This book. This book is the most life altering book I’ve ever read, other than the holy scriptures. This book speaks of how to develop the intimacy with the Father our soul’s desire.  Sorge does an incredible job speaking to the difficult issues of the Christian walk and calling out the trouble spots that our spirit’s struggle with.  Sorge speaks of what it means to be a Biblical Christian, not just a Religious Christian.

This book challenges.  This book drives you to your secret place with the Father.  This book creates an urgency for time spent with the Trinity.  I’ve never, in my entire Christian walk, seen the Christian walk explained so clearly and so easy to understand.  Many times we often think that we must have a Master’s of Divinity in order to have a living, breathing relationship with the Father, but that is not true.  The holy Word of God was not written for only those who stand behind podiums on Sundays.  The holy Word of God and the powerful Spirit of God desire a real relationship, one of intimacy, desire, passion and excitement, with every single person on earth.

This book ignites a fire among believers.  A fire that will not be easily extinguished.  A fire that even the enemy himself cannot put out.  “Nothing is more dangerous to the kingdom of darkness than a man or woman who has found the unceasing wellspring of heaven’s life.  When the servant of the Lord is fed from this inner flow of oil and his seven lamps are veritable torches of flaming zeal for his Beloved, then no force of hell can extinguish this flame. ….this fire is fed by an internal source.  Nothing external can quench it.”

Every Christian should read this book many times over.

Adoption.  His name is forever changed. His inheritance is forever changed. His family is different.  His journey is one eternally written before time began. He was chosen for us and we were chosen for him. 

My heart overflows with overwhelming passion and love. Not only did so many things “change” yesterday, but at the exact same time, they all “stayed the same”. 

Did I have the privilege to know him in my womb?  No. Did my Heavenly Father know him in his birth mother’s womb? Oh yes! He knit him together. Has this road been easy? Absolutely not. Would I change an ounce of it? Not at all. 

Yesterday, from within a courtroom, this precious boy declared for the first time, “Mama!”   I am surely blessed. 

Not everyone gets the privilege to be adopted not just once, but twice.  Our God is faithful. 

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 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.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 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.  Romans 8:14-17

This is a bit different book review, but often I am asked about a great study or “devotional” that I am doing or enjoying. I’m not a big devotional book fan, this is as probably as close as I like to get! LOL! This is an incredible daily study through the books Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon and Lamentations. Now, I haven’t finished the Lamentations piece yet, but so far, this small study is powerful. It teaches you to study these books Precept Upon Precept, while also giving some direction. If you are looking for a good daily study through the summer, I HIGHLY recommend this one! 

“The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

This is a book of forgiveness. This true story has rattled me to my core of what it truly means to take up your cross daily and follow Christ. This story has forever changed how I view forgiveness and what we are capable of forgiving. 

“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.” 

There was girl.  This girl grew up in a great home, full of love and life.  This girl was loud, adventurous, loud, high energy, and did I mention loud?  Let’s call this girl Esther.  Now this story has no real ties to the story of the Biblical Esther, I just find that in this case, it suits.  Esther became a follower of Christ when she was 12 years old.  At that time, He radically transformed her into a disciple and she truly fell in love with the living, breathing Word of God.  Esther sought out adventures at every turn.  She wanted to be exactly where He was.  If that meant as a middle school kid she attended adult Sunday school classes and prayer times with the devoted followers of Christ, then she did.  If it meant as a high school student, she went to Scotland and Nicaragua to seek exactly where the Lord would want her, then she did.  If it meant devoting early morning hours every day to ask the Father for wisdom and direction, and most importantly forgiveness, then that is what she did.  While we could spend lots of time speaking about Esther, the story really isn’t about her.

You see, Esther walked close with God.  Even in the times it felt as though she had strayed, He was always right there, intimately holding her and nudging her.  Was Esther perfect… absolutely not!  Not in the least.  Chief of sinners, as Paul writes.  However, there was one thing Esther always knew.  She always knew how to ask for forgiveness and how to ask for wisdom for the next moment.  You see, Esther only wanted to follow her Maker and surrender to whatever plan He had for her.  These desires led her all over the globe, seeking those who are lost to lead them into the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  And these desires led her to a very specific boy.

There was a boy.  This boy grew up in a wonderful home with parents who truly loved the Lord and worshipped Him.  This boy was quirky, quiet, but very smart.  Let’s call this boy Aaron.  Again, no ties to scriptural Aaron, just thought it fit!  Aaron loved fast cars, motorcycles, technology and did I mention fast cars?  Aaron accepted Jesus as Lord the summer before his senior year in high school at a youth camp on top of Lookout Mountain.  Aaron was actually leading middle school students at this camp when he realized his own need of a Savior.  This was a very real moment, a real exchange, where the Abraham blessing of the Holy Spirit began to live inside of him.  No longer was he his own person, but now he had been purchased by the King.

Aaron and Esther started dating the summer before their senior year of high school.  High school sweethearts, you might say.  They had an interesting dating relationship.  They both wanted to do as the Lord led, but fought their selfishness every single day.  They went through seasons where they honored the Lord with their bodies, and seasons where they didn’t.  They went through seasons where they broke up, and seasons where they returned to each other.  They went through seasons were they sought others for companionship, and seasons where they truly returned to one another.  Then, the season of engagement and marriage began.  This journey proved to be the most difficult of them all.

Esther still had the sense of adventure, while Aaron desired to have a plan.  Esther desired to her way, while Aaron desired his own way.  As most new marriages are, the struggle for respect and love collided like two trains on the same set of rails. The first years were tough, not only because of the battle of the two wills, but also because Aaron’s father was fighting the battle of his own life- colon cancer. The first two years were spent at Aaron’s parents home almost every night. Until that long week in February came, where Aaron’s father met his Maker for the very first time face to face, and then, their marriage took another shape; tarnished with pain and sorrow.  As Oswald Chambers said, “You can always recognize who has been through the fires of sorrow and received himself, and you know that you can go to him in your moment of trouble and find that he has plenty of time for you.”  This was their ministry, but the sorrow didn’t stop there.

A year after their marriage, they decided to stop controlling the growth of their family and the fruit of the Lord’s blessing by taking a little pill each month.  This proved to be one the most difficult periods of life. Infertility. Many ladies in scripture was dealt the same deck of cards. Children are not a promise, just a blessing. A blessing you do nothing for. A blessing because the Blesser is just good. After five years of waiting, 26 hours of delivery, new life was formed. For sake of names, let’s call this new life Ruth. Ruth was a spunky little fireball of fun and challenges. She was the one they prayed for. The gift given from the Only One who could. Ruth loved big. Ruth loved hard. Ruth laughed lots and explored even more. Ruth was a dreamer. Lived in excitement and stories. Again, I digress… she isn’t the story either.

Then one day, Esther’s birthday was coming up. On your birthday, you always have certain things you wanna do. Plans you make. How to spend your special day. On this birthday, the 26th of the month, her and her family were planning to serve the homeless in their city. Now at the same time, Esther was playing a role at a church drama as a demon. This role was very taxing and very difficult. Many times the spiritual powers fought hard to keep Esther playing this role even at home, and this birthday was no different.  The battle was strong, and just before departing time, Esther and Aaron allowed the enemy to win…. they did not make it to serving the homeless, they stayed home, in disobedience.

On this amazing day, God was at work. On this day, the team that served met a young girl named Casey. No one could’ve foreseen what Casey’s role in their lives would do. No one could’ve known the end result (at least the end we see).  Casey was pregnant. Casey had a 10 month old little girl. Casey was homeless. Casey had some addictions that controlled her. Casey needed a Saviour. Jesus. The journey with Casey was life changing and life altering.

The 26th of the following month, Casey went into labor with her baby. She was 26 weeks pregnant. The sweet baby boy lived 26 hours before he passed away.  Casey definitely had her ups and downs. Her moments where she encountered the Lord and was forced to decide.

But the story doesn’t end there. One day, the 25th day of a summer month, after an evening bible study where Esther taught of Genesis where God clearly tells us to “be fruitful and multiply”….. Esther’s partner in crime’s phone rang. It was Casey. She had a friend who was needing someone to take her baby. They had tested positive for drug use and did not want their baby boy to go into state custody.  Esther was stirred. The sweet Pastor’s wife and amazing friend encouraged Esther to agree to receive this child as her own. Once Aaron was on board, they agreed to receive this baby, as their own.

On the 26th day of this summer month, this baby, Nathaniel joined their home. One week old, gift “given by God” made his way into the hearts of not just Esther and Aaron, but Ruth and everyone who knew him.  And now, one year later this small babe will soon share their last name, their permanent address and their inheritance.  He is now their first born son. He is their namesake. He is the 7th in a family line. He is their story of 26.

“Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it…..” Genesis 1:28 

How does ten years of marriage happen?  Is it always a happy ten years?  Does it always feel like a romantic movie when he carries you over the threshold every night?  Is it a bundle of joy and fun with constant smiles?

No.  Marriage is difficult.  Even just a short ten years, marriage is difficult.  Marriage is the collision of two wills trying to intersect and intermingle while causing the least amount of damages.  Marriage is where two sinful souls join together for a lifelong journey of giving and receiving.  Marriage is a beautiful and challenging thing.  Marriage is the mind-blowing illustration of Christ and the Church.  My will submitting to the love of my husband.  My husband sacrificially leading me towards to glory of the Father.

Our first year of marriage I tried to leave… more than once.  He wouldn’t let me.  🙂   Thankfully.

Our second year of marriage, we lost his father to colon cancer.

Our third year of marriage, we faced the challenges of home ownership- air conditioner breaking, having a mortgage, being adults.

Our fourth year of marriage, how about those credit cards?!  How did those balances get so high?  What careers do we really want to have?

Our fifth year of marriage, the birth of a beautiful premature nephew.  The purchase of a new puppy, a Siberian husky.

Our sixth year of marriage, experiencing the marriage of our beautiful niece.  Infertility struggle in it’s absolute fullness.

Our seventh year of marriage, the pregnancy and birth of our amazing Georgia Ruth Haley.  Our world turned upside down.  The joy.  The tears.  The experience of natural childbirth with a C-section ending.  Feeding our blessed cleft baby girl.  The wild nights of tears and sleeplessness.  The wild days of laughter and joy.  Climbing across the Brooklyn Bridge while 8 months pregnant!

Our eighth year of marriage, cleft surgery #1 and #2.  Giving away our precious Siberian husky puppy.  The birth of another beautiful, healthy nephew.  Facing tragedy in a way we still don’t have words to express.  Experiencing our first family beach trip as a family of three!

Our ninth & tenth years of marriage (mainly because it is hard to figure out which years what happened…), the Lord grabbing a hold of us and taking us on new adventures, new endeavors and asked us to have faith in ways only He could supply.  He moved us and asked us only to take the steps and believe.  He challenged us again to surrender and remember that He is the One True God.  He is the Only One to be trusted.  And He is always enough.  And getting our Murphy dog.

I am blessed to say that I am married to the one that My Father chose for me.  I am blessed to say that we are not perfect, but we are covered by His grace and our grace towards each other.  There is not another that I would want to have spent the last ten years with or the next 70+ years!  He loves my imperfections and challenges them.  He scrubs me with The Word and helps me to always step outside of myself and see the bigger picture.  He is used in my life to sanctify me.  Daily.

Today, I am thankful for you, Clifton Joel Haley.  “…I found him whom my soul loves…” Song of Solomon 3:4

 

When all of the lights aren’t shining, what should we do?  When the dryer breaks.  When the kitchen table falls apart.  When the building you are marketing for, seems to never open.  When one of the children you are raising and loving as your own, faces hardships.  When life feels like it is destroying you, what do you do?  Do we turn our back on The Lord because He isn’t protecting us the way we think He should?  Do we say He isn’t trustworthy because our lives are not flowing the way we think they should?  How do we trust Him?  How do we trust Him in our daily, practical lives?  What does it look like?  How is Christianity put into real practice?  Not the pretend smile that everything is okay.  Not the fake, superficial “faith” that makes Christianity look easy.  Not the forced answer of “I’m fine, how are you?”

There are seasons in life.  Each season contains its own struggles.  Childhood, you are always looking at being an adult, wanting adult things without the adult responsibilities.  Childhood also brings difficulties like not getting what you want for Christmas, not making the cheerleading team, not feeling accepting and loved or not making the grade you thought you deserved.  Teenage years is a constant struggle to fight for your independence.  Every day, counting down the days to grow up, move on to college and kiss your childhood goodbye.  And don’t you remember thinking that you knew everything!  Your twenties, many search for their spouse, beginning their careers and seek the path that the Lord has in store for you.  The days of your twenties focus on “when will I have a baby” or “when will I get to be married” or “I wish we could have a house all our own” or how about “when will I get the chance to shine in this office?”  Now, I have only just entered my thirties, but I have a blessed career that allows me to see those in their later years in life.  I see every day how those in their eighties and nineties desire their twenties again.  Even their childhood again.  Or, the desire to go on home to be with their Lord.  Very few desire the exact age, the exact season they are currently in.  And very few means I have never seen it.

A gentleman I had met is 100 years old.  This precious aged saint reflects on the beauty of life.  Recently, we had seen a school bus of children killed in a fatal accident in our state.  As I spoke with this amazing man of God, he questioned how His Lord chose to take these small children from the world and leave his 100 year old aged body here.  These questions made me sit and reflect.  Dear Sovereign Lord, how do you determine when and how you do the things that you do?  When and how do you choose what you allow and what you ordain in the lives of those on this earth?

There are days when life’s struggles get you low.  How do we combat this lowness?  There are days that it feels too difficult to pray, too difficult to smile, too difficult to pick up the burden off of your own shoulders and lay them down for someone else to carry.  In those days, your Bible feels like it is written in a foreign language and that He is a million miles away.  These are the days, you rally behind the cross with your forever family holding you there.  These are the days, you eat your pride and ask your “iron” to pray.  Beg them to pray.  Cry out to them for prayer.  To fight for you.  To fight for your mind.  To fight for your sanity.  These are the days, when you let others fight on your behalf.  And then…. watch and wait.  The clouds will open up.  The sun begins to shine again.  And the burden is significantly lighter, almost invisible.  Why?  Because your forever family is carrying the burden on your behalf.

Today, ask your “iron” to pray.  Today, swallow your pride and ask them to pray.  And then you will have the strength to fix the other half of the light bulbs to allow them to shine brightly again in the darkness.

Psalm 91

Confirming the Voice of the Enemy in someone’s life can be extremely dangerous.  Many times the Enemy speaks to us, internally harassing us, with the same old thoughts and phrases.  He knows where to jab at us and when it will hurt the most.  He knows how to whisper the right things to the people near us and encourage them to repeat it as well.  When those closest to us begin to speak the very words that the Enemy is whispering to our hearts, what happens?  What does that do to us?  Have we ever even thought about what effect our words have on those around us?

In Matthew 4, we read of how the Spirit of God led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  During this passage, we see in verse 8 the devil tempts Jesus to have “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory…. if He fell down to worship him.”  Essentially, Satan wanted to give Jesus an easy way out.  A way to have the glory of the nations without ever dying on the cross.  He was promising a way without the cross.  To normal, fleshly ears, that would be quite a temptation.  To Spirit-focused ears, Jesus combated that temptation with Scripture, and overcame the Spiritual battle.  Just a few short chapters later, we see that Peter offers the same opportunity.  In Matthew 16:21, Jesus shares of His upcoming death on the cross and resurrection.  Peter quickly rebuked Him for saying such things and said, “God forbid it, this shall never happen to you!”  Peter never wanted to see His Master endure the torture He spoke of.  He desired for Christ to gain the keys to the Kingdom another way.  A way without the cross.  Christ knew such options were not available and turns to Peter in verse 23 to say, “Get behind Me, Satan!  You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”

Did Peter know the fullness of how Christ had been tempted by these exact same words?  In Peter’s ignorance, he was attempting to confirm the Enemy’s words in Christ’s heart.  How often do we do that?  In our ignorance, do we confirm the Voice of the Enemy in others?  It is easy to think of the times when others have done such things to our hearts, but what about when we do it, unknowingly, to others?

Science has proven that words matter.  I recently read an article about how scientists took dishes of water and froze them.  They spoke words of life to one dish and words of destruction to another, and the results of how they froze are completely different.  Words matter.  Below on the left is a picture of water that froze with prayer, then a picture of the water that froze without prayer.  Dr. Emoto (Dr. Emoto’s Water Experiment, The Power of Thoughts) conducted this experiment and you can read up on it more by googling the experiment.  Don’t forget, our bodies are made of mostly water.

(http://highexistence.com/water-experiment/)

How can we be cautious with the words that we speak?  How can we protect our minds from hearing and believing the Voice of the Enemy in our hearts and minds?  How did Jesus…. Scripture.

“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is anything excellent and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things” Philippians 4:8.