First I want to share this link. http://lifetoday.org/video/filled-to-the-measure.  After hearing Beth Moore's story, I was inspired to share mine.


Sometimes Jesus asks us to do things that are outside of our comfort zone, and we argue with Him, and struggle with Him...just like Moses did. I want to share something with you that happened to me a few weeks ago. I'm not sharing this to be recognized or praised, because it isn't about me, it's about obedience to the Lord, and the blessings that overflow as a result. 


I live in a very small mill town just on the other side of the river from Charlotte. It is extremely rare to see homeless people in this little community, especially on this particular road. I had just pulled out onto Catawba Street, just a couple blocks from my house, when I saw a woman walking in the cold rain. Her nose was the first thing I noticed. It was beet red, her head humg low, and she was bundled up in baggy sweats and an oversized jacket, carrying what looked like a sleeping bag rolled up in a garbage bag. My heart immediately began to pound, and I cried out, "Oh God, help her! Have mercy on her!" Do you know what the Holy Spirit said to me? "Turn around and buy her some breakfast and a cup of coffee." I said, "Oh please don't ask me to do that! I'm scared!" So as I'm driving and arguing with God, with all kinds of things running through my head, I've already crossed the bridge into Charlotte, and the Holy Spirit says, "OBEY ME and TURN AROUND!" SO I DID, shaking and panting all the way. I see her and cut her off at a side street, roll down my window and called out to her, "Excuse me! Can I take you for some breakfast and a cup of coffee?" She looks up at me with these big brown eyes and says with a German accent, "Are you serious?" I said, "Yes I'm serious. Get in!" Well, she got in, and she smelled really bad, with dirt streaked on her plain face.  She was the most meek and precious woman I have ever met. I asked her where she slept last night, and she told me she slept outside. It had rained all night, and the temps were down in the low 40's. 


I took her to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast and coffee. We talked a little. Her name is Bridget, and she confirmed that she is from Germany. She's been here for 6 or 8 years...I don't remember which, now. I asked her if I could take her to my church in Charlotte to get her some help, but she declined and asked me if I could take her to the corner of Woodlawn and Old Pineville Rd., so I did. She asked me to drop her off at a gas station, so I did. I asked her if she needed some cash, and she said all she needed was the food and coffee I gave her. I didn't want to let her go, but she assured me she would be fine. I gave her a card with the name and phone number of my church, and wrote my name and phone number on the back, and told her to please call me if she needed ANYTHING. She thanked me and told me, as she was getting out, "You will be blessed." She has no idea how blessed and humbled I already was at that moment. I don't know what the result of that obedience to God was or is, and I may never know. 


I was told that she could have been an angel. When I heard that I got goosebumps, because that exact thing had actually come to my mind when I was struggling with God over going back for her. Maybe she WAS an angel. Scripture tells us in Hebrews 13:2 (NIV), "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it."  But maybe she was just a woman in need of food and warmth for a little while.  Maybe she was just a woman who had been beat down by life's circumstances and needed a stranger to show her some kindness, to help her make it one more day. I DO know that in that experience God taught me humility.  He also proved to me that when I choose to be obedient, to step out of my comfort zone, He will provide EVERYTHING I need to accomplish His will and purpose.

Excerpt from Jesus Calling devotional ~ When you trust Me in a given area, you release that problem or that person into My care.


One of the scriptures from that devotional is from John 14:27 (amp) ~ Jesus is speaking to His disciples, "Peace I leave with you; My own peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled."


This spoke to me perfectly this morning.  I've been struggling for a while with a particular relationship, and that has had an effect on others.  I've also had much anxiety and stress related to my 24 year old son moving back home (which is an answered prayer, and another story), spiritual warfare in my own home, and to top it all off, there's the stress of dealing with the "c" word (I won't say the word. I won't give it legs to stand on) that has effected my mom, my sister-in-law, and numerous friends and acquaintances.


It is a daily struggle to release all of this to Jesus.  I love the amplified's version, "Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed..."  That is exactly how I've felt; agitated and disturbed.  VERY disturbed!


Abba Father, I release all of my worries, my cares, my anxieties, my troubles, and my fears to you, right now!  I release this person to You, Father.  I release my mom, my sister-in-law, and each of my precious friends to You!  I place each of them into Your perfect care!  In Jesus precious name, it is done!

Watch this film, as we approach the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, remember the families, and friends of those who lost their lives on that day.  Pray for God's protection over this land.  Pray for revival.


http://aclj.org/war-on-terror/jay-sekulow-presents-forever-changed-9-11-in-remembrance-full-film

Just a short while ago, along the East Coast, we experienced a substantial tremor from a 6.0 earthquake in Virginia, near Richmond, which is not completely unusual, but does not occur frequently.  And with that, as Christians, we are always keeping our eyes open for the signs of the end times.  It is my belief that we are indeed in the end times.  It is true that natural disasters, famines, disease, pestilence, wars and rumors of wars have always occurred, but these things are as birth pangs, becoming more frequent, and more severe.  Look at cancer, for instance.  With all of modern technology, we are still seeing more and more and more cancer. I have never in my life known personally so many with cancer.  It is my hearts desire to see each an every one of my family and friends surrender their lives to the God of Israel, and accept His gift of sacrifice He himself, in the person of Jesus Christ, has offered freely to us.  I beg each of you to accept this awesome gift of life everlasting, before the day comes when it will be too late.

Matthew 24

The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times

 ¹ Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. ² “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” ³ As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
 ⁴ Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. ⁶ You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of birth pains.
   ⁹ “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. ¹⁰ At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, ¹¹ and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. ¹² Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, ¹³ but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
   ¹⁵ “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’^[a] spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— ¹⁶ then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ¹⁷ Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. ¹⁸ Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. ¹⁹ How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! ²⁰ Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. ²¹ For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.
   ²² “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. ²³ At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. ²⁴ For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵ See, I have told you ahead of time.
   ²⁶ “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. ²⁷ For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ²⁸ Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
   ²⁹ “Immediately after the distress of those days
   “‘the sun will be darkened,
   and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
   and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’^[b]
   30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth^[c]will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.^[d] 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
   ³² “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. ³³ Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it^[e] is near, right at the door. ³⁴ Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. ³⁵ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

The Day and Hour Unknown

    ³⁶ “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,^[f] but only the Father. ³⁷ As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸ For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; ³⁹ and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰ Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. ⁴¹ Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.   ⁴² “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. ⁴³ But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴ So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
   ⁴⁵ “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶ It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. ⁴⁷ Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁸ But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ ⁴⁹ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. ⁵⁰The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. ⁵¹ He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

I wasn't out of bed, this morning, more than 10 minutes when poo hit the fan.  When the enemy realizes he can't get you in one area of your life, he goes for the next one.

I got up to muddy dog prints all over the kitchen floor, so I quickly and quietly started mopping them up...then I just had to open my mouth (my husband was in the kitchen eating his breakfast).  I made a harmless (what I thought was harmless) comment about the dog scratching up the hardwood...well that canon-balled into a full on fight that lasted all of 30 seconds.  Words flew out of both our mouths, the front door slams and tears start rolling.  Wow.  What a way to start the day (I'm not agreeable until I've had my cup of coffee). 

Well let me tell you, it wasn't a minute after he went out the door, I heard the notification signal for my daily Bible verse app, coming from my phone.  I picked it up and looked at it through blurry, soaking wet eyes, and the verse of the day was James 3:7-10.  

⁷For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea animal, can be tamed and has been tamed by human genius (nature).
    ⁸But the human tongue can be tamed by no man. It is a restless (undisciplined, irreconcilable) evil, full of deadly poison.
    ⁹With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who were made in God's likeness!
    ¹⁰Out of the same mouth come forth blessing and cursing. These things, my brethren, ought not to be so.


Though the words I spoke were not necessarily evil, by human standards, they were evil by God's standards.  They were undisciplined and poison.  They were hurtful, and did nothing to build up my husband.  They were an offense against him.  What I understand this scripture to say, is that when say things that are hurtful to people, we are also hurting God.  He is a personal God, and His heart is broken when we behave in ways He never intended for us to behave, just as we as parents are hurt when our children behave badly.  God created us in His likeness, to be in perfect communion with Him, but when we sin, we break that communion (yes, spouting off at the mouth is a sin), and we are then separated from Him.  But the good news is, when we ask forgiveness He is anxious to forgive and bring us back into communion with Him.


Moral of the story...shut your pie hole, 'cause if you can't say nothin' nice, don't say nothin' at all.  Have a super blessed day!