~Blue Mask, Job, and the Ocean~

As I sit here in my little purple chair, I am wearing a blue facial mask and doing my Bible Study. Thank God we can meet Him wherever we are. I mention this because I’m studying the subject of pride right now. I just took a picture of my blue face with my webcam, which you shall never see. Call it pride. Call it self-preservation. I mentioned that I can meet God looking like this, I don’t really feel like I have to greet you looking like this, unless you can’t see me. As the mask dries and my face tightens, I want to share a treasure I was reminded of just now as I read thru Job 38.

“Who shut up the sea behind the doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’?”
Job 38: 8-11

I love this imagery. I want what the oceans have: freedom within the boundaries of God. There are no other boundaries that speak of freedom the way His do. Just think about it. If you’ve been to the ocean recently, think about what you saw. I was at Myrtle Beach and then in Seattle this past spring. I’d never seen the ocean before. The waves were rolling at Myrtle Beach and they were beautiful. I was in awe.
As I study pride, I realize that there’s a good pride. Did you see that last part of the passage I quoted earlier? “….Here is where your PROUD waves halt?” The ocean waves know where to stop, and if they go beyond what we think they should, we need to remember, God has commanded them where to stop. They’re majestic and they’re beautiful. They’re stately and perfect. They’re perfect because God made them that way. As the oceans play and revel, sing and dance, they point to the Almighty God and shout, “HE CREATED US!!!!” If we would but listen, we’d hear them as they tell the world of His majesty and His splendor.

Pride in and of itself is evil and it’s the main clue satan is working in our lives…when pride pops up. I’m realizing more and more how much pride runs my life. It’s a sobering thought. Pride is what made satan get kicked out of heaven. Pride is my enemy. To become humble is not to hate ourselves, but to turn to the Creator of all things and see how great He is. Hating ourselves is just another form of pride, and once again, the enemy wins.

Humility is where we find God. God gives grace to the humble, He lives with the humble, and He respects those who are humble. (James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5, Isaiah 57:15, Isaiah 66:2….yes, I cheated, it was in my Bible Study Book, but I knew them all anyway)


“The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.”
Psalm 16:6

The above is one of my favorite passages. God gives good gifts to His children; His word is proof of that. I know I repeat myself, but I crave what the Oceans have as I read Job 38. God promises in Psalm 16:6 that I do have it. I just have to explore the boundaries, just as the ocean does, and rejoice that I am a child of God. It’s like I’m in those boundaries….now what. “Live, beloved,” He whispers. “Enjoy the boundary lines, you’re not missing out on anything when you walk and live with me. You have a delightful inheritance, receive it. Sing, dance, play, and have fun. Marvel at your creation, and praise the Creator.” And it’s in doing this I, too, will point to Him and tell the world, sometimes without saying a word, that He reigns.

Just as the oceans roll past what is acceptable to human knowledge, sometimes God may call us to be socially unacceptable as we run with Him and do what He does. Sometimes the “right thing” isn’t the “God thing”. All I can say is, walk with Him, know Him, and then we’ll know ourselves and what He wants from us. I know I’m always asking, “What am I supposed to do with my life?” and as I take in God’s word as truth and as the answer to my very life, the answer is right in front of me: “Know me, I’ll show you what to do, just know me, experience me.”

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him. BUT GOD HAS REVEALED IT TO US BY HIS SPIRIT.”
1 Corinthians 2:10

“No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does. But I’m not keeping it to myself; I’m ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen.” Matthew 11: 27b The Message

Speaking of The Message Bible, I’m going to go wash my face of this blue stuff- which has nothing to do with what I’m writing about except that I’m grateful God looks on the inside as I approach His throne and take in His words, and that He created me inside and out and He knows me, blue face or not- and I want to leave you with the Treasure from that paraphrase:

“And who took charge of the ocean when it gushed forth like baby from the womb? That was me! I wrapped it in soft clouds, and tucked it in safely at night. Then I made a playpen for it, a strong playpen so it couldn’t run loose, and said, “Stay here, this is your place. Your wild tantrums are confined to this place.’”

Job 38:8-11

Wild tantrums…..proud waves….either way, we’re free within the boundaries God sets for us. So let’s play!!!!

Birds of a Feather

“….how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.”
Matthew 23:37

My mom has a thing for bottle feeding creatures, i.e. bunnies, lambs, kittens and birds. Ok, not birds, she feeds them with an eye dropper. This past weekend, my dad brought in two baby birds for her to take care of. One of the birds is very strong-willed and wanting to fly. The other has a tattered wing and isn’t quite so aggressive. It’s been an entertainment, as well as an opportunity to learn something.

My mom has had to pry their tiny beaks open so she could stick the eye dropper in and give them their one drop of food. She keeps talking to them saying, “I know what’s best for you, I wish you trusted me enough to open your mouth, you need more than you’re getting.”

Well, today, for the first time, the weaker baby opened his mouth by himself to accept food, and just now, he’s eating out of her hand. The joy in my mom’s tone is that which I imagine our God has in us when we accept His care of us. When we accept God on His terms, He LOVES providing for us, and wants to bless us even more. That’s when the intimacy of relationship enters into our lives. My mom is relating to the bird now, and feeding him is a pleasure. There’s just something really cool about thinking about going from stiff arming God and feeling the consequences to falling into step with Him and accepting Him as He is and opening our lives up to Him….that’s when we begin to be touched by the hand of God. How special is that?

How intimate!!

How powerful!!

How wonderful.

The baby bird, who’s stronger, is the one who still fights the eye dropper. He has yet to experience the intimacy of the hand of his feeder. All he knows is that when she finally pries his mouth open, he enjoys what goes down his throat. But he can’t share in the “relationship” the other bird has with my mom. Maybe before this is over, before she sets them free to fly outside, he will have accepted her….time will tell.

For me, I have to admit, I look with envy at the bird with the tattered wing. I still have a hard time accepting the hand of the Provider. I want what He provides, but to, in essence, eat out of the palm of His hand? I’m like the other bird.

But I want to be the one, who when He reaches out His hand of blessing, I take the blessing AND the hand with gusto.

I want to hear my Creator shout out with joy, “She did it!!”

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you.” declares the LORD.”
Jeremiah 29:11-14a

~Wanted, Judas and Friends!!!!~

“Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to Him those He wanted, and they came to Him. He appointed twelve- designating them apostles- that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. These are the twelve He appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them He gave the name Boanerges,which means Sons of Thunder); Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him.”
Mark 3:13-19

I have been drawn to this passage for weeks and not just because we’ve been doing a life study kind of based on this passage at my church. I decided to really study it this week, which for me means reading it over and over, then looking at the other gospels to compare and letting all of it soak into me.

I’ve been focusing on the gifts these men received: The gift of being with Him, the authority to preach, and the authority to drive out demons. In Matthew 10 it says, He also gave them the authority to heal every disease and sickness. I’m in awe of these things. I believe these are possible and available to anyone who follows Jesus the way these men did.

I don’t know about you, but I rarely read all the names in the Bible. Call me sacrilegious, but I think it’s boring. Forgive me, LORD, for thinking anything’s boring about Your word. He gave these names on purpose. I have been overwhelmed to the point of tears this week as I’ve been studying because I read something I’ve never even understood before. Let me take you back with me as I show you what I read, and maybe you’ve already read this and have gotten it. If you have, please rejoice with me as we read of the incredible person of Jesus Christ. Forgive me as I zig-zag over the passage, but this is how I get things.

“Jesus…called to Him those He wanted….Simon….James….his brother John....Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James….Thaddeus, Simon…and JUDAS ISCARIOT, WHO BETRAYED HIM.”

He gave those gifts and the same authority He gave everyone else to Judas. He knew Judas was going to be key in His death on a cross. And He gave him the same power He gave everyone else. Why?

“Jesus …called to Him those He wanted…” - words of life. Precious words. He wanted Judas to be His friend, His companion, His APOSTLE. And even though Judas betrayed Him, isn’t Christ still glorified thru the person of Judas? His work was accomplished; He made the goal with Judas. Judas may have been an “apostle gone bad”, but you can’t talk about Judas without talking about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This is big to me.

As I realize that Jesus wanted the person who He knew would later betray Him, I look back over the list of names and I see who else Jesus wanted: Simon Peter, the one who knew without uncertainty that he wouldn’t deny Jesus…just before he denied his friend; James and John who fought for self-importance; even the future Doubting Thomas was someone Jesus WANTED.

We don’t often think of Jesus having emotion, not like this. We know He wept when Lazarus died, we know He cried over the city of Jerusalem. But to think that Jesus called people He wanted is something so amazing. What’s also amazing is that THEY CAME. Simon Peter came. James and John came. Thomas doubted Jesus was alive later on, but he still CAME!! And Judas. Bless his heart, he came. He betrayed Jesus for money in the end, but there was a point in his life where Jesus said, “Come” and he went. Not only did he follow Jesus as His disciple, His apostle, but as His friend. Jesus wanted him. With all his faults, Judas was loved and he was WANTED.

I’m very close to tears as I realize the enormity of this. I desperately want to be wanted like this. The story of Judas gives me great hope. The story of the disciples gives me unspeakable joy. Because the 12 of them combined makes up the human race. Do we not fight for self-importance? Do we not say vehemently that “we will” or “we will not” and then we don’t, or we do? Do we not doubt Him, like ALL the time? And maybe we’re not as obvious as Judas, but betrayal comes in many forms. I stand ashamed that I’m all this and more.

This week I’ve been caught off guard by the love of Jesus. I believe the whole Bible is for each of us, what Jesus said there, He says to me personally, as well as you personally, as we read it. It’s my very own love letter from a Holy God. I am called because I am WANTED. I am loved and I have been given authority by God. It’s scary to think that the gifts He gave them are extended to me. That’s the real reason I’ve been pondering this scripture. And in studying that, I have been given a treasure in the middle of the scary. And maybe it’s the key to it not being so scary.

I asked a question on Facebook this week, “If Jesus said to you, “Come”, would you go?” The response, in essence, was, “How can I not?” Oh, beloved, you do have a choice. Following Him requires your whole life, your whole being. No breaks, no vacations, no restroom breaks. I don’t know where my study of this passage is going to lead me. But I do know thing:

I am wanted. And beloved, so are you.

If you ever doubt this, remember Jesus wanted the men who betrayed Him, denied Him and doubted Him to be His friends. You and I have done this and more.

We are in good company.

We are wanted.

“I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead I have called you friends, for everything that I have learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit- fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.”
John 15:15-16

I Can't Do It Alone

So, last night I watched the new Clint Eastwood movie, “Invictus” with Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon with my family. I had spent the day shopping with my mom and my aunt and almost literally shopped till I dropped. Between getting a new Jessica Simpson purse and finding the perfect jacket on clearance to spruce up my winter wardrobe, I also got a little too much sun as I laughed and talked with two of my favorite people in the whole world. But it was worth it, we had the best conditions for a shopping trip: sun, fun, great deals (haha, that NEVER happens for me), and just great fellowship.

So you can understand why I fell asleep during the very last rugby match in the movie. Sports is so not my thing, but I love sports movies. However, watching the actual games in movies gets abit old. I woke up during the last skirmish or whatever it’s called and then was wide awake as I watched how battles are won.

In this scene, these men linked arms and pushed against the enemy as hard as they could and it’s almost like their strength was supernatural as together they took one step and then another and gained ground.

In the battle called “LIFE”, we’re told to go it alone. We're seen as weak if we reach out to others for strength. Well, in the last scene from “Invictus”, one man trying to stand against the other rugby team would have not only looked weak, it would have been deadly. Whether it's a team playing against another team for the prize, or a plattoon battling against a foreign enemy, or a group of friends who stand together thru thick and thin, we need eachother. When the whole team stood and pushed together, progress was made. Who are your team mates? Who can you trust to link arms with and push against the enemy’s flow of doubt and depression and temptation?

I have a team, an army if you will; hell hath no fury like women with linked arms, shields drawn and swords wielded. And the men who stand in the gap for me……there is no one like them. God bless the men and women who have gathered around me and who have beaten back the enemy with me. You are my heroes.

“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you my Father in Heaven. For where two or three come together in my name there am I with them.”
Matthew 18:20

The Eye of the Storm

Have you ever been trapped by a storm? More specifically, have you ever been trapped from your house because of a storm? Yesterday afternoon, my mom and I were stopped by, we think @ least, 2 tornadoes. I've never quite felt like I did yesterday. Kinda panicked because all I wanted was to go home and hide in my basement with my family and my most precious items, journals, Bible, jewelry, my new dresses. I'm sure I could have found more things to add to my list of "most precious items", like my laptop. After being trapped in town for a half hour, we tried to go home and then we had to turn around and stop at the closest shelter, but we still felt like we were very vulnerable. There were alot of people doing the same thing, just pulling over until the storm was manageable to drive through. I have been in my own personal storm these past few weeks (or should I say, I’ve been the CAUSE of my own personal storm?) I’ve been going through the rooms of my heart hoarding and hiding my treasures, much like I do when I’m at home and there’s a tornado. In Genesis, when Jacob left his father-in-law, his wife went and stole her father’s gods and then later sat on them so he wouldn’t find them. I don’t know the significance of the whole story, but I do know that she had his idols in her tent underneath her. The storm brewing in my heart and mind was causing such a ruckus in me that in a sense, I was hiding my idols underneath me so they wouldn’t be seen and so I could keep them. Our pastor preached a sermon last Sunday about heaven and he mentioned what won’t be in heaven, one thing being marriage.

ZING!!!

Yep, that was one of my idols. Wanna know how I knew for sure? God always makes sure we get the point and then REALLY get the point, doesn’t He? One of the last points of the sermon paraphrased was this, “What’s so important to you that you’re missing Jesus and heaven for?”

Gulp!!!

Heaven sounds incredibly awesome and it sounds really wonderful, except for one teensy, tiny little thing: no marriage (I know for some, this is like a “Yahooo”- type of thing). I’ve known this for awhile, but I’ve never really dealt with how I felt about that missing from heaven. Can we say, “Idol exposed!!!”?

While waiting out the storm next to the old grange-type building, something in me gave. When there's a storm and I’m home, all I think about are my “treasures” and what I want to keep- don’t judge me and say I’m materialistic, I like my stuff!! Being out there, literally being at the mercy of God, hoping the tree leaves and branches were the only thing that were flying out there, I realized there wasn’t a thing I could do about the storm. I can’t save my stuff at home or hold my dog. All I could do was be in awe of the beauty of it all…OUT THERE.

I was reminded of a storm my family drove through in Texas and Oklahoma a few years ago with our Chihuahua, KD. She was freaking out at the lightening that was hitting right around us and the loud thunder and she couldn’t calm down. Finally, when my dad stopped to check things out, my mom took KD out of the car and put her on the ground outside. It immobilized her and made her calm down. She put her in the back with me and KD just got as close to me as possible and started kissing my face. Her fear was still really real, but she knew who she could trust. It was a lesson to us all about how God is with us, He makes us face the storms in our life; He even leads us to them so that we’ll have to learn our dependence can only be on Him.

How ironic that the end of my heart’s storm came in the middle of a tornado.

How odd that God would calm me down while I was in a rocking car. It’s supernatural.

How ironic because I had just told my mom the day before, “It seems unnatural to give up my dreams!” Her paraphrased reply was, “Then you’re at a crossroads.”

How ironic that my heart took one step and then another while I was immobilized waiting out a storm.

How ironic indeed….

"God made my life complete when I placed all the pieces before Him...Every day I review the ways He works, I try not to miss a trick. I feel put back together, and I'm watching my step. God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to His eyes." 2 Samuel 22:21, 23-25 The Message

Man Looks At the Outward Appearance.....

I love colors. I love stark lines and polka dots. I love anything that is girly and pretty and fun. This site is so me now I can't believe it. When I first started this blog, I wanted it to be welcoming and colorful. Mostly women will be looking at this site and I wanted to present them, er you, with flowers. I know men will also be joining us on this journey, so I didn't want to overwhelm you, er them, with my girly-girlness. I want EVERYONE to read this and I want anyone's imput.

I want to take the time now and explain what the colors mean to me:

The pink and black-polka-dot-ribbon look is just totally me. I was playing around with different looks all day and when I saw this one, I giggled and clapped my hands in sheer delight. My mom, who was watching me and giving her input from time to time, said, "If you have this response, this is the one you need to go with." I prayed all day that God would help me figure out which look to go with that was viewer friendly and that was totally me, something that would bless us all. He totally answered!!

The purple titles and blog description are specific because WE ARE ROYALTY!!! If we have claimed God as King of our lives, we are royalty. I wanted it to stand out, I want it to shout it out: YOU, MY FRIEND, ARE ROYALTY.

My mom helped me pick out the maroon-ish color because it blends really well with all the other colors. Scripture will always be in bright red because it's God's word and it needs to be treated with the utmost of respect, color is a really good way to do that, in my opinion.

So, while I wanted to avoid the whole "girly" look so that women and men would feel comfortable and be comfortable reading my blog, I decided that being me was what was most important.

After all,

"God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in TRUTH." John 4:24

My prayer for you as you read thru this and as you look at my new and improved site, that you will see how freeing it is to be ourselves. If something causes you to giggle and clap your hands in utter delight, go with it. Ok, I know not everyone reacts the same way I do, but however you respond when God shows you that your little details are from Him, I pray you are able to reach out and bask in His love for you and see how personally He really does love you.

Man may look at the outward appearance, but remember this:

"The LORD looks at the heart"......Bring yours in truth, love.



*1 Samuel 16:7

Gems in the Desert

About 2 1/2 years ago, I became free. From the time I was conceived right up until then, I’d been in spiritual and emotional bondage. In my mind’s eye, using my imagination, I can picture this person in chains. I’ll be honest, for a long time, I was comfortable in those chains of guilt and fear. I got so used to them that I forgot they were even there. But, as is so His habit, God made me stumble on all the roadblocks that kept me from living a life of freedom and I’d cry out to be set free.

I was happy, healthy, normal child and then a pretty abnormal teen as I was still happy and healthy. However, there were always those trigger points that would just make me so aware of how unfree I really was in my heart and mind. When the ladies at my church started doing the “Breaking Free” study by Beth Moore, I couldn’t go, but I bought the study anyway. What took them 10 weeks to complete took me a year and a half as one layer after another of chains was painfully removed from the wrists of my heart. (Do hearts have wrists? I don’t know, but let’s pretend that they do, ok?) Between the study, sermons, and life, God opened up my heart. And then a miracle happened: I was free, confessing sins of old and realizing that being a product of rape affected my very psyche from the time I was born and shaking off old lies that kept me “securely” in those chains.

Since then, I’ve been learning how to live as a free woman. And this morning is when it hit me, THIS IS MY DESERT!!!! Ok, so that might not be so earth-shattering to you, but it is to me. I’ve read the passages in the Bible that have talked about the desert like,

“The LORD will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” Isaiah 58:11

Or

“In a desert land, He found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; He guarded him as the apple of His eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions. The LORD alone led him; no foreign god was among them.” Deuteronomy 32:10-12

There’s even a verse in Hosea,

“Therefore I am going to allure her, I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her….” Hosea 2:14- I’ve gotta break right here and just say, “I LOVE THIS PASSAGE!!!!” If you have a Bible nearby, please read the rest of the passage, it’s awesome!!!

When God freed the Israelites from the Egyptians, He then led them into the desert. And it would seem like whenever He frees anyone, the desert is His place of healing and restoration. Maybe because a desert is the least likely place to find healing and restoration; to learn how to depend on Him, maybe we have to be stripped of everything else but Him. One of the things I love about the passage in Hosea is that in vs 17, He says He’ll remove the names of baals from her lips.

And that brings me back to my realization this morning, some would call it an epiphany. This is where I am: I am free, I am a woman who’s been delivered by God from things I never thought I’d be free of, as well as things I never knew I needed to be freed from. But He has indeed allured me to the desert. But sometimes those “desert” times are just that: hot and dry and just miserable. Like the Israelites in Exodus, part of me has wanted to go back, I remember one time in prayer, God revealed one such chain and I literally grabbed my wrist and begged Him to leave that on there. I didn’t want to deal with it. But I knew I was already freed from it, it was now my choice to begin to let God heal or stay in bondage when the lock to the chain was wide open. Believe it or not, at the time, it was a really hard choice.

I’ve pondered all these passages about the desert and how God provides and cares for His people and seen it as impossible for me. I believed it for them, but not for myself. Until today. Today, God has shown me that my desert has been blessed with His mighty hand. I’m living those passages of Scripture I’ve been pondering. While God has blessed me, He’s also disciplining me, similar to how He disciplined the first freed captives in the desert (Exodus). He’s training my heart to hear His voice, He’s training my feet to walk His path, and He’s training my mind to embrace His plans when all I can see is the hot, dry desert. He’s training me to be usable. And He’s revealing the idols I’ve worshiped and little by little, removing their influence on my life, i.e. “removing the names of baals” from my lips. He’s teaching me to love Him with an undivided heart. And He’s teaching me to believe Him.

When I look at the desert, all I see sometimes is the barren ground- the unanswered prayers, the unmet desires of me and my family and friends, the way life always seems to fall apart all at once. And sometimes it’s quiet. Too quiet. It’s deafening, it’s so quiet. I’m forever being tempted to doubt God, doubt His provision, His personal promises to me thru His word and thru hearing His voice….awhile back. The golden calf isn’t that farfetched when I drop my legalistic veil and realize I would have at least been tempted to give up my gold, too. What am I saying? I give up my gold all the time in pursuit of idols, too!! I stand with the disciples when they asked Jesus in amazement, “Then who can be saved?”

Jesus’ reply is literally timeless as He’s proved it over and over again,
“With man, this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26

My point? Thank You, Jesus, and hallelujah!!! And thank You for this desert!! If there’s anything I want, it’s an undivided heart for God.

A few years ago, I had the gall to ask my mother if she ever felt like adopting me and my brother was God’s second best. After a night of agonizing grief on her part, she woke me up the next morning (yes, I know, the irony of me sleeping that night is hysterical) by sitting on my bed and giving me her pearl/diamond ring, saying with tears in her eyes, “You are a pearl of great price and a diamond in the rough.” Then she reminded me of the story Jesus told in Matthew 13:45-46, “He went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”, as well as the story of how pearls are made: with a lot of agitation between the clam and the grain of sand. And then she told me the story of how diamonds are made: in utter darkness and with much pressure. We were just in Seattle visiting relatives and I was reminded of this when we came across earrings that were made w/ volcanic rock from Mt. St. Helens.
I know many of the people reading this are in your own era of “desert-ness”. My prayer for you is that you will become increasingly aware of God’s provision and His blessing in this dry, barren time in your life. You’re not alone, if anything, you’re more the object of God’s affection and attention right now than any other time, if that’s even possible because there’s not a time when we’re not the object of His love!!! Don’t be afraid of the desert, love. Embrace the God who led you here to train you so that when this time is over, yours will be an undivided heart that no enemy, no force can take from you the treasures you acquired in your desert. Because trust me, there is much treasure to be found, starting at the feet of the Master, Jesus Christ.
If you’re anything like me, I’ll bet you’re hoping your desert time doesn’t take 40 yrs, but however long it takes, I’ll bet you and I come out shining like precious and rare gems. That is His promise, after all.


“Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert….You gave your good Spirit to instruct them….they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen.” Nehemiah 9:19a, 20a, 21b