Are you a lighthouse or are you a storm????

     Good evening, as another day comes to a close I cannot help but think about the wonderful story I posted earlier about the threadbare quilt, our book of life was written before we gained our earthly bodies, he knew everything that we would do, every turn that we would take and every hurdle that we would be faced with before he let us leave our heavenly kingdom as the pure spirits we were. He knew the trials and tribulations that would face us and he was hopeful that the faith we possessed would be enough to carry us through. I pray that my quilt is threadbare and filled with holes when I return home to him, I pray that my scars will be enough to make him pleased with the person I have become, with the decisions I have made and with the obedience I have had to him. My life has been filled with ups and downs, mostly downs, not by his hand but by the choices I have made, by my inability to stay on the straight and narrow and by my thinking I know better than HE when it comes to  mucking through. It has taken me many years to "get it" to understand that I do not know it all, that only HE does. My life would have been so much easier if I had, in my youth, figured things out and depended upon him to lead me. Many people say I am hard headed, I am stubborn and I am like a bull when it comes to getting my way! I do not like being likened to a bull but in looking back on my "day" I must confess that it does not miss the mark! Today I like to think that those negative characteristics have been pushed to the wayside and that, thanks to God's patience and understanding, I am on the right track, I see more clearly and I am pushing up hill to secure my right to passage when my time here is done.
    Tonight I bow my head humbly, I pray for each of us, for our salvation, for our ability to "see the lighthouse in the storm and know if we keep it in our view that we will make it to the glorious shore safely, that we will all meet there, a song on our lips, a smile on our face and so much love and awe in our hearts that our light shines as bright as the northern star. God please shine a light in us tonight that might get us, each and every one of us, back on the track, back in your footsteps and walking up straight and tall. I ask you God to bless those who are in dark caverns, that they might begin to realize that just past the cavern wall is a light, a beautiful light, one that has been made just for them. Father please allow each of us to be more aware of those in the dark, allow us to be more empathetic to those who have lost their way, allow us to be your eyes and ears here on earth and send us where we need be so that we might be a light to bring the darkness to a halt for them. I ask that you bless all with their needs father, you are all knowing and all seeing, look into the hearts of each earthly body and supply us with your light. Father God I ask these mercies in the name of Jesus Christ, amen and amen again!
     Might you be the light of a person who feels that there is only darkness, take time to listen to the still quiet voice of our Father in Heaven and be the instrument he needs. Stop, look and listen, he will always provide you with what he needs you to see and hear! Love in Christ to each of you. 

"our father is the strongest"

     A beautiful Sunday morning here in Utah, 60 degrees, birds chirp, chirp, chirping, blue skies speckled with cotton ball clouds and no doubt the sun will soon peak over the mountain to warm my skin and my heart:) I love the summer time, thanking him for finally giving us a taste of it:) It is fast approaching my time to come to Texas, I am filled with such excitement, to see all of my family and laughing with the Ashley clan will be amazing, to see my nephew take his forever partner will be thrilling and to get to visit with some of my favorite friends will be the icing on the cake, makes the long drive seem not so long! 
     On facebook this morning, I see several posts from friends who are feeling alone, feeling like nothing is going right for them, feeling let down, feeling depressed, anxious, afraid...I know this very feeling all to well but I also know that it is but a moment in time, that all of these feelings are satan's way of trying to get close to us, when things start to falter in our lives we tend to fall back from God, when we fall back from God we are vulnerable and weak...the exact way that satan wants us to be, he can work his deeds on us when we are like this. I know it is hard to hear "snap out of it" I know it is hard to hear, "I'll pray for you" I know it is hard to hear, "just lay it on God's shoulders" but I also know that when you relent and you do decide that you cannot go it alone, when you do sit down and have a toe to toe with our Father in Heaven and you really do give it to him, things begin to change, the aloneness lifts, things begin to shape up and start working in harmony, the highs begin to outweigh the lows, the depression turns to joy, the anxiety turns to hope and being afraid is vanished! Some ask, how do you know he is real, how do you know he is there? I answer to that, look around you, look at the beauty, look at the times in life that you did not know how something was going to work out and all of a sudden something miraculous happened and it was even better than you thought it would be, look at the times when someone was very ill, and you did not see how they would come out of it then all of a sudden they took a turn for the better and were healed, look at the wrecks you have seen when you thought to yourself...there is no way anyone survived only to find that they sustained barely a scratch! Coincidence??? I think not, these things are proof positive to me that God is in all things, that Jesus Christ and God work 24/7 without rest. Today I pray you quit wondering if he is real, confess to Jesus Christ that you do believe, pray to our Father in Heaven with all your might and have faith that even though you are climbing an awful steep mountain, the top will be so worth it when you get there. Don't tell God how strong your troubles are, tell your troubles how strong your God is:) He is mighty, he is the light of the lighthouse, he is the calm of the ocean, he is the answer to all prayers.  May this day bring peace to you, may you take time to sit and praise his holy name, may he allow you truth with his compassionate hand, may you see his work and thank him, may the good things out number the bad and in all things may you know that with God on your side it will get better. Fill that tank of yours with his spirit and revel in the knowledge that you have enough "gas" to get you down the road and away from satan for yet another week! Love in Christ to each of you!

O Lord, our Heavenly Father, at the beginning of another week we come to You for help and light.

Grant, we ask You, that we make this a sacred day of rest to Your service. May we consecrate this day to find all peace and strength in You.

Make our hearts beat with devotion so that we may serve You in spirit and in truth. May we live this day laying a good foundation for our coming work.

Be with us in the worship services of Your day so that your saints may join in heart and soul. Be with us so that we may receive the blessing promised to all who sincerely pray to You and faithfully hear Your Word.

This we ask for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

PRAYER TIME, join me please????

Tonight I come to you Father, with some specific prayers, several people have come to me this day, asking that I include some of their friends and families to  the unity prayer, Father I may not use their names but you know them specifically, you know their hearts, you know their desires and you know their needs, firstly I lift in prayer a special friend and school teacher, she will be going into surgery for a double mastectomy on Monday father, please hold her this weekend and give her comfort and calm as she prepares for this surgery, allow her knowledge that you will be right there with her, holding her, that you are the hands of the surgeons carefully removing the cancer and that you are the great healer who will bring her through this and restore her. Secondly father I come to you for a dear friend of mine, a mother, grandmother, wife, sister, daughter, and wonderful friend to so many, cancer has taken her liver and she is told there is no help, she is taking chemo and is suffering father, this sweet soul has been through so much in the 19 years that I have known her, if it be her time to come home, if it be her time to earn her wings and walk the golden path with you I ask that you hold her, that you allow her a glimpse of what is to come so that she will not fear, that you will let her see all of the loves that have gone before her, willing her to come to them and live with no more sickness, and no more pain, if it is not her calling father please allow this nasty cancer to be taken from her body and heal her completely! Third is special request for a young man who sustained a bullet wound, father he is facing much rehabilitation and is in need of your mercies, he needs to feel you in every exercise in each therapy session, allow him to breath without the use of oxygen, to regain motion in his arm and pray for his siblings who are struggling with the effects of this accident. Father I have so many who are suffering severe depression, who are suffering broken hearts, who are suffering a lack of faith, who are struggling with financial problems, with relationship problems, not being able to sleep, feeling lost and alone, please I fervently pray to you asking you to wrap your arms around them, allow them to cling to your hem,  give them an abundance of your love, give them hope that things will be okay! At one time or another we all need specific special prayer Father and I am so blessed to know that we can always come to you and know that you will hear our prayers and that you will execute! I love you so much, I will never turn from you, I will always as long as breath is in my body, pray, pray, pray, I say these words, seal them with the love in my heart and lift them up to my savior Jesus Christ in the knowledge that through him prayers are heard and answered. Amen.