You Ain't Gonna Like Losing!

This is an email that I received recently. I had another post ready but with all the mess that is going on in our country I thought the timing right for this 'forward'. Judging from the types of emails that are coming in, people are starting to panic. I don't know who wrote this letter below but I believe it's worth putting up on the blog. This is something I feel we really need to think and pray about it.
AUTHOR UNKNOWN:
I know everyone has a different opinion on the war and our current President. But, this article makes a lot of sense, take 2 minutes, read it and give it some thought.
When electing the next President, 'the only decision you have to make is who you want sitting in that seat in the White House when - not if - WHEN we get hit again and millions of American lives are put at risk!' This is from: 'You ain't gonna like losing.'

~~ Author unknown ~~

President Bush did make a bad mistake in the war on terrorism. But the mistake was not in his decision to go to war. Bush's mistake came in his belief that this country is the same one his father fought for in WWII. It is not. Back then, they had just come out of a vicious depression. The country was steeled by the hardship of that depression, but they still believed fervently in this country. They knew that the people had elected their leaders, so it was the people's duty to back those leaders. Therefore, when the war broke out the people came together, rallied behind, and stuck with their leaders, whether they had voted for them or not or whether the war was going badly or not. And war was just as distasteful and the anguish just as great then as it is today. Often there were more casualties in one day in WWII than we have had in the entire war. But that did not matter. The people stuck with the President because it was their patriotic duty. Americans put aside their differences in WWII and worked together to win that war. Everyone from every strata of society, from young to old pitched in.
Small children pulled little wagons around to gather scrap metal for the war effort. Grade school students saved their pennies to buy stamps for war bonds to help the effort. Men who were too old or medically 4F lied about their age or condition trying their best to join the military. Women doubled their work to keep things going at home. Harsh rationing of everything from gasoline to soap, to butter was imposed, yet there was very little complaining. You never heard prominent people on the radio belittling the President.

Interestingly enough in those days there were no fat cat actors and entertainers who ran off to visit and fawn over dictators of hostile countries and complain to them about our President. Instead, they made upbeat films and entertained our troops to help the troops' morale. And a bunch even enlisted. And imagine this: Teachers in schools actually started the day off with a Pledge of Allegiance, and with prayers for our country and our troops!

Back then, no newspaper would have dared point out certain weak spots in our cities where bombs could be set off to cause the maximum damage.
No newspaper would have dared complain about what we were doing to catch spies. A newspaper would have been laughed out of existence if it had complained that German or Japanese soldiers were being 'tortured' by being forced to wear women's underwear, or subjected to interrogation by a woman, or being scared by a dog or did not have air conditioning. There were a lot of things different back then. We were not subjected to, a constant bombardment of pornography, perversion and promiscuity in movies or on radio. We did not have legions of crack heads, dope pushers and armed gangs roaming our streets.

No, President Bush did not make a mistake in his handling of terrorism. He made the mistake of believing that we still had the courage and fortitude of our fathers. He believed that this was still the country that our fathers fought so dearly to preserve. It is not the same country. It is now a cross between Gomorrah and the land of Oz. We did unite for a short while after 9/11, but our attitude changed when we found out that defending our country would require some sacrifices. We are in great danger. The terrorists are fanatic Muslims. They believe that it is okay, even their duty, to kill anyone who will not convert to Islam. It has been estimated that about one third or over three hundred million Muslims are sympathetic to the terrorists cause. . . Hitler and Tojo combined did not have nearly that many potential recruits. So... We either win it - or lose it - and you ain't gonna like losing. America is not at war. The military is at war. America is at the mall, or watching the movie stars.
(Remember Obama said in his book 'Audacity of Hope', 'I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction'.....what better place for the Muslims to control our country, than in the office of the President of the United States. If you ever forwarded an e-mail, now is the time to do it!) PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR MILITARY, AND ASK OUR GOD/LORD TO TAKE CARE OF THIS ELECTION!! PRAY ABOUT ALL OF THIS!!

I feel that although it's important to keep informed of the news, I feel that it's also important that we also remember that if we have God, we have something that no one can take away. Read the scripture below but don't just read it, think about it. Realize that we aren't alone in this at all! In Isaiah 43:10 it says:

"You are my witnesses," declares the Lord. "and my servant whom I have chosen. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior.
I have revealed and saved and proclaimed- I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses,: declares the Lord, "that I am God. Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No on can deliver you out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?"

Award for 'Oaks of Righteousness'

A few weeks ago I was blessed to receive a Butterfly Award from a new friend in Christ, Lori Laws at http://persevere-lori.blogspot.com. What a nice surprise Lori. Thank you!

I am to forward this on to 10 others and then link back to the person that sent it to me. I don't know that many blogs, but here are the some that have touched my life or inspired me in one way or another. I thank each one of you for your uniqueness and your willingness to share.

Tracy@ http://www.tracywriting4him.blogspot.com

Alan Knox@ http://assembling.blogspot.com

Grace @ http://whisperofgrace.blogspot.com

Alexander@ http://alexanderwrites.blogspot.com

Jay@ http://transparentchristianmagazine.com

Chris @ http://thebiblepost.blogspot.com

Mike @ http://mikeratliff.wordpress.com

Myraine@ http://realitiesandrealizations.blogspot.com

(I've never put links in before, so fold your hands and pray these work :)

Although I haven't been blogging very long and still have so much to learn, I've found that there are communities of bloggers out there that are sincere and loving people who care greatly for others. That is a wonderfully refreshing fact and one that surprised me in the first few weeks of my blogging life. In a world that is falling apart around us with crime increasing at rates unheard of before and full of so much selfishness and pride, I'm happy to see that there is constancy in God's people.

I discovered almost immediately that the evidence of God's abiding love is spread into all areas of our lives with the use of the Internet. People want God in their lives. They may not even know it, but our Lord has designed us this way. Although many people may claim that they don't believe in God and even claim they hate Him, they still search for something to fill a void in their lives. This void has the distinct shape of God. Unfortunately as they search they will sometimes try anything to fill that emptiness and may turn to such things as drugs, sex or even cult activities but this fails them as well. If they persist to search and usually if someone is praying for them they may eventually find Him, God, the author of that driving desire to feel complete or whole.

God has strategically placed His people throughout our grand earth. As He puts it,

“They will be called oaks of righteousness,a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.” --Isaiah 61:3 (NIV)

He describes them as 'Oaks of righteousness', a planting of the Lord! That, to me is a wonderful picture. They are using the gifts that God has given them to glorify Him by helping others and in so doing, 'displaying His splendor'! God uses them with their strengths and weaknesses, just the way they are. Some have or still are going through unbelievably painful trials, yet they forge forward with swords, the word of God, in hand, doing the work that they were designed to do. They accept God as He is, powerful, merciful and the author and finisher of all things. They are a friend of God.

They have become useful servants, willing to plant the seeds of God's truth, to water those seeds or pray for other saplings who can also begin to grow in the Lord. The new saplings can then go on to be a useful weapon in God's army, and in doing so the circle of life in Christ begins again.

I've been blessed to meet a few of these 'Oaks of Righteousness' right out here on the internet! Earnestly giving of themselves and doing an awesome job for the sake of their God. I pass on to them the butterfly award that I've received. The butterfly is a symbol of life. I pray they continue to speak God's truths and go on to inspire others as they have inspired me. I want to also pass on the writings of Ralph I. Tilley as he so accurately describes just what these people mean to me.

Oaks Of Righteousness

In the midst of moral confusion,
Surrounded by darkness and despair,
God has planted His servants,
Who breathe in Heaven’s air.

With roots reaching deeply into God:
His holiness, mercy, truth and love;
Each moment they are nourished
On nutrients from above.

Having weathered many storms and droughts,
More than once appearing far weaker;
What would have killed lesser souls
Only makes these much stronger.

With their arms ever-stretching upward,
And faces gazing into the light;
They taste the dews each morning,
Drinking in the Spirit’s might.

While many others lie on the ground,
Casualties to the flesh and shame;
These stalwarts have stood the test of time,
Protected through Jesus’ name.

They are the Lord’s own chosen planting,
Displaying His splendor all around;
“Oaks of Righteousness,” He says—
May their number, Lord, abound.

Written by Ralph I.Tilley (Life in Spirit Ministries)http://www.lsministries.org/

I pray the Lord continues to bless you all as you continue growing in Him!

A New Thing

I was given permission to share the below email.
I'd like you all to meet my daughter-in-law. She found the Lord as a young child but lost her footings along the way. Now, as she re-dedicates her life to the Lord, she's discovering just how awesome God is as she submits to Him and takes His hand on this journey. I love how this shows the significant changes that God can do in as little time as a day. The small victories from our God are big enough to carry her, and all of us, through the bad times too.

I have her permission to share, word for word as well as colored text, bolds and font size :), and pray she'll be back again :)

Ok, so I went to "Purpose Driven Life" small group tonight and I had peace of mind and shared and even was able to say something that I thought would rub someone the wrong way and said it anyway because I believed that God wanted me to say it. Praise God!!!!!!! All the Glory to Him, not me. I am so thankful to God for giving me peace. He knew how much suffering I had to go through to bring me to the place where I needed to be, mentally, spiritually, and physically. I believe He knew that the place where I was last week at small group made me scared to share, so I would stay silent, because the words that would have came out of my mouth were my words and not His. I know that there are trials and tribulations to come and it won't be easy and I will struggle again. My marriage and family will struggle. I will always have sin and I have to still live here on earth and be surrounded by worldly things that will tempt me. But I Believe I have God on my side way more than yesterday and last week! It's the Belief in God that is building my faith and trust in Him slowly,..but surely. I need to never forget how good He really is when things are bad. I made myself sing that song "Rejoice in the Lord Always" last night in my pit of despair, doubt and 'why me' Sobfest!! And in return He blessed me. I didn't feel the peace last night, but today He has given me so much peace. He showed His mercy to me today!! Yay!!!!

I talked one on one with a lady afterwards and we had a really good talk about where we are with our relationship with God and the world. She said that she felt like she couldn't talk to anyone there, but felt comfortable talking to me. And I felt the same. She said she is confused, about 3 times in the conversation. I look forward to talking to her again. I think that maybe we can form a friendship and support system. And
maybe i can help her (with God's help of course). She said her life is very busy. She and her husband own 2 business's in town
here. Maybe I can do something for her to give her time to rest
and have a easier opportunity to seek God. Or even maybe that
could be my part-time job here. I don't know. God only knows.

Anyway, I hope you are doing well and I will talk to you soon .

I Love you!!

Jeni

Before I got her email today, I had been reading in Isaiah. What I read rang
out in my mind as I thought of her new life in Christ and the struggles that
she's faced.

Isaiah 43:10

"You are my witnesses," declares the Lord, "and my servant whom I have
chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am
he.

Then again in verses 18-19

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new
thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the
desert and streams in the wasteland."

~I praise God for choosing her and doing 'A NEW THING' in her life!~

The Fingerprints of God

I'm looking back, not that long ago, where I was in the middle of a deep dark depression like I'd never known before. Although friends kept telling me that God was there for me, I couldn't feel Him. What I felt was more like a dense fog dividing us that seemed impossible to penetrate. No matter what I did I just didn't feel that connection that I had known and now hungered for.

My life had taken several very serious jogs, where some had almost put me over the edge. As I dissected the previous weeks,months and even years, detail by detail I couldn't put my finger on anything significant that brought me to this frighteningly lonely place. Although I could credit part of it to my declining health and the fact that I was now 'disabled', I had been dealing with that for awhile now and I didn't think it was the cause of such a debilitating depression. But more importantly, God kept silent. There were so many issues that needed His help and each day of my life was getting so difficult that I just didn't know how much longer we could hang on. I couldn't work anymore so my husband was killing himself working at least 2 jobs and taking on anything else he could fit in to make ends meet. My back surgery had failed miserably and I was getting worse by the day. Our marriage was suffering from the daily arguments about the smallest things and fun and relaxation were just words that were spoken of in the past tense. The problems were consuming us both.

I continued to do what I thought I was supposed to do, pray, read my Bible and sometimes go to church. But God remained silent. Most of my prayers started with 'why'. "Why is this happening", or "Why aren't you there?" repeatedly pleading with God for His help. As Christians we are instructed to be thankful for everything, from our life, our home and family to just little things like having a meal to eat and clean water to drink. I continued to just maintain and even thanked God for all of those little things, just like I was instructed to as a child. But deep down I knew that those words were not coming from my heart. I was angry and frustrated and, yes, I felt sorry for myself. I thought things like, "why can't I have a pity party? I really AM getting dealt a bad hand. I HAVE gone through much more than most people my age! Heck, I have the right to feel this way! My world was crashing in and God is ignoring me!"

All that time, day in and day out I just went through the motions, saying the same stale prayer and waiting for God to fix it all. I wanted my life to be easier, with happy times just once in awhile and couldn't understand why any of this was happening to me, to us.

I had muddled through many years of my life claiming to be a Christian. I'd learned that the Bible is full of God's promises for His children to have healing and prosperity as we walk through life with Him. He says that 'we are the apple of His eye', that 'He'll never leave us or forsake us', and 'He will give us the desires of our heart', and many many more. It's strange because during this time, although my mind was flooded with questions and I was an emotional wreck, ultimately I didn't doubt God and His word. Even though I was unable to understand why, within myself I knew there was a reason that I was going through all of this.

Several years ago I had subscribed to a daily scripture email. As they came in each day, sometimes I read them and sometimes I didn't. When I did it was almost like I tried to get through them as quickly as possible. Almost like I was appeasing myself with what I knew I was supposed to do. But just like my prayers, my heart was not in that either. One day as I was going through the motions of reading the daily scripture I recognized this particular one from when I first came to know the Lord many years ago. My first response was the usual skimming over it and then closed my email to go on to other things. But as I did, the scripture kept running through my mind. It just kept repeating itself over and over until finally I stopped what I was doing and opened the email again. This time the scripture almost jumped off the page. Matthew 6:33 "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." I thought, Lord this is a scripture that I've known almost my entire life. How can this be my answer? But then I read it again and this time I really read it. What it's saying is that if we make God the most important part of our lives, He WILL take care of ALL other things.

Yes, I had read this verse many times before, but I never committed to practicing what it says to do. I had accepted Christ but had I made Him first? I guess I had to admit the obvious. I was one of those convenience Christians. You know, the one's that use God when things go bad but other than that, you don't hear much about Him? I knew this fact but never wanted to admit it. I guess I wanted to try the easy road, use Him when I needed Him but I didn't want to commit to reading the Bible and regularly assembling with other Christians to learn about Him. Incidentally, it's not the easy road. It's actually harder but I didn't know that then.

I didn't know what to do first so I started to change the way I prayed. One of the hardest types of prayers to say are honest prayers. This type of prayer is the one where we tell Him our absolute true feelings. To me, that meant admitting to God many things. Admitting that my prayers to Him were not from my heart, that I'd only been 'going through the motions', and then I asked for His forgiveness. When talking honestly to God, we humble ourselves and tell Him how weak we are or that we don't believe in ourselves, if that's the case. We tell Him those things about ourselves that we're not so proud of or things that we wouldn't even say to our spouse or closest friend. It involves speaking to God about things that are difficult to say out loud, even when we're alone. It means digging deep within ourselves and admitting those faults that we try not to think about or speaking those secrets we hope never get spoken. They tend to stumble out of our mouths with hesitation and, if we're doing it right, sometimes even fear. This is a prayer of utter and complete honesty to Your Lord. It makes it easier to do it if we remind ourselves that we're not telling Him anything He doesn't already know but He needs us to trust and obey Him enough to do it.

As I knelt before Him and began to tell him those things that I had hidden deeply in my mind and heart, the tears came. As I opened myself up to Him and spoke the words that I had held back for so long, instead of increased apprehension and dread, what I felt was freedom along with peace like I've never experienced. This only made the way easier and allowed me to continue telling Him everything and needless to say the prayer went on for a very long time. Instead of the usual 'going through the motions' prayer, I spoke from my heart. I admitted to Him how much I wanted and needed His direction, His will and His power to change me into who He wanted me to be.

I'm still me with all of my little idiosyncrasy's, my flaws, my personality quirks and sins. But I want to be putty in His hands so His fingerprints are all over me.

I pour myself into whatever God leads me to do. Of course the problems in life still come but with them comes peace. I know that as long as I make Him first, He will give me everything I need and He has. He has blessed my life in ways I never thought were possible.

Yes, being a Christian does mean committing to make the Lord absolutely first. But with that comes a closeness with the creator of our universe. We put everything into His huge hands so we never have to be afraid or worry because we know that He has a plan for every jog in our life. We are never alone in anything we experience, good or bad. We WILL get through it because whatever 'it' is, it's a part of His master plan. It means that He has His fingerprints all over you and your life. It doesn't get any better than that!

Have the Faith Of A Child

When I was a child...as with most children, I trusted my parents to provide my needs. All of them. I did not worry if I had clothes to wear but knew where to get them when I needed them. I did not worry about how I was going to eat. I just knew it would be there when I was hungry. When I went to bed at night, I didn't wonder if I had a bed but instead knew my bed was going to be where it always had been. I also knew that I wouldn't have to face harsh weather because I just knew that my parents would ensure that I was protected.

As adults we need these things and usually have to provide for ourselves. Can you imagine what it would be like, as an adult to just know that our needs will be met? We need to do our part of course. But the Bible tells us in the book of Mark, chapter 10 and starting at verse 11,...'Unless you change and become like little children, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God'. It sounds like God wants us to just trust, believe and accept Him like children do with their earthly parents.

As His children, we can trust our heavenly Father to provide all of our needs. In fact, He promises that He will, IF we trust Him. That can be a very hard thing to do because as adults, we have a tendency to look beyond the immediate need and see all the other variables and view life as much more complex. For example, if an adult is in need of comfort and peace about a particular situation, God instructs us to ask Him for it. If we do not remain focused on our prayer and wait for Him to answer, too many times we will allow the 'what ifs' to creep in which will eventually complicate the situation more. Before long we've gotten ourselves worried and stressed out so badly that when that peace comes to us, it is not recognized. It's been drowned out because we've allowed all the other feelings to get in the way. The end result is that we feel that God has not answered our prayer for peace.

I feel that Jesus used the example of children because they don't usually understand the vastness and complexity that looms beyond them. They are incapable of thoughts about the 'what ifs' because their world is so small and simple.

This post comes as a challenge to each of us to do just what Our Father desires and put our trust in Him for all of our needs. Yes it will be difficult at first. But as God steps in and demonstrates His unfailing love by doing just what He promises, it will get easier. Life gets a lot simpler if we can just rest in Him and know that He is God. Let that thought absorb into your minds and hearts because once it does, SIGH, there's NO turning back!