Swimming with the shark...

What a great tag line for Good Friday, huh?  It reminds me of a message by my pastor, when I was living in Atlanta.  It was a beautiful Sunday morning Mother's Day.  Instead of sharing on the blessings of a woman, the legacy of a mother, you know, those typical Mother's Day messages, he shared a sermon entitled "The Wrath of God"!  I loved it and remember it every Mother's Day with a smile.  So, I thought of him this morning as I felt like God wanted me to share this today.

A few weeks ago, I had a dream.  I know, we dream more often than we remember, but this one I happened to remember.  In this dream, my daughter was taking a bath.  She LOVES to take baths, and usually fills the tub with nine million toys, or sometimes chooses just one.  She has an assortment of animals, one being a rubber shark.

In my dream, she was 'swimming' and playing in the tub, but with a shark that was real.  Real fins, real eyes, and real teeth.  She wanted to play with it, but I kept trying to teach her how to push him away when he came near, so he wouldn't bite.  She would say, "But Mommie, he's not going to bite me.  I just want to play with him a tiny bit.  It's OK, I'll be OK."

Again, in the dream, I must have had a screw loose, because I allowed her to stay in there.  I just kept an eye on her.   If the shark came too close, I (calmly, actually) told her to either move out of his way, or to bump him in the nose so he would swim away & wouldn't bite.  And he didn't, at first.  But, after some time, and before you could do anything about it, he took a big bite out of her leg.  That's when the dream ended.

Now, it wasn't that traumatic the next morning for me.  Partly because I only vaguely remembered it, and partly because I knew it was a dream that made no sense...yet.  As the days unfolded, though, I felt like God was bringing it back to my mind to teach me something.

One morning, I was reminded of the dream again.  God took a few moments to share with me.  He said I needed to be careful not to actually put Kathryn in the tub with the shark and expect her to protect herself.  WOW!  He had my full attention.

This particular time, God was very loving and gentle with me.  He didn't scold me for anything, but just wanted to make me aware of the choices that I make in our day to day activities.  I think we are sometimes unaware of the effect some of the outside influences have on our children.  With all of the electronics available now; TV's, movies, computers, games, music...are we really in tune with what is 'swimming' with our children?

Truthfully, I am so grateful and encouraged that God would show me this now, while she is just 6.  We don't engage in anything that I would immediately say, "Oh, that must be a shark," but I am just trying to be aware of the subtle ways the enemy tries get near our children and 'get in their tub.'

So, on this Good Friday morning, I am going curl up on the sofa with my little girl.  We will pull out the Resurrection Eggs read the Easter story together.  I am so very grateful for the sacrifice our Father made.  I am grateful for the obedience of His Son, and this gift of eternal life to all who invite Him to live within their heart.  God is not just waiting and watching to see how we will survive in this 'tub' of life...He is right beside, inside us, guiding us as much as we will allow.  He was, and is, and is to come.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--"  1 Peter 1:3-4

Have an abundantly blessed Easter celebration this weekend ~ He knows you, He loves you, and He gave His life for you.  

"Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, "The Lord reigns!  Let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them!" 1 Chronicles 16:31-32

Monday morning humor...

I hope you're waking up to a marvelous Monday morning!  I think it's great to start the week with a good chuckle, so I thought I'd share.  Feel free to laugh.  Your not laughing AT me, your laughing WITH me ~ because I was, and still am, laughing about it.

If you happened to see the last post, then you know that I had a speaking engagement this past weekend.  It was so much fun!  This event was entitled 'A Woman's Legacy,' and this group of ladies took it over the top with their decorations, food, and gifts.  Everyone was truly blessed, especially me.

So, to the funny part.  After a lovely dinner, it was my time to pop up on stage and share.  I always get a little nervous at first, so I try and be very careful when walking up the stair to the platform.  I had decided to wear cute shoes, just because they were cute, and I wore these high red wedges.  I had long jeans, high heels, a patterned scarf, so you see, I was hip & cool.

I made it to the mic without a hitch (or trip), so I told them all that I was so grateful not to have a "Miss Congeniality" moment in my cute shoes, as I have done before strolling down the streets of New York city.  In my head, I breathed a sigh of relief and started speaking.

Now we had been served a delicious 'legacy' type meal of recipes that your grandmother might have passed down...chicken pot pie, green beans, peach cobbler, etc.  It was yum-my!

Anyway, about 15 minutes or so into my testimony, I felt a little air pocket begin to rise up the center of my being.  Now some may call this a belch or a burp, but if you keep your mouth shut, it's just an air bubble.  However, this little bubble of air was threatening to make an audible appearance.  I waited until just the right time, closed my mouth tightly & swallowed it back down, smiling all the while so I didn't look like a freak.

Somehow, instead of going back where it came from, this little bubble of air exploded in my throat. Normally, this would go unnoticed.  However, when you have a microphone an inch from your face, every sound tends to get picked up and broadcast around the room.

In the split second that it took for me to hear the "BWAAAAAMP" reverberate in the monitor, a stream of thoughts ran through my brain; 'You have got to be kidding me...I just burped in front of 200 women, 200 southern women...I am supposed to be a southern woman...What would my Grandmother say...I bet this never happens to Beth Moore!'

I immediately said, "Oh my, please excuse me."  Then I got tickled and just started rolling off things like, "Just call me 'Grace,'' 'You have got to be kidding me,' 'That was lovely, wasn't it,'" and so on. We all had a good laugh and eventually moved on.

Later that evening I learned that most of the room couldn't even hear it.  I guess the monitor just made it sound REALLY loud to me.  That made me laugh again because there were those that had no idea why I couldn't stop laughing, & just started rambling off these random phrases, trying to regain my composure.

Truth be told, there were a number of women there that night that needed a good laugh because the circumstances of their life would tend to produce more tears than laughter.  I am happy to be used by the Lord, in whatever way He sees fit.  As my Mom loved to say, "ALL things work together for good to those that love the Lord and are called according to His purpose."  (Rom. 8:28)  Amen, Mom.

I hope you have a lovely week, filled with the Joy of the Lord ~

Deborah

The Great I Am

"Let the words of my mouth & the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock & my redeemer."  Psalm 19:14

My heart is full of the majesty of the Great I Am this morning.  I don't know if you've heard a new song by Jared Anderson called Great I Am, but you must take a listen.  I was driving on a trip a few weeks ago, & popped in the new CD from New Life Worship.   To be honest, I was so engaged in thought that it was background music for me.  However, once the 6th track got started, I could not help but listen & join in worship.  It is a such powerful proclamation to the Glory & Greatness of the one true God, the Great I Am.  I must have listened to that one song over & over, at least 8-10 times in a row.  The whole project is wonderful, but every time I play Great I Am, I feel like the heavens open up & the glory of God is poured out over the earth.  I added a link below so you can be blessed by it as well.

http://youtu.be/cPb1OwqplR8

I am honored to be speaking this weekend at a Ladies Night Out event in Star, MS.  I have a lot of family there, & one of the churches asked me to come & share my testimony.  I've shared it a number of times, at various venues, & so I thought maybe I should share something different, you know, something 'fresh'.  I kept asking God to let me know what He wanted to say to these women.  I would try to take a nugget from this day or a word from that devotion to build upon, but it never really went anywhere.

This week I was reminded that a testimony is a living, breathing story.  It is our own history in the making; but it is actually HIStory.  If we look to the Bible, we don't see new stories being handed down from generation to generation...we see THE story being told & retold.  When we read the Word, God reveals something new and fresh, even though we may have read the same words over & over.  The same thing happens with our testimonies~each time we share what He has done in our lives, God can reveal Himself to someone in a new, fresh way, even though the story may be the same.

God has done some absolutely amazing things in my life, & brought me through times that I would not have survived if I had not seen the 'goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.' (Psalm 27:13) The testimony that I have of His faithfulness is a story that I love to share, whether it is to an audience of 200, or an audience of 2.  My favorite testimony time is spent curled up on the sofa, with an audience of one...one pair of beautiful hazel eyes staring up at me as she asks, 'Mommy, tell me about the time..."  Her story will have mine & Rick's woven into it, just as our testimony has those of our ancestors, friends, & family running through it as well.  That becomes our living legacy.

We all have a story, & we all have an audience.  Take a few minutes & listen to Jared's song; 2, 3, or maybe 10 times.  As you worship the Great I Am, may He remind you of His faithfulness to you in such a real way that you have to share it with someone.

If you don't mind, I'd appreciate you joining me in prayer for this weekend.  Saturday evening there will be a couple hundred women coming to hear my / HIStory.   May God use my mouth to speak His words, & may He open all of our hearts & minds to hear His voice.  I am humbled & extremely grateful to be a child of the Great I Am.

"The Lord bless you & keep you, the Lord make His face shine upon you & be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you & give you peace." Numbers 6:24

Deborah