You Are Not Alone #song #hope #faith

This lovely praise song O My Soul (Casting Crowns) echoes in my head.

“Oh my soul

you are not alone

there’s a place where fear

Has to face the God you know

One more day

He will make a way

Let Him show you how

You can lay this down, you can lay this down…”

There are so many places we look for assurance when we are lonely, dejected. Jesus really does want us to run into His arms and throw all these cares to the side. Yes we will cry, yes we will ask why, yes we will…

There are so many places in Psalms to curl up with a coffee or tea and be encouraged.

“”May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble; May the name of the God of Jacob defend you.” Psalm 20:1

“Turn Yourself to me, and have mercy on me, For I am desolate and afflicted, The troubles of my heart have enlarged: bring me out of my distresses.” Psalm 25:16 & 17

“Give ear to my prayer, O God, And do not hide Yourself from my supplication. Attend to me and hear me; I am restless in my complaint and moan noisily.” Psalm 55:1 & 2

“But certainly God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer (s).” Psalm 66:19

“If I say ‘my foot slips,’ Your mercy, O Lord, will hold me up,” Psalm 94:18

“I cry out with my whole heart…” Psalm 119:145

Cry out with your whole heart. He hears you and and wishes to comfort you in your days of sorrow and trouble.

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Creativity Heals #art #depression

I just read a blog by a blogger who was really pressing down on herself for feeling that things are so bad. They are and they are not. It’s a matter of perspective.

BUT…

Something that helps so much is expression.

Blogging, art, writing are all forms of media that help us keep from that tipping point.

When I was very active on Social Media (sorry guys I am all over the world at the mo and so blogging is really a back door thing) I was meeting people coming out of Alcoholism, attempts at suicide, a divorce that drove the person batty…

there is that place to go to splash paint and get it off the head and heart.

And there is always prayer…

Reverse Thunder

I hear thunder in the distance

rolling onward like the waves

gaining power it surges  forward

and like a child I am afraid

flash and pounding ever stronger

seconds now and it will hit

dark the clouds and growing closer

blowing fragile tree to bits

it has stopped and hovers o’er me

a distinct voice of one I love

in the whispers it is calming

begging help from God above

*

Reverse Thunder

whispered prayers become a shout

God listens

Wait

The Children of Our World #needy #forgotten

Threadbare cloth

cold winds look for smallest

children shiver

We meet so many children on the byways of the world. There is something we notice often – when we give a little encouragement, those little faces light up. They soak up any kindness.

Lately we heard from a colleague in a really hard place in the world. Mr. I (yeah he lives in one of those areas where you don’t reveal your true identity) works with the street children in his village every day. They too light up with his kindness and devour the time he spends with them.

Mr. I is having a birthday soon and wants more than any gift in the world to give these children something. Winter is coming and he reached out and said “is there any way we could give these children who have nothing a warm blanket or something to wear before winter hits?”

I dont ask for help on my blog Im a writter not a fundraiser. But my only answer for Mr. I was to send what I could which will help a few of those kids and ask if there is anyone else with $10 who could buy a blanket or shirt and pants for a child with no family, no hope.

Here’s where you could send those funds online
 or a direct link is: https://secure.egsnetwork.com/donate/431B1AC964984BB

Whether you can help or not thank you for being the light to a child today.

~Moondustwriter

The Needy Shall Not Always be Forgotten… Psalm9:18

A New leaf #fall #hope

Golden arch way

color spectrum full

fall beckons

Fall is such a lovely time of the year. The air cools and we are beckoned to follow a path of golds and reds.

What does today’s path look like? Probably different than one year ago.

Though the path we are on today may seem to go in directions we wish it would not, we (those who believe in Christ) have the assurance that there is hope, fulness and glory at the end of Life’s path.

I cannot imagine what Heaven will look like though I try. Golden, always light, joy are some of the words that accompany the thoughts of heaven. I also imagine the lovely voices of children in this world.

“I saw the Lord sitting on the throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple… The whole earth is full of His glory.” Isaiah 6:1-3

Though the Lord fills the entire space there will be room for us. How is that possible? I guess we will wait to see.

If you do not have that assurance as one who follows Christ do not be dismayed – Christ offers His loving forgiveness to all who will admit that they are a sinner and that Jesus is in fact the one who can wipe (atone) all sin away. Sound easy? it is. Seeking forgiveness means you must put yourself aside and follow the worthy one – Jesus.

Is He radiating hope into your life today? drink from the living water and never thirst again.

Even when I Can’t See #truth

golden rays

open nature’s aperture

out with the tide

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand,
And marked off the heavens by the span,
And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure,
And weighed the mountains in a balance
And the hills in a pair of scales?

~Isaiah 40:12

Source:

Lonely But Not Alone #haiku #reflection

A Way in the Storm 2012 Moondust Designs

broken by cold
world's storm tears fragile promise
fragrant offering called hope

Are you finding yourself alone in this mixed up world of CoVid 19? Worries swirl about your head for yourself, family, the world.

“This is my comfort in my affliction, For your word has given me life.”

~Psalm 119:50

Hang on to the two words Comfort and Affliction that form a parenthesis around the word and very presence of affliction. Trials and afflictions (doubts and pains) may not be nullified, but they are cushioned by the faithful Word of God.

Please take heart today. He is always there.
Inspired by a fellow blogger’s post: a prayer and a flower.

Refreshed #search #truth

 

“Come to the water

stand by my side

I know you are thirsty

you wont be denied”

Words that we sang

we could drink deep

take refreshing sips

the well is always full

There are days I doubt

distracted by drought

 when I have been starving

  clothes threadbare

you have always provided

what I needed

even in my disbelief

you shared your pool of mercy

where I could bathe in hope

 

Do you ever face days where you can’t see past the trial or the trouble? Do the words “He will provide” seem trite? I cannot count for you how many times He has provided food for my family when the cupboards (and bank account) were bare. I am reminded of the prayer of my child for shoes and the next day I was given money that bought four pairs of shoes for my little ones. And the prayers of a preteen whose best friend has just lost her mom when we find out I also have cancer.

Sometimes life seems like Russian Roulette and The doctor says “you might live and you might die.”

In a van going to another country to get alternate treatment the woman next to me tells me her bleak story. “There are very few healthy cells left in my body. Maybe a month left now and so I made this trip as a last hope even if it can buy more time with my kids. They have no one except me. No one…” Her 18 year old son sits next to her. He is her designated caregiver because there is no one else.

Cancer takes on a new meaning for me as God pulls me out of my own dark reverie to pray without ceasing for this young mom.

I am assured not beaten down

I am certain that God has a plan not destruction

I am lifted up on eagles wings not on a paper airplane…

Weeks of treatment go by. The woman has had many up and downs. I sit with her one day during treatment and she starts going downhill. She hands me her PET scan. “The cancer is diminished. I may have more than a year now.” As she leaves the hospital she hands me her PET scan done that day. There are little bitty pieces of cancer. I am going home with more than a figthing chance and I know many prayers…”

 

If this God cares about shoes and a woman’s cells then does He also not care for your circumstances? What about the World’s?”

CoVid-19 is indeed scary so is having no money.

He knows your every need He hears your every prayer!!!

“You keep track of all my sorrows.
    You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
    You have recorded each one in your book.”

~Psalm 56:8

 

Tomorrow’s Hope #Covid-19 #faith #children

“I was just thinking about a friend of ours.” Bethany looks at her lion friend.

“Who is that Bethany?”

“Her name is Christine. Several of her children have attended our class.”

“Oh yes I remember her. The last time I saw her she was very sad.”

“Many of her tribe didn’t want the baby in the village; they said the baby was cursed.

A tear falls from Judah’s eye. “How can a baby be a curse?”

“It is our fallen world Judah.” Bethany holds his paw. “Broken people have little hope.”

“But there was one who came to give hope to the broken. His light breaks through darkness.The Gospel of John talks about light: “A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light lest the darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.” John 12:35

“Judah, We need some of that light during Co-Vid pandemic. There are some families who have lost many people to the disease. ”

We can’t be afraid though: “Say to those who are fearful-hearted, Be strong, do not fear! Behold your God will come with a vengeance.” Isaiah 35:4

“No, Judah, you are right we must hold fast to Jesus, because our Tomorrow is filled with eternal hope. ”

 

So many of us are dealing with uncertainty. Are you afraid? Ask God to help you be strong. The Bible says God will come and be with you in your dark and fearful times.

Rebirth #easter #love #sacrifice

It was a chrysalis; a pod that holds a baby butterfly. I looked up in the tree above.

“You fell didn’t you? How can I get you back?” There was no answer, no help.

I carried the chrysalis to my cave and put it in a very safe place. “What should I do with you? Should I bury you? I can’t.”

For 3 days Judah paced and mumbled in his cave. He couldn’t eat because he was sad about the small creature who had died.

Then on day 3, he heard a tiny voice. “Hello.” Is anyone there?”

“Hello” I saw the pod changing colour and I was afraid. “How can I help?” I said rather loudly.

“I must be hanging from something or I cannot come out the right way.”

I looked around in my cave. Then I grabbed the stub where the chrysalis had been attached to the tree. I let it hang down between my teeth. “Okay.”

I spent many hours as my wings little by little came out of the pod. When my eyes popped open, I saw something large and sharp. “What are those?” I tried to sound calm.

“My teeth.”

“What do you use them for?”

“Eating.”

“Like small creatures?”

“I eat many things.”

“Um, Mr Lion can you put me back where I came from.”

“The tree was too high. I can’t do it.”

I was too tired to argue. Maybe he would give me time to fly away. It was not easy, but I kept unfolding and drying my wet wings. I finally climbed on his big nose. I waved a wing at his eyes. “Hello, I’m Bethany. Can we be friends?”

“Oh yes. You are so beautiful. I would like to be friends very much.”

“Do lions eat their friends?”

“Never.”

***

“My God my God why have You forsaken me?” Mark 15:34

Many of us feel forsaken during these days of CoVid 19. God has not closed His eyes to our suffering. He’s right there.

Jesus died on the cross for our sins. His heart broke because our sins separated Him from the love of God  (for those 3 days.) Why would he do that? Because He loved us and wanted to free us. Judah the lion didn’t save the cocoon to then eat the butterfly. Jesus didn’t die for ours sins to then condemn us to eternal hell.

No one expected that in three days he would rise from the dead.  He is very much alive and we can be redeemed because sin has no hold on us in Christ. Just like Bethany the beautiful butterfly was reborn so can we be reborn in Jesus.

“He is not here; for He is risen, as He said.” Matthew 28:6

So rejoice-  Easter is the promise that death could not hold Jesus. It cannot hold us either.

 

 

“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, (nor CoVid19) neither angels nor demons,^[b]neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” ~Romans 8:38 & 39

 

Be suspended in the rays of Easter’s hope. Be loved by the one who died on the cross for YOU!!!

 

 

Seek The Cure #covid19 #disease

disease in every crevice

my eyes are covered

soul  drier than the desert

*

where is refreshment

streams of life forsaken

down to the abyss

*

disease in every crevice

my eyes are covered

soul  drier than the desert

*

death circles the drain

immeasurable lines to mourn

my heart can’t cry

*

disease in every crevice

my eyes are covered

soul  drier than the desert

*

where is the cure?

no one has the answer

lost in a wasteland

*

disease in every crevice

my eyes are covered

soul  drier than the desert

*

looking in the wrong places

trusting man’s word

fools follow fools

*

disease in every crevice

my eyes are covered

soul  drier than the desert

*

open my eyes to The Truth

help me seek the cure

it’s at the cross of Jesus

 

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said,

out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

~John 7:37-38