Dry ground…

In the midst of troubles and hardship, we wait for a light at the end of the tunnel, hoping it is not just another train…

Miraculously, God, with his mighty hand opened the sea, dried it and allowed the Israelites to walk across, not mired in the mud, but safety…

However, the conquering enemy got bogged down until the sea closed its gap, successfully ending their chase….

A new song filled their hearts…the Song of Moses….filled with praise…

The Lord has triumphed….for his people…

When life is rough for us, and then God intervenes giving us new light, don’t we want to  sing a new song as well…a song of praise…

Exodus 15: 2 The Lord is my strength and my song,

    and he has become my salvation;

this is my God, and I will praise him,

    my father's God, and I will exalt him."

Thank YOU…..

The song of Moses….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRGKRHo6o0Y

The horse and rider…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwM4214SRYU

 The Lord has triumphed….

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UWfaTP6yKsc

 600+ chariots…2…

Yesterday it was 600+ , plus an army…

Exodus 14:9 The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtookthem as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon.

The Israelites were trapped…they cried out…and the Lord said to move forward…(what , into the sea, won’t we drown)….

Exodus 14:…. Tell the Israelites to move on. 16 Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. 17 I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.”

19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them,20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.

21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided,22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

Divided water, light/dark, people groups….no human can do that…only God…and this was after the plagues …God claimed these people as his own…and he took care of them as he promised…

In the New Testament, we have the verses in the book of Romans…

Romans 8:

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”fn

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,fn neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,

39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What a promise…we may have a sea looming before us or an army  behind us as the Israelites did, but, God is for us as he was them…

He hasn’t changed…

Thank YOU….

Our God…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-JZ9KsI7YI

 600 + chariots….

Can you imagine 600+ chariots racing after you…?  What an awesome, frightening sight!  Not only that, but they were ready for war on families with  belongings, children…no weapons and caught on one side by the sea and nowhere to go….

I think of the old movies, Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments or newer one, Chronicles of Narnia…or other movies with casts of thousands coming across the plains ready for war…

And there stands Moses, “ 13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never seeagain. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Exodus 14….

Would your heart quake and tremble? Mine would…they weren’t used to this kind of salvation…they had been slaves to this army for generations…they knew their human power and now were going to really see God’s…his promises made true…there was no way out except God’s…

The thing is, we have that same God who works the same way for us…we may not be seeing armies and chariots chasing us…a full sea behind us….but there are times when we are just as penned in and we need the Lord to fight for us….and we need only to be still and wait…

We don’t have a Moses to lead, but we have the Holy Spirit to speak truth, God to give peace, Jesus to save….what an army….

Thank YOU….

Our God will go before us…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmEYeZB8dDI

 Retreat….

This past weekend a friend and I went to a women’s retreat in McCall, ID…

Martha Peace was the speaker…

https://marthapeacetew.blogspot.com

She has written many books…most notable, “The Excellent Wife” 30 years ago and is still timely…

One of her topics was, “Abounding Hope in the Midst of trials”…

How timely is that…

 We either blame God or be grateful…both affect us …either positively or negatively….it is our choice… 

Isaiah 45:7 everyone who is called by my name,

    whom I created for my glory,

    whom I formed and made.”

Do we glorify God in the things we do, ways we act, words we say…

 1 Peter 1: . 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Psalm 100

A psalm. For giving grateful praise.

1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2     Worship the Lord with gladness;
    come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
    It is he who made us, and we are his;
    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
    and his courts with praise;
    give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
    his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Thank YOU…

Psalm 100 ….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaL_VeHil6U

 Another day…

I remember my first cancer infusion like it was yesterday…. I was petrified, so petrified I was shaking all over…. I thought as a believer in the Comforter, creator of the universe, I wasn’t a very good example. My heart felt like it would pound out of my chest. So I “walked the plank” arriving at the clinic…family was with me, we walked in to face the music…as I silently screamed, “please, please help me!”…

Shown the cubicle in which I would become acquainted, looking around , there was the rack of meds, a huge window to look upon the pond outside, a nice lounge chair, and a TV…

As I stood there for the first time, all of the sudden a peace filtered through…we started the infusion and went forward…none were easy , but that petrified feeling remained at bay… that peace that passes all understanding…

Today I am here again…that infusion chair, those meds that flow into my veins…it is easier, not totally…but signs of cancer for a year now…prayers of many and  God saw me thorough…

Thank YOU…

Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know (Jeremiah 33:3 NIV).

Habakkuk 3: 17 Though the fig tree does not bud
    and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
    and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
    and no cattle in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
    I will be joyful in God my Savior.

19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
    he enables me to tread on the heights.

Through it all…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh-tRWA11HE

 

Counterfeit….

  

To find truth, you don’t learn lies…

I once heard that to teach people how to know counterfeit, they had to know the real thing better…

Isn’t that the way with God…we want to know Him better and better , being transformed more and more into his image…becoming closer and closer , abiding in Him…

John 15: 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

 Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and 

perfect will.

2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplatefn the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

 Ephesians 4:15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

 Truth be told…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs-PcD79XVY

 

 Shepherds….

Our family has been pastored by many kinds of pastors…some missions oriented, legalists, others-social issues, while others were more knowledge driven and a few more…I appreciate all of them for their gifting, but I appreciate the ones who are shepherding the most…those who like Barnabas stayed behind and helped people grow in their faith….we can’t forget  the others though…we have looked for good teaching, care and encourage missions or are involved with the community and its issues. So I guess we have looked for well rounded people…

 Good shepherds care for the people and follow after God, desiring that his flock do the same…

Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding (Jeremiah 3:15 NIV).

Genesis 29: 3 When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the well’s mouth and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.

Psalm 23

1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

Psalm 78: 72 And David shepherded them with integrity of heart;

    with skillful hands he led them.

Micah 5: 4 He will stand and shepherd his flock

    in the strength of the Lord,

    in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.

And they will live securely, for then his greatness

    will reach to the ends of the earth.

Hebrews 13: 20 Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Revelations 7: 17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne

    will be their shepherd;

‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’

    ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”

What a Shepherd we have…

Thank YOU….

Shepherd of my soul…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sv3e2cFcj4