34 New Year, New Me

Well, I have been silent (at least on paper) for a few weeks…but that doesn’t mean that nothing has been happening or going on!!! I have kept you updated about my Greg on Facebook, and I do not have the strength or desire to go into it at this time, for it was an amazing challenge mentally, and physically to you, Greg, and anyone who knows and loves you!!!

So what I am going to specifically focus on is a wonderful challenge that God showed me this morning on the 700 Club.

A song came to me yesterday from my G.T.B.I. daze…smile:
‘Only to be what He wants me to be, Every moment of every day.

 Only to be what He wants me to be, Every step of this pilgrim way. 

Just to be clay in The Potter’s hands, only to do what His Word commands.

Only to be what He wants me to be, every moment of every day.’

A wonderful man of God said that “they” said: “The new cigarette (bad for the body) is ‘The easy chair’. So get going and keep moving!!"

He said we need to “wake up” so we can be ready to fight these end time conditions, and he didn’t just mean physical lethargy, though it does walk hand-in-hand with our spiritual condition.

It is like when the alarm goes off in the morning.  We roll over and hit the snooze button…and go back to sleep. God is setting the alarm…saying Get up! Wake up! We need to be spiritually alert, there is work for us to do, with all the end time things that are going on, terrorists, racial un-rest…all the signs He said we would see... wars and rumors of wars…

WE the CHURCH, need to wake up!!!  We must lead the way. So physically and spiritually…STOP this lethargic attitude, stop hitting the ‘snooze’ button and Wake Up!! He gave a reference in Joel which challenges us to fast, repent, wait silently before the Lord, and let Him speak to us. (Not us yacking to Him about what we think, blah…blah…blah. Listen , really listen quietly and hear what He is telling us to do.) Many times in the scripture we hear Him say, ‘he that has ears to hear, let him hear’. 

How can we listen if we are always talking?

He--God--is saying to me: ’wake up’ change your slothful ways. Not only will it help me spiritually but physically… How can I admonish my precious Grandson, Andy, agreeing with him that he needs structure, when I am soooooo un-structured…with my devotions, my prayer time, my physical ‘sitting in the chair ‘ unmoving body time, a body that needs action for good blood flow, and will give me better rest, a healthier body, etc. etc. 

SO I CAN BE ALL THAT HE WANTS ME TO BE!

Again I am trying to ‘work’ it up…Father, my desire is to be like Jesus…really!! But until I let You do it your way, and You make me what you want me to be, instead of my ‘everlasting’ trying to do it, I will never succeed…I do need to be ‘still’ and know you, and then follow your instructions!!

My Bestest Friend Jody and I say, ‘the reason God is letting us live so long, is to pray for our children and grandchildren’, that in itself will help us to pray without ceasing…smile No Kidding!!

I pray you will let these words help you as you enter this New Year, to again realize it is not about us, and ALL about Jesus…as we work our way toward that ‘Blessed Hope’…because Jesus is coming soon…live like it!

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

See ya in the Morning, Cray!... Nanny

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!)