Inspirations from the Funny Farm

Jeremiah 2:25 Do not run until your feet are bare and your throat is dry.

James 4:14-15 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

I live life to the fullest, and for those that know me well, you know that means that I am constantly on the go. I’ve been referred to as “Wonder Woman” because I tend to accomplish much in every given day. But I like to think it’s because people wonder what I’m going to get into next. I find myself so busy that I actually have an ongoing schedule in my brain in which I allot certain time slots for specific tasks that I must complete.

For the last ten days, I have been forced to slow down. The schedule inside my brain has been turned off…completely…off. Over the past ten days, I have found that there really is a silver lining in everything…even COVID 19. I do not get sick very often, and my husband will vouch for me that I am a terrible patient. My job is to take care of everyone else who is sick. My job does not entail time for me to be sick, but it is what it is. I have been sick for ten days now, and I have really slowed down.

It started with cold symptoms. I actually thought it was just my allergies until I developed a low grade fever. I went for testing fully expecting to be negative, but it was positive. The symptoms have been crazy confirming my thoughts that this was likely a man made virus. We have experienced cough, congestion, severe body aches, nausea, diarrhea, loss of taste and smell, tachycardia, fatigue, and weakness. I even developed a touch of pneumonia. My initial thought at the time of diagnosis was, “Wow, I have ten days off work isolated at home. I’m going to get so many things accomplished.” I was so very wrong. I’ve not accomplished very much at all this week. I had made a whole list of tasks in my head that I would complete, but those tasks are for the most part still incomplete ten days later.

I may sound as though I’m complaining, and truth be known I have done my share of complaining this week, but I truly am thankful. God has worked so many things out during this mandatory ten day rest period. Originally, my husband and I had planned a hunting trip at a friend’s ranch in Texas. We had to cancel because of COVID. Had we gone to Texas, I would not have been here to check on my daddy daily. I wouldn’t have been able to lay my eyes on him. Being positive for COVID also allowed me to make a couple of house calls on positive friends from church. It afforded me the ability to spend some leisurely time at home with my husband who has been battling this awful virus by my side. But of all the things that this virus has taught me, it has shown me that God is ever faithful. Although there is so much fear surrounding this virus, I haven’t felt fearful at all. I have felt the very presence of my Savior through it all. He has lifted me up and carried me through each and every day of my life, and He did not forget me these past ten days. Each day I’ve grown stronger physically, and I’ve also grown stronger in my faith and my walk with Christ.

James says it best. “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” We don’t know what tomorrow holds, but we do know who holds tomorrow. Our life is just a mist, a vapor. Christ is still on the throne, and sometimes He slows us down so that we can reflect on His mercy, grace, and love. I have slowed down, and I have reclined in the love of Christ this week. I pray we can all slow down and see the glory of our Father no matter what set of circumstances we find ourselves in. Slow down. We aren’t promised tomorrow, but we can shine brightly for Christ today! Slow down and shine the love of Christ today! Fear of this virus can stop us in our tracks, but we can not allow it to do so. It can slow us down, but it can not stop us! God has a plan. We only need to slow down and listen to that still, small voice!

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5

“Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” Psalm 46:10

“The Lord is my strength and my shield; in Him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.” Psalm 28:7

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28

Today I am sharing an excerpt from my latest book, “Inspirations from the Funny Farm.” I hope you enjoy.

Because we are the crazy animal people, we get calls from people all over the county asking us to take an animal in need of rescue. A few years ago, we got a call asking us if we could rescue a calf. We did not know the owners, but they had found out that we were suckers from someone in the community and called us requesting an immediate rescue. Their cow had delivered a calf, and the calf was blind. They were concerned because the calf couldn’t see the mama cow and wouldn’t follow the mama when she moved about the pasture. The calf wasn’t nursing, and she was staying out in the full sun all day long because she couldn’t see to move into the shaded areas. There was also a large pond in the field, and there was a concern that the calf would drown. Because we are suckers for any kind of animal, and we love cattle, we jumped in my Subaru Forrester and headed over to the farm.

We had intentions of just going to check out the calf, see if we were going to take her, and then come back with the cattle trailer to pick her up. We drove up and saw this beautiful red calf with a white face. Its eyes were glazed over with a white film. It was obvious that this poor baby couldn’t see. It was love at first sight and without any discussion, we agreed to take her home. I wanted to take her home immediately, and that’s exactly what we did. We loaded her up in the back of the Subaru and started back to the house. She had never been in a car before, and she couldn’t see where we were going so she started jumping all around. I was afraid that she was going to hurt herself. I climbed over the seats of the car and sat down in the back of the Subaru with her. I tried to soothe her as Jeff drove the short distance to our house. She wasn’t to be soothed and she tromped all over me. We finally made it to the house and got her settled into her stall.

She was only a few days old so she required bottle feeding.  Of course, she had never had a bottle, and it took quite a bit of coaxing to get her to suck. Within 24 hours, she was sucking the bottle like a pro. After a few days, we realized that she was not only blind, she was also deaf. That’s when I chose the name Helen Keller for her. We name all our critters, and I try to find names that match the personality of the animal. The name Helen Keller was fitting for this sweet blind, deaf calf.

We had to feed her twice a day, and when I entered her stall to feed her, she couldn’t see or hear me, and I would try to alert her that I was there by touch. She couldn’t hear me or see me, but she quickly learned what a bottle was though, and as soon as I got the nipple to her mouth, she would suck the bottle down without any problem at all. She would finish the bottle and look for more.  The “more” became my knees. She would lick and try to nurse my knees after every feeding. It became a regular ritual with her. I would leave the stall with a full calf and wet knees and a big old grin on my face.

Helen was a strong-willed little calf. She was a fighter. She couldn’t see her food, she couldn’t see her caretaker, and she couldn’t even hear me coming, but she quickly learned that I was there for her. She trusted me. She had complete trust in a total stranger who took time to feed and love her. I suppose it was easy for her to trust me because she really didn’t have a choice.  And it was super easy for me to fall in love with her and care for her because I knew that she needed me. I have a soft spot in my heart for all of God’s creatures, and an even softer spot for those who need special attention.

There is a lot to be learned from a blind, deaf calf. Helen Keller never physically saw my face. She never physically heard my voice. Yet that little calf trusted me with her whole being. She knew that I was going to be there like clockwork to feed her and provide the nourishment that she needed to survive. She knew that I loved her and that I was there for her good to offer help where it was needed. She knew that she could trust me sight unseen.

As Christians, we have to have a faith like this. I have never physically seen God. I have never audibly heard the voice of God. Yet I trust in Him with my whole being. No, I can’t see Him physically, but I see his majesty all around me: sunrises and sunsets with beautiful glorious colors, mountains and valleys, flora and fauna, oceans and rivers, and oh so much more! I know without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins because He loves me. It’s unfathomable that He could love me this much! Even though I can see and I can hear, I have recognized through the years that without Christ, I am totally lost. I need Him even more than that calf needed me. I need Christ to guide me through this rough and rocky world. I need His love. I need the nourishment that only Christ can provide. I pray that I continue to trust Him more as I walk through this crazy life and that I learn to lean on Him more and more with each passing day.

Psalm 139:1-6 You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

I’ve lived in this small town most of my life. I moved away to a bigger city after college to chase my career dreams, but that only lasted about six months. I missed home terribly, and my heart is here. We have travelled to so many wonderful, beautiful places, but that old saying is true. There is no place like home. A lot of people don’t like small town life, but this girl loves it! There really is no place I’d rather be other than the streets of heaven. The thing I love about small town life is the thing that a lot of people hate about a small town. Everybody knows everybody. I can not tell you how many times I have been pumping gas or getting groceries or just running errands, and have had an older gentleman walk up to me and say, “You are Dempsey’s daughter. You look just like him. How is your Dad?” And there have been numerous times after introducing myself to a new patient in the clinic that I’ve been asked, “Hodge. What Hodge are you related to?” I proudly answer that my in-laws are J.B. and Donna to which I receive a smile of approval. People know me. They know my family and my extended family, and they care about us as part of a tight knit community. Small town life is a place where a name means something to people. People aren’t in your business. People are in your hearts. I love being a little fish in this little pond, and I’d choose it over being a big fish in the biggest ocean any time!

However, in this great big ocean of life, I can still rest assured that I am known to the Father. He knows me. There are billions of people on this earth divided between tiny towns and huge metropolises, but even with that humongous number of people living today, I have a promise that God knows me personally. It’s just like small town life. God knows me. He knows my family. He knows my extended family. He knows when I sit down and when I rise. He even knows my thoughts. He is familiar with all of my ways. He even knows the words that I am about to speak or write before they escape my tongue. He truly knows me. He gets me. And even though He knows every detail about my life, He loves me!

I have to wonder though, when I bump into a stranger, do they recognize who my Father is? Do they see a resemblance to Christ in my attitudes and actions? Do they realize that I am a child of God? I’ve been told that I look just like my Daddy. I usually respond with, “I guess I’d be good looking if I was a man.” I know I look like him, and I really don’t mind that at all. The genetics are strong. But what about my heavenly Father? Oh, how I want to look like Him. I am so thankful to be known by Christ, and I want the world to know that I am His and He is mine. I am blessed to be known by my Father.

In this great big old world, whether you live in a huge city or a tiny little town, God knows you too. He knows you personally. He knows every little thing about you. He knows every detail about you and even the number of hairs on your head. Isn’t it great to know that we are known! We are known by our heavenly Father. He knows you, and He knows me. Let us let the world know that we are His!

Side note: My dear Daddy has had COVID-19 for 15 days, and he has had a fever for 15 straight days. He developed pneumonia, but follow up x-ray yesterday shows that this has improved. Other than the fever, he is doing well, but that fever is making him feel so bad. Please lift him up in prayer today. I love him so much, and I know that God is in control. Pray for the fever to leave his body for good! Thank you for your prayers! I pray that you all stay safe and healthy as we enter this holiday season!

1 Chronicles 16:34 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Thankfulness…that’s a word I could write about all day long, especially this time of year. We are just a few short days from the day we recognize as the day to be thankful. Thanksgiving looks different this year. I don’t know if we’ll be able to have our big family meal due to having family members with COVID-19, and I probably won’t be able to taste the food anyways. LOL. But is this any reason to be less thankful? Absolutely not! We have so much to be thankful for. Thankfulness should be a state of mind. We should be a daily attitude of gratitude.

When should be give thanks? We give thanks before every meal even if we are eating out in a restaurant. That is something that we don’t see very often anymore, but thankfully, I am married to a man who is not ashamed or afraid to grab my hand and pray aloud before every meal. I’m so very thankful for that man. But, we can’t limit our giving thanks to meal time. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 tells us that we should give thanks in all circumstances. We should be thanking God for everything even the trials that come our way. That’s a bit harder than thanking Him for a delicious meal, but in reality, we must thank Him for all things. For it is in those trials that we cling closer to Christ, and we feel His presence!

I love the month of November. I’ve played the game of thankfulness a few times in which you share something that you are thankful for each day for the entire month of November. I know it seems silly because I am truly thankful every day for all the blessings in my life, but I think that it is a good habit to actually take time to list the things you are thankful for. This helps keep things in perspective, and it helps us as we develop and strengthen our attitude of gratitude. Also, as our list lengthens with the many blessings of life, our thankfulness grows immensely.

Today I challenge you to look past the worries of the world, look past your own circumstances and troubles, and look up. Look up to Christ and raise a hallelujah. Sing praises to our Savior, and truly thank Him for each and every blessing that has been bestowed upon you. Corrie Ten Boom once said, “If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. If you look at God, you’ll be at rest.” Look at God today with a heart of thankfulness. Rest in Him today and every day!

Ezekiel 36:26-27 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations. 

This scripture stood out to me in our nightly Bible reading this week. To understand the meaning of the scripture, we have to look at it in context. In the book of Ezekiel, we read about the perilous state of the Israelites. They had been turning away from God for far too long. They were chasing foreign gods instead of the one true God. They had multiple kings who were evil in the sight of the Lord except for a good righteous king every once in a while. The whole nation had become spiritually dead. Oh how this must have disappointed God. Because of the people had turned their back on God and drifted so far away, they were being sent off to a period of captivity with the Babylonians and Assyrians. Although God was placing them in a period of captivity, He continued to promise that he would bring them back and transform their hearts.

If we fast forward to present day, we look at the perilous state that we find ourselves in once again. I look around and I see that much of this world seems to be spiritually dead. Everyone is living in a world of doing whatever they must do to make themselves happy. It’s all about “me” rather than being about God. Evil is no longer considered evil if it feels good. We may not be worshipping false gods, but people are worshipping everything but God, and I fear that God is getting disappointed once again. Even in this perilous state that we find ourselves in currently, we don’t have to lose hope. We can still stand on that same promise God made to the people of Israel. God can still take hearts of stone and transform them into new hearts. God has a desire to change His people. He desires a close connection with His children, and He wants to transform us. In fact, Christ is the only one who can transform us.

Christ can bring the spiritually dead back to life to live in fullness with Him. After He transforms our old stony hearts into new hearts, He puts his Spirit within us. This is when the magic occurs. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we begin to willingly walk with Christ. We want to live a righteous life. We want to follow the path that Christ has designed for us. We recognize sins in our life, and we repent and walk away from those sins. He puts within a a desire to be obedient. We can truly walk in an newness of life.

Christ loves us so much that He continuously seeks us out. He loves us so much that He can take an old hard, stony, stubborn heart, and He can make it new. He can change our hard hearts into tender and responsive hearts…hearts that respond to Him. Isn’t that amazing? The love Christ has for His children continuously amazes me! I’m so thankful for His love and patience, and I’m so thankful that He gave me a new, tender responsive heart! Let Him break down those stony walls around your heart today!

Psalm 119:103 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

2 Corinthians 2:15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

Since contracting the COVID-19 virus six days ago, my husband and I have experienced a full gamut of symptoms. My husband, Jeff, is a couple of days behind me on symptoms, so he hasn’t had all of the same symptoms yet, and I pray that he won’t. I started off feeling extremely fatigued, and my neck was aching. It didn’t click at first. I had just completed a very busy work week, and I’ve been having intermittent numbness in my right arm for a couple of months from some disc issues in my neck. I just figured that I had aggravated my neck. But the next day, I developed some mild cold symptoms and a low grade fever. I immediately went for testing, and I began my quarantine period. I’ve had cough, congestion, headaches, severe body aches (like my hips are being pulled out of socket simultaneously), nausea, massive diarrhea, and now loss of taste and smell. I have had every symptoms listed on the symptoms screener except for shortness of breath, vomiting, and rash. I sound as though I am complaining, and I’m sure I have done my share of complaining this week, but I am extremely thankful that our symptoms have been no worse than they have been. We are walking daily and doing incentive spirometry to keep our lungs strong. God has continued to bless us graciously, and although I feel puny, I really shouldn’t complain. I know that I am blessed.

I have to tell you though, of all the strange symptoms I’ve experienced, the complete and total loss of my sense of taste and smell has to be the worst thing. It’s so crazy, y’all. Yesterday for lunch, I ate a delicious bowl of homemade vegetable beef soup and some summer sausage and sharp cheddar cheese. It tasted so good. If I had known that meal would be the last thing I would be able to taste, I would have savored it a bit longer. I bit later, I fixed a cup of coffee. In case you didn’t know, I LOVE coffee, but my coffee didn’t taste that good. I could taste it, but it wasn’t as flavorful as usual. I went to check on my Daddy and visited with him a while. (He too has COVID-19 and could really use your prayers.) I returned home from his house, and just like that, my sense of taste and smell disappeared. I opened a container of minced garlic from the fridge and stuck my nose all the way in the container. Nothing! I sipped some coffee. It tasted like brown water. My husband saw my distress, and he said, “Try a Reese’s.” That’s my favorite candy. I slowly chewed up that candy trying to capture some of the sweet flavor. Nothing. It’s gone. I don’t know for how long, but I still have no sense of taste or smell today. I now impatiently await the return of these two dear lifelong friends.

Until yesterday, I had taken these two senses for granted. I’ve had an excellent sense of smell my entire life. It’s a blessing and a curse. And I love to taste and savor foods. I’ve always been able to taste and smell, and I didn’t appreciate these senses for their true value until now. When something is readily available, we take it for granted, and unfortunately, we tend to do this even with the Word of God and God Himself. When we have heard the Word our whole lives, much of the scripture becomes all too familiar, and when this happens, the scripture loses its sweet flavor. We tend to glaze over scripture that we have read dozens of times, and we don’t let the true meaning speak too us. Or perhaps, with the busyness of life, we leave the Bible on the shelf, and we don’t even crack it open to savor those sweet words. We tend to take for granted that God will be there when we need Him, but we aren’t enjoying that sweet relationship with Him that He intends for us.

There is so much sweetness in the Word of God. “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” If you haven’t tasted that sweetness lately, all you have to do is open the best book ever written, find a quiet corner, and slowly begin to savor the flavor of those precious words that are sweeter than honey. You aren’t tasting the sweetness? Pray and ask God to speak to you through His Word. Ask Him to open your eyes and heart to receive His message, and read those words expectantly. Expect to hear from God as you read and savor the sweet flavor of each word. Once you taste that sweet flavor, you will see just how good our Lord really is. Won’t you taste and see how good He is today? It truly is sweeter than honey!

John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

2 Corinthians 4:8-10 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

Revelation 21:4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Oh the Christian life, it is one of roses and daisies and milk and honey, right? Wrong! Anyone that thinks becoming a Christian will end all sufferings hasn’t read the Bible yet because it is right there in black and white and red. Oh yes, the Bible assures us that suffering will be a part of our lives, but why? Scripture tells us that in this world we will have trouble. We are going to suffer. It’s a given, but why must we suffer? One reason of course is because there is sin in this world. So do we bring on this suffering ourselves? Sometimes we do. Suffering may be the result of poor choices, foolish decisions, and sins in our lives. That’s a hard pill to swallow, but it is the truth. While suffering can be a result of sin, all of us, even the righteous, will groan under the weight of sin and suffering. “For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” (Romans 8:20-22)

But suffering is not random and without purpose by any means. When we go through challenging times in our lives, our sovereign God uses those difficult circumstances to teach us lessons and to accomplish His will through us. Suffering brings us closer to the Lord. When we are in the midst of a challenge, we recognize that we are not in control of the situation, but we know who is. It causes us to decrease reliance on self and to increase reliance on God. Suffering causes us to worship and to praise God and to trust God even when the answers are unclear.

Suffering teaches us to seek and trust God. “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word. You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees.” (Psalm 119:67-68) “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.” (Psalm 119:71) Have you ever thought about it as the psalmist did here? It is good to be afflicted so that we may learn the decrees of the Lord. It is often very difficult to find affliction and suffering as being a good thing, but we must remember that anything that brings us closer to Christ is good, even when it seems bad. If we learn to truly seek and trust God, and rest in His promises, we can respond to our suffering in a godly manner. And after enduring the challenging circumstances, we come out on the other side more mature and wise in our faith, and God can use us to do mighty things for His kingdom. We have to trust the process. Just as we prune our vines to bear more fruit, Christ prunes us from time to time. The pruning process is painful, but oh the fruit is so sweet!

If you are going through a challenge today, don’t give up and don’t get angry. Talk to God. Ask Him what He is trying to teach you through the circumstance. I bet He will show you that He is working behind the scenes, and it will all work out for our good and His glory every single time! Recite John 16:33 as you go through challenging days: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” You are not in this alone, and Christ has already won! I’m praying with you today my friends! May God bless you in each struggle!

Song of Solomon 2:15 Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.

I don’t think that in all my years that I have ever heard another sermon preached from the Song of Solomon 2:15, but an interim pastor, Bro. Wiley Abel, did just that a few years ago. He first caught our attention by showing a slideshow of adorable baby foxes on the screens. He did this to distract us for a moment, and it worked. Who could not stop and oooh and aaah over adorable baby foxes? Not this girl! I’m an animal lover, and I tend to get very easily distracted when I see an animal of any sort. But what can we glean from this little verse about foxes and grape vines? Quite a lot, actually.

When we as Christians blossom in life, everything is grand. It looks like everything is coming up roses (or grapes if we stick to the text), and we don’t realize that sneaky, sometimes quite adorable little foxes can sneak in and seek to destroy us. No, not some adorable little thing like a baby fox?! That can’t be. Oh yes, it can. It can indeed. For you see, the little foxes are the little things that distract us for Christ. These things can be the the tongue, an attitude problem, self love, self-centeredness, opinions, or perhaps it could be a habit of turning minor trouble into major problems, the lack of love, lack of acceptance, or lack of forgiveness. These little things seem harmless at first look, but when we let them sneak their ways into our lives like a sneaky cute little fox, we slowly start to wither away from our connection with Christ. The things that distract us begin to turn our focus onto self and the problems, and this causes us to take our focus off of Christ. As we lose our focus on Christ, we forget to cling to the true Vine, and we wither. We can’t produce good fruit if we aren’t fully connected to the Vine.

So what do we do about this? First and foremost, we must cling to the Vine always and in every area of our lives. If we are clinging to Christ, the distractions of this world won’t be able to pull us away. Second, we must defend our hearts and our churches against the little foxes just as a farmer defends his farm from foxes and other predators. We have to stand guard against the evils of this world that try to attack us and steal us away from Christ. The foxes may steal the grapes, and those vines may wither, but nothing can steal us away from Christ when we cling to Him. “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” (John 10:28-29) Nothing can snatch us away.

It’s hard. Life is hard. There are a million and one distractions in every single day. I get it. There are many days that I feel like a dog chasing my tail, and just when I grasp those sparse hairs at the tip of the tail in my mouth, the tail slips out, and I begin chasing again. We can’t keep living life in the fast lane. We have to slow down and take time to grow in our relationship with Christ, establish a firm foundation, and be truly rooted in the Spirit. Those strong roots will keep us firmly planted in our relationship with Christ, and those sneaky little foxes won’t stand a chance! Cling to the true Vine!

Philippians 4:19-20 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. Now all glory to God our Father forever and ever! Amen.

Ephesians 3:20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

Good Sunday morning, Peeps! This Sunday looks a little different than usual. Most of the time, we get up early, start preparations for a big family lunch, rush around to do last minute chores, get dressed up, and go to our home church to enjoy worship with our faith family, but that won’t be happening today. Thursday, I began to feel a little under the weather. I didn’t feel horrible. I just felt like I was coming down with a cold. Friday, the cold symptoms continued, my neck felt more achy than usual, I felt overwhelmingly fatigued, and kept a low grade fever most of the day. I decided I better go and get a COVID test to be safe. I felt sure it would be negative and that I was just being paranoid. My husband said that I was being “para-smart,” meaning paranoid-smart. I thought for sure that it would be negative, but it was not. My husband did test negative thankfully, and so far, he is feeling well. My youngest, Crystal, is also still at home with us, and she too feels well. So for the past few days, we have been practicing social distancing in our house and spending more time outdoors on our eighty acres as I quarantine from the world. There will be no big family lunches this Sunday or next, no getting dressed up and going to church, no spending time fellowshipping and praising with my church family.

However, just because we are doing things in a different way doesn’t mean we won’t do those things. Well, we won’t have all the family over for lunch. That’s a definite no, but we will have lunch at home. We conveniently have a 10 foot rustic farmhouse table, and I can sit all the way on one end and eat with my husband and daughter at the other end. We are still managing family meals “at a distance.” Our church services will be watched live on the internet today. It’s not the same as being there, but God is still giving us a chance to worship, and I refuse to miss that opportunity. I am even able to tithe on-line today. It’s not the same, but I am so thankful that God already had all of this worked out so that I can continue to worship Him today. I give the glory to Him!

God takes care of us and supplies our every need. He even takes care of the details. We have tons of food in the freezers and pantries. We have eighty park like acres to roam as we quarantine. He even worked out my work details. I was only scheduled to work one day this coming week because I was going to use some vacation days to go on a hunting trip to Texas. Thankfully, my employers only have to cover one of my shifts. Isn’t it amazing how God works it all out!

I don’t feel well, but I do feel incredibly blessed. I have been truly blessed by hundreds of prayers and kind words from friends and family. My husband and daughter are still well. Yesterday I took a two mile brisk walk with my husband and our dogs on our property. It’s easy to get some sunshine and enjoy nature while quarantining when you live in the middle of eighty acres. In the afternoon, I went for a slow walk with my daughter and the dogs, and I took my camera along to take pictures of the beauty that God has so graciously placed all around us. Y’all God is good! I could sit here and pout about being sick, or I can keep moving and keep looking for the blessings. I’m choosing the blessings.

Friends, I pray today and every day that you will choose to look for the blessings too. If we focus on the negative, sickness, bad circumstances, or whatever is going on in our lives, and we forget to focus on the blessings, we end up missing out on the blessings. But, if we keep an attitude of gratitude, and we keep our eyes and minds on Christ, we begin to see and feel innumerable blessings. There truly is goodness in every day with Christ. I pray that you aren’t missing those blessings today!

Zephaniah 3:17 For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.

Isaiah 55:9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

Ephesians 3:19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

As humans, we have a limited understanding of God, and because of our limited understanding, we tend to put God in a box. When we do this, we limit Him. Yet, the Word of God assures us that we serve a limitless God. The God we serve has unlimited power, knowledge, compassion, grace and holiness. You can’t put that kind of power in a box and only reach for it in your time of need. That kind of power can’t be held in a box! Just think for a moment about trying to bottle up all of the water in the oceans. That would be impossible, yet we continue daily to try to bottle up our Lord and Savior.

We all know that God is omnipotent, all powerful. We recognize His sovereignty and power, but when it comes to our individual lives, we tend to put limits on that power. When God places a calling on our hearts, our first thought tends to be, “I can’t possibly do that.” But actually, our first thought should be, ” I can’t, but God can!” Last March, I started writing these daily devotionals. I only planned to write for a little while to encourage myself and others at the onset of the COVID pandemic. My sister and my husband challenged me to write a daily devotional for 365 days. My first thought and reaction was “nope! I will run out of things to write about. I can’t possibly do that.” But each morning I have prayed for God to give me a word to write about, and each day, He has been faithful. He also put an urgency in my heart to not limit my devotionals to my Facebook page, and this computer illiterate girl set up a blog page (with the help of the good Lord). Here I sit writing to you this morning. I have written a daily devotional each day for the past eight months, and I haven’t run out of words yet. God keeps giving me the words, and I’m going to keep sharing them.

I am nothing special, y’all. I’m simply a country girl who works as a nurse practitioner and has a true love for the Lord and others. I want to relay to you that God is capable of doing anything through us if only we would stop placing limits on His power. Through this blog, I have reached people in twenty countries outside of the United States! That’s not me. That’s God! When God puts something on our hearts, rather than saying “I can’t,” we must start saying “God can.” He will not ask you to do more than you are able to do. The Word tells us that we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. When we allow Him to increase and ourselves to decrease, we slowly begin to recognize the limitless power of God. Don’t place limits on God!