33 Testing, Trials, Timelines & Trust

Well, Greg...another day, another test...for you?   

Most assuredly you are being tested...but your Mom?   

Even the Scriptures talk about a Mother and Child...can a Mother forget her child??   Of course not, so if you are going thru great trials, you know my heart and Spirit are walking with you thru them.

 

You hurt, I hurt; you cry, I cry.  

So it is with the Body of Christ (of which we area all a part...right?)  We all have our own place and part in THE body.  

When one part hurts the whole body is challenged.

You know where I am going with this don't you?  *smile* 

God's timing is always right on time...

He sez ,'With the LORD, a thousand years is but a day, and a day as a thousand years.'  

So what He is looking at, is timeless.

Do you know when you pray a prayer, once it is spoken it is 'out there.'  It goes on and on, it becomes timeless.  And He says He keeps our tears in a bottle, and our prayers in a bowl?  We, and everything about us, is very precious to God. 

So when we want-what-we-want-when-we-want-it, we are trying to  put God's time clock in our  own pocket, and call the shots, so to speak, because we think we know just what God wants.  Which in the tiniest measure, we may know what God's will is....since we search the Scriptures, but the one big problem is that God is sovereign, and we?   Just the sheep in His pasture!!!

I decided a few weeks ago I thought I needed to help God out, so I sat down to write a letter, with some suggestions about how 'the Body of Christ' ought to be doing their job...nicely, I might add.   *smile*   But is was a hard letter to write, to try and not be judgmental.  (Know what I mean?)  *smile* 

   

So I just chucked the whole thing, and  I'd like to say, I just left it in God's good hands like He wanted me to, but I really didn't give it to God, I sort of decided to look internally, and see what was missing in Margaret's  part of the Body!

   

Now as God was working on me, He was working on others, and the Holy Spirit was challenging them...and several of the Body have stepped up and are helping Greg in small ways, wonderful ways, beautiful gifts from God...just as He (God) has had in His plans all along.

Will I never learn?

Will we never learn?

Yes, slowly and surely  we will take one step at a time, on moment at a time, not worrying about tomorrow,  as we grow into what the Father wants and wills for our lives.

Greg, how I love you and want the best for you...but God wants His best for you...and it is coming!  

 

When someone said they missed you in the Ministry, and your part that you do best, which is drama--

God put those talents there and made you what you are, and you are not at the end yet, just at the beginning

of what God still wants to do in your life...from here on out...  

 

Great things are coming, expect them!!!

Look up! Hang in there!  Hang on tight to His hand!

...and we will see you here there or in the air!

  Nanny

32 He is Waiting

Hi Greg...want to see just what bad choices your Mom makes? 

   

I hate to break this to you, but they are  sometimes quite disgusting.

 

I say,  'I want to spend  time with you Jesus...I want the desire to not be able to put down Your Word...I want to grow in You...'

   But as I read in the Old Testament,  I find I am just like the Children of Israel, when faced with a "little" decision  (like spending time with the LORD) 

they chose to go their own willful way, and  do what was easier or more pleasant than what God was asking them to do.

What did I do this a.m. before spending  my quiet time with the Lord ?    I went to the computer to look for an e-mail about Saturday...

And when the system didn't come up----what did I do?

 

 I sat there and played 3 or 4 games of 'free cell'.   

Was that wrong? 

No...not in the sense of sin.....But when I chose that

rather

than time with the Lord...well, yes.  

The Word says, 'Him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it IS sin.'

I think I tend to be a  pretty willful, undisciplined  person, and I really need to work on that...not so I can be so heavenly minded that I am

 no earthly good, (smile)  but in essence I am asking for LIFE and choosing DEATH, and weakness.

The Word is health and strength to our bones!  That's what it sez.  So today my choices  looked like I  am choosing to become less 

than what God wants and weaker spiritually...think?

Is He mad at me for my poor choices?  

Nope, He is just an encourager...He wants the best for me and you.

Beth Moore said it best, "Jesus is sitting by our bedside...waiting for us to wake up in the morning and keep Him company---so when the alarm 

goes off,  He sez,  "No! No!  don't hit the snooze button...I've been waiting all night to spend time with you.!"

Makes me think about another little snippet...

Years ago, Forrest Sr. introduced me to a little booklet, called 'My Heart Christ's Home" by Robert Unger.  

I read it and liked  it so much I gave out dozens of them.  It is a story about Christ coming to live at my house and in My heart.

Jesus  goes thru the house room by room with me,  cleaning it out, so He would be comfortable living there.  The best part of the story is when they

 get to the Library, He says I would like to meet you here every morning, and we will go over God's Word together, and  of course I say YES!

For a few days, weeks, months we attend to this wonderful meeting and it is  a precious  time with Jesus.   Then one morning I got up late, and

 was in a hurry to get to school, or an appointment and I hurry out the door...  Then another morning goes by and I forget again,

 then several days go by, and at last one morning, I stop and look in the library, and there sits Jesus...waiting...  

I am so embarrassed,

 and I slip in and sit beside Him, apologizing and I ask His forgiveness...

He said, "Just remember, even though you don't feel like

 you  need me, I need you!"

When  I DID get to my time with Jesus that morning... we wound up in Hebrews 13:5.... (the Amplified Version)   It sez, 

'Let your character be free

 from the love of money.......and be satisfied with your present circumstances.....For God Himself said,'I will not in any way fail you,

 nor give up, nor leave you without support.  I will not, I will not, I will not  in anyway leave you nor forsake you, or relax my hold on you!

Now isn't that just too  amazing for words?   My good intentions were just that...good intentions...but I didn't follow thru...You have to know 

one of my very  favorite portions of scripture is in Romans 8, verses 38 & 39...

"For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels,

 nor principalities,  nor powers., nor things present,  nor things to come....Nor height,  nor depth,  nor any creature will be able to separate

 us from the Love of God."

Well...Look up!  Hang in there!  Hang on tight to His hand, and we'll see you here, there, or in the air!

Love ya Cray!   

Nanny...Mom...Marker

31 This is the day the LORD has made...I WILL REJOICE!

We--Mr. MacGreggor and I--have been sloshing through this 'muck' for so long that I thought I might never see this day.

What day, you ask?  

Well, I will be sooooooooo glad to tell you! 

When God said, 

'This is the day that I have made, I will be glad and rejoice in it'...

I have tried to be faithful to do just that, see things as will be, not what they are.   Look past the circumstances, don't worry about tomorrow...live today and meet the troubles head on.  

Of course I have been saying these things to Greg, huh Greg?

I have been studying Hebrews and gleaning some wonderful things (with the help on the Amplified Version):

"We have the Hope as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.....It cannot slip...It cannot breakdown on who ever steps out on it....  A hope that reaches farther and enters into the very certainty of the Presence within the veil."   (that was Heb. 6:19)

Vs 20 sez: " in which it is impossible for God to prove false or deceive us;  We, who have fled to Him for refuge, might have MIGHTY INDWELLING STRENGTH and STRONG ENCOURAGEMENT...to grasp and hold fast the Hope appointed for us..."

After talking to Greg this day (the  Lord made)  I prayed:  "God, you are so faithful...so gracious...so merciful to us who are so challenged by the enemy of our souls....to mistrust, lack trust  in  your great and precious promises...You are God,  The Great I Am!!

It is such a blessing to have 'crawled, limped, cried, whined', through this abyss of depression with Greg—

Because he has come out on the other side.

Today he said to me, he had it all backward...every morning he figured he was "staring death in the face"----when now he knows each day is a miracle, a day of life that he has been given.

Physically and actually things are still in a 'crisis' mode.  Can't see daylight....but God is showing up all over the place...not in the way we asked for or wanted, or expected.  But God in His infinite wisdom is 'directing' this Greg Toft drama...and He knows what He is doing and going to do, we just have to TRUST Him, He knows the way.

He still has some mighty hurdles to jump, but God will give him wisdom and strength, or God just might pick him up and jump the hurdles with him...or just simply remove the hurdles...guess we will wait and see, eh? Well, again...hang in there, hang on tight to His hand, and we'll see you here, there or in the air. In the morning!!  Crayola Love and MORE... .Nanny...aka Mom...smile

30 A Merry Heart (something to smile about)

Some excuses we have heard all of our lives, about why  people don't want to go to church.

I just read a tract with some great humor:

I've been a Sports Fan all of my life:

Football in the fall...

Basketball in the winter...

Baseball in the spring and summer...

BUT I WILL NEVER GO TO ANOTHER GAME BECAUSE:

They always ask me for money...

The people I sat with were not very friendly...

The seats were too hard...

The coach never asked me for advice...

The referee made some bad calls...

Some people cared more about their looks than the game...

Some games went into overtime and I was late getting home...

The band played numbers that I didn't know...

Too many games didn't fit into my schedule...

My parents took me to many games while I was growing up...

I have read many books on sports and I know as much as the coaches...

I don't take my kids to any games so that they can make their own choices...

Well what do you think of that?   I thought it was quite funny, but disconcerting at the same time.

What do you think of your choices????

Jesus could return very soon...where do you think your choices will get you?

Hang in there, hang on tight to His hand, and we'll see you here, there, or in the air!!

(Hang on Greg!)

29 A Hovering Peace

Our young Pastor is soooooo good...and right on target too.   Seems to know just what I am thinking, or working thru...(think it might be the Holy Spirit?   Me thinks so!!)   Greg, so it might have something to do with you and yours?   

Well since this is our thing that we seem to be walking thru, you and me, and all the rest of  'those guys'....I am listening to the Holy Spirit....and trying to take it in as He reveals it to me.

Our Pastor always amazes me, in the wonderful way he takes us to a subject you have traveled to before, and puts a new  truth on the old truth.  

Today it was  "Fear and Love".  Right out of Mark ch 4 where we have been for a few weeks.

The disciples (and a few boatloads of others following Jesus)  had been with Jesus as He taught from a boat, on the shores of Galilee,  and after teaching, He sent them away, and said to the disciples, let's go to the other side.  During the night  up came a big storm, a big one!  After rowing for hours and losing ground, taking on water, they thought they were going to drown!!   

Where was Jesus?...Where? Asleep in the boat...sleeping away, on a pillow (it said)  not a care in the world, or in the sea specifically.  They woke him up and said, "Don't you care?  Master…that we are going to drown?"

He was the miracle worker, He had healed diseases,  raised some from the dead,  cast out demons....But here was a very desperate situation...hopeless, something they had no control over....He is right there....but he is asleep....sleeping when they were in so much trouble...they'd rowed all night and were getting   N O  WHERE!  

They might not have been able to fathom how a miracle worker would handle this situation, but He could at least wake up and  bail water faster than they could, maybe..."Wake  up and be afraid with us!  Help us at least get to the other side."

Oh, you silly kids, He might have said,  I created all this....PEACE...He said.....and the sea became  as still as a sheet of glass....there was not enough wind as to flutter an eye lash.  He just BREATHED  the word  peace....and it was done!!

D O N E !!    

 

Nothing is out of Jesus control,  NOTHING!!  (remember He spoke the world into existence?  What breath!)

Why are we afraid, why were they afraid?.....  We do not have faith!    We cannot grasp the fact that He is God.  Just like they couldn't grasp it.   Then... they became VERY afraid of WHO Jesus was, it sez, 'What manner of man is this that even the winds and waves obey Him?  WHO Is HE?

Right now, I am afraid,  because I have dared to say, 'Jesus, where are you?  Are you asleep?  Don't you care if we perish?  When are you going to do something about Greg's situation?  I am asking this of THE MIGHTY and HOLY GOD...Who spoke the worlds into existence, says peace be still to the roaring wind and waves...

Then...our precious pastor takes us to Genesis Ch 1 vs 2...one version sez...'the earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep and the Spirit of the Lord hovered over the waters.'    So when I say, ”God where are you?”   He  answers....'Hovering, my Child, hovering over you, all is in control, I am near, very near...I have told you repeatedly, I will NEVER leave you nor forsake you....you can trust me;  I AM the great I AM. 

He is hovering over us with complete power and authority.   The Presence of God has dominion over what the world calls chaos,  the raging of the wind and the sea.  We realize how un-holy we are because of His Holiness...what will it take to bring us to the end of ourselves?   If you don't trust Christ....YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO FEAR!!   The disciples were starting to get it....they were VERY afraid.   

Father, help us to get it...help us to keep coming to the foot of the cross.  Keep on coming,  keep on loving,  help me/us be stunned by your love!    My prayer is for us to really trust you and leave all the problem solving to You.   As they say, ' I am giving it to God and going to bed, He is going to be up all night anyway!’

So look up!  Hang in there! Hang on tight to His hand, and we'll see you here, there or in the air!!

See y'all in the Morning,

Nanny