Listen and Accept; Deuteronomy

Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. Deuteronomy 30:19-20

So sorry, it has been a while. I have been thinking of all of you out there, but...I don't know. I don't want to say I have been too busy... just reading, digesting, listening, holding onto, working through...you know, expanding, healing...
Hope you will be happy to know that my putting is getting better. Could be because I took some advice from the spouse??? Boy, do I hate to admit that! I finally broke down and asked him (who is a much better putter, by the way) what he saw when I putted. He told me my head was not over the ball and I was not striking the ball with a square putter head. What do you know it worked, he was right. I went back to an older putter I used to use, it is a blade, and I can get over the puts with it. My, my...strange what can happen when you listen.
That's what I have been doing in my spiritual walk lately...listening. To the voice of the Bible, the voice of a couple of authors (esp. Joyce Rupp), the voices at church, friends. Wisdom comes from many sources if we listen. Just think how many in the Bible listen. Make a little list; Mary, Abraham, Moses, Job.
Listen, then accept. That is the final punch, have to accept the word. The Holy Spirit will speak to you, start to listen and hold on.

Away

So sorry I have been absent for a while. We had one of those family situations that had to be taken care of!! It was a good resolution that brought to a close three years of prayer. All is well and I will be back next weekend to blog to my hearts content.
God bless all with mercy and grace.

Wayfarerjon Says It All

Wayfarerjon said it all. Please see his blog @ www.walking-with-father.blogspot.com. I could write nothing as important as what he said yesterday. His blog is an inspiration to me.

The Spirit of the Game

Always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that sums up the teachings of the Torah and the Prophets. Matthew 7:12

FINALLY! Back on the course yesterday. As usual I played with three wonderful women and had a great time. Lot of laughter, fun and even some good golf shots. One thing that always impresses me about the women I play with each week is their good golf etiquette. The game, like life, is so much better when golfers follow the "Golden Rule". So let's start the year with some golf etiquette. Whether you are new to the game or just need a reminder, let look at this subject.
On any list you find about golf rules and how to behave on the course, safety is the number one priority. Clubs and golf balls can be dangerous! You don't want some one banging you in the head with a 7 iron, so don't take practice swings until you know where everybody is!!! Aways be aware on the course, practice range, putting area; always. Anytime you have a club in your hands be aware of your playing partners. Sounds so simple, but I have seen seasoned golfers, distracted by a good joke or conversation, swing a club out of habit not realizing someone has walked up behind them.
Be aware of where you are on the course. You are not the only one playing. How far away is the group in front, could you hit someone with your next shot? Are you hidden behind a bush looking for a ball, so as to put your body in danger of a shot from the group behind? Think safety. These tips sound so sophomoric, but they are serious and are given for a reason.
New or seasoned golfer, here are some sites to go to to help. Take a minute or two to visit them.
www.usga.org www.playgolfamerica.com www.mrgolf.com/primer
"The game relies on the integrity of the individual to show consideration for other players and to abide by the Rules" USGA :The Spirit of the Game.

Prayer Friday Psalms 1

Happy is the man who has not followed the counsel of the wicked, or taken the path of the sinners, or joined the company of the insolent; rather, the teaching of the LORD is his delight, and he studies that teaching day and night. He is like a tree planted beside streams of water, which yields its fruit in season, whose foliage never fades, and what ever it produces thrives.
Not so the wicked; rather, they are like chaff that wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not survive judgement, nor will sinners, in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD cherishes the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked is doomed. Psalm 1

Loving Creator, Living Christ, wise Holy Spirit, Thank You for my being.
I am what You willed, may I learn to walk in that will.
May I study Your teachings, which I find all around me, all day.
May I be mindful of Your Presence all day.
I do not want to be chaff in the wind, I desire to be a producing being. A love producing being that brings Your peace and calm to my family, friends and the world.
Thank You for all You have given me, all You have taken away, and all I am left with.
AMEN

My Manger

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. Luke 2:19

I live in this day because my Creator wants me to. Today is special. I will love the situation in which God has placed me. I will love my manger.

Waiting for Him

You will be with child and give birth to a son, you are to give to him the name Jesus. He will be great and be called Son of the Most High. The Lord will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end. Luke 1:31-33

God bless us while we await the birth of a new Spirit in us, AMEN

Mary Answered

"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered."May it be to me as you have said." Luke 1:38

I believe. But I don't always listen, nor answer. What a wonderful life I could have if I would listen more often. How much better would the world be if I answered? What would it be like if I acted as Mary did?
I believe that if Mary had not stopped to listen, or if she had heard but not accepted, the Creator would have gone to another. But, she did accept the angel's words and became our Lord's mother. What an amazing woman, what a glorious servant.
Would I learn to stop, listen, accept and act as Mary. May it be to me as You say, not as I want.

Prayer Friday 1 Corinthians 1:9

God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. 1 Corinthians 1:9

Lord, thank you for the many blessings you have given us in this life. We overlook so many, and refuse to see many, and forget to thank you for many.
Please help us to remember that Christmas is a walk toward fellowship with the Living Christ. Lead us deeper into that fellowship, closer to living our lives in your will.
We know, Lord, that you are faithful. You are always here with us. Help us, this Advent, to truly find you in our hearts, minds and spirits. Guide us to your peace and joy, and help us spread it into our homes and families.
In our Living Christ, AMEN.

Red Kettle Giving

A gift opens the way for the giver and ushers him into the presence of the great. Proverbs 18:16

There are many ways to share our blessings this Christmas season. One of my favorites is the Salvation Army and their Red Kettles. I was overjoyed to find that I could put one of their kettles right here in this site! Please join me in supporting this great organization. All you have to do is click on the Red Kettle over there on the right and follow the directions. Thank you for helping and God bless you and yours.

Prayer Friday Psalm 108:4

For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Psalm 108:4



Mighty Creator, Living Christ, Searching Holy Spirit, We are so blessed.

Lord, you provide us with amazing blessings all around us, yet we are so dense as to not recognize them. You give us all, starting with life, and we don't look.

Please open our bodies, our minds, our spirits, so we can perceive your glory and care.

Lord please protect all who travel this busy week.

We love you, our Living Christ. Holy Spirit, lead our actions to fit that love.

Lord, yours is the earth and heavens, help us be faithful to you and yours.

Amen

The Bountiful Storehouse

The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and bless all the work of your hands. Deuteronomy 28:12

I love Christmas, however, I refuse to get caught up in the "process". More on that later. Right now, my thought is I love Thanksgiving. When I think of this celebration I think of the song whose words include "Bless this house oh Lord I pray. Keep it safe by night and day." I think of the word bounty, of storehouse, of the words yellow, orange and brown.

In this passage in Deuteronomy the Israelites are learning what God will do for them if they obey the Lord their God and carefully follow all his commandments. Well, God opened the storehouse of his heavens and out of his bounty God sent us Jesus. God will send us the flowing water of the Holy Spirit and bless our works of love if we obey the greatest commandment brought by our Living Christ. Love our Creator with all our heart and love our neighbor as we love our self.

God's bounty is timeless and limitless, our love should be also. As we go into Thanksgiving let's dwell on and in our Creator's bountiful storehouse and be so thankful that it spills out through us to all those around us.

Pray With Me Friday: Psalm 9:10

Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you. Psalm 9:10

Most loving Creator, Living Christ, Great Counselor hear our prayer.
You have surely blessed us with a beautiful day. Whether we have crisp, cold air, rain, snow, clouds or sunny skies we know You are there. We are blessed with the breath we take in, the sights of our eyes and the beat of our heart. Thank You for life. Thank You for a friend or many friends, for we know you have put them in our lives.
Lord, in those times we forget You or think we cannot feel Your presence, help us to remember this Psalm. You never forsake us. You are here with us now and will be with us forever.
Lord, let us be a light to this world, that those You bring to us see You shining in our lives and faces. Put in our mouths the answers to their questions about You. Let us turn no one away from You, because of our actions. We who know your love want all to know it.
In the name of our Living Christ, AMEN.

His Patients

The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you. 2Peter 3:9

I am slowly getting back into shape after a while off from golf because of my ankle. Slowly getting back into shape after two many meals consumed on the trip to New York. Slowly getting the house back into shape after too many days away. I control the "slowly" in these sentences. I can speed all of them up by my actions or throw myself a curve and slow them down. I have done both.
How impatient do you get when you turn a problem over to God and it is not resolved quickly enough for your satisfaction? Do you stew, worry, whine, pout? Are you going thorough one of those waiting periods right now? Are you waiting for a healing in your body, mind, spirit; deep down in your soul?
"The Lord is not slow". Wait, pray, wait, pray. Your Creator loves you and will take care of you with love and grace in God's will. Don't count your impatiences as God's slowness.
Step out in faith that you are loved and God is and will be with you in every step.

Family Time

God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land. Psalm 68:6



I was in New York visiting family. I love and am loved in my family. Husband, three children, three grandchildren, a sister, two uncles and cousins, (most play or have played golf!). We have our off moments now and then, but for the goodly percent of time we are friends and always family.

"Most and goodly percent" are terms that apply to the degree of believers in our family. We have one or two that do not believe (right now). They will eventually, I have no doubt. These one or two are prisoners of their stubborn hold on some old baggage. We are a loyal family, sometimes holding on to things a bit too long.

I have faith that God is working in the hearts, minds and spirits of all our family to see that our "prisoners" are led forth singing. We will all be singing when that happens. We don't plan on leaving any one of us in the sun-scorched land of not knowing. We will all praise God in the light of love before this journey is over.

Prayer Friday

Who is this coming up from the desert leaning on her lover? Song of Songs 8:5

Loving Creator, Living Christ, Help of the Holy Spirit...
I am so blessed. Glory be for the beautiful creation you have set around us. Thank you for all the beautiful souls you have placed in my life.
May I please always recognize love and return it with care and tenderness in the Spirit. Where I fail to see love may I bring it to the situation, asking not why, but what would you have me do?
Please bless all who come to this page with open eyes, ears and hearts.
In the name of our Living Christ, through the Holy Spirit...AMEN

I Love This Honesty

As the music picks up I hope you notice I added a new song. I love the honesty in this Kenny Chesney song. We all want to go to heaven, just not today !! Why not? Why not now? As I get deeper into my walk will I long to go today? I am not afraid to die. I have faith that death is the ultimate transformation into a glorious beyond. I don't believe that the Creator of this beautiful universe is just going to cut us off at death. I believe that The Creator has planned something else for my soul. I love and believe in the Living Christ. So I guess I need some work on this.
If you don't like this song, or just get tired of it, go over to the Playlist on the right side of this site and choose another one, please. I think I will leave it on for a while so I can listen to it, let it work its thought down into my deep spot.
God bless you and yours today and everyday.

Healing and Wholeness

"See how God winked at weakness and overlooked failures as He poured upon His servants grace and blessing untold. Let it be Abraham, Jacob, David, Daniel, Elijah or whom you will; honor followed honor as harvest the seed. The man of God set his heart to exalt God above all; God accepted his intention as fact and acted accordingly. Not perfection, but holy intention made the difference." p. 99 The Pursuit of God, A.W. Tozer.

A breathtakingly beautiful day here in south central New Mexico and I am still not back on the golf course. One reason is that I am still resting my ankle. I hope the lesson I take out of this sprain is to slow down; the phone will ring long enough for me to get there, if not, so be it, the answering machine will get it.
This time off has given me time to relive the Conference on Healing and Wholeness I attended Friday and Saturday. I have been back over my handouts and notes and bought a book by a doctor the speaker recognized as helpful. I have also finished up the Tozer book.
We have a prayer ministry at our church and have held healing services, however, we have the need to reevaluate what we are doing and in which direction we need to move. Hence, the conference with Dr. James K. Wagner. We need to focus in on our intentions. What we intend to do, how we intend to do it, why we intend to do it, all important. We will make mistakes, but God won't.
The new book I bought is Healing Words by Larry Dossey, M.D. I really am learning a lot from it. The copyright is 1993, so after I finish this post I am going to see what he has written since.
Reading Tozer and Dossey at the same time is very helpful. I love the fact that I was brought to these two books at the same time. My intention is to really listen to God's voice in this learning process. Give it over to the Holy Spirit to guide me down the path. Learning leads to knowledge which leads to wisdom which will guide my actions.

Slow Down, Honey

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. Psalm 103:8

Played with the Thursday girls today, first time in 10 days. You should have seen me. I think it was such a beautiful day and I was so happy to be there that I just whipped through every swing. I mean at warp speed. Now if you are new to golf, I need to tell you this is not a good thing :( Your swing should be slow and easy. Just let the club head do the work. I was so fast on my swings I sware Sister Judy said "Slow down, honey". Kinda like "Whoa, Nellie". I finally listened, but I was on a fast roll there for a while.
So when I got home I thought I would get out my Strong's and see how the word "slow" was used in the Bible. Shows up 14 times and 10 of those have to do with anger or wrath. It comes down from a Hebrew root word meaning "long". So I need to take a long time letting my anger build. Maybe I can take so long I forget what I am upset about. Easy to do as my memory is getting shorter and shorter.
I love it when a thought on the golf course leads me to the Bible to look for a word or topic. So, today I found out I need to take a long time letting my back swing build and a long time letting it release for a good shot. I found out I need to take a long time thinking about what I am upset about and maybe I'll take so long to get angry, I won't :)

Retreats Change Lives

"Before the Lord God made man upon the earth He first prepared for him a world of useful and pleasant things for his sustenance and delight. In the Genesis account of the creation these are simply "things". They were made for man's use, but they were meant always to be external to the man and subservient to him. In the deep heart of man was a shrine where none but God was worthy to come. Within him was God; without, a thousand gifts which God had showered upon him." From The Pursuit Of God by A.W. Tozer

As you will recall, I asked you last Thursday to pray for my retreat weekend. Well, THANK YOU. Words can never describe what an incredible weekend I had. I have never been covered with such Christ like love in my entire life. If anyone ever approaches you concerning sponsoring you for a Walk to Emmaus...do not take a breath before you say yes. On second thought, don't say yes SHOUT YES PLEASE!! Know that that person loves you so much.
I came home with a new book. I have heard A.W. Tozer quoted many times, but I have never read anything by him. So when I saw this book I grabbed it up. It is wonderful. The part I used above really struck me in a deep place. Not only was I showered with "a thousand" of God's gifts this weekend, I was able to clear out my altar space inside my heart.
If you are looking for a meaningful book to add to your study time, I am highly recommending this one.
God bless you and thank you for those prayers.