Sufficient Grace

I was reading in John about the crucifixion of Jesus. I googled crucifixion and this is a short explanation: Crucifixion: Jesus Faced a Horrible Death
Crucifixion sometimes began with a scourging or flogging of the victim’s back. The Romans used a whip called a flagrum, which consisted of small pieces of bone and metal attached to a number of leather strands. The number of blows given to Jesus is not recorded; however, the number of blows in Jewish law was 39 (one less than the 40 called for in the Torah, to prevent a counting error). During the scourging, the skin was ripped from the back, exposing a bloody mass of tissue and bone. Extreme blood loss occurred, often causing death, or at least unconsciousness. In addition to the flogging, Jesus faced severe beating and torment by the Roman soldiers, including the plucking of His beard and the piercing of His scalp with a crown of thorns.

I have heard that Jesus was beaten so badly he was unrecognizable.
I want you to take a moment and get a mental picture of the scene at hand. Got it?
Now I want to take you to another person at this scene. Mary, the mother of Jesus.
John 19:25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother.
The Bible doesn't say Mary was screaming uncontrollably or begging for his life or wailing loudly as I no doubt would have been.
Take that in for a minute. Mary is watching this horrific scene before her eyes. Her first born son, her baby boy, her child. How in the world did she not completely lose her mind?
How did she process the amount of emotions that were going through her? Someone said that her heart bled with His wounds. How true that must have been.
You know when your child gets hurt or is sick how it breaks your heart and you wish it were you instead of them. You don't have to be a parent to feel anguish for a child, seeing anyone you love suffer is heart breaking.
Mary was watching her innocent son be beaten and abused. Again there is no mention of her being hysterical.
How is that possible? It can only be possible through grace.
2 Corinthians 12:9
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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
I know this conversation was between Paul and God. Paul was struggling with something and 3 times he asked for it to be taken away and verse 9 is God's reply, the answer was no.
We rattle off a paraphrase of that verse often, “God's grace is sufficient for me” but have you ever REALLY experienced that kind of grace?
How many times have you asked Jesus to remove something from your life that you're suffering from?
It could only be by the grace of God that Mary was able to endure that day.
You don't know what you can bear until you have been tried and some are tested way more than others.
I don't pretend to know why I just know that God's grace is sufficient but being able to say that is not just a cliche for those who live it.
My very dear friend Fran told me a story once about her great granddaughter. She was walking to an ice cream truck with her mother (Fran's granddaughter) and she was hit by a motorcycle. She was ripped right out of her own mothers hand. Fran goes on to tell that she is standing at her great granddaughter's hospital bed with her daughter (the child's grandmother) at her side and her daughter is demanding that she pray the child back to health. They stood there together completely helpless and watched the child die. It was only the grace of God that Fran could even share that story with me.

The story in John goes on that Jesus speaks to his mother and the discipline standing next to her. John 19:26-27 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
When Jesus takes away one source of comfort He replaces it with another. He knew his mother would still need to be taken care of. God is not only sufficient emotionally and spiritually but physically as well.
Another interesting point here is Jesus called her “woman.” It wasn't being disrespectful it was a term of respect but I think it was more than that.
When your child calls you mommy or daddy it goes right to your heart especially when they are hurting.
I believe Jesus didn't call her mom because it would have been to much for her to bear.
Again, His sufficient grace.
It is only God that can sustain us during life's painful moments. Whether its as horrible as watching your child die or less catastrophic like having to find a new job God's grace is sufficient for you.
I know in my life I have taken that grace for granted when I think “I” handled a situation. The truth is I have only been able to handle what God has given me the strength to handle.
I can't imagine what it was like for Mary but I know she believed in the resurrection and that must have been what she held onto. Knowing she would be with her son again in Heaven.
We too have to hold onto that truth. I have loved ones that I will see in Heaven and that gives me great comfort.
My prayer for you today Gems is first to know Jesus Christ as your Savior, the one who gives you sufficient grace. I pray that when you are tested and you ask God to remove the situation and the answer to that prayer is to go through it not remove it that you will remember Mary and the sufficient grace Christ gave His mother.
I pray that in all things you will understand what Paul meant when he said he would boast about his weakness so God's power could rest on him.
Truly the most powerful time you can experience is when you are so broken and weak that God's power is working in and through you and you are experiencing sufficient grace.
My prayer for you today Gems is to boast about your weakness so others can see God's sufficient grace.

This Dying to Self is Killing Me

Seriously the more like Christ I strive to become the more I find myself saying “I'm dyin here!”

I know that's the point but it can be just plain painful at times.
I don't know about you but sometimes I get tired of the Holy Spirit showing me I'm wrong when I think I'm right.
This of course is my first problem.

Let me give you some scriptures to explain what I'm talking about. (Jesus speaking)

Luke 9:23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.

If we want to be a disciple of Christ we must deny our self and take up our cross not just once a week but daily!
What does denying self mean? Glad you asked.
Lately for me denying self means not allowing myself to get offended EVEN when I think I'm right.

I think it's interesting that one of the definitions for offed on dictionary.com was:
(in Biblical use) to cause to fall into sinful ways.
How appropriate. That's exactly what happens. 

You get offended, decide your right and before you know it you have fallen into sinful ways by having resentment or unforgiveness toward another person. You open up a door for the enemy to mess with your mind. He will take a small piece of truth and add his lies to it. You begin to mix your offense with truth.
For me it was having an expectation of someone and when the expectation wasn't met I got my feelings hurt. I started going over the incident in my mind replaying the “offense” and getting my feelings hurt over and over.
I'm not talking about anything earth shattering here.
It can be something as simple as someone not coming through with something they said they would do or not showing up somewhere they said they would.
I shared it with the Lord, again expecting Him to side with me, and this is what the Holy Spirit said to me.
“Gena you can get your feelings hurt and choose to forgive and forget or you can choose to be offended. You can choose being offended, however, that's not an option if your seeking to be more like Christ. You're not allowed to be mad at someone because they didn't meet your expectation. It's just that, your expectation not their responsibility.”
CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT!

 It always comes down to our choice. I had to decide what I was going to do with how I felt.

Ephesians 4:22-25 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying you should be someone's doormat. If you are the only one sowing into a relationship than you need to reevaluate that friendship.
The key part here is putting off your desires. They don't have to be deceitful or even wrong desires you just can't expect anyone other than God to meet all the desires of your heart.
Once we get offended it causes dissension in the relationship and if left unchecked or unresolved it can cause a total break up of a valuable relationship.

But my question is where do you draw the line? Do you stop expecting from people completely?
Do I expect nothing from my relationships?

The verse above says to make new the attitude of your mind. How do we do that?
For me it was going back to my situation and deciding what I was going to do. Was I going to wallow in my hurt feelings and allow satan to whisper lies to me like, this friend obviously doesn't really care about you or they would have never done this thing.
Once I died to self I knew that was a lie.

Remember when the popular saying was “what would Jesus do?” Well that my Gems is an everyday question we have to ask ourselves. That's the meaning of taking up our cross daily.
We have to be able to talk to one another and express how we feel. Keep the lines of communication open. The tricky part is after we're done speaking and the other person shares we have to choose again not to take offense.  It's easy to tell someone what bothered you the tough part (dying to self) is hearing how you bothered them. We have to speak and listen and then move forward together. The truth is we get offended so easy and most times the person who offended us doesn't even know they did it. 

One of the reasons I love being involved with the Soup Kitchen and ministering to the homeless is there are no preconceived expectations. They have absolutely nothing to give me nor do I want them to. The people who serve our brothers and sisters do it out of love and no other motive.
To die to self means to constantly ask yourself what is my motive? What do I need or want from this decision?

I'll give you another example using a totally different scenario.
I was at work the other day on the phone with a customer. She was telling me she made a payment on her credit card and gave me the account number it got posted to. I could not find the payment or the account number she gave me. She then told me the credit card payment was changed to a check and mailed to Atlanta. My office is in Florida. Why in the world would the payment go to Atlanta? I never heard of a credit card payment being changed to a check without the customer being the one writing the check? Nothing she was saying made any sense to me and although I didn't let her know it I was getting frustrated with her. To be honest I thought she might be making this whole story up.
When I hung up I made a comment about her to my boss. Something like “I don't know what this lady is talking about, she's crazy or smoking something.”
No harm done right? She didn't know what I said and never would for that matter.

Well later that day my coworker went out to get our mail and guess what was in there? None other than the check, written by the bank not the customer mailed from Atlanta in the amount she said it was.
When I got home that night the Lord reminded me about the flippant comment I made about the customer. He let me know that just because I didn't know what she was talking about didn't make me right and her wrong. The Holy Spirit was grieved that I trashed talked one of God's children because I was frustrated.

I felt so bad I sent a text to my boss apologizing for being a butt head. I had to die to self....
I could go on and on with examples. I am a work in progress. The bottom line is in order for there to be more of Jesus in us we have to get rid of or die more to self.

Every once in a while I'll have a day that more than one person will compliment me. They will tell me I look really pretty or radiant. I have to laugh because my outward appearance hasn't changed much it's just that I decided that day to act more like Jesus.
The Bible says that Jesus was an ordinary looking guy not ugly or really handsome yet people were drawn to Him. If He wasn't this major hotty what were they drawn to?
They were drawn to the love that flowed so freely from Him to anyone He came in contact with.
What people think is attractive in me on those days is the Spirit of Jesus being allowed to flow through me.
The times I feel like it's killing me to die to self are the times I'm focusing more on me than others.
Let's all try to die a little more each day and put on the new self, the one created to be like God .

Is Jesus Still In The People Business?

I’m a prayer warrior and I love to pray for people BUT sometimes it can be overwhelming! I have had soooo many prayer request lately that are huge. People with major diseases or major accidents or just major problems in general. I have to be honest with you the other day I got a prayer request emailed to me and I didn’t open it because my heart felt so heavy I couldn’t bare to read another persons pain.
I honestly could not start one more week without having alone time with the Lord and reading my Bible.
Having a full house right now makes it hard for me to have alone time. I’m not complaining I’m just stating a fact.
I had decided this weekend I wasn’t going anywhere on Sunday no church, not friends, no family. I would do nothing but spend time with the Lord.
Truth is I needed to get some stuff off my chest about this praying thing I was struggling with.
I just wasn’t sure how I was going to find something for the rest of my family to do J
The Lord obviously had the same idea because Anthony, my oldest son, came home that day and told me he was given 5 free tickets to the 3rd Day Concert. The man who was generous enough to give them to him told him they would be at the gate of the concert for him.
Of course he offered to give me one and was planning on buying a ticket for Nathanael (his brother).
I being the generous and needing a plan mom that I am told him to give Nathanael my ticket and I would make the sacrifice and stay home alone.
As soon as they left and the house was quiet I began my conversation with God.
It went something like this;
Lord I totally believe in the power of prayer and I love to pray for people but lately I feel like I’m wasting my time. There are more request than answers and you said we would be able to do greater things than Jesus and I haven’t performed one miracle or prayed one person well never less raise someone from the dead. There are people hurting EVERYWHERE and I don’t have any answers. Are you still answering prayers Lord? Are you still in the people business?
Of course I know the answer is yes but I’m just being real here with you Gems.
I started to read my Bible hoping some great answer would jump off the page at me.
Then my mind started wandering to my kids. I prayed for them to be safe and have a good time and then I started thinking about parking. Oh my gosh,
they would probably need money to park and I know none of them had any cash. I prayed the Lord would handle it.
That was about the biggest prayer request I could handle at that point.
I had a good time with the Lord and was feeling a little better when I heard the door open and in came my gang who promptly crawled onto my bed with me.
I could not believe 4 hours went by that quick. Why doesn’t work go that fast?
They were all excited about their night and what a good time they had and couldn’t wait to tell me what happened.
When they got to the concert they indeed needed money to park. Anthony said they drove a little ways down the road and there was a dirt road right by the parking lot and as luck would have it his car fit right in. Parking problem solved.
As they headed toward the gate they met a woman who was giving away a free ticket and she asked if they needed it. Anthony said no they had tickets, thanked her and they continued on their way.
When they got to the gate there was a mix up and there were only 4 tickets there. Did I mention they had no cash? They quickly went back into the crowd and found the woman with the free ticket and she gave it to them.
What are the chances they found her and she still had it….. Hmmmm sounds like God is still in the people business.

I went to work the next day and my dear friend April called me and we decided to meet for lunch. I told April I would meet her at the McDonalds near my job. When I got there she wasn’t there so I waited a few minutes. Then it hit me, I knew she was at the wrong McDonalds. I called and sure enough she was at a different one. I was sure I told her I was in the Target shopping Center.
I drove to meet her and when I got there she too was feeling overwhelmed. April does local outreach for our church and does an amazing job. We have a huge church and I can’t begin to tell you the amount of people she and her team ministers to. My prayer list was mi-nute compared to the amount of people she was reaching out to.
I love people like April because you can be real with her. I was asking her the same thing I told you. Is Jesus still in the people business?
It’s all too much, how do we keep it together? How do we minister to all these people?
April also has a real heart for people and we both had heavy hearts.

We were sitting at a table next to the window and it was really cold outside. We both looked out the window at the same time and saw a man with a small boy about 3 walking toward the building. What caught our attention was the fact that the man had on a nice warm coat but the little boy only had on a light sweat shirt and was bare foot.
It was way to cold a day for bare feet. They came into McDonalds and went into the bathroom that April and I just happened to be sitting near.
We both just looked at each other and didn’t have to say a word we knew we would talk to him when he came out.
As he went by us on his way toward the front I asked him if the boy needed shoes and he said yes. It ended up there was a little girl 2 years old with him too. She was not only bare foot but had no jacket at all!
Both children were pretty dirty and the little girl’s hair was matted in the back.
April and I packed up our stuff and followed them out the door. The children were handed off to another woman, who also had on a nice warm jacked. We asked her to meet us at the Big Lott in the shopping Center so we could buy the children some shoes and she agreed.
April and I picked out socks and shoes for the children who were very excited to have something on their feet. We asked the woman if she knew what size shoe they wore and she didn’t.
Gems their little feet were so black from the road and they had cuts on their feet and toes. They had been bare foot a while. We fit them for shoes and proceeded to look for jackets. We had to go the Bealls Outlet next door for those. The children talked and talked and the woman just followed us around, she seemed detached and to be honest pretty emotionless. The little girl lifted her arms up and asked April to carry her it was all we could do not to burst into tears.
April and I continued to speak with our eyes. Why were the adults in warm clothes and able to buy cigarettes and these children were without even a pair of shoes. None of that mattered now it was about the 2 toddlers in front of us.
As I put on the boys new coat I told him that Jesus loved him. I could tell by his expression he had no idea what I was talking about.
Later when April was helping him pick out a toy, yes we bought them a toy; she too told him that Jesus loved him.
Then the sweetest thing happened. He looked up at April with his little freckled face and asked why she was at McDonalds. April told him Jesus sent her there for him; he then asked “was Jesus at McDonalds too?”
The Lord spoke to me right there and then. “Yes Gena, I’m still in the people business and this is how you do it. One person at a time.”
You better believe Jesus was at McDonalds!
God had April and I meet that day with the same heart, sent April to the “wrong” McDonalds, the extra time it took me to drive there was the exact time needed for April and I to have a chance to share our hearts and then be ready to see these precious little children with no shoes.
April and I were humbled and honored to be Jesus today and as always all of us were ministered to.
Jesus cares about little things like parking places and concert tickets and he cares about big things like children who are cold and need shoes.
Jesus is still in the people business and He’s hoping we are too.

Enduring Love

I have been thinking quite a bit about the love of God. The description God uses for himself is love. When we think of all the things God has created and how mighty and powerful He is it's odd that he chooses to describe Himself as love.
Definition on Dictionary.com of Love: The benevolent affection of God for His creatures, or the reverent affection due from them to God.
I don't think I will ever really understand God's capacity of love when it relates to us humans.
I'm going to be honest here with you Gems lately I have been feeling kind of numb in the love emotion.
I know I love. I love my kids and my friends. I have love for the homeless and really people in general but I haven't been “feeling” love. I can't really explain it.
I'll participate in an act of love like helping the needy or ministering to a hurting person and my heart is sincere in my actions but my emotions seem to be a bit detached. Have you ever felt this way?
I started asking God about it and pretty much asking if I was getting hard hardhearted or worse yet cynical.
The Lord showed me three things that I will share with you. If you have felt this way perhaps it will shed some light on your feelings as well.
The first thing He showed me had to do with obedience.
Loving people is not about feeling like it, it's about obeying what God told us to do.
God told us to love one another, period. There was nothing about if you feel like it or if they are worthy or if they even want you to.
Love is a decision more than a feeling at times. I'm sure you can relate.
I know in my life there are many times I had to decide to love someone and forget how I felt.
The second thing I felt the Lord was telling me had to do with emotions. Because I'm such an emotional person, I know that shocks you, He was doing a new work in my emotions.
When your emotional and you reach out to the hurting it's easy to get so wrapped up in the emotion of it all you don't always say or do the tough stuff. Sometimes you need to give advice or take hold of a situation that requires tough love or make a hard decision.
I think in the days ahead our lives are going to change drastically because of our Countries decisions and our own personal decisions. Life as we know it is going to change and we will get a taste of what our grandparents dealt with.
I think the Lord is preparing my heart to be strong so I can continue to be a help to the people around me. Another part of that is being able to guard your heart so you don't get your feelings hurt easily or again you won't be effective.
The third thing the Lord showed me was in Psalms 136. I'm not going to write the whole thing but as always I encourage you to read it. I do want to point out a few verses.
His love endures forever. This phrase is between every verse you read in this Psalm, for example:
1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.
His love endures forever.
2 Give thanks to the God of gods
His love endures forever.
3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
His love endures forever.
It continues this way to the end of the chapter. It's a reminder to us that in everything God does His love endures forever.
It's great to say God is good and to feel his love when He is taking care of us or protecting us and life in general is good.
BUT what if things are happening that you don't think are good. What if you are being persecuted or dealing with depression or sickness. What if you have been waiting for something you know God promised you and it's been years and it still hasn't happened? What then? Is His love still good? Do you still feel loved?
Let's look at a couple of verses further down in the chapter.
17 to him who struck down great kings,
His love endures forever.
18 and killed mighty kings—
His love endures forever.
Struck down and killed... Sometimes what looks horrible in the worlds eyes could very well be part of God's plan.
As I have been pondering on this whole love thing the Lord reminded me that He alone is God and His plan will go forward whether I think it's fair or not.
The thing I and perhaps you need to remember is the Bible says He will work out all things for the good to those who love Him. Gems, we don't get to decide what "good" looks like.
BUT do you love Him and feel loved when things are not going the way you want?
What if your situation didn't change? What if where your at is where your staying?
Do you still give thanks to the Lord for He is good and know His love endures forever?
The second part of our definition of love was the reverent (deeply respecting) affection due from them ( his creation) to God.
The Creator loved his creations (us) and our reverence is due Him.
Interesting...
Our reverence is due Him because He loves us and His love endures forever. It endures through all the junk we give Him. It endures through all the injustice in the world and it endures when He's teaching you a tough lesson.

I had a situation happen today that really hurt my feelings and to be honest I'm kind of glad it happened. It made me realize my feelings and emotions are working just fine. I still had them and they obviously could still be hurt.
When my feelings are hurt
His love endures forever
When I feel betrayed
His love endures forever
Gems we need to write our own life verse daily.
God is love. I don't always understand it but I am thankful for it.
I pray I will be found worthy of the job He has for me in the days to come. I pray I will continue to rejoice and praise Him no matter what my circumstances are and I'm thankful there is a difference between hard hardhearted and discerning.
If you are in a place where you feel your “feeling” different perhaps the Holy Spirit is getting you ready for a journey too.
Ask Him to reveal His plan to you and give thanks until He does cause He is good and His love endures forever no matter what your circumstances look like.

Comfort Slap

The Lord has been reminding me about the need for us to comfort one another. People around me seem to be going through really hard times, not just financially but with health and family issues. There seems to be this unsettledness in my spirit and with people in general. We all need to hear encouraging words and to know that someone is not only listening but cares about us. 

On the other hand sometimes I'm so focused on others I forget to make sure my own family is getting the comfort they may be needing. I'm trying to make that a priority right now.

My grandson Anthony plays soccer. I remember when he was 4 and just started playing my kids and I were at his game and of course cheering for Anthony and his team. When we weren't yelling for him personally we would be yelling “GO GREEN” cause that was his teams color that day. 

As the game went on Green starting scoring quite a few goals and the black team had none. The children on the black team were getting discouraged and needed some comforting so my daughter and I started cheering for them too.

My grandson heard us yell “GO BLACK” and he stopped playing, turned and looked at me with a very stern look and stormed off the field over to where we sat. He looked at me and said “Nanna what are you doing!?" 

We are Green stop saying go black!” We laughed, behind his back of course, because he was dead serious and he let us know we were not to cheer for the wrong team. 

He's 7 now so when I'm going to encourage or comfort the other team I yell the number on the jersey so he won't know what I'm up to. 

Sometimes being an encourager for the “wrong team” is not what I feel like doing. Let me explain. The other night I wanted to beat up a homeless woman. Yea you read that right but hear me out.

I was helping to feed the homeless like any other Tuesday night making sure everyone has enough food and drink and helping the moms with small children. There was a woman with her son about 4 years old sitting at a table in front of me. Like most 4 year olds he was squirming around and ended up sliding off his chair. Without missing a beat the mom grabbed him before he totally hit the ground. I thought to myself nice save. 

I wasn't prepared for what happened next. She pretty much threw the child into the chair and started slapping him. She was yelling at him in Spanish so I didn't know what she was saying but I could tell by the look on her face it was mean. At first I just kind of froze in my spot, then I started walking toward her. By now the boy was trying to lay his head on her lap and she kept pushing him off her in disgust. 

Four times he tried to lay on her and she pushed him away. 

It all happened really quick and I remember saying “Lord do something cause I'm gonna pounce on her.” I was ready for a fight and made my way through the tables toward her. Just as I got behind her and reached my arm out she got up and walked away. I'm telling you it was God because only His timing could be that exact.

I looked down at the little boy and asked if he was OK. Seriously Gems this boy had the face of an angel with a head full of curly red locks. His face was swollen from crying and he looked like he hadn't bathed in a while. I just wanted to pick him up and take him home. I comforted him and asked again if he was OK and he shook his head yes. I then did what any mom would do, I asked if he wanted a cookie.

I talked to him for a few minutes and then the strangest thing happened. The Lord told me to go find his mom and comfort her.

Are you kidding me! I want to slap her not comfort her. The Lord reminded me that if I got in her face she would only take her anger out on the boy. If she behaved that way in public how much worse would it be in private. I took a deep breath and walked toward her. I came up behind her, grabbed a bat, just kidding, and touched her arm. I asked her if I could give her some fruit and cookies for her son. She said he already had a cookie but I handed her the bag anyway. 

Then because of my obedience the grace of God came through. I told her that I was proud of her for making sure she and her son were there to have a hot meal. I went on to say I know how hard it is to raise a child and the challenges of doing it alone. I followed her back to her chair and asked her if she wanted me to pray for her. Her whole demeanor changed from an angry woman to someone in need of comfort. I prayed for her and just talked for a few minutes, hugged them both and walked away. 

Gems it was easy for me to be judgmental toward this woman and I'm not condoning her behavior but I know what it's like to be a mom on the edge and go off on my kids. 

The Lord wanted me to comfort her with the same comfort He gave me. 

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 

This woman was so focused on her circumstances she was forgetting to comfort her team or in this case her son. Maybe if we obeyed this verse more often people would be less stressed and be kinder to one another. 

The King James Bible uses some form of the word comfort 119 times. It started in 

Genesis 5:29 He named him Noah and said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed.”

Obviously God knew we were going to need comfort. 

Definition of Comfort - to soothe, console, or reassure; bring cheer to. 

Many times we relate giving comfort to someone who just had a loss or is dealing with sickness but if we look at what Webster says it also means to reassure or bring cheer to. We need comfort when we are stressed or concerned about something in our life that are out of our control or just new to us. 

This week as we prepare for Thanksgiving I challenge you Gems to ask your family members if they need comfort in any area of their life. I also challenge you to reach out to someone you may want to slap and offer comfort to them as well. 

Isaiah 40:1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

 Isaiah 49:13 Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. 

Isaiah 66:13As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.” 

Jeremiah 31:13Then young women will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.

2 Corinthians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort!

I wish you all A Very Happy and Comforting Thanksgiving!!

Dedication to Ezra Matthews

I'm sure a lot of you know about Ezra Matthews and his parents Kyle and Robyn. For those of you that don't Ezra is a 2 year old boy who has been battling neuroblastoma (a rare form of cancer) for over half of his life. I started following their story about 2 months ago when I joined the internship program at grace family church. We have an hour devotion time at 9 each morning. Well about 3 weeks ago while I was home getting ready to go to the church I just really felt God putting Ezra on my heart. I had the most urgent feeling that I needed to start praying for him, so I just started to pray in the spirit as I finished getting ready and drove to the church. When I got there I put on some music got down on my face and just started praying for this little boy and his family. In the song Hosanna there's a verse that says “show me how to love like you have loved me” and that has been something thats been on my heart and that I've been praying for lately. While I was on my knees begging God to heal this child He began to just fill my heart with this supernatural love for Ezra. I began to feel so much love for this child that I had never even met and I just started crying asking God to please please heal him of his cancer. Then I thought if I can love someone that I've never met, this much then how much more does the God who created him love him. I knew God was showing me his heart. In that moment I have never prayed so hard and with all I have more than i did then and I just wanted so badly for him to be healed and I know that God wanted that too. I emailed Kyle after that telling him of my experience and he told me that that was the day the doctors told them that Ezra was going to die. He ended up recovering from that and little by little started to improve. I was so hopeful and I just thanked God for the work he was doing in Ezra. Well yesterday morning at 2:45 A.M baby Ezra passed away. When I heard the news I just started weeping. I was hurt and confused. I had no idea why this happened. I'm not mad at God for what happened and I'm not going to lose faith over it I just don't understand it, but then again I can't see the big picture that he sees. I know just in my life Ezra's 2 years here has made such an impact. Through him God taught me how to love others like He loves me, he taught me what it truly means to pray and fast and petition God daily for a miracle to happen. Through Kyle and Robyn he taught me what it is to stand by God no matter what, to trust him wholeheartedly even when it gets hard and painful and ugly. I will always look to them as an example when I go through my own hard times and I will always remember baby Ezra and the love I was given for him. I know Ezra is in a better place now a place where there is no more pain or death or tears, but it still hurts and it still breaks my heart. Through it all I still know the God we serve is a merciful and loving God and that even though we may not be able to see how, he does work all things for good and for his glory. I cant wait to meet this amazing child of God in the arms of our Father.
By Nathanael Duran 11/2010

Justice And Mercy

A few weeks ago my youngest son was asked to dress up like the devil and stand at the entrance to our church holding a sign telling people not to go to church. I'm talking the whole devil outfit, red horns, pitchfork and I think a tail may have been involved.
For those of you who know Nathanael you can imagine how far out of his comfort zone he was.
Of course he didn't tell those closest to him so I didn't get any pictures to use against him at a later date. The Pastor was going to use this to make a point in his teaching on spiritual warfare.
The interesting thing to me was the number of people that drove by him and flicked him off or yelled something mean to him. Some yelled Jesus loves you BUT no one actually stopped and tried to talk to him. They were in a hurry to get to church and missed an opportunity to minister.
I think most people thought he was a whack job and just ignored him but I wonder how many of them don't believe there is actually a devil.
This of course got me to thinking about Heaven and Hell. It amazes me how people live their lives without any real thought of where they will spend eternity.
God is the God of mercy and love but He is also a God of justice.
Let's see what the Bible has to say about it. We'll look at Romans where Paul is speaking.
Romans 1:16-17 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
Paul is emphasizing the power of God and how He saves everyone who has faith in Him.
We know the most memorized verse in the Bible is John 3:16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.(Mercy)
We cling to these verses and we praise God for his love and rightly so however where does the “justice” God come into play?
This is the part most people including me don't like to talk about but it's just as important.
Back to Romans 2.(Justice) We read in verses 6 & 7 God will give to each person according to what he has done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
Verse 8 reads BUT for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; (Justice)
(Mercy) 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11For God does not show favoritism.
Another well known verse is Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.
So we know everyone is a sinner and we know we can be saved from that sin through our faith in Jesus Christ (Mercy) BUT saved from what?
(Justice)2 Peter 2:4-10 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell,putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority.
People don't think they need a Savior because they don't think they need to be saved. Part of the reason for that (in my opinion) is they only hear the mercy part of God and not the justice part. I know some of you reading this jewel don't believe there is a hell so again what would you need to be saved from?
I remember in my partying days when I would go to bars, if you were still there when the bar closed all the lights would come on. Yes I'm sorry to say there were nights I was still there. These lights were called “the ugly lights” because everyone looked better in the dim lighting. Some of you know what I'm talking about....
I guess when I relate that to the spiritual world I feel like it's the same thing. It's last call and the ugly lights are getting ready to come on and Gems for some people it's going to get real ugly!
I'm well aware that no one knows when Christ will return, I just have a sense of urgency to let everyone I know realize that they need a Savior. The Savior, the son of God, Jesus Christ to save us from going to a very real place called hell!
Hell is a place where you are completely cut off from the presence of God. I don't know where that is and I don't want to find out. If that scares you, good.
I want to share part of a story from Luke 16, Gena translation of course.
There was this really rich dude who had all the name brand clothes and lived in the lap of luxury everyday. At the gate of his place was this bum named Lazarus. Lazarus was pretty gross. He was covered with sores and starving. He would have been happy to eat the food thrown out by the rich guy.
One day the beggar dies and the angels carried him to Heaven where he meets up with Abraham.
The rich man also died and was buried but he ends up in hell where he is being tormented. One day the rich guy looks up and could see far away into Heaven and he sees Abraham with Lazarus next to him.
I'll let the Bible tell you the rest of the story.
Luke 16:25-31 He calls to him, “Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'
"But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'
"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'
"Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.'
" 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'
"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' "
That's a tough story to read (justice) BUT the good news is someone did rise from the dead, Jesus and he is calling out to you because He loves you and it's God's desire that non should perish and go to hell.
That decision is up to you because whether you want to hear it or not the same merciful God that sent his son to die for YOU is also a justice God and when the ugly lights come on you will spend eternity somewhere.
The devil may not be dressed in a red suit with a tail and a pitch fork but he's definitely real and hoping you won't believe in him or God.
Jesus did die, He will return and God will judge. I pray you will see the true light and know there is more to God than mercy.

Pumpkins & Dragons

I want to tell you a story that happened to me 26 years ago.
I was a young woman with 2 small children going through a divorce. Each day I would drive 30 minutes to my babysitters house to drop off Amanda who was 2 , then to preschool to drop off Anthony who was 3. From there I would drive to work, leave everyday at lunch time to pick Anthony up from preschool take him to the sitter than go back to work. At the end of the day I would pick up both children and drive 30 minutes back home to do dinner, baths and bed and start all over again the next morning.
The preschool Anthony attended was at a church and for some reason his teacher didn't like me.
I know I'm as shocked as you are :)
I don't know what her problem was but she always had this condescending attitude with me. I don't think she approved of me being such a young mother and getting a divorce didn't help.
I was always in a rush and forgot about stuff often as I was an emotional wreck. If Anthony didn't love the school so much I would have taken him somewhere else.
One particular morning I will never forget I was my usual scattered self trying not to cry in front of my kids as we did our morning drive.
I dropped off Amanda at the sitters then proceeded to the preschool.
Anthony and I ran up the stairs because we were late again. When we got to the classroom I looked in and all the kids were in costumes for the Halloween party.
I just froze at the door then looked down at my sweet 3 year olds smiling face and was horrified that I forgot about the party. His teacher came to the door and once again gave me the look of disgust as she ushered Anthony into the classroom.
I freaked out. I felt like the worst mother in the world and obviously confirmed it to my sons teacher.
This was before 24 hour Walmart and there were no department stores between my job and the school, not to mention it was still early. I had no idea what to do.
As I'm driving down the road crying I notice a Walgreens that was recently built and it was open. I ran into the store and the only thing I could find was a pumpkin mask, I bought it.
I drove back to the school and ran back up the stairs to the classroom.
By now all the children were in full party mode admiring one anothers costumes. I called Anthony and he came out to the hall. I very excitedly held out the mask and said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster, “your a pumpkin!” He grabbed the mask and had the biggest smile I had ever seen. He ran into the classroom and proudly announced to everyone “I'M A PUMPKIN!”
I turned and walked down the stairs to leave. When I reached the bottom step I heard the sweetest voice call out “mommy” I turned around and standing at the top of the stairs was my little pumpkin with his mask pulled up and he said “thank you mommy.”
It is a memory I will treasure forever.
Fast forward 24 years.
That same son is staying with me for a while with my two grandsons. I try to stay out of his way in the morning when he's getting the boys ready for school so I'm not a distraction. I stay in my room till just before they leave then I come out to say goodbye.

OK I have to take a side journey here for a minute. A couple of weeks before the story I'm going to tell you happened a friend of mine gave me some clothes for my youngest grandson Lucas. She also gave me a dragon costume which I told her to keep because we wouldn't need it and it was a really nice costume. She told me to take it anyway and I hesitated but then put it in my car with the rest of the clothes.
I figured I would bring it to the Soup kitchen for one of the kids I see there. The night I went to soup kitchen I went to take the costume out of my car but decided not to. I didn't realize God was already working something out for me.

OK back to my story. I woke up on Friday morning and for some reason Lucas was heavily on my mind. The Holy Spirit told me to come out of my room before the boys left for school. I was listening to the commotion going on outside the door and could tell Anthony had his hands full. I thought me coming out there might not be helpful so I hesitated. Again I heard the Holy Spirit say go out there and this time I listened.
I hugged the boys as my son was rushing to get them out the door to catch the bus.
A few minutes after they left I noticed a paper on the kitchen table and picked it up (Holy Spirit at work) I read the paper and it was from Lucas' teacher reminding the parents about he character parade at school that morning and for the children to make sure they had their costume as they would be going around the whole school.
I ran to the door to catch my son because I knew he didn't know anything about this but it was too late they were gone.
I went to my room to get my phone to call him and as I'm looking for my phone I hear the door open and in walks my son.
I was surprised he was back because I knew they were already late. I asked why he came back and he said in an exasperated voice that he forgot something (Holy Spirit at work)
I showed him the paper and asked if he knew about the parade and as you may have guessed he didn't. He asked where I found the paper.
Gems that paper was not only on the table where he fed the boys it was printed on neon green paper which is what caught my eye AND it was in front of Lucas' chair.
My son didn't see it (maybe it wasn't there) but My God who cares about every detail of our lives made sure I did.
My son had no time to fix this dilemma as the bus would be there in 10 minutes and the parade would start soon after the kids arrived at school.
I asked Lucas (he's 5) what kind of costume he was supposed to have and he said a fairytale one.
Guess what was in my car? That's right a dragon costume. Not only did we have a costume but it fit him perfectly.
I quickly ran to my car pulled out the costume and handed it to Lucas. His whole face lit up and he gave me the biggest smile.
I had a flash back as I had seen that smile before.
I looked over to my son and he mouthed out “thank you mom.”
For just a moment he was five years old holding a pumpkin mask. I could feel my eyes filling with tears as I relived that moment.
Later that morning I told Anthony the story of his costume day and we praised the Lord for His mercy and kindness.
Anthony met Lucas at the school and watched his little dragon in the parade.
Lucas thought his dad was a hero just as my boy thought I was a hero but the true hero was and is God.
Gems God cares about every aspect of our lives the big details and the little ones.
You may be thinking it was just a dumb costume and it wasn't life threatening but to a parent whose going through a hard time it's scenarios like that the devil uses to make you feel like a failure.
The Bible says the Lord will work all things out for the good to those who love Him.
I'm glad that working out includes pumpkins and dragons :)

Annoying Card

I was reading in 1st Samuel 12 last night and in the story Samuel is speaking to Saul, the new King, and the people of Israel. He lets them know they sinned because they wanted a King to rule over them more than wanting God as their ruler.
As always I suggest you read the story for all the details. Bottom line is Samuel does not agree with what they did and calls it what it was, sin.
The teaching point here is how he ends his conversation with the people.
1 Samuel 12:23 As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right.
You see it doesn’t matter what we think or feel about a person or what they are doing the only thing that matters is God’s will for their life. Our only responsibility is to pray God’s will for our brothers and sisters whether they are sinning in God’s eyes or not.
I want to focus on how we treat our brothers and sisters. Do we pray for them from a heart of how we feel about them or about what God’s heart is for them? Especially when they are doing something we don’t agree with.
Sometimes our brothers and sisters, like Saul, are just being down right disobedient. Other times they just aren’t doing what we think they should but not necessarily wrong.
God’s will can look pretty weird at times from the human perspective.
It’s important that we love each other through the hard times and not get judgmental.
I try to use the saying “remember what it was like in the darkness when you get to the light”
Years ago I was very involved with the church I attended. I worked in the nursery, with the youth; I taught Sunday school and was the president of the Woman's ministry. At church I seemed to have it all together but at home my life was a mess.
My teenagers were out of control and my marriage was falling apart.
I got a call one day from the superintendent of the Sunday school department who was also a pastor. I assumed he was calling to tell me about a meeting but I was wrong.
He called to tell me “he heard” I was getting a divorce and pretty much fired me from all my responsibilities.
Now hear my heart Gems, I’m not giving this example to bash the church, the truth is I think when your world is falling apart it’s a good idea to step down from leadership and allow yourself time to heal. My problem was the hurtful and insensitive way they did it.
They said “they heard” so at this point they didn’t even know if it was true. Then they fired me instead of asking what they could do to help. There was no offer of prayer or assistance.
I felt like an orphan as I had been a part of this church for years and to me they were family.
Gems we are family! We are one church, one bride one people.
We have to put aside our opinions and feelings and ask God how He wants us to pray.
This Sunday I at the church and at the end of the service our pastor told us to think of a person who gets on our nerves, you know the person you try not to make eye contact with or avoid if you see them in the grocery store.
We were to write their name on a 3x5 card, pray for the person and ask the Holy Spirit for the power to love them.
After we did that we were supposed to lay the card down at the cross in front of the church.
I sat there for a few minutes and could not think of anyone's name to write on the card.
Don’t get me wrong other times in my life I could have someone’s name in a second and maybe next week I would too but for that moment I could not think of anyone.
I should have left well enough alone but NOOOO I got on my pride horse and started telling myself how much I’ve grown and how I have learned to love people and bla bla bla.
That night I was still in my pride world and had the audacity to bring it up to the Lord.
I actually brought it to His attention!
I said “Lord, I could not think of anyone to put on that annoying card” (pat on the back) and the Lord said “that’s good that you couldn’t think of anyone to write on that card but what makes you think your name wasn’t on plenty of other peoples cards?” OUCH!!
I had to really take that in for a minute. After I shut my mouth I asked the Lord to forgive me and I prayed that the Holy Spirit would convict me when I was becoming the annoying name on someones card.
It’s easy to get self righteous when you’re trying to walk in obedience, when you have reached the light so to speak. As I said don’t forget what it was like in the darkness.
I’m not saying we should condone bad behavior but conviction is the Holy Spirit’s job and judgment belongs to God.
One way to become the annoying person is to become judgmental to people who need us.
We need to pray God’s will for our brothers and sisters in love. If you can’t get the love in your own strength that’s completely understandable that’s why we have the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to have faith in each other.
Paul writes in Philippians 1:6(Amplified Bible)
And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you.
Notice Paul doesn’t say the good work in me but in you. We often quote that verse “He who began a good work in me” but that’s not what Paul said.
He believed in people no matter where they were in their spiritual journey. He believed God would complete His work (not ours) in people.
Verse 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
Paul loved people deeply notice he says with the affection of Christ. He’s comparing his love to Christ's love! That’s a pretty deep love.
It wasn’t like everyone was loving him back. In case you don’t know Paul’s writing this from prison and the crime was preaching the gospel. Some people preached the word just to get Paul in trouble.
Phil 1:15-17 It's true that some here preach Christ because with me out of the way, they think they'll step right into the spotlight. But the others do it with the best heart in the world. One group is motivated by pure love, knowing that I am here defending the Message, wanting to help. The others, now that I'm out of the picture, are merely greedy, hoping to get something out of it for themselves. Their motives are bad. They see me as their competition, and so the worse it goes for me, the better—they think—for them. (Message Bible)
If anyone had the right to pull the self righteous card it was Paul but he stayed focused on the task at hand, God’s will.
So Gems next time you come down too hard on your brother or sister ask forgiveness and pray for them.
Take it from me don’t start telling God what a great job your doing or you may just end up on the annoying card.
Use wisdom. James 3:17-18 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

Life Ingredients

Well it happened, I turned 50 today and I gotta tell ya Gems my emotions are all over the place.
The good news is I'm in Tennessee, my favorite place. Seeing the mountains and hearing the sound of rivers flowing is the best medication for what ails ya!
My life is beyond full right now. Should God decide it's time for me to come home I would leave a woman who found the true meaning of life and the ingredients to get there.
Pretty impressive hu?
I am a woman that started as a young girl who experienced heart ache and disappointment. I grew to a teenager who experienced insecurity and stupidity. I continued to a young woman who experienced being a wife and mother. I moved on to an older woman who once again experienced being a wife and mother. My status is currently a divorced mother with four children.
You may think these are not ingredients for a successful life and you would be right.
Being successful and knowing who you are comes from what you do with the ingredients you have.
Like I said I turned the big 5 0 today and I want to tell you what my children did for me. They rented a cabin in the mountains of TN that I took them to 4 years ago on vacation. They researched on line from pictures they found that we took years ago. They reserved the same cabin only this time it would be complete with my grandsons. They paid for everything and called my job to make sure I could have the time off from work. They contacted my friends and told them about the trip. Some friends sent money and cards to help with the celebration and many sent messages with birthday wishes. I could not have asked for a more amazing birthday. Truly the only day that will be more special than this is when I get home to my sweet Jesus.
I took as many pictures as possible to savor the memories and recapture the excitement in every one's faces. I think we had 91 pictures before we even got to the cabin.
My oldest son turned 30 in August and my girls both have birthdays this week but this trip was all about my 50 year celebration!
We've played games, eaten junk food, watched movies, sang worship songs, shopped and right now 4 of the 6 are riding horses.
People tell me how lucky I am to have such great kids but let me tell you Gems it had nothing to do with luck.
It has to do with what I decided to do with my ingredients. I chose to pour myself into my family. I sacrificed “my world” to give them “their world.” I grew as a christian so they would have a better mother. Not perfect but someone trying to resemble the perfect parent, our Heavenly Father.
I did tough love that was harder for me than any job description you can imagine. I have laughed with my children and cried with them. I have yelled at them and asked forgiveness for being a butt head. I have said no to more invitations than I can count and said yes to as many school activities as I could.
I didn't live with someone that wasn't their parent regardless of what the world said was acceptable. I was the mother and the father, the kisser of boo boos and the paddler of butts. I tried not to do what my parents did and probably went too far the other way.
I wasn't the perfect parent and I didn't raise the perfect kids but in spite of it all, we know who we are. We are a family. Not a single mom or divorced or step family, we are a family that learned how to love no matter what ingredients were poured in at the time.
What are my ingredients today October 4th 2010? I am a woman who loves the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.
I'm a woman who is trying to look more and more like Jesus. A woman who loves my friends and pray I am an inspiration to them. A woman who loves meeting new people and has decided not to wear any other label than free.
I am free to make right choices, free to laugh at silly jokes and myself. Free to choose to like my job, co workers, or whatever situation I'm in at the time. Free to sing as loud as I want or dance as intimate with Jesus as I desire.
Free to allow myself to love my life and who God has created me to be.
Who we are will be different for each of us but I think the key is not to label yourself or say it's supposed to be this way or that.
You are not married or single or widowed or a mother or father or aunt or uncle you are an individual walking out your journey. It's supposed to be you living your journey with the Lord and embracing everyone He puts in your path as the gift they are. You learning how to love and keep changing your ingredients to have a sweeter life than before.
There's an old saying you "can pick your friends but you can't pick your family" I say you can pick your family :)
I'm sitting in the parking lot of the horse riding stable on the top of a mountain typing on this computer and listening to the country music playing outside. I'm thinking about my kids and the friends the Lord has given me. Of the Gems who read Gena's Jewels and the very breath that fills my lungs. And all I can say is, thank you Lord for giving me my hearts desire, to experience a full life and to know the meaning of love.
“When your out there gettin where you gettin to I hope you know somebody loves you.” (Rascal Flatts)
That somebody is Yeshua, Jesus, The son of God your creator.
My life has been a gift from God and how I live it will be my gift back to Him.
True love means to leave this place knowing you were loved by somebody and loved somebody back.
Thank you Anthony, Amanda, Nathanael, Jessica, Anthony Jacob, and Lucas Andrew for giving me the best birthday ever!

Creating A Genealogy

From the beginning of the Bible right there in the Garden of Eden God had to show us our need for a Savior.
Have you ever given any thought to how Adam and Eve reacted to the first sacrifice? Remember everything was perfect for them in the Garden. Adam named all the animals, they were tame and if your a pet lover you have to assume he liked them. They didn't hurt him and he didn't hurt them. There was no hunting or killing or shedding of blood.
Can you imagine how they must have felt when God scarified the first animal? Not only did He kill it in front of them but He skinned it so they would have something to wear? That must have been a pretty brutal scene for them the first time. How much more horrific was it going to be when the sacrifice was God's only son?
In Genesis 4 & 5 the Bible gives us a genealogy from the creation of Adam. This in not unusual, we see it often in the Bible as God is showing us the blood line from Adam to Jesus.
In Bible times a persons name had a meaning that correlated with what was going on at the time.
I'm going to list the names shown in Genesis 4 & 5 and the Hebrew meaning of these names.
Adam- man
Adam son Seth – appointed
Seth son Enosh- incurable, miserable
Enosh son Kenan – sorrow
Kenan son Mahalalel – Blessed God Praise
Mahalalel son Jared – Come Down
Jared son Enoch – teacher
Enoch son Methuselah – His death shall bring
Methuselah son Lamech – dis-pairing
Lamech son Noah – to bring relief, comfort
Now I wish I could take credit for the information in this jewel but I can't. I learned it at a Bible study I attend on Friday nights, however, I love to share with you what I learn.
Right here in the meaning of these names is the plan of salvation.
Watch what happens when we put the meaning of the names into a sentence.
Man appointed incurable sorrow, blessed God came down teaching his death shall bring despair to bring relief and comfort.
Is God amazing or what? Nothing is by accident or coincidence. He was giving us the plan of salvation in chapter 4 of Genesis!
It was God's choice from the beginning of time to save us from our sins, He didn't owe us He bought us. He is the creator we are the creation. Our creator, God, gave us the Bible to show us how we are to live. Our life here on earth is to daily look more and more like Christ.
But are we looking more and more like Christ? Do we even think about what Christ endured for us on the cross?
“One of the reasons we are not as Christ-centered and cross-saturated as we should be is that we have not realized that everything - everything good, and everything bad that God turns for the good of his redeemed children- was purchased by the death of Christ for us. We simply take life and breath and health and friends and everything for granted. We think it is ours by right. But the fact is that it is not ours by right. We are doubly undeserving of it.”
Quote from Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper.
We have become a generation that thinks we are owed something and have taken words out of our Christian vocabulary like judgment, holiness and obedience.
As in any parent child relationship there are blessings when your obeying and discipline when you're not.
Christ died for our sins because God decided at the beginning of the world it would happen that way but we have a responsibility to strive to live an obedient life for Him.
What are some of the reasons we refuse to do something God specifically commanded us to do? Pride, doubt, bitterness or resentment over our past and selfishness are a few that come to mind.
These may be our justified reasons in our minds but they are in no way acceptable excuses.
God is always willing to forgive us when we ask Him but today most people don't even feel it necessary to ask for forgiveness.
I think some people don't ask for forgiveness because they don't think they'll get it and some don't ask because they compare themselves to others and think their not as bad and then there's the ones that just don't think they need forgiveness.
How you feel about it doesn't change the truth that all have sinned all fall short of the Glory of God Romans 3:23
My grandsons are going through a tough time right now and they sometimes act out their emotions in a negative way.
For example, their school had a breakfast for Grand Parents day on Friday and I was so excited about attending. We counted down the days together and they seemed as excited as I was. The day before the big event they had something happen that caused them understandable stress so unfortunately the next morning they were not on their best behavior. The morning did not go at all as I had hoped and I had to be stern with them at the school. I let them know we would talk about their behavior when we got home that night.
I totally understood why they were having trouble with their feelings but I could not ignore their behavior.
That night we talked about what transpired at the school. When we finished talking I told my older grandson I wanted him to write me an apology letter and my younger grandson to draw me one since he's only 5. They went to their room with heads hanging down and two very sad faces.
I wanted to make sure they understood why I was unhappy with how our morning went.
When they came out with their letters/pictures I just about cried. Anthony the 7 year old wrote his apology but then he had a picture at the bottom of the page of him and me. He had those little bubbles over our heads where you write what your saying. The picture of him said “sorry Nanna” and my picture said “It's OK” and we are both smiling in his drawing.
Lucas the 5 year old also drew a picture of the two of us and in his picture we are also both smiling and holding hands.
I loved these pictures because even though this was a discipline moment and they knew they had misbehaved they also knew I would forgive them. They had no doubt of my love for them but they also had no doubt I wouldn't put up with disobedience.
They knew if they said they were sorry and really meant it Nanna would say OK.
It made me stop and think of my relationship with Jesus. I know He loves me but I also know and have experienced His discipline.
This relationship was only made possible by the cross. It's not because I'm such a great person or because I have had a sad past or because I tithe it's all because of the salvation plan that was designed way back in Genesis, I can't take any credit for it.
Galatians 6:14 But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Why would Paul boast about Jesus dying on the cross? The same reason we should, if it wasn't for what Christ did on the cross I would have no relationship never less forgiveness from God.
My grandsons had no problem asking for forgiveness because they knew I wanted to give it to them, not because their behavior deserved it but because I love them and want us to get back on track. Our fellowship was broken because of sin but it was restored because of love.
It's the same with our Heavenly father, our fellowship is interrupted by our sin but it is restored when we repent and ask forgiveness.
I am making a conscience effort to boast in Christ crucified to remind myself and share with others the unexplainable love of God.
It is my prayer that later in life if someone were to do my genealogy and give meaning my family names it would read something like this.
Gena daughter of God – forgiven
Anthony son of Gena – walking with God
Amanda daughter of Gena – understanding true love
Nathanael son of Gena- sharing the gospel
Jessica daughter of Gena – boasting in Christ crucified
Anthony & Lucas grandsons of Gena – carrying on the message
You have a chance to write part of your genealogy as well. What will yours read?

Free Kindness

I took part in an act of random kindness outreach this weekend washing cars for free. Totally free no donations accepted, just doing something kind for someone expecting nothing in return. It's not a new concept we did it at the last church we attended but this time I was on the front lines so to speak.
I stood at the entrance of the church parking lot on a very busy street with 4 other people holding bright colored posters saying car wash. We had one neon green sign in the middle with the word FREE written in huge black letters.
The first thing that got my attention was only 1 out of ten people that passed us by was NOT on the phone. That's scary all by itself.
Some people honked at us and some actually waved back but for the most part people didn't even notice us.
They drove by oblivious to our bright colored signs and more amazing than that they didn't even seem to notice us yelling FREE.
They were driving right by a free blessing and didn't even know it.
We figured the ones that did acknowledge us didn't believe it was free. They probably thought there was a catch and they didn't have the time or desire to find out what the catch was. Some passed by because they figured it was free but they didn't have any cash on them to give the “free with required donation.”
A few took the bait and pulled in and were surprised when we would not take any money from them. No donation, no church enrollment, no future commitment just a free car wash.
This really took people by surprise. The catch was there was no catch.
One young man around 19 or 20 asked if we were doing it to increase church membership. I said no but he was welcome to come visit any time. I explained the reason we were washing his car was to give us an opportunity to be kind to someone and demonstrate the love of God in a tangible way. He thought that was interesting and went on to tell one of the men who was washing his car all the upgrades he put into it and they talked motor talk for a while.
I just watched as this moment, for lack of a better word, happened. The more interest the older man showed the more information the younger man gave. He seemed to fill with pride as he talked about his racing clutch and special wheels. The older man, who was washing the car, smiled and confirmed he too thought she was a beauty. This bond happened right there with 2 strangers. Without them knowing they were each being blessed, one for his obedience to show kindness and the other for not passing by a blessing.
Before he left he told us he was going to come visit our church and would bring his brother too. Again, this was not the goal but praise the Lord we represented a Jesus he wanted to know more.
Another woman, after we would not take a donation, shared with us that she and her husband had been dealing with sickness and just having a general hard time with life. She said she felt this sensation like angels were around her. She told us she felt like God cared about her just by having us wash her car.
Both of these people didn't open up until after they saw we meant what we said that the car wash was really free.
God took this simple act of kindness that we did for Him and used it to reach out to two different people in two different ways.
There were multiple moments happening that day. Our small group reaching out to the community and our small group becoming a community.
What I mean is we only washed about 4 cars for people that didn't belong to the church. You might think the day wasn't successful based on the number of cars that passed us by, however, God knew exactly who would be volunteering that day and He gave us an opportunity to get to know each other better.
We built our church community closer that day too.
As always I was reflecting on the day when I laid down that night and was still so surprised how many people in dirty cars drove right by a free car wash.
I wonder how many people everyday are passing by the many blessing Christ has for them.
The biggest of course is a relationship with Him. The promise of life for eternity in Heaven.
Do people pass by because they don't believe God wants to bless them? Do they pass it by because they think there's a catch?
God's gift of salvation is still free!
I know in my world I am ALWAYS getting blessed by the Lord. I'm not kidding, always. It's not because I'm better than anyone else or sin less it's just that I give credit to the one who blesses me.
For example, and this is just one small example, I was having a tough time financially and we needed groceries. I prayed and asked the Lord to send us food and 2 days later I saw a friend of mine and she said “Oh Gena I have something for you, the Lord told me to give it to you a couple of days ago but I didn't see you.” Guess what she gave me? Two Walmart cards! Guess what I bought? Groceries....
It get's better. I was hanging out with my son and we both really wanted a treat. I couldn't decide between a caramel Frape from McDonalds or a sundae. We only found enough money to buy one or the other for each of us. We decide on the frape and head to McDonalds. When we get to the window the cashier hands us 2 sundaes and says we made these by mistake so you can have them both.
That is my sweet Jesus blessing me for no other reason than because He loves me.
Blessings come in many forms on many occasions whether your the one receiving the blessing or giving the blessing you both get blessed.
Gems, I pray you wont get so consumed in your world that you pass right by an opportunity to be kind to someone. That you won't miss a “moment” to show someone the Love of God in a tangible way. And here's a thought, do it for FREE!

Go And Know

I was reading a story in Judges chapter 6 about a man named Gideon. I'm going to give you the Gena translation and as always I suggest you read the book for yourself.
Before we meet Gideon we see the nation of Israel worshiping other gods and basically being disobedient to the commands of God. God leaves them to their evilness and eventually they are being persecuted and oppressed by other tribes. When they can't take any more they cry out to God to save them. He of course does, again, by sending them a deliverer.
The problem is they only stay obedient for a short time and then once again go back to their own selfish and futile desires and become disobedient and so the cycle continues.
It amazes me that the cycle continues today. We try and walk in obedience and truly honor God with our lives and then gradually the line moves and we become more and more disobedient. The next thing you know we are crying out to God because all of a sudden our lives are out of control.
The thing is Gems it wasn't all of a sudden. It was a process of one bad decision after another and we somehow think God is going to continue to bless our disobedience. Guess what? He's not.
Back to our story. The children of Israel are once again totally oppressed this time by the Midianites and they are crying out to God for help.
Judges 6;1 Again the Israelite s did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. 2 Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 4 They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. 5 They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. 6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help.
The Lord responds to their plea with a reminder of how they got there.
7 When the Israelites cried to the LORD because of Midian, 8 he sent them a prophet, who said, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 9 I snatched you from the power of Egypt and from the hand of all your oppressors. I drove them from before you and gave you their land. 10 I said to you, 'I am the LORD your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.' But you have not listened to me."
The bottom line then is the same bottom line we have today. We do not listen. God gives us instructions in the Bible on how to live and most of us don't read it never less obey it. Again, we can't expect to have power over our enemies (greed, anger, selfishness, loneliness, finances, etc.) if we are not listening to God.
God sends an angel to Gideon who calls him a mighty warrior and reminds him that God is with him.
I love this part because it's just like us humans, you have to butter us up first so we'll pay attention. The angel didn't just call him a warrior, he called him a mighty warrior. Now you know this got Gideon's ear. Can you just hear his thoughts “yea, I'm not just a warrior I'm a mighty warrior.”
It didn't take long though before he came back to reality. He responds to the angel. What do you mean God is with u? Are you new in town? We are starving and hiding in caves. These Midianites are killing us and in case you haven't heard they are like a swarm of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels.
What happened to our mighty warrior?
Pay attention to the next verse.
14 The LORD turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?"
A couple of things jumped out here to me.
The go in the strength you have and am I not with you.
Sometimes we have to go in our strength and know the Lord is with us.
15 "But Lord , " Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family."
Here our mighty warrior starts telling God why it won't work instead of focusing on the “am I not with you.”
How many times has the Lord asked us to do something and the first thing we do is start listing all the reasons we can't do it instead of focusing on the “am I not with you.”
One of the many things I love about God is He allows us to whine for a moment but then He gives us the final pep talk . He reminded Gideon it was God that called him a mighty warrior so not only could he start the task he could finish it.
This is the Lord's response.
16 The LORD answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together."
God doesn't just say strike them down but that they will go down all together.
King James Bible says as one man.
Basically he wasn't going to have to fight one man at at a time but they were going down all together.
The last part of this story I want to share with you is the best part.
Right before the battle Gideon gets really nervous because remember there are more Midianites than can be counted and God tells him he can only have 300 men in his army! You do the math.
You seriously need to read the story to learn how all that happens, it's amazing.
OK so let's recap. God tells Gideon he's a mighty warrior, not to worry the Lord is with him and he will defeat all the Midianites with only 300 men.
God tells him all this but the Bible says Gideon is afraid.
There are many times I know the Lord tells me to do something and I know the Holy Spirit will give me strength but I still get afraid.
Check out what happens next.
Judges 7:10 If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah 11 and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp." So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp. 12 The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.
13 Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. "I had a dream," he was saying. "A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed."
14 His friend responded, "This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands."
15 When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped God. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, "Get up! The LORD has given the Midianite camp into your hands."
Isn't it sad that Gideon didn't totally believe God until he heard what the people said?
He put more faith in what man said than what God said.
I'm not throwing stones from a glass house because there have been many times in my life when God has told me something and the first thing I did was go to my friends to see what they would say.
Don't get me wrong I'm not saying you shouldn't seek counsel from wise friends but the bottom line is we need to believe what God says.
The danger in seeking man is sometimes we will keep asking one person after another until we get the answer we want instead of the truth, especially if the truth is scary.
The story ends with a miraculous battle. The odds were stacked against the Israelites by God's design so there was no question as to who won the battle. The story of Gideon is an amazing one but I want to remind you, you have an amazing story too.
I pray you will listen to what God says about you, that you will stay in the word and be obedient to God's instructions on how your to live.
I pray that when God calls you a mighty warrior you'll believe Him. Remember wherever He sends you it's your strength that's needed to say yes and move forward but it's His strength that will make the plan successful.

Strength In Joy

I was having one of those days yesterday, you know the kind when you feel like your going to lose it any moment? Do men have those days? Anyway I was on edge and anxious with no apparent reason.
I had to take my youngest daughter to her new High School to meet her teachers and find her classes. How she went from being 4 years old to high school so fast is beyond me. It was hot, I only had an hour, we were in a long line of cars and worse than all we were making a left hand turn.
OK so I'm in my car with my daughter and I'm getting annoyed with the person at the front of the line who is not taking the MANY attempts they had to turn. I start grumbling out loud and I finally say to this person I don't know and can't hear me “don't make me blow this horn!”
At this pressure cooking moment my sweet daughter starts singing “I got the joy joy joy joy down in my heart” she looks at me with a big angelic smile and continues singing “WHERE? Down in my heart to stay!” (if you don't know this popular child song go to you tube and listen to it) I just started laughing and calmed down but then it hit me I did not have joy in my heart.
The second part of Nehemiah 8:10 tells us the joy of the Lord is our strength.
That is a powerful verse and I was living proof of it, on the opposite end I'm afraid. I was not walking in strength because my joy joy joy was apparently no where to be found.
When we have our joy we are able to handle the things life throws at us in a better emotional state. We walk in the understanding that God is in control and Jesus will lead our path. It's the place where we truly are anxious for nothing.
That is an attainable place but if you lose your joy you lose your place.
I did focus on what my daughter said but for some reason I could not seem to beat this feeling I was having. I almost felt numb inside.
Overwhelmed with all the things going on around me and all the prayer request I'm praying for and yet I felt numb.
The truth is the people I'm praying for have far more serious things than I do in my life right now. I felt like a wimp.
I got home from work and my grandson came in a few minutes later excited he had made the soccer team tryouts and would be on the team he hoped for. He's only 7 and has been working so hard all summer. I of course shared in his excitement and told him how proud I was but honestly gems I was responding right on the outside but the inside I was just kinda numb.
I didn't feel excitement or joy or love or anything! What the heck was wrong with me?
Before I went to bed I decided to water my plants on the porch and just call it a day.
I reached up to a hanging plant and as I started pouring the water into it a swarm of wasp attacked my hand. I got about 5 stings before I ran into the house.
The weird thing is although it hurt like a #@##@# it made me cry and that was exactly what I needed.
I went in my room and sat on the floor in the dark and just cried out to God with all the stings I was feeling not only in my hand but in my heart. And believe me I was feeling something now!
My oldest son Anthony, thinking I had gone to bed, came to my room to say goodnight. When he heard me crying he came into my room to see what was wrong.
I don't like to cry in front of my kids or people for that matter when I'm feeling really vulnerable.
I told him about the numbness and how I could not seem to find my joy. I shared how I felt like I wasn't doing the best kingdom work lately and in a nut shell felt like crap. To make matters worse I didn't feel like the Lord had much to say to me, other than the joy thing.
My wise son encouraged me with facts about our family and the seeds I had planted and then he said something very profound to me.
He claims I said it to him years ago so it mush have been a Holy Spirit moment cause not only do I not remember but it was really good.
He said “mom you told me one time that the more time we spend with God and devote ourselves to becoming more like Jesus the less He has to talk to us.”
Follow me here not less time like He's busy but less time reminding us how to behave. He went on to say that when we are seeking the love of God we respond in ways that please Him.
Let's put it in a practical every day way. When your teaching your child, student, sibling or employee something new you have to tell them over and over how it's done. You have to remind them the proper response each time the situation comes up. As time goes by you have to tell them less and less as they figure out what to do.
The more we read the Bible and ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom the more we get it and the less times He has to show us how to behave.
Anthony asked me if I fessed up to anything I did wrong and I said yes. He responded in his most sensitive way “then suck it up, get back on the horse and start riding again!”
He was right. The beautiful part about walking with the Lord is as soon as you repent and move on your done. You only camp out in the joyless zone if you choose to hang out there.
On a more difficult note he said he thought it was important for me to share with people when I'm vulnerable. I reminded him about Gena's Jewels and how many people I share my junk with. It is a humbling experience but if it helps one person I'm glad to do it.
Honestly Gems, I feel bad sharing because I feel like my lack of trust at the time is dissing God. My son reminded me that people need to know that we all feel that way at times.
So here I am AGAIN confessing to you that I lost my joy cause I lost my trust.
The good news is after a good cry, a great talk including a much needed hug and an awesome prayer time I woke up the next morning and what do you think I found?
You guessed it.
I got the joy joy joy joy down in my heart! Where?? Down in my heart to stay :)
None of the circumstances in my life nor in the lives of the ones I'm praying for have changed. It's never about our circumstances it's about our mind set.
I feel so much better today so I'm sending this out to you my Gems to encourage you. If you lost your peace look for your joy, chances are you'll find your strength too!