You are God's Treasure!

My heart sank. I was sick to my stomach immediately and my body temperature seemed to swing from burning to ice cold and back to burning with each heartbeat. I had lost something that I couldn’t imagine living the rest of my life without. In no way would this feeling of panic, fear, loss, and personal disappointment ever be far from my thoughts. I had lost my wedding ring, and therefore lost a part of myself as well.

I couldn’t just sit back and accept that my ring was gone though. I told my husband and children and they immediately joined in on the “Great Ring Hunt of 2013”. My mind was in continual turmoil. It raced day and night trying to think of new places to look. My heart was broken and I cried myself to sleep. I enlisted friends to pray and assist in searching too.

I was crushed and devastated. Sure, I had a jewelry box full of other rings…but they weren’t THIS ring. THIS ring held my heart and had been part of me for over sixteen years. It represented a love and a commitment that was truly a part of who I was, not just an item I owned.

I prayed continually for God to supernaturally reveal to me the location of my ring, but for days I searched and was sick with fear that my ring was in fact gone forever. I cried almost continually, and could think of little else than the missing ring. My actions were consumed by the search, my thoughts were overwhelmed by it, and my words could only utter my concerns and my loss.

Finally, after a week of absolute torture, I brushed back the curtain in my bedroom. There, on the window sill was my treasured wedding ring. I had spent the last week trying to “continue with life” and knowing I would forever keep an eye out for my missing ring…until the day I found it. The moment of recovery that I had hoped and prayed for had arrived!

I was so incredibly relieved that I called my husband and all of my friends. We all breathed a communal sigh of relieve and celebrated together that my treasure had been located safely and was back where it was supposed to be. My friends and family were overjoyed for me, and I finally had peace in my heart and could stop feeling sick and consumed. We truly celebrated and rejoiced together.

Shortly after recovering my ring, I came across a scripture that I had read many times. I thought I understood it completely, but looking at it through the lenses of my recent loss I could see the deeper value and meaning.

Luke 15:8-10 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?  And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’  In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

I had just been the woman doing everything she could to find something of value that was missing. I had recent insight on the deep sense of loss, the angst of a lengthy search, and the beautiful celebration of recovery.

In this Scripture, we are the missing treasure. God is the woman who we belong to as believers. Just as I spent all of my energies seeking my ring, and the lady in scripture spent hers looking for the coin, God's heart is anxious for our return to Him. When we do return to Him, He celebrates in Heaven as does the angels. You are of that much value to God's heart! You are His treasure that He will continue seeking and searching to recover.

Even though we believe, there are times that we get caught up in things that aren’t of Him and we become “lost” to our own devices. God will continue to shed light into our dark places so that the way back to Him is revealed and available to us. It is up to us to repent and turn back to Him and the place He has designed us to be. When we do this…Angels rejoice at our repentance and there is a celebration in Heaven because we have returned to our rightful place with our Father.

Be encouraged today that He is still with you. You are still of great value to Him, and He earnestly wants you back even more than I wanted my wedding ring back! Please allow God to shine His light into the dark places of your life and allow Him to guide to back into the safety of His care!

You are God's great treasure!

The Me...Inside of Me

THE ME INSIDE OF ME- has pink hair. She throws caution to the wind and fully embraces the experiences of life as they come without filtering them through a lens of what terrible and painful thing will this elicit. She is not concerned with how the world will view her or if she will be accepted.

THE ME INSIDE OF ME- enjoys every minute with her children and gets down on the floor, rolls around and is silly. She isn’t consumed with dishes and laundry and all the things that still need to be done to keep life moving forward.

THE ME INSIDE OF ME- passionately embraces her husband and melts into the fullness of what the husband/wife relationship is designed to be. She isn’t guarded or wounded from things of the past.

THE ME INSIDE OF ME- boldly builds relationships and friendships not being concerned about rejection or disappointment.

This is the me…inside of me.

 The me I am trying to let out.

Maybe it’s the me God created me to be.

I hope one day…to be THE ME INSIDE OF ME!

More Than a Pinky Promise!

We all remember days of childhood where many best laid plans, promises, and secrets were sealed with a "Pinky Promise!"

As we got older though we realized that "Pinky Promises" weren't strong enough to withstand the test of time and we became disillusioned. Life taught us that promises would be broken.

During my quiet time this morning, my hope and faith in promises was restored when I read the following scripture. 

Hebrews 6:18-19 NLT

So God has give both His promise and His oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to Lie. Therefore, we who have fled to Him for refuge can have a great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us.

This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God's inner sanctuary.

WOW! God has given us an unchanging and unbreakable promise and oath that had the 'No matter what' clause.

No matter what...it will not change.

No matter what...it will not go away.

No matter what...it will not be broken.

In our dark and painful places where life seems so uncertain and we feel like we are completely alone... seek refuge in HIM and not in temporary things that are as fragile as the pinky promises of our childhood. We can have confidence and hope that He has us in the palm of His hand and is taking care of us not only now, but in the future as well.

We can anchor our soul on His hope that is strong and trustworthy. In doing this, we can rely on His strength and not our own that is fragile and fleeting.

When we are anchored to Him and His hope, we can then enter into His inner sanctuary or His full presence. How sweet that promise is... and its a promise that can never be broken!

Sweet friend, if you are weak this morning and broken hearted by promises that were not kept, please find refuge in our Heavenly Father today. Anchor your soul to Him and you will be able to trust in a hope that comes only from Him. You will be able to rely on His strength and not your own. He promises to carry you through and give you hope...  and these promises will never be broken.

Father God, We come to you right now having a difficult time trusting because in our experience trust has been unreliable. God, we seek refuge in you today. Help us anchor our soul to you and rely on your strength over our own. Heal the places that are hurt and broken and allow us the privilege to enter into your presence and get to know you in a deeper what than ever before. I think you for these things. I place my trust in you and your unbreakable promises.
     In Jesus name...Amen

 

Shifted Vision Ministries: WARNING: SLIPPERY SURFACE

Shifted Vision Ministries: WARNING: SLIPPERY SURFACE: Recently I was on vacation with my family. It seems that everything we do always involves water and this trip brought us to the Comal River....

WARNING: SLIPPERY SURFACE

Recently I was on vacation with my family. It seems that everything we do always involves water and this trip brought us to the Comal River. I am a fraidy-cat so I always choose to get out and walk around the dangerous areas like rapids and shoots. In walking around something that I perceived as dangerous and trying to avoid getting hurt, I came across a sign painted on the cement that said: “Caution: Slippery Surface”.

I began thinking about how we as Christians can easily avoid the obvious dangers. We can see the dangers lurking ahead when it comes to infidelity, addiction, theft, murder…those are biggies that we can see and make course corrections to avoid. We don’t always avoid them and the closer we get to the actual core of the threat the current oftentimes catches us and we are caught up in the throes of it before we realize we are past the point of no return. Repentance and forgiveness are our only course if we choose to navigate away from the sin that has drawn us in.

There are times however that the course we choose to avoid a big sin can be a slippery surface as well. We can linger on the outside of the current of infidelity and skirt it with flirting. We can float along toying with drugs or alcohol and not even realize that we are losing control. We can easily stretch or exaggerate the truth not realizing that is the slippery slope of dishonesty. We can stock our home with office supplies from work, and not see ourselves as a thief.

You see, oftentimes “Big Sins” have definite warning signs that come along with them. Common sense brings the list of possible consequences to mind and we cautiously steer clear. The “small sins” are less obvious. We are lured to think that we can handle it or control them. We think the consequences aren’t that bad.

The truth is: in God’s eyes sin is sin, there are no ‘big sins’ or ‘small sins’, sin is simply sin. So the next time you realize you are gossiping, telling a little white lie, taking a tablet from the office, taking just one more pill, drinking just one more drink, flirting just one more time…you are on a slippery surface. That surface is the illusion of sin not being sin. I pray you are able to recognize it for what it is and heed the signs… “Caution: Slippery Surface”

Shifted Vision Ministries: Confessions of a Clinger

Shifted Vision Ministries: Confessions of a Clinger: Hello, my name is Tammy…and I’m a clinger! A few weeks back I posted a series of confessions on my Facebook Page. Confession...

Confessions of a Clinger

Hello, my name is Tammy…and I’m a clinger!

A few weeks back I posted a series of confessions on my Facebook Page.

Confession 1: I cling to recipe and cookbooks. I almost never use them, but the idea of letting them go isn't comfortable so I cling tighter. 

Confession 2: I can't get rid of books. They stay in cabinets and on shelves, but I just can't seem to part with them. I have converted closets into shelving spaces to hold the mountains of books that I cling to. It's not that I have plans to read them again- to be honest, many of them have never been read and probably never will. 

Confession 3: I LOVE bags! So much so that on some forums my user name is Diva Bag Lady. I have bins of bags. I am kind of a bag snob though, and I seem to use the same one or two until they are shreds... never touching the other ones. Even though I don't use the others, I seem to cling to and find comfort in the fact that they are there. I can't let them go. 

I believe that clinging is part of our great design, but because of a fallen and sinful world we get confused and cling to the wrong things.

Jeremiah recognized this tendency: “Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return.” (Jeremiah 8:5)

I’m not saying that my recipe books, bins of bags, and closets of books are idols but when I look at the definition of the word I honestly have to pause. The first definition of idol doesn’t convict me, but the second and third shake things up a bit.

Idol: 1. a. An image uses as an object of worship.

           b. A false God

        2. One that is adored, often blindly or excessively.

        3. Something visible but without substance.

Looking at the second definition I wonder what role my stuff plays for me. I adore my recipes, books, and bags. I don’t focus on them like Gollum in The Lord of The Rings as he hid in dark places stroking the ring and creepily stating “My Precious!”, but I definitely like them more than I should.

 

The third definition though is what got me. An idol is something that is visible, but without substance. I stated earlier that I cling to these things and find comfort in knowing they are there, but is it true comfort?  If it’s false comfort I have settled for, have these items taken the place of God in parts of my life? Have they become idols?

In Psalm 63:8 David cried out, “I cling to you; your right hand upholds me.” God is who I am to cling to. In clinging to Him, and not stuff, I can be truly comforted by my Father in heaven who is the great comforter.

I’m not telling you to go through and start purging the things you cling to. I am asking you to seek within yourself what you hope to gain by clinging to the stuff that clutters your world. From this day forward, I want to cling to God above all.

That being said; does anyone need some recipe books?

"What Stinks?"

“What stinks?”

These were the words that my sweet eleven year old chose to embrace me with the moment she walked through the door. I had no idea what she was talking about. I honestly didn’t smell anything. A few minutes later my thirteen year old chose to grace me with the exact same welcome. I still didn’t smell anything. Since nothing reeked to me and I wasn’t uncomfortable, I completely dismissed their questions and didn’t bother to pursue the source of a stench that I didn’t smell.

Fast forward to the next day…I had a full morning of errands so I was out of the house for several hours. I walked in the door and the first words out of my mouth were, “What stinks?” I started to investigate and quickly found a pot in the sink that had been left to soak for a bit too long…and it reeked!

Was the stench new? No, because my daughters had each smelled it the day before. Why hadn’t I smelled it when they did? The only answer I can come up with is that I had been with the stench from the beginning. I hadn’t left the house in a few days so the growing stench didn’t repulse me right away. It took me getting out of the house and being separated from the stink before I could recognize its presence.

I could have found the foul odor the day before when my children so lovingly pointed its presence out, but I didn’t even try. I wasn’t offended or repulsed like they were I saw no urgent need for change.  

Once the smell assaulted me and made me uncomfortable, I had no choice but to find the source. Once found, I quickly washed dishes and bleached the sink. Doing this effectively got rid of the stink that had invaded our home.

It’s that way with sin too. It causes a stench in our lives that sometimes we don’t notice because we are too close to it or have grown accustomed to it being there. We have no sense of urgency to deal with something that doesn't make us uncomfortable.

Hopefully you have friends and family who love you enough to walk through the door of your life and ask… “What stinks?”  When they point something out, we can either trust them and start looking for the source, or we can dismiss them and wait for the sin to continue to permeate our lives.

Once the source is found, we then allow God to come in and remove the sin. Then He begins the task of cleansing, restoration, and healing. He spiritually bleaches us with the blood of Jesus and we are forgiven. Our job is to avoid leaving dirty pots in the sink...or as Jesus said to the woman what was caught in adultery, "Go and sin no more."

So let me lovingly ask you today… ”What stinks?”

It All Came Tumbling Down... AGAIN!

Well it happened…AGAIN! Things came crashing down all around me. I’m not talking figuratively, but literally I ended up with a pile of things that one second had all been perched and balanced perfectly in my arms and the next were scattered at my feet like fragments from a bombing.

You see, I had been walking through my home being “very productive” gathering things from each room that needed to be returned to their rightful location. My arms had grown quite full, but I was certain that I could pick up that last soda can. Little did I know that act would derail all of my good intentions. It quite literally was the thing that brought the mountain down!

How many times in life do we go through doing our dance and juggling the details of our lives? It is a dance that I am very familiar with. We are like those Chinese Acrobats with so many things spinning in so many different directions, but with skill and concentration we are able to keep them spinning.

We do have a limit though. There comes a time that we are at our “juggling capacity” and just can’t add one more thing. The sad part is that we don’t recognize that we are at our limit.  We add that one more thing to our over loaded crazy pile and the whole thing tumbles down. We get angry at ourselves and our circumstances. We become tired and discouraged. It takes so much effort to pick things back up after they have fallen.

As I stooped down this morning to pick up my dropped pile, I realized something. Most of the things lying at my feet weren’t mine to be taking care of in the first place: children’s shoes, back packs, craft projects...none of those were mine. I did have things I was responsible for, like the dirty laundry and the blasted soda can that caused all the mess. In that moment I realized that it hadn’t been the can’s fault at all. It had been my fault because if I had loaded my arms with the things that I was responsible for, my load would never have been too heavy or overwhelming.

This made me think of times when I have taken up other people’s battles and responsibilities only to see my own obligations and frame of mind spin utterly out of control. Galatians 6:2  CEV  “You obey the law of Christ when you offer each other a helping hand.” We are supposed to help…not take full responsibility for someone else’s “stuff”. (Okay now I’m alluding to things figuratively as well)

If things are falling today, check to see it what you are carrying is your “stuff” or someone else’s. If it’s all yours, God says He will help you carry it because His yoke is easy and His burden is light. (Matthew 11:30)

If the “stuff” that has you over loaded rightfully is someone else’s, lovingly give it back to them. If they don’t take it back, then it’s okay for their “stuff” to sit there for a while.  Many times people will give others their “stuff” to take care of because they don’t want to take care of it themselves. Offering a helping hand means you HELP someone…NOT do it for them.

Have a great day, and I pray God helps you figure out what is yours to carry, and what you need to leave behind.

~Blessings~

Letter from God...Time is Limited!

If you were to wake up in the morning and have note from God sitting in your e-mail saying:

“Good morning! I just wanted to let you know that today is the last day you will have all of the people you love on this Earth with you. I will be bringing one of them home to Heaven with me before the sun rises tomorrow. I love you enough that I wanted to give you the opportunity to know that time is limited. I love you, and hope you make today count. Love, God”

 

God didn’t tell you who you He was taking home with Him, so what would you do? Who would you decide to forgive and who would you ask forgiveness of? Would you take the time to play games and have fun with your children, specifically telling each of them how much you love them and how special they are? 

Would you call your parents, or make the time to go see them? Would you slow down and make love to your spouse in a meaningful way instead of the routine you have fallen in to? Would you tell them how they are your hero?

Who are the other important people in your life that you would make sure you reached out to knowing it was the last time you would have contact with one of them.

Would the things that consumed your thoughts, actions, and worries yesterday still carry the same value, importance, and priority on this day?

We are never guaranteed a tomorrow. We all experience sudden life changes where we missed the opportunity to say goodbye or tell someone how important they are to us. Each day, let’s try to wake up and live like we have an e-mail from God. It tells us that time is limited… what are we going to do with it?