At It Again - Devotionals from MY Bible

     So, it's been FOREVER since I've posted anything and again, I've decided to do devotionals.  This time, with a twist!  I'm a person who has read the Bible on several occasions, sought it out to find answers when I was lost, just read it to establish a relationship with Dad.  In the many, many times I've used my current Bible, I've highlighted things that spoke to my heart, wrote myself notes in it, etc. 
     I feel that God is easier to hear, if we're allowing ourselves to come into the relationship with him...expecting him to talk to us.  Many people claim they never hear God or that God has never spoken to them.  But, I beg to differ.  Sometimes he talks and we hear then and there.  Sometimes he talks and we don't listen. Sometimes he talks, but we don't get it until after the fact.
     Below are just a handful of stories from my life experiences that show God does, indeed, speak...do we listen?

Story 1 - The 11 Year Prayer
     To keep the stories short, I'm only going to tell what is important.  My father was a Christian raised by Christian parents, baptized. He is a farmer, welder, was a Sheriff's Deputy.  He was drafted into the Vietnam war.  He saw many horrors and on more than a few occasions nearly lost his life.  When he returned home, he was "changed".  He had PTSD and basically said God couldn't exist and let the horrors of Vietnam go on.
     I was (just getting back to being) a fervent prayer warrior.  I prayed all the time...even in school, around my town, with friends, etc.  I was in a good relationship with God and often referred to him affectionately as Dad.  I could feel my own dad's hurt and need for affection.  I tried as a teenager to show him my love and that things will someday be right.  It just wasn't working.  So, I had to pray.
     I began praying for my father to come back to God in August 1993...I was 10. I had just met my best friend Becky and her family.  I had just come to the realization that God can do ANYTHING and even something like bringing my daddy back around was possible for him.
     I prayed for my daddy daily...sometimes more than once, but daily for 11 years straight.  Oh, boy! I got frustrated with God. Mad at God. Sometimes I felt he was ignoring me, but He was and is God.  He must know what he is doing.  Eleven years later (not sure if it was to the day or not), my daddy called me.  I was outside of the Red Lobster @ 95th & Metcalf meeting my friend Bre for dinner to discuss God.  I was waiting for her and floundering in my prayer as to how I could better help her.
     When my dad called, he said "Bubba," long pause which made me worry, "I got something I gotta tell you."  Then he broke down crying.  I was 21 and had NEVER heard my daddy cry.  I started crying...thinking the worse. My mom?  My brother? My neice?  What?  My daddy took a big breath, "Sorry for crying. But I knew you'd be the one to understand.  He found me, Bubba."  Now I paused. Did I hear him right?  Was this the same "He" that I knew? Or was it someone else. Hesitantly I asked, "Who found you?" "God found me, Bubba.  Hard and fast and I had to let you know."  He started crying again.  We talked about it, but I was very grateful that after 11 years, my prayer "itch" had been scratched.  Remember that God's timing is always perfect even if we don't understand it.

Story 2 - The Fleece Before God
     I liked Josh.  He seemed to like me, but he was very girl shy.  We always hung out with Bill Jr., Burnie, and Heidi.  How was I going to convey to Josh that I liked him?  Everytime I told a guy, the answer was "Um, NO." or it was a bad and sometimes bitter relationship.  I wanted something more now.
     I laid my fleece before God one night.  Simple as it was, it was a profound statement of faith on my part. "Dad, here's my fleece.  If Josh asks me out, I know we're going to get married."  WHOA!  Big statement huh?!  Marriage if he asks me out...hahahahaha.  I even laugh at it now.  But, it's true. I was ready for the next step in life and felt that God knew what he was doing.
     All our friends said he would NEVER ask me out because he was too shy.  On a Monday evening everyone but Josh and I had plans...Burnie was working, Bill had a date, Heidi and class...Josh and I decided to do dinner together so we wouldn't have to eat alone.  Afterwards, Josh wanted to drive the I-435 loop to just talk...needless to say neither of us wanted to spend a nice night at our apartments alone.
      Around the loop discussion sorta flourished.  It got to the point that I offered to set him up with a girl named Emily who was a teacher because he wanted to take a 3 week trip along the Pacific Coast Highway.  Fair is fair...he had to set him up with someone.
      "Well, I was going to set you up with me, but since you're setting me up with Emily, I'm not sure what to do now."  He replied with his eyes intent on the road. "I haven't done it yet!" I said looking at him with questions in my eyes.  "Well, fine.  I'd like to date you and see how things go, if you'd like to."  Glancing at me, I said "Sure." And we sealed the deal with a high five!
      That was in February of 2005.  In May of 2005 he popped the question.  And on August 13, 2005 we were wed.

Story 3 - The Elusive Elk & The Farm
     Did you know God has a sense of humor?  While vacationing in the middle and southwestern parts of Colorado with our friends Jason and Jana, Josh was ever on the hunt to see elk.  He loves elk and he rarely gets to see them in the wild.  We were on the last 2 days of the trip and Josh was really bummed because we'd been ALL over the mountains of Colorado and hadn't seen even 1 elk.
     "Maybe you should ask God to see an elk." Jana ventured as we drove toward Cortez and Mesa Verde. "Yeah, that sounds like a great plan, Jana.  Josh, maybe you should ask God. He's always answering prayer." I said looking at him.  "Oh, fine. I just don't think it will work.  He's probably got better things to do."  "Nah, he's ready for you." Jason said as the final encouragement.
     "God - Is it too much to ask?  I just want to see an elk. I'm not saying there has to be a lot. Can't you let me see at least one before this vacation is done.  Amen."  There...he had  done it. He had said his prayer and now we'd all wait to see if it would be answered in a timely manner.
     Ten minutes later I called excitedly, "I see an ELK!!!! Look!  There it is!!! And the antlers!!!!"  "That's not what I meant!  I meant I wanted to see a WILD elk...!!!" Josh complained as we passed the ELK FARM of Cortez.  Sitting in the middle of a pen next to the highway was a huge bull elk in all his glory.  Everyone in the truck began to laugh uncontrollably at the sight of the elk.
     "You weren't specific though, Josh. You never mentioned it had to be wild!" Jana roared. "Yeah, you just said an elk!  Guess God got you good on this one huh?" I rolled in laughter.
     I like to think in that moment, God was sitting upstairs laughing with us as Josh tried to find the humor in it all.

     Now that we know God hears us and talks with us, we'll beging the Bible study tomorrow.  I will being going from Genesis through Revelation study 1-3 verses each devotional.  These verses will be ones that I have highlighted or attempted to highlight or mark, but wasn't successful in.
     Tomorrow, we will be looking at the following verses:
Genesis 1:1
Genesis 1:31
Genesis 2:18
Genesis 2:21-22
Genesis 2:24
      I know this is more than 3, but all these versus kinda sum up creation.  See you here tomorrow sometime for the continuation!

Enjoy!

A Time for Everything - Devotional Day 4 - September 24

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:4 - ...a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to morn and a time to dance.

"If I am annoyed or frustrated or have gotten my feelings hurt, I often explode and the dust settles quickly afterward." How many times have you "gone off the handle"? Sometimes when we blow up, it is quickly over and we move on with life.

However, "...there are times when I simmer for a while, when I am irritated or I hapen to be in a sour mood....I give myself an allotment of time to indulge my feelings and often that is enough to validate them and bid them adieu." Have you ever been made and just left the feelings to sour in your tummy for a while? Taken time to mull them over, talk yourself through them, and then spit them back out?

I'll admit it first then. I talk to myself all the time! I talk to myself when I'm talking the kiddos to and from daycare and, of course, when I'm by myself driving each way. I also talk to myself when I've had an upset customer yelling at me. I talk to myself when I'm going to bed. I guess a blog is a bit like talking to myself as well...it lets me get it all out in the open...whether good or bad. Talking through the situations, even with yourself, can help alleviate so much! (And actually, I consider it as talking to God which makes me feel way better!)

"...we have to run the gamut of emotions to work our way back, but we have to come back. Ancient times required a grieving widow to wear ashes...for a prescribed time...then she had to clean up and rejoin the living. We have to do the same thing." What a statement! We can weep and mourn, but we have to come back! That says a lot. God knew that we would be a people who could be hurt and he prepared for this. But, he also knows we cannot stay in that weeping and mourning state forever. Have you ever lost someone you really loved? I can remember several losses that took their heavy toll on me from family members to friends to co-workers. For some it was old age, or cancer, or car accidents...for some, it was too soon! Can you imagine wha tyou would be like if you held in your weeping and your mourning of the loss...what a bitter person you would be...like Naomi in the book of Ruth..."'Don't call me Naomi," she told them. "Call me Mara, because the Almight has made my life very bitter..."' (Ruth 1:20) I cannot imagine being so bitter that I would change my name to be Bitter!

Even Jesus wept...it's in the story of Lazarus in the book of John, chapter 11. '"Jesus wept....Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"....Lazarus, come out!...Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."' While the story in John is left with a less than satisfactory ending, one can assume that since Jesus loved Lazarus so deeply, he must have greatly rejoiced with his Father answered his prayer! He must have rejoiced with Mary and Martha and the rest of the friends!

While there is a time for weeping and mourning, two very good and happy things follow...laughter and dancing! So, pull out the funnies and kick up your legs!