"Peace...Be Still"

"Sometimes he calms the Storm"

Sometimes he calms the storm with a whispered, "Peace...Be Still".

He can settle any Sea- doesn't mean he will.

Sometimes he holds us close and lets the wind and waves go wild.

Sometimes he calms the storm, other times he calms his child.

The New Testament has three different interpretations of Jesus calming the storm.

Matthew 8 23-27

Mark 4 37-41

Luke 8 23-25

In Matthew-  the disciples cried, " Lord, Save Us"

Mark says- " Don't you Care?"

and Luke said, " We are going to drown!"

Jesus calmed the storm- after rebuking them for having such little faith. But this - increased their faith.

" Why are you so afraid"?, he asked the disciples. " There is nothing to fear!"

The disciples were amazed- Nothing is impossible when... You put your Trust in God!

Jesus first calmed their fears.. Then increased their faith, by calming the storm- thus protecting them.

The Sea of Galilee- really a lake- is north of the land of Israel. The only fresh water lake in the land. Great for fishing. Capernaum and Bethsaida- fishing towns. The Sea of Galilee is seven miles across and approximately 160 feet deep.

The surface of the lake is about 600 feet below sea level.

The lake- Sea of Galilee is in the famous " Rift Valley" a natural fault line that runs down the Jordan River Valley to the Dead Sea. In Fact all the way to Africa.

Mount Hermon is 9000 feet high, and the Dead Sea is 1250 feet below sea level. The valley drops sharply- hot air can come up suddenly and collide with the cool air from Mt. Hermon- causing sudden storms.

I have the same responses as the disciples when I experience storms in my life. " Jesus, Don't you care?"

I'm drowning here, Lord

Lord, Save Me!

A storm grew strong around me this past weekend. I couldn't explain why, just did- a sudden storm. I was caught off guard. At the time looked like a large one, but looking back now- it was really just a few rain drops. I felt- MEAN inside. I didn't like that feeling. Why am I acting this way. It was in the mist of the storm- Jesus tapped me on my " Hard Head" and said- Keep your eyes on me, not yourself OR your situation. And suddenly- the storm was gone.

Jesus can calm the storm- that quick

He will calm your fear

He will calm the storm

Have Faith

Keep your eyes on him!

Amy

Doing for others

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,  I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’  “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,  I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’  “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’  “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’  “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
(Matthew 25: 31-46)

     How many times will I break my Savior's heart? It's me who craves the easy in my me-ism little bubble that complains that I have to work the two days a week. How many times will I choose not to pick up my cross and follow HIM? To love COMFORT more?
     Longing to be the Christ-centered can sometimes feel like a roller coaster ride. Wanting so badly to live for Christ to live bent the lower as long as????? As long as I am not taken out of the comforts of my life.
Pastor preached Sunday on the blind beggar from (Mark 10: 46-52); he sat by the road-side blind and begging; the truest picture of humanity....and people just kept passing him by.
But one cry out to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Jesus son of David) have MERCY on me!
     Jesus stopped dead in His tracks and turned around and said "who called my name?"
 Who is it that we are passing by?
Are we the ones passing by the blind and the hungry?
     I have had the stench of death all over me lately. The people come and their lives are the broken. Some with the no families. Others that are dying with AIDS or Cancer sometimes it's a stroke and it's the Brain that is gone.  And it's the me who steps right over them to do what is called  "my job."  Aren't all those people supposed to be made in His image?  It's me when the shift is over that runs to the car like a mad women so I can breath again. Speeding home to stand in the shower trying to scrub the stench right off of me.........the stench of death.  It is then standing in my shower that I cry out "Jesus son of David, have mercy on me."
     In Hebrews 2:17-18; Jesus knew we are the helpless. He knew we couldn't save ourselves. HE looked on US and felt merciful. He saw us as sheep without a Shepard. (Sheep are not very bright animals, and they are always going in the wrong direction). So how do I keep my eyes off of me and put them on the King and live with Jesus being my everything?  As I toss another load in the wash with my Belarus daughter looking at me with those huge big brown eyes and she smiles a faint little smile and tells me they have no washer or dryer. The have to use the well water that is not close to their house and they pump water into a bucket. A bucket that is used for their drinking water, bath water, and for cooking.  How can my comfortable little life ever be considered Christianity? What is my life all about? To better my blog? To be a speaker or a writer? All for what? To simply elevate myself spiritually? I have yet to forsake my American dream.....I am living the American dream! Wanting to simply WAKE UP!!!! Wake up and say YES to God!
     If each of us lived our life waking up everyday with pure joy and saying, "Here I am God....over here....send me!!!! YES God I will go where-ever you lead.....not my will, but your will and cry out Jesus "son of David," have mercy on me, wouldn't we live in a different world?

Maria Skobtsova, (a twentieth-century nun) quoted this quote that will stay with me the rest of my life:
"At the Last Judgement I shall not be asked whether I was successful in my ascetic exercises, nor how many bows and prostrations I made. Instead I shall be asked if I fed the hungry, clothed the naked, visited the sick and the prisoners."

all of grace,
Robbie

    Thankful for:

the nephew who loves me

family time

being with my mom

swimming in the pool with my lab

the squeal of laughter at the beach from the teens

finding his grace

family whose hearts are fixed on the cross

the ocean

finding stillness

seeing His fingerprints everywhere

the gift-salvation

standing on holy ground

prayer shaw

old sermons

for my niece who I call "Etty," who cried the hard because I wouldn't give up my dog

poly pockets(my girls are too old so we took poly-pocket world to the beach for Etty)

who played for hours and the teenagers who took turns playing with her.

moments that take your breath away

slowing down

http://www.aholyexperience.com" target="_blank">http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff162/annvoskamp/subalbumone/walkwithhimwednesdays2-1.jpg" >

Holy Spirit Come

There is nothing sweeter- than when a child asks Jesus to come live in their heart. What does that really mean? To a child- They really believe that Jesus comes to "Live" in their heart. Well actually... he does. When you receive Jesus as your personal savior, you are saying that the spirit of God has joined with your spirit- That Jesus' indwelling spirit has come to dwell within you.

Ezekiel 36:26-27  the lord says, " I will put my spirit within yours and cause you to walk in my way."

Once the Holy Spirit transmits the quality of love into you- your very core- your job will then be to walk in his love. Once his divine love is transmitted in us, we will be able to love others as easily as he loves us.

When you start to feel God's love for his people- you will not be able to stop yourself from loving his people.

As I hold their tired and wrinkled hand- as I bathe the sick and weary- or sit by the bed of a lonely outcast- I cant help myself. The tears begin to fill my eyes as I begin to see that person- through Jesus' eyes.  There is a song on the Christan radio station that I listen too that says..... Give me your eyes for just one second- give me eyes so that I can see- everything that Ive been missing- give me your love for humanity.

Why is it so hard to step out of our comfort zone and help another in need? Can you make eye contact with someone hurting- and then look away as if you do not see them?

I want to get to that place- that place where Jesus is in control of me all the time. The old me is gone and the new me is so filled with the Holy Spirit that everyone that comes in contact with me- sees Jesus in me. How can we get to that place? I feel God so strongly in that twenty bed ICU where I work. Is it because so many call out his name? It is at home where I fill the most resistance. The most tension.  Sometimes I feel like two different people- no not multiple personalities- but full of Jesus one minute and lonely and empty the next.

I know that Satan is the king of lies- that he plays on our weakness. One of my weakness' is my family. I have such high expectations for my boys- it is when I take my eyes off what is truly important, and focus on things of this world- is when I fall short.

Father, I pray for you to live in my heart- to dwell in me every second of every day.

Amy

suffering brings glory...

Romans 8:15-17  
The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.  And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.  Now if we are children, then we are heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
John 21:18-19
Jesus said, "Feed my sheep.  Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go."  Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.  Then he said to him, "Follow me!"

     The message at my church on Sunday really brought me to my knees and made me take a look at my own life and rethink things. The following stuff is a lot of what was spoken in my church and I do not take credit for it all; however, I thought it was worth sharing. I wrote on running hard after God the other day and how we must go through some trials in life, but these scriptures back up the fact that we will go through sufferings in order to share in God's glory.  We are heirs of God. 
What would have happened if they had delayed the sufferings?
God instructs Peter to take up his cross and Follow Him....think about that....take up your cross and follow him...
As followers of Jesus, we are in the world, but not of it.  We must swim against the tide. 
We may have to suffer.
We will come into conflict with the forces of hell....sufferings will come our way.....but glory will come too...
Do you want to experience God's glory?  I do!!! 
Let's not focus too much right now on the sufferings because I do not want you to run away for fear of experiencing sufferings.  God does not want us to live in fear, but we must live in reality of the world that surrounds us, even if we are not of the world.

     We need intimacy. Intimacy with God- we have to truly get to know Him and through intimacy comes knowing Him.

     In Acts 20, we read about Paul and his willingness to go to Jerusalem, "not knowing what will happen to me there."  He only knew that "in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.  However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me - the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace." (Acts 20:22-24)

     Does your life mean nothing to you compared to what it means to live for God and His kingdom?  It seems a bit scary to really answer that question honestly.  BUT, we have to get to that place where we say...HERE I AM LORD, I AM HERE TO GO WHERE YOU WANT, DO WHAT YOU WANT, SUFFER THROUGH THE HARDSHIPS YOU WARNED ME ABOUT IF IT MEANS GETTING TO THE PLACE THAT YOU WANT ME TO BE AT...where is that place that you want to go with God?  Has he spoken it to you in the still of the night and your first thought was that it was impossible?  Has he prophesied over you a calling to something that seems so far fetched that you cannot see it playing out in your life?  What is it that God wants from you?  And are you willing to give it to Him? 
     We must fix our eyes on what is not seen instead of what is seen (1 Corinthians 4:16).
The things that are seen are only temporary.  They do not possess us.  They do not own us.  We are owned by something far greater than what we can fix our eyes on.  Life is like a vapor...it is here for awhile and then it vanishes away.  (Colossians 3:1)

     Paul is saying, "listen, this life here is only temporary, it will fade away, dim out.  We must not focus our eyes on earthly things, but on things above. 
Colossians 3:4 says, "When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."

     It is not about being comfortable. It is about being CONSUMED....consumed with more of Him.  Longing for more of His presence.  God is knocking on the hearts of His people...how many will open up the door and let Him in?
We need to hunger to go after God...no matter what the world looks like around us...no matter what the consequences are...no matter what we see with our earthly eyes...We need to burn for Jesus.  We need to be awakened...awakened to a new life in Him...
I am praying for a new awakening in the hearts of those that read this blog and for the families of those that read this blog and for the churches that they attend and the cities that you live in and the neighborhoods that you call home.  We need to be awakened and burn for Him....are you willing to risk it all for a glimpse of his glory? 
Hunger.
Thirst.
Be Filled.
Long.
Run.
Fear Not.
Trust.
Grab hold.
Don't let go....
God bless you this day....pray for a fresh touch from God today in your life and go after him....He is waiting....

Jennifer

Weekends are for saying

My middle daughter (Grace) on the left and her best friend (Emily)

Here I am oh Lord.....me of so little power and of  mean estate, yet

lifting.......lifting up thy heart and voice to Thee before whom all created

things are as dust and a vapour.  Thou are hidden behind the curtain of sense, incomprehensible is thy

 GREATEST, MYSTERIOUS IN THINE ALMIGHTY POWER, yet here I am oh Lord of my own free will.

  (a diary of private prayer) by John Baillie.

¹⁴ for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust. ¹⁵ The life of mortals is like grass,
they flourish like a flower of the field;
¹⁶ the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more. (Psalm 103; 14-16)

May all your weekend wanderings be one of saying.........."here I am oh Lord."

all of grace,

the Yahweh Sisters

 

Renew me, O God

Ephesians 2:10;
     For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Psalm 51:10;
     Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.


      I held his hand gently as he squeezed mine. He has a birthday next week- 93 he will be. His wife gone and he is all alone- very independent until this illness. I watched a tear roll down his face as he told me about his life. I listened as he talked. He talked while I fed him each bite. Each bite chewed slowly, but I didn't care. I gave him my all. Showing him that I truly cared. But why is it when I get home, and my three boys eagerly run to me- I push them away, telling them I'm tired?  As they all three talk at once, I tell them to stop- that I have a headache desperately begging for the quiet.
     How is it that I can give my all  to a complete stranger, and deny my own flesh and blood my time?  I don't understand. I know God wants me to witness to the patients I care for- to show them God lives in my heart. But I know with all my being, that my kids need to see that same thing. They need to see God's love through me. But I am living the tired all the time and they are the ones who are not seeing the Jesus in me!

     At the end of the work day sometimes being there for 16 hours- I am drained- empty with nothing else to give. As I walk out of the unit a couple nights ago,  I heard a family screaming- screaming because they just learned that their loved one was dead- who was a wife- a sister- a mother. I had seen her alive only a couple of hours ago, but only on life support. Her family tried to get to the hospital, but did not make it on time. Emotionally I am drained. I tried not to listen to the cries, (but they haunt me) as I walk down the long hallway to leave. I whispered to one of the nurses as I was leaving to call the Chaplin feeling like I had nothing more to give- begging God please let my boys be fast asleep when I get home.
     I pray for strength, to be renewed each day. For God to create in me a pure heart, a caring heart, a loving heart,  not only for strangers, but for my own family. My family needs to see in me what strangers see.
I know God has me where I am for a reason- I see so many close to death- I hear them as they cry out to Jesus as a last resort- What an opportunity to serve God- through serving  others. I am humbled by what I do- but feeling tired----tired of trying so hard to be everything to everyone. Begging God to please - renew me- create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
In his service,
Amy

running hard

As I drove down the road the other day, I began to sing praises to God.
You see, my daughter went to youth camp a little over a week ago and the youth group at our church came home revived and on fire for more of God.  I could feel Him overflowing from their lives, their words, and their actions.  I saw a new child as she brought home that desire for more of Him and began to go after Him in her quiet time.
I began to think about what this world would be like if the Christians that we have in this world RIGHT NOW would get on fire for Him...what would happen?  What type of revival would break out in our nation?Why do we sit on the church pews every Sunday and run as hard as we can away from it when Monday hits?  What gets in our way?
I know....life.
We let this world consume us with its claws and we sit here as it picks us up and swallows us whole.
It's time we get a fire lit up underneath us and start going after Him so that we can see revival hit our nation.
Listen, things in this world are not going to get any easier. SURPRISE!!!  Yes, I said it...we are going to be tried more, we are going to go through more battles in the years to come before our God comes back to take us home.  We need to get our armour on and be ready....
As I drove that day, these words came to me...
More of you Lord
I long to be in your presence
To sit at your feet
To be consumed with your love
To be drawn into your presence and be filled with your being
I long to know you more intimately
I need more of you Lord
I need you more in my life
I need to be in your presence...

I went on in worship to my Father as I sang praises to Him and spent time with Him...but you see, it cannot end there...these words have to go deeper than our lips...we must get it in our soul.  It must consume our thoughts.

If we meditate on Him day and night, He will become a part of our lives.  If we spend time at His feet in adoration and worship, He will consume us with His presence. 

Let's stop walking around in our little boxes and let's go after God.  I am...I want to see revival fire hit my city, our schools, our neighborhoods, our homes, our families, our churches, and our nation.

TURN YOUR EYES UPON JESUS
LOOK FULL IN HIS WONDERFUL FACE
AND THE THINGS OF EARTH WILL GROW STRANGELY DIM
IN THE LIGHT OF HIS GLORY AND GRACE...
Here is a link from our church youth at Camp Overflow....enjoy...
Blessings,
Jennifer
http://youtu.be/E5ZkuqARWEE