of jobs that he had (different sorts of jobs, not just different employers for the same job) while I was growing up. He moved out when I was fourteen. My mom worked a full-time job and by that time it was only her and I, but even then it was hard to support a family with only one income, doable, but difficult. She did the best she could, but I did without a lot of stuff.

College didn't seem like an option, but I applied anyway. I got accepted to a local university and received enough money that I didn't have to pay for anything. At one point, I needed some money for books or something, I don't even remember what at the moment. I remember crying to my boyfriend, now my husband, about not having the money. He told me that God would provide. To be honest, I doubt I believed him. Church was not high on my parents' priority list and I was just getting to know God at the time.

Not long after that, I received a check in the mail. I don't remember who it was from, though my husband still has the stub from it. It was enough for what I needed. My boyfriend made me write on the back of it God always provides for my needs. I believe it now.

We, however, have different ideas of what our needs are. God promises in His Word that he will provide what we NEED. Matthew 6:25-34 (NKJV)

²⁵ “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
²⁸ “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; ²⁹ and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
³¹ “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

I know that God sees things different than me. Isaiah says so in chapter 55. Sometimes we wish and wish for things to be the way we envision them, but I choose to believe God has my best interest at heart and that whatever comes my way will be because someone else needs to hear my testimony or I need to grow.

God provided for me monetarily. How has He provided for you? 

As always,
under HIS wings,
Ginger

God as my Comforter

My first blog on the Names of God Meme.  I hope you'll join me in telling others who God is and what He's done for you.

Let me tell you about an experience I had a number of years ago. I don't remember what was going on in my life at the time, but I was distraught. I was to the point of not being able to function anymore. I ran away, well as far as I could with small children in the house. I think it must have been some time in the afternoon (nap time) because I wasn't bothered for a while. I "ran" into my bedroom, closed and locked the door, and turned on "Holy" by Nichole Nordeman. I fell on my knees and sang and cried out to God, my comforter. When the song was off, I remember just rocking back and forth on my knees, with my eyes closed, crying out to God.

God met me in that place; the place where I had NOTHING left to give - not to Him, not to my children, not to my husband. I felt the PHYSICAL presence of God that day. It brings tears to my eyes just remembering the feeling of love and security as His arms embraced me. You may think me strange, but I felt His arms hugging me that day. He held me and let me cry. He showed me His love. He Comforted me in my brokenness.

Thank you God for being my Comforter not just when I can "feel" you, but in those moments when it seems as if you're far away. I know you're not; you're always with me.

Even if you don't blog, I welcome your comments and would love to know how God has been your comforter. 


Under HIS wings,
Ginger
PS. I hope the link tool works...if not, please post your blog URL in the comments section, so we can visit you and see how God has touched your life.