Inspirations from the Funny Farm

Exodus 4:10-17 But Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.” Then the Lord asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.” But Moses again pleaded, “Lord, please! Send anyone else.” Then the Lord became angry with Moses. “All right,” he said. “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he speaks well. And look! He is on his way to meet you now. He will be delighted to see you. Talk to him, and put the words in his mouth. I will be with both of you as you speak, and I will instruct you both in what to do. Aaron will be your spokesman to the people. He will be your mouthpiece, and you will stand in the place of God for him, telling him what to say. And take your shepherd’s staff with you, and use it to perform the miraculous signs I have shown you.”

Yesterday, I shared a portion of this scripture as we considered the fact of being on a mission for God. God called Moses to rescue His people, but Moses did as many of us do, and found an excuse. He explained that he was tongue tied and that his words became tangled when he spoke. God patiently reminded Moses of who makes a person’s mouth, determines whether one will speak or not, hear or not, or see or not. But still Moses begged for the Lord to choose anyone but him for this task. I can just imagine how exasperated God must have been. Here we have the Creator of the universe speaking audibly to Moses explaining that He would give him the words he needed and all that it would take to accomplish the task at hand, yet Moses still begged, “don’t pick me.” Finally, God in his exasperation, gives Moses a partial out. He told him that He would allow Moses to use his brother Aaron as his spokesman for the people. Aaron would be the mouthpiece, but Moses would still stand in the place of God for him telling Aaron what to say. God’s pretty awesome. He could have just corrected Moses’ speech impediment, whatever that may have been, but instead, He brought a teammate in for Moses. Rather than using Moses alone, He allowed Moses to have his brother at his side for the upcoming events.

Moses lived a pretty remarkable life. Let’s do a quick recap. At the mere age of three months old, he was rescued by a princess (Exodus 2:1-10). He then fled to Midian (Exodus 2:11-22). God spoke to Moses from a burning bush in Exodus 3. Next we learn about the ten plagues. Moses had to repeatedly ask Pharoah to let the people go. Each time he refused, and God sent plagues upon Egypt (Exodus 7 – 12:30). Finally, Pharoah complied and allowed the people to leave, and the Exodus began. Of course, Pharoah changed his mind and went after them, and God miraculously parted the Red Sea so that the people of Israel crossed over the Red Sea on dry ground (Exodus 12:31-15:21). We later read about God giving Moses the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17), and don’t forget the golden calf incident (Exodus 32). Moses left Sinai and renewed the covenant (Exodus 33-34). He eventually named Joshua as his successor, and later died at the age of one hundred and twenty. When we consider all of this, we must also remember that the people Moses was rescuing at God’s command fought him pretty much the whole way. They whined and complained to the bitter end. They turned their backs on God numerous times only to repent and move forward again. Sometimes it was like he was herding thousands of preschoolers through the wilderness. But all the while, Moses stayed strong following the command of God. Moses wasn’t perfect. He didn’t even want to do the task that God commanded him to do. He tried to talk God out of it, but God knew that Moses was the man for the job even when Moses couldn’t recognize this himself.

Life is going to throw some challenges at you. If you are serving Christ, this is a definite given. Life isn’t going to be easy, but just as God provided for Moses as he traveled through the wilderness, He will provide for you and I today. When we follow the will of God, we can have confidence in knowing that God is working everything out behind the scenes. He will give us the words that we need to say. He will give us the boldness and courage to speak and proclaim His Word. Y’all, He parted the Red Sea, sent manna and quail from heaven, and turned a rock into water. There is nothing that God can not accomplish, and just imagine how much we could accomplish for the glory of God if we would stop making excuses and avoiding His calling on our lives. If God puts a calling on your heart, He will take care of you and see it through, you only have to be a willing participate!

Jeremiah 20:9 But if I say I’ll never mention the Lord or speak in his name, his word burns in my heart like a fire.  It’s like a fire in my bones! I am worn out trying to hold it in! I can’t do it!

1 Peter 4:10 God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.

We are all on some sort of mission in this life whether we recognize it or not. Some are on a mission to get rich quick, some are on a mission to climb the corporate ladder to the top, and some are on a mission to merely find a job. Well, Peeps, I’m here to tell you of the greatest mission opportunity in the whole world. It’s not a very well kept secret. Many have accepted the challenge over the years, but way too many haven’t yet started because they let things get in the way. Those things can be fear, feeling of inadequacy, or possibly the biggest reason the mission is rejected: lack of time due to the busyness of life.

What is this mission? The greatest mission you can ever accept is to be a warrior for sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that may sound silly to some, but not to God. God placed us here to be fruitful, and declaring the gospel to the lost and dying world is the natural fruit of a Christian. The lost do not know they are lost, and they need to hear the Word of God. “But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?” (Romans 10:14)

Someone has to to tell them! We can’t just warm the church pew and wait for the pastor to tell them. What if they don’t ever walk through the door of a church? How are they going to hear? Sadly, if we lay Christians lay around and wait for someone else to share the gospel, a whole lot of opportunities are missed.

But how? How do we share our faith? Oh, my friends, there are probably no less than a million ways. We each are gifted with special talents from God, and He gifted us with these talents so that we can glorify Him. I’m just an old redneck gal from Mississippi, but God put missions in my heart. Do I feel competent? Nope! But guess what? God doesn’t call the equipped. He equips the called! And guess what else? We are ALL called into missions to share the gospel with all of the nations. But you don’t have to travel to some far away country to do it. You merely have to go down your driveway, stop at the grocery store, or go to your job. There are people living right in your own community that need to here the Good News. You only need to be willing to go.

Oh, but you may be thinking, “I won’t have the words. I don’t know what to say.” That excuse won’t play. Consider when God called Moses. “But Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.” Then the Lord asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.” But Moses again pleaded, “Lord, please! Send anyone else.” (Exodus 4:10-13) The Holy Spirit will provide the words, you only need to be a willing participate.

I’ve never been a fan of public speaking. As a matter of fact, when I graduated high school, I didn’t go to college immediately because I was horrified of having to take Oral Communications class, aka speech class. I had a desire to go to nursing school, but I had a real terror of having to speak publicly. I eventually talked my best friend into taking it with me as a night class, and I survived! As I continued into my Master’s degree, speeches became a part of life. I had to write thirty page papers and present it to my class on a weekly basis. I still didnt enjoy it and felt like I was going to pee my pants most times, but I survived. I didn’t realize it at the time, but God was preparing for missions. He trained me slowly but surely to speak publicly so that I could learn to proclaim Him!

After publishing my first book, I was asked to do speaking engagements at churches. Yep, little old scaredy cat me was standing in front of a bunch of church people telling how God was working in my life. I was afraid, but each time I silently prayed for boldness. And I kid you not, each time before I spoke, the pastors prayed, and each time, they prayed for God to give me boldness. They didn’t even know I was scared, but God did, and He worked it out. He gave me boldness every time.

But, Peeps, you don’t even have to overcome the fear of public speaking. Mission work is a very personal experience, and it is most frequently accomplished one on one, you plus one lost soul. That’s all it takes! Not feeling bold enough? Don’t have the words? Scared to open your mouth? All you have to do is pray! God will give you the words and the ability just like He gave the words to Moses. Trust me, if God can give this girl that boldness, He can surely give it to you too.

Life is a mission. Let’s get on the mission of sharing the gospel starting right now!

Hebrews 10:24-25 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Last night, we kicked off our ladies’ ministry meetings again after a long hiatus caused by our not so favorite friend, COVID-19. I belong to a small church, but that church is so full of love and life and laughter. The ladies try to meet on the first Thursday night of each month to gather together for fellowship, food, and renewing of our faith through devotionals and or Bible studies. We always have such a great time when we gather together, and I didn’t even realize how much I had missed these gatherings until last night.

We wanted this meeting to be a more relaxed one to get together and reignite our ministry, and I would have to say that we were successful in our efforts. God has truly blessed me with church that has a remarkable group of ladies who truly love the Lord. These girls are not merely friends. They are my sisters in Christ. They are family. We laugh together, learn together, and definitely love each other. I have known these ladies for a long while, but last night, I learned things about them that I didn’t know. We played a silly game in which each person had to take turns telling of unique experiences or unusual talents that we possessed as a means of learning more about each other. It was so much fun. I used to hate participating in games like this, but now I truly enjoy it. I loved learning things about my friends that didn’t know. It was a great icebreaker, and prepared us for our devotional which followed.

I have put a lot of thought into fellowship of my Christian faith family, and I have to admit that fellowshipping with my faith family is one of the greatest blessings in my life. I don’t know how people make it without a great group of believing friends. In Hebrews 10:24-25 we are reminded to gather together, “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” This pandemic has caused us to miss out on gathering opportunities, but praise God, we can start gathering once again!

Why is gathering with fellow believer so important? When we gather together, we motivate one another. We encourage one another. We pray for one another. Do we all like each other all of the time? Maybe not all of the time, but by the grace of God, we do love each other, and it is that love for Christ that spurns us onward in our relationships. As we grow in our relationship with Christ, we grow in our interpersonal relationships as well.

So many people sadly look at church as a means of entertainment. They go for the show, the music, the lights, the action. It’s almost as if they entertain the idea of going to church in the same light as going to a movie. It’s a hour or two escape once or twice a week, and then that is it. Well, I’m here to tell you that is NOT it! To me, church is family. We are in fact brothers and sisters in Christ, right? Sometimes we are part of a church that we have attended our whole lives, and other times, we are new to a church, but whether you are an old member or a new member, all those other members are part of the family of God. If you are a child of God, those people are your kin folks! We are called to lovingly treat each and every member like family. If someone in the family is sick, we pray for that person and minister to them. If someone is struggling, we pray and offer assistance. If someone needs food, well, we are on that like white on rice. If someone needs encouragement, we are the encouragers. If there is a loss in the family, we are there. Can’t you see? Church is not a show. It is a group of fellow believers who love one another, care about one another, and fellowship with one another as family.

Oh, Peeps, I pray that you have a great church family. If you don’t, please get busy looking for one. And if you are part of a body of believers, but you don’t feel like family, you have to ask yourself why. After I married Jeff, I transferred my letter to his church, I didn’t feel like part of the family for a long while. I sat on the back pew. I kept to myself. I showed up at the appointed times. I attended Sunday School. I listened to the sermons. I was there, but I wasn’t involved. Those people weren’t my family. I left my family behind at another church. I felt distant and unaccepted. It took me about three years to realize that it wasn’t that the people of the church were not accepting me, but rather it was me who was not becoming part of them. I began getting involved. I started teaching Sunday School, participating in outreaches, accepted the position of church treasurer, and I started to really get to know the people of the church. Slowly but surely, they became my family too. I learned that being part of a family isn’t just showing up and filling a pew. It is so much more than that. You have to make a concerted effort to get to know each and every member of the family, and to do this, you have to put forth a little bit of effort. You may even play silly little getting to know you games like we did last night, and that is completely okay and acceptable. You have to do what it takes to get to know your family, silly or not. I’m so very thankful that God moved me to my current church, but I’m even more thankful that he moved me to get involved there.

Today I encourage you to check in on your sisters and brothers in Christ. Pray for them. Laugh with them. Love on them. It’s been a really tough year, and we need each other now more than ever. Fellowship with family today!

John 15:12-15 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.

I read this quote from Ann Landers this morning, “Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses.” Y’all remember Ann, don’t you? Her birth name was Esther Pauline “Eppie” Lederer, but she was best know by her pen name Ann Landers. She was an American advice columnist whose column ran for more than 47 years and had a reported readership of 90 million people. She gave some pretty good advice over the years, and still everywhere we look, we can find some kind of advice and someone willing to share their advice with us. It may not be good advice, but it’s out there…free for the taking. But this little quote about love has been repeated over and again. It has been read as part of marriage vows. It has been etched in the minds of many, and we have to admit, that it’s a pretty catchy phrase, “love is friendship that has caught fire.”

Love is a word of action. It’s one of the most difficult terms in the world to truly define, and it’s much easier to show love than to define the terminology. If I were asked to define the word love, I would simply have to say, “Jesus”. He is the epidemy of the word love. I don’t know if Ann meant to describe a relationship with Jesus when she wrote this statement, but I think she did a pretty good job here. Consider the words for a moment. “It is a quiet understanding.” We will never understand Jesus fully, but it is in our quiet times with Him that we gain truth and knowledge and understanding of our Lord and Savior. We must dedicate a quiet time each day to devote to Christ, and during that time, He will teach us, grow us, and show us things that we need to know, ways we need to change, and the will that He has for each of us. When we retreat to our quiet place and invite the Lord into that place, we connect with Him on that personal level, and this is where miracles begin to happen.

Love for Jesus gives a mutual confidence. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we become His, and no one can snatch us out of the hands of God. (John 10:28) Jesus has confidence in the fact that we are His, and we have confidence knowing that He is our Savior! We are promised eternity with Him, and the thought of that should give us confidence to walk through this life with our heads held high. We are loved by a God who sent His Son to die for our sins so that we can have everlasting life with Him. If that isn’t love, I don’t know what is! And we can have confidence that we have an eternal home in heaven. And because of this confidence, we can “come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” (Hebrews 4:16)

Love is about sharing and forgiving. Peeps, I am very thankful that we can share everything with our Lord. Prayer is a wonderful gift from God. He gave us a means to have open communication with Him way before the idea of a smart phone was every created. We can enter His presence any time, day or night, 24/7, and we can share everything in our lives with Him. He desires this kind of relationship. He wants us to share our hearts and to be the Lord of our hearts. And that forgiveness part, y’all, isn’t that the best? There are so many times that we goof up, mess up, fall down, and get off of track, but our loving Father is always there to pick us back up. He forgives the little sins and the great big sins, and then He wipes the slate clean. And He even gave us with the Holy Spirit to convict us and guide us, and show us when we are getting off track. He’s such a good, good God!

Love is about loyalty through good times and bad times. I venture to say that loyalty is a quality that is sorely lacking in this world, but not when it comes to Christ. He is there with us through all of the joys in life…the new births, the weddings, the new job, the newly constructed house. He celebrates with us, and all of the angels rejoice when we accept Christ as our Savior. Oh yes, He is loyal through the good times. But what about those bad times? Where is He then? Oh, my friend, He’s still there. He is there with us through the losses, the deaths, the break ups, and all of life’s battles. Those are the times He is standing there with His arms open just waiting to give us a hug, asking us to cling to Him, and lean on Him with all that we are. It is in those times that we feel His strength and presence when peace envelopes our souls that we can not even venture to explain.

“Love settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weakness.” Praise Jesus that He settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weakness. Jesus is the only perfect man that walked this earth. We strive for perfection, we try to walk like Him, but we are mere humans. We are not perfect, but guess what? He loves us totally and completely flaws and all. He knows we aren’t perfect, and he allows for our weaknesses. God even designed the greatest means of redemption. We are made right through Christ! “We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.” (Romans 3:22-24) And 2 Corinthians 12:9 assures us, “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” His power is made perfect in our weakness! Praise God!

Can’t you see how much Jesus loves us? The thought of it overwhelms me. His love for us is definitely like a friendship that has caught fire, but the question we need to ask ourselves this morning is, “is our love for Jesus like a friendship that has caught fire?” Has our love for Him been ignited? Are we clinging to Him, sharing with Him, humbly asking forgiveness, and striving for perfection in Christ? My friends, this relationship, the relationship between Christ and us, is the absolute most important relationship in our lives. Why do we put it on the back burner and let it simmer? We need to ignite a fire within each one of us and really get to know our Lord! Ignite the fire within you today!

Romans 10:14-15 But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!

Isaiah 6:8 Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.”

Mathew 24:14 And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world,

No, I’m trying to steal the Nike logo this morning, but the words, “just do it” are the words on my mind as I write. Romans 10:14-15 and Isaiah 6:8 are verses that have taken on a very deep meaning in my life over the past few years. One of my sisters’ reads my blog, and she comments, “preach it, sister.” I keep assuring her that I am not a preacher. I do enjoy teaching the Word, but I don’t consider myself a preacher of the Word. We have men trained for that. I do not have a degree in theology, but what I do have is a calling on my heart to share the gospel. I’m just going to say I’m a sharer of the Word. I love sharing the Word. Do I always feel equipped? Nope! Do I stumble over my words at times? Yep. So why do I keep on doing it? Because there are too many people out there who have not heard the gospel, and if I sit on my behind and keep all of this great news to myself, I am not following the will of my Lord and Savior.

A few years ago, we were on a medical mission trip in the Dominican Republic. This was not the typical medical mission trip where I worked like a robot seeing as many patients as I could possibly see in a day without even getting to share the Word, pray, or even get to know the person that I was providing health care. No, this one was different. We were indeed there to provide much needed medical attention to these people who had been without such care for a long while, but the major goal of this mission trip was to share Christ. The pastor over the mission explained that he would only allow us see a certain number of patients per day, and that he wanted us to actually get to know the people, their culture, their families, and their values. He wanted us to spend time sharing Christ, and this is exactly what we did. My husband, who is not in the medical field, worked with others at a registration point. Here, the patients were registered, and the questionnaire began. The simple process of asking about their beliefs, church, family, etc. was started at this point. The patient would then go from registration to triage. The nurses there dove a little deeper in the questioning and interacting aspect. Notes were jotted down on the intake sheet, and the patient was then taken to see the providers. When they reached our station, we attended to their medical needs, but continued the conversations that were started at the very first point. By the end of our examination, we knew a good bit about the patient, whether or not they were a believer, and we were able to share some of the gospel. The best thing about this was that at the end of each visit, we asked the patients if we could pray for them, and every single one of them allowed me to pray. They continued from our station to the pharmacy, and the seeds continued to be planted and watered along the way.

One morning, we got up, loaded up in pick up trucks, and headed up the mountain. Some of us rode squished inside the little compact truck, while others rode in the back of the trucks. It was a rough and rugged 45 minute ride up that mountain. We were so excited when we arrived and saw that the patients were lined up waiting to see us. The people on the mountain were primarily Haitian refugees, very poor, living in substandard housing, and many were without electricity. There was no running water. At the end of our first day, our team felt disheartened. The people here were different. They were cold, distant, and seemed almost unreachable. It felt like there was an evil spirit there. Seriously, we could feel that something was so off with these people. They were very distant. They wanted the medical attention, but they did not want anything more. My heart was broken for them. After a long day, we went back to our lodging, and we debriefed and prayed. We knew that we had to go back up that mountain the next day, and it seemed like we were wasting out time. I was thankful that we were able to meet their medical needs, but I wanted to give them some Jesus too!

If you ever doubt the power of prayer, I say test it. Our team of 14 prayed fiercely for the mountain people that night. The next morning, we loaded up for the bouncy ride back up the mountain, and everything was different. The moods were lighter. There was a freshness in the attitudes of the people. They were open to our questioning and some even responded to the calling of God. I remember one lady very clearly. I asked her if she knew the Lord as her Savior, and she told me that she did not but that she wanted to know Him. She wanted to know how to be saved. I was so excited when I heard this, especially after the trying day we had previously, that I was almost at a loss for words. I jumped up to find the pastor, and when I finally tracked him down, I told him that I had a lady who wanted to be lead to Christ. He looked at me and said, “Go do it.” I thought, “umm, me? I’m not equipped for that.” He read my expression and assured me that I could do it. I walked back to my makeshift clinic thinking, “I’m not their pastor. I can’t do this. I don’t even speak her language. How am I going to share my whole heart with this lady who doesn’t speak the language of my heart or mouth?” And I had to do this through a translator who admitted that he was a believer, but he did not believe in eternal salvation. I only knew a handful of Spanish words, and these Haitians didn’t even speak regular Spanish. That spoke a Creole Haitian version of Spanish. What and how was I going to pull this off. I didn’t want to fail this most important test. Oh but God! I doubt my abilities all day long every day, but I don’t ever doubt God’s. The Holy Spirit showed up, and showed out on that very day. I grabbed my Bible, sat down with this lady, and I shared the gospel via a translator, and on that glorious day, I watered the seeds that had been planted in this lady’s life, and God took over and made those seeds grow. She accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior, and I know all of heaven was rejoicing. This redneck girl from Mississippi was dancing with joy on the inside.

But, wait, that’s not all. While sharing the word with this precious little lady, my translator’s eyes were opened too. He was a young man of about 27 years of age. He believed in Christ, but as was common to the culture there, he believed that he could lose his salvation through sin. He didn’t understand the redemptive power of our Savior, and he didn’t understand that once saved we are always saved. He began asking questions in between patient visits, and I was able to explain the fullness of grace that our Lord offers us. I explained repentance and forgiveness, and told him that my belief from reading God’s Word is that once I become His child, I am His forever. I was able to explain to him that I was a big old goof ball who made mistakes many times, but just because I fall down doesn’t mean I won’t get back up. I explained that God loves us no matter what, and when we become His children, the Holy Spirit of the living God resides within us and convicts us when we are doing wrong and urges us to repentance. I shared that there was nothing or no one that could snatch us out of the Father’s hands once we were truly His. I planted seeds. I think I watered seeds. And I prayed that God would grow those seeds in the heart of that young man.

Do you see how awesome our God is? He can take a redneck girl from Mississippi to a mountain in the Dominican Republic to speak to Haitian Creoles about Him, and He can open their hearts to receive His Word even when the words are being translated through a non-believer. And He can cause that non-believer to start questioning his faith opening doors for more seeds to be planted and watered. You do not have to be a preacher. You do not have to be a theologian. You just have to be you, willing to share the gospel, heeding the will of God, and just be a willing vessel. All you have to do is be willing to plant and water. The Holy Spirit will take over the growing part. You just have to do it! Just do it!

Hebrews 11:7 It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith.

We are studying Hebrews, chapter 11, in Sunday School and taking a detailed look at a few people of great faith. This week we explored the faith of Noah, and it has definitely made me search my heart. I can say I have faith all day long, but do I have the faith of Noah? I’m not sure. If you go back to the beginning of the Bible and read Genesis, you will be reminded that the people of the earth had grown very wicked in their ways. God created man in His image, but he also gave man the gift of free will. Men and women were making choices that were so ungodly. God looked at the people, and all he that saw was corruption. Their thoughts were corrupted with evil thoughts, and good thoughts could not even be entertained. Everything that the people thought and imagined was totally evil. God grew weary of these people. Genesis 6:6 says, “So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart.” Can you imagine it? God created man, surrounded him with beauty, met all of his needs, and then sin entered the world and man fell so far from God that it broke the heart of the Creator. His heart was broken so badly that He decided that He would wipe the face of the earth of every living thing…animals and people. Maybe He wanted to start over, make a clean slate. But God, oh there’s that but God saying again, but God saw Noah, and Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

God told Noah that He was going to send a great flood to cleanse the earth, and He told him to get busy constructing an ark. He gave Him the floorplan and dimensions, and He laid it all out for Noah. But y’all, prior to this there had never even been any rain on the earth. From the best I can understand, everything was watered with a vapor or mist that came up from the earth sort of like that of the rain forest. It had never rained. It had never flooded. Yet, God told Noah to build a gigantic boat for he and his family and two of every living creature so that they might be saved when this flood came. Also note that Noah didn’t live near a large body of water, so he had probably not even seen a big boat, much less one the size of the ark that he was to build. But Noah commenced to building a boat. He believed God, he had faith that what God told him was the truth, and he reached out on faith and did as he was commanded.

Now, we have to realize that this was not an easy task for Noah. Have you ever been to the Ark Encounter in Kentucky? The life size replica of the ark is massive. As we walked through my thoughts kept going back to how in the world did Noah and his sons accomplish this enormous undertaking? They had no power tools, no table saws, no nail guns. There wasn’t a Lowe’s or Home Depot on the corner to run over to and purchase the wood. He also didn’t have a huge construction team of men working on this project. As a matter of fact, he was scorned, laughed at, and ridiculed by the people around him. He had to complete this project on his own with the help of his family only. It is remarkable to me that this man and his sons could have completed this on their own, but it’s not surprising at all when you factor in the fact that it was God’s will. When God’s will is behind any task, nothing can stand in the way of completion.

It took years to construct the ark. The Bible doesn’t really pin point the exact amount of years, but it was quite a few. During that time, Noah was likely taunted day in and day out. People laughed at him, but what did Noah do? He kept on preaching and warning the people, and he kept on building that ark. He had never seen rain. He had never heard of a flood. He had never built a boat. But he knew that he could trust in God. He had so much faith, and it had to be a fantastically strong faith in order for him to accomplish what he accomplished in such an overwhelmingly negative situation. Though mocked and ridiculed, he persisted. He didn’t give up. He followed God.

I don’t know about y’all, but I’ve heard the story of Noah and the ark since my early childhood days, and even though I’ve heard it hundreds of times, I had never really invested a lot of time thinking about just how much faith was involved in this endeavor. Noah was truly a man of faith. He sets a standard that we should all strive to live by. God spoke. Noah believed. Noah acted. Are we that faithful? Are we listening for the voice of God? Are we heeding His will? Are we living for Him despite the negative feedback that we get from those around us? We have to get back to God. We need to renew our relationship with our Lord and Savior, and we need to start building our arks! No, there will never be another flood of the whole earth. God promised that, and He does not break His promises. But just look around, Peeps? He has to be growing weary of the people of the earth again. Wickedness and evil are no longer hiding, but rather these things are right out in the open for all to see. The people are straying so far from God. We need to pray, get in His Word, and really live for Christ sharing the gospel with everyone we meet. Yes, we will probably get mocked and ridiculed too, but that just means we are doing it right! We need to learn to have a whole lot of faith just like Noah!

Psalm 146:4-6 I am losing all hope; I am paralyzed with fear. I remember the days of old.  I ponder all your great works and think about what you have done. I lift my hands to you in prayer. I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain.

Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.

Philippians 4:10-14 How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me. Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty.

What do we need? I’m not talking about what do we want, but rather what is it that we really need in this life to survive? Physically, we really only need three things. We need food, water, and shelter. Yep, that’s it. The list is short. If we would only eat and drink what was required to sustain us and be healthy, we’d be alright, but no, we can’t do that! At least not here in Mississippi. We love our coffee, sweet tea, and sodas. Instead of consuming a lot of water, we drink way too many sugary sweet drinks. Then we add loads of carbs and fats to our diet. We indulge a bit too much at the buffets. Mississippi is number one in the United States for obesity, and number two for diabetes and hypertension. Out of fifty states, we are on the top of those three lists. These are lists that we shouldn’t be on if we are trying to remain healthy. But there we sit, right on top. I don’t like that we are on the top of these three lists, but I have to admit I understand it in part. Nobody else cooks like Mississippi. We have traveled a good bit, and naturally, trying out the local cuisine is a favorite part of travel. We have not tasted food with as much delectable flavor anywhere in our travels that even comes close to good old Mississippi home cooking. So where does this leave us? We’re fat, probably dehydrated, and for the most part, we have adequate shelter, but is this really what we need? I have to say no.

We do need food, water, and shelter physically, but we also crave these things spiritually. Why? Because there is a void within us that longs for a relationship with Jesus Christ. We need spiritual food and water. Matthew 5:6 reads, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” We hunger and thirst for a relationship with Christ and that relationship makes us right with God. We will never be satisfied until we fill that void. Matthew 4:4 reminds us that we can not live by bread alone, “but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” We need the bread of the Father to fill us up spiritually. And what about water? “But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Christ is the living water that we crave, and the only living water that will sustain us an offer us eternal life. And Psalm 91 has been one of my favorite psalms the past few months, and it tells us where we can find shelter. We find it in the arms of the Most High.

We all agree that we need food, water, and shelter to survive, and we sure do a fine job at making sure those physical needs are met. But what about the spiritual need for food, water, and shelter. Are we on the top of the lists for those things. Are we number one in the state for hungering and thirsting after Christ. Are we thirsting for Christ like we thirst for our morning coffee? Are we craving a relationship with him like we crave a big old ribeye steak and baked potato? Are we resting in the shelter of the Most High? We should be thirsty for God. We should be longing to be in His presence and know more about Him, grow in our faith and our relationship with Him, and then go share this with others. We should long as the psalmist in Psalm 42:1-2 longs, “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before him?”

Y’all, we have to stop being number one in things that are bad for us, and start striving to be number one at seeking spiritual wellness. Of course, as a nurse practitioner, I want you to seek physical wellness too, but spiritual health is even more important to me than physical health. How do we get healthy? I spend all day teaching people that they need to eat low carbohydrate, low salt, low fat diets, and I encourage water and regular exercise. We know what we need to do, it’s just a matter of doing those things. It’s the same way for spiritual health. We need to take in the necessary nutrition. We have the holy Word of God to feed on. It is sweeter than honey. You just have to dive in and taste it. It’s all right there. Nutrition for the soul can be found in the Bible. You say you’re not really hungry or thirsty for the Word? Well, my friend, I’m going to tell you to pray that God makes you hungry and thirsty for His Word and for a relationship with Him. Be careful though. If you ask for it, you will get it! God wants you in His word. He wants a relationship with Him, and if you ask, He will definitely provide. He will provide all of the spiritual nourishment we need, and we can rest knowing that we are always in the shelter of the Most High.

So what do we really need? The answer can’t get much simpler. We need Jesus! If we learn to turn our focus on Him alone, His Word, and living for Him, we will have all that we need because He will work all the rest of it out for our good and His glory every single time!

Hebrews 13:20-21 Now may the God of peace—who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, I and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood—
may he equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to him. All glory to him forever and ever! Amen.

I Corinthians 1:26-29 Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.

What does following Jesus look like? It looks very different depending on who is answering the question. Some follow Jesus by trailing behind. They stay just close enough to see Him, but not really close enough to get involved. Some follow by getting a little bit closer, but they still keep Him at a distance. They recognize the presence and sovereignty of the Lord, but they still aren’t all in. Then there are those that follow so closely they can feel the presence of the Savior. These are the ones that are totally in it. They are invested. They are serving, following, reading the Word, studying, and sharing Christ with others. I think we all go through these different stages at certain points in our life. I know that I have been in each stage myself. Currently, I find myself in the “all in it” stage of following, and this is where I want to stay.

Everybody has a different story, a different testimony. I always thought that I didn’t really have a great story to tell, but my God, oh but God, He decided that this wordy , kinky haired girl from south Mississippi had a lot to say, so He decided to put this girl to work telling others about Him. It happened very gradually, and by happen chance. My husband and I went on two different foreign mission trips, and God grabbed a hold of my heart. Oh, He already had me before that point, but I was more in the trailing behind or the getting a little bit closer but not reaching out and touching stage of my walk. Then, one Sunday night at church, we had a fifth Sunday singing. At that singing some of the ladies and gentlemen read poetry. It was beautiful. Y’all, I can’t sing. I’ve shared that numerous times. I sound akin to a cat who has its tail caught under a rocking chair with someone steadily rocking. It’s not pretty. But, I love to write. I used to write poetry in high school. I never published any of it, but I enjoyed writing. Well, after that fifth Sunday singing, I told my husband that I was going to write a poem for church. Then I promptly told him that I was going to write a poem about the five skunks we had just rescued, and it was going to be a church poem. Well, he laughed, and with his ever supporting, loving heart, he said, “I don’t now how you’re going to pull it together, but go for it.” So I did. One day I wrote the words to “Stinking Thinking”. I had planned to read it at our next fifth Sunday singing, but God had other plans. I read it to my sister, Chandra, and she said, “You’ve just written a children’s book. You’ve got to get that published.” I argued and told her that it wasn’t a book. It was just a poem for church. She insisted, and I shared it with my husband. He agreed, and I began to pray about it. I sent the book to Christian Faith Publishing, and within a week, they called me and asked to publish my book.

After “Stinking Thinking” was published, I submitted “A Raccooon Tale”, and before I knew it, I had two children’s books in circulation. One book tells the salvation story through the rescue of baby skunks, and the second one tells us how to model our lives after Christ by using raccoon behaviors. Both books are simple, but they share Christ, and that was my desire. Suddenly, words began to form on paper. I carried a notebook with me everywhere, and I began recording funny farm stories. I’ve written chapters while having my oil changed, waiting in the dentist’s office, and while traveling on vacation. We live on a true funny farm with a menagerie of farm and exotic animals, and I tell you nothing but the truth when I say that we have some real funny stories occurring here on a daily basis. I wrote the stories and related them to biblical truths and scripture, and my most recent publication, “Inspirations from the Funny Farm,” was the fruit of my labors. Now, I am writing this blog. I get up every morning, and I pray, “Give me a word, Lord.” I pray for God to give me an idea, something to work with, something to share, something to encourage, or something to lead others to Him. I started writing these morning devotionals almost seven months ago, and the words keep coming. God is so good y’all.

I am nothing special. I am not a professional writer or blogger. I am just a girl who loves the Lord. I’m a nurse practitioner by trade, a wife, mother, grandmother, and farmer by the grace of God, and I’m a writer by the gift of God. I saw this meme on the internet that reads “When God put a calling on your life, He already factored in your stupidity. Most comforting thing I’ve ever heard.” Isn’t that the truest statement ever? God called me to write, and I’m writing. He knows all of my faults, my weaknesses, and my shortcomings, but still, He chooses to use me. I’m going to follow Him with all I have in me because I know that is what I am supposed to be doing.

God doesn’t want us to be half way in . He wants us to be fully following and trusting Him. He created us for His glory, and if we aren’t serving and glorifying Him, what are we doing? We are called to follow. How are you following today?

Isaiah 41:13 For I hold you by your right hand—I, the Lord your God. And I say to you, “Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you.”

Isaiah 46:4 I will be your God throughout your lifetime—until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.

Isaiah 41:10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

We’ve been reading in the book of Isaiah the last few nights as we continue our reading through the Bible in a year plan. There are some very good words of wisdom in this book and many great reassurances. I praise God for His Word. I am so thankful that He provided His Holy Word to give us guidance, strength, and peace. We have God that is bigger than all our troubles and problems, and His Word reveals that to us over and over again.

We all have problems. We may not admit them, but if we are living and breathing, we probably have some sort of problem or concern. The problem with our problems is that we try work them out on our own. I’m a very visual person. I love to take pictures. I take pictures of anything and everything, and when I’m working things out in my mind, I do so with pictures or images. Sometimes we have to picture things in order to get a clear image of the situation at hand.

When we picture all our problems in our mind, we see all the different problems in the picture. We may see financial problems, relationship issues, concerns about our children, health troubles, job stressors, and the list goes on. We see all of these troubles in the picture, and then we see ourselves sitting in the middle of the picture surrounded by all of these problems. The problem with this is that we are seeing it all wrong! When we look at a picture of all those problems, we shouldn’t see ourselves sitting in the midst of the trouble, but rather we should see GOD in the picture with our problems. We have to take ourselves out everything, and we need to give everything to God.

Some might say, if God is handling all of my problems, why do I have so many? Well, my friend, sometimes we bring those problems on ourselves. We aren’t perfect. We goof up every now and then even when we are trying to live a good and righteous life. God can and will handle any and all problems that we are enduring, but we have to trust Him through the process. Psalm 119:71-72 tells us, “My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees. Your instructions are more valuable to me than millions in gold and silver.” What? Did he say that suffering is good for me? Yea, buddy! When we go through the struggles in life, we learn from the difficulties and we learn to lean on our Lord and Savior. We are going to have problems in this life. Life is a problem solving adventure. WE may not choose the problem, but we get to choose how the problem affects us. The problem will either develop us or defeat us. We get to make the choice.

No matter what type of difficulty you are going through, you can rest assured that God will use the problem for your benefit. Sometimes He uses the situation to direct you. Maybe He needs to get you to start moving in a certain direction, and He uses a problem to ignite you and get you going. Maybe, just maybe, God has placed something on your heart that He wants you to do, but you won’t budge. Maybe He uses a problem to get you moving in the direction in which He desires for you to go.

Sometimes He uses a problem to correct you. Maybe you are going down a path of destruction, and God uses a problem to teach you a lesson. Ouch! We don’t like the sounds of that one, but there is truth there. Just as a parent disciplines a child who is doing wrong, God is going to discipline His kids. He’s going to get our attention, and a lesson will be learned. Just as we love our children too much to allow them to do things that will harm them, God loves us too much to ignore us when we are doing wrong.

Maybe God is using the problem to inspect you. Did you ever think of that? I’ve read this little saying on social media. “You are holding a cup of hot coffee, and someone bumps you and causes the hot coffee to spill everywhere. Why did you spill the coffee? Because there was coffee in the cup. Had there been tea in the cup, you would have spilled tea. The point is whatever is in the cup will be spilled out. Therefore, when life comes along and shakes you, whatever is inside of you will spill out.” So…what spills out when you are struggling through a difficult situation? Do people around you see fear, anger, bitterness, or do they see love and grace as the marks of a true child of God? What does God see when He inspects you?

Maybe God is using your problem to protect you. Perhaps He has closed the door on a job, a new place to live, or a dream that you had, and it seems like the end of the world. We have to remember that God knows what is coming down the road, and sometimes He closes doors so that other doors can be opened. We can’t see as God sees. He is all knowing, and He knows just what we need when we need it. He may remove a person, a thing, or even a job from our lives in order to provide needed protection.

Our problems weigh us down. We try to carry the burden all alone. Oh, if we could only see the big picture. All those problems that we picture are not too big for God. We may or may not have invited the problem in, but regardless, God is going to use the situation for our good and His glory every time. Stop picturing yourself surrounded by all of the problems of the day. Begin picturing our perfect Lord and Savior…sitting right there in the middle of it all…working it all out. He’s working on each one of us. He’s directing us, correcting us, inspecting us, and protecting us, and ultimately, y’all, He is perfecting us. Just picture it!

Matthew 18:12-14 If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t wander away! In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish.

Yesterday morning, the writing of my daily devotional was delayed a bit. My husband had noticed that one of the cows was in labor the evening before. He had checked on her a couple of times, but she hadn’t yet calved. So we got up yesterday and headed straight out to check on her. Naturally, she wasn’t where he had last seen her. We walked all through the wooded area where she was laboring the previous evening, but she was nowhere to be found. We drove around that particular 25 acre field, but we didn’t see her. We walked through muddy branches and through thick wooded areas. She was not in any of the usually “delivery rooms”. We had walked that field for over an hour searching for that mama cow, worried that she may be in trouble. Finally, after much rigorous searching, we spotted her. She had delivered twins! She must’ve had a little difficulty and walked all night because we found her clear across the field from where we left her. We were so excited to see her, upright, looking perfectly content with her pretty new babies. I squealed with joy when I saw those beautiful babies.

My friend, Gretta, said that this story sounded like a good devotional on the parable of the lost cow (sheep), and I agree. We were getting very anxious when we couldn’t find that cow. We saw all of the other cows in the field. All the other new calves appeared healthy and everyone else was accounted for, yet there was one missing. The one missing was is labor, and she was lost. We couldn’t find her anywhere. We spent a good bit of our morning searching for the one that was lost. We weren’t worried about the cows that we could see safely grazing in the field. They weren’t lost. They weren’t in trouble. They were safely in the field within the eyesight of the farmer, happy and safe.

This is how our heavenly Father sees His children. He watches over each and every one of us. We are safe under His watchful eye. But every now and then, we may wonder off track. We may start living outside of the will of God. We get into trouble. We may not realize that we are having trouble, but the Great Shepherd knows. The Holy Spirit will work within us. We will feel the tug as the Spirit urges us to come home, turn away from the wicked living, and turn back to Him. He will trouble our hearts and sometimes our situations to bring us back to Him. Why does He care so much? Why does He bother? Simply because He loves us so very much. We are His kids, and if we are in trouble, He wants to rescue us and bring us back into the loving shelter of the Most High. And when we return to Him. No matter how far we’ve strayed and no matter how long we’ve been gone, when we finally return, the Lord rejoices! He loves us so much, and when we return to Him, He celebrates with great joy.

What about those of us who aren’t Christians? What about the ones who haven’t accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior? Oh, I assure you, the good Shepherd is really seeking those that are lost. You may not know Him. You may not even know that you are lost or that you are in need of rescue, but let me assure you…the Father knows. He wants to rescue you today. He loves you. He loves the saved and the sinners, and He desires a relationship with all people!

If you are feeling lost, overwhelmed, off track, or just plain old weary, why don’t you come to the Father. He would leave the 99 to find the one that is lost to bring him home. He is calling you home today. Won’t you heed the call? Come on home to the loving arms of the Father. He wants to celebrate your return with great joy! You’ve not wandered too far away to come back home. I promise! He’s still waiting and looking for you right now!