Lessons Learned ~ An Open Letter to My Dad

Dear Dad,

When I saw you last, you laid in a comfortable room all your own in a beautiful home. The first time I walked through it I knew Jesus had hand-picked that home and that room just for you. 

Dad, you would have loved it.  Your room kept watch over a gorgeous collection of plants and flowers in the big backyard. Oh, how I wanted to be able to walk through the gardens with you, enjoying the sunshine and the beauty of every rose and daisy. 

No doubt our conversation would have meandered with the gardens.  We’d eventually ponder much weightier issues like the world’s problems and how to solve them.  We always had the answers, didn’t we? 

And our conversation would have invariably settled on the mysteries of the universe, and of God.  This conversation would have gone very differently than all the others, though.

For thirteen years I prayed for you.

And when we were finally able to enjoy those weekly gabfests on the phone I did my best to steer as many conversations as possible toward the Lord.  I tried to explain to you historically, intellectually, logically and emotionally why Jesus is the only way to salvation, the only way to heaven.  And you’d always say you were trying. 

The end of every conversation would come, and I’d let my words offering you Christ hang in the air as a gift, desperately hoping you’d take them, but you never did.  I always hung up thinking if only I’d said it differently... 

If I could have I would have forced them on you as a parent forces a child to eat his broccoli and drink his milk. 

Soon after you had gone, I realized the mistake I’d made all those years.  And all I wanted to do was grasp one day to do it over. If I could I would have done it all over.  I’d trade in some of those conversations, some of those awkward attempts at apologetics, and take a meal to you. 

I’d take a jar full of jelly beans to your apartment and set it on the table next to your chair. While I was there I would have cleaned your apartment and done some laundry, if you’d let me.  I’d frame some pictures of your grandsons and hang them on the wall. 

I’d buy you a proper journal so you didn’t have to write your soulful words on the scraps of paper and backs of old envelopes we found scattered around your apartment.  I’d have you over for dinner more often so Eric and Sean could get to know you better.  We still grin and tell each other your favorite joke: So a horse walks into a bar and the bartender says, “Why the long face?” I can still hear that high-pitched almost giggle you reserved for jokes you thought were especially hilarious.

I would have shown you the love of Jesus I tried so desperately to tell you about.  I thought I’d have enough time, but I didn’t. 

Time is always short.

You might not have let me do those things, but I wish I had tried.  I wish I had used the short time we had together to show you how much I loved you and how much I appreciated you.  I would have shown you that you were worth loving and you were worth dying for.

I loved our conversations, but I wish I had used the time putting feet to my words, enriching both our lives even more.  And maybe, just maybe it wouldn’t have taken until just five days before you went to be with Jesus to give Him your heart.  Maybe those acts of love would have opened your eyes to the truth sooner.  But they were opened, and I am so grateful.

You taught me that lesson, Dad.  I don’t always remember it, but you taught me that life is short, and sometimes it’s over much sooner than we ever thought it would be.  And sometimes our words are just words until we bring them to life. 

 

I can picture you now, tending the garden of your dreams and having long conversations with everyone who stops by to smell the roses. I'll be there soon, and when I am, I’m coming to your house, Dad, the one prepared just for you.  I’ll clean it, top to bottom.  I'll set a crystal vase overflowing with fresh flowers on your table.  I’ll bring you some jelly beans and we’ll talk. 

Your loving daughter,      @

Dorci                               ~\~

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

1 John 3:18

Our God's Alive!

"I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever!"

Rev. 1:18

~Jesus the Christ

Happy Resurrection Day!
Dorci

The Way of Love

Tommy’s taken some time out of his successful life as a doctor, spending the day out on the golf course with his buddies when he receives an alarming phone call from another part of the world. 

His son, Daniel, is dead. 

And all at once, a life that seemed to have every duck carefully placed in a row was upside down.

And thus begins a father’s journey in the movie The Way with Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez.   It is a poignant look at a man who has been caught up in the world’s version of success and has, ironically, become somewhat cynical and bitter.  And when the unthinkable happens we see the ensuing inner struggles of a man who suddenly realizes he doesn’t have things figured out quite the way he thought.   

FYI - If you haven’t seen the movie yet, this will contain some slight spoilers. 

The last time the two men spoke they were engaged in an awkward conversation as Tommy drove his son, Daniel, to the airport. Daniel tells his dad about the journey he’s going to make and, in an effort to try connecting with his dad, asks him to come along.  Tommy cynically laughs it off, saying that not everyone has the luxury of taking time off from work to do such a thing. 

And now the time was gone. 

Tommy makes the pain-staking trip to St. Jean Pied de Port, France to retrieve his son’s body and his belongings.  Daniel had just begun his journey on the road of El camino de Santiago, The Way of St. James, a pilgrimage that millions have traveled over the last thousand years.  The journey can begin on any of a number of paths, but the destination is always Galicia, Spain, where some believe the remains of the apostle James are buried.  Depending on the origin of one’s journey, the pilgrimage can take weeks to months. 

Tommy arrives in France and decides to have his son’s body cremated for the return trip.  He begins looking through his son’s backpack at the things he’d chosen to take with him on his journey of discovery.  It’s perhaps the first time in a long time that Tommy had taken a few moments to really study his son. 

And we can’t help but think about how we’re spending the days of our own short lives. 

Tommy decides to honor his son by taking him on the journey anyway.  He throws the backpack over his shoulders, the box of ashes tucked safely inside, and he sets out to make the 500-mile trek in his son’s stead. 

Tommy reluctantly picks up a few friends along the way, each of whom has their own reasons for traveling The Way.  But their reasons seem rather selfish and superficial compared to the heavy burden that Tommy carries. 

The others approach their goals half-heartedly, but Tommy remains steadfast in his mission to do this last loving act for his son. 

As they all reached their destination together, it occurred to me that the only one who successfully accomplished what he set out to do was the one who, in love, set out to do something for someone else. 

It was too late to reconcile with his son, but through choosing this unselfish and loving act he gains much more—a heart of forgiveness, humility, love, and peace.

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another."  John 13:34

Jesus made this statement to the apostles the evening He had washed their feet.  He didn’t just say He loved them, He became their servant.  That is what God says love really is and this is the way we’re to live our lives. 

It’s love that gives us the strength to do the hard thing--the ability to lay aside our pride and our own lives in order to finish what God’s called us to do. 

We are all on a journey called life, and loving others is what makes life worth living. The specific ways we’re called to sacrifice throughout our lives may sometimes go against all common sense.  Sometimes we may just not feel like it, just like Tommy didn’t feel like going on the trip with his son.  But God says that by choosing to live a life of sacrifice we’ll gain a lot more that we ever gave up.

As I watched the movie I couldn’t help but also make comparison to Christ and the road He walked in our steads, too.  Like the story, while we were dead in our sins, Christ embarked on a journey for us, a journey we couldn’t take ourselves.  He journeyed to the cross and laid down His life for us to purchase our souls from hell. 

It was His love for His Father and for us that kept Him steadfast on the road to an agonizing death.  But to Him, the reward of giving us eternal life made the journey worth it.

Question4U: What is one thing you can do to live your life more unselfishly?

Blessings and Love,

Dorci

Forgiven For Little or Much?

"Moses said to the people, 'Remember this day which is the day that you came out of Egypt, out of the place you were slaves, because the LORD acted with power to bring you out of there.'" Exodus 13:3

I remember the day the Lord saved me. I remember the joy of being rescued from the world, from the curse of being a slave to sin and the darkness of it all to feeling my heart come alive with the Spirit of God. I was more thankful to the Lord for that than I had ever been for anything in my life. I had gone from utter darkness to pure Light.  It was a radical transformation because I was acutely aware that I had been saved from so much. My heart was on fire.

Jesus said about the woman who kissed His feet, washed them with her tears and anointed them with oil, “Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little." Luke 7:42

It is not that this woman was forgiven for more than others were, it is that she recognized how much she was forgiven.  We are all forgiven for sins. Not all transformations may seem as outwardly obvious as mine or the woman's, but we were all saved from the same spiritual blindness, the same emptiness of heart, the same hell. We were all sinful and we all needed a Savior. And for all of us the Lord acted with His power to bring us out of Egypt--out of the world, out of our sins and their eventual consequences of being separated from God for eternity.  

The more we recognize the depths from which we have been saved and the far-reaching love, grace, mercy and power of Jesus Christ that saved us, the more grateful we will be and the more we will love our Savior. And that gratefulness gives us, like the woman, a desire to be a blessing to the Lord, not to repay Him, because that gift can never be repaid, but to honor Him and join with Him in giving ourselves to the building up of the Kingdom of God.

After a while, though, we can forget the life we were rescued from and begin to take this new one for granted. The level of thankfulness we once had can be forgotten. We get caught up in the daily grind of our lives and forget that we were saved for a purpose: to bring glory to the Lord. Our service wanes, we set aside our spiritual gifts and we live lives that look much like they did before that day of salvation.

But if we purpose in our hearts to remember our day of salvation and all that we’ve been saved from we will be filled with love and we will desire a more intimate relationship with Christ.  We will be filled with thanksgiving, and the gratefulness we allow to penetrate our hearts will spur us on to good works.

Remember that we were taken out of the devil’s grasp by the power of God and by the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Remember how many sins we were forgiven for and how many we were saved from committing had we lived in our sins another day.

We have only a short time here on this earth.  We can waste it, or we can remember and be thankful, loving the Lord more each day, and allowing Him to do great things through us.

All for Him,
Dorci

A Light In The Darkness

In the dead of night, as the world around them slept and all was dark and quiet and still, under a twinkling mobile of stars, a King was born. No fanfare greeted Him, no parade announced Him, no room was made for Him save for an ordinary barn.

And in the light of day, as the world beyond them busied and all blindingly labored under the weight of their own sin, a Messiah was born.

Though creation groaned for a Savior, the world was wholly unaware of the miracle that had occurred in their midst.

The Christ had stepped down from His regal throne at the right hand of the Father and was born a helpless babe.

And his mother laid Him in a manger. The trough that was constructed to contain food for beasts now contained the spiritual food for all mankind.

Though we sought Him not, He poured Himself as the Living Water and gave Himself as the Bread of Life.

Quietly, humbly, the Light of the ages shone into the world and, joyfully, into the hearts of man. There is no high enough exaltation to give our King Jesus Who lovingly gave Himself for the salvation of all people.

May all glory and honor and praise lift up the precious Name of Jesus forever and ever.

“And the angel said to them, ‘Do not fear. For behold, I give to you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For to you is born today, in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this is a sign to you. You will find the babe wrapped, lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.’” (Luke 2:10-14)

Friday Funnies {Friend Request}

Is your face in His book?

The Other Side of Darkness

When I was a little kid my mother started getting together with a friend of hers to play with a Ouija Board and Tarot cards while all the kids played in the basement. It was harmless fun, they thought. After all, Ouija Boards were tucked between Twister and Monopoly at the toy store. I have no idea where they got Tarot cards. My best recollection is that they got together a few times over the course of a number of months, and then something happened and they were no longer friends. We moved across the country and my mother brought with her the game of curiosity in the spirit world.

It was never anything serious, or so it seemed. We grew up with it and it seemed normal to be surrounded by conversations about my mother seeing the spirits of dead babies sitting on the foot of her bed, or the belief that objects had been moved around the house by spirits long gone...or something. It was a regular occurrence for me to wake up in the night filled with fear in the belief that an entity from beyond the grave overshadowed the threshold of my bedroom door.

As we got older the fear and darkness overshadowed our entire home. My mother’s sense of logic became completely unsound and a lie to her was as good as the truth. Her words toward all of us became vile and emotionally and mentally abusive. She became a master deceiver and manipulator. My dad couldn’t see it because he was busy drowning in alcoholism.

One night, after I had moved out of the house at age 17, my dad’s alcoholism reached a breaking point and my mother decided he needed help. She always thought it was someone else who needed help. So she called for some type of minister or counselor to go to the house some time later. During that meeting, a type of prayer of sorts took place, and while “praying” my mother feigned the voice of Christ to coerce my dad into changing his life. He began to see the depths to which she had descended. It had happened gradually, but the dark deeds of evil had taken hold.

Sober, my dad was a quiet, sensitive, loving, although depressed, man. He had been shocked by his own behavior that was brought on by his alcoholism and he quit drinking cold turkey, at least for awhile. But the darkness in our home had taken hold of him and everything that had happened would weigh heavily on his heart for the rest of his life.

Meanwhile, my mother continued to spiral downward into her own little world of mental illness. After their divorce, she continued her tirades toward my dad and me. Even her body began to be ravaged. She became so ill that she had to be made a ward of the state and she was taken to live in a nursing home where she lives to this day. She regularly spewed vulgar rants to anyone who came near, including every one of her caretakers, whom she lost one by one because they couldn’t take her abuse. It was heartbreaking to watch and to be a part of.

The last time I saw her I barely recognized her. She lay motionless in her bed and looked at least 20 years older than her true age. I tried talking to her via email. She didn’t really remember me at first, and once she did, the attempts at abusive manipulation started all over again.

For many years before my dad’s death, I tried talking to him about the Lord and about salvation. He would always say he was trying but somehow I could never get through. He became ill in the last couple of years of his life and I prayed more than ever that God would open his eyes to faith in Christ. Many precious saints prayed for him as he lay on his death bed in the hospital. On what would be only days before his death, the hospital called one morning to tell me that he had had some sort of seizure and that I should come quickly.

As I was getting ready to go, my pastor’s wife called saying that she had been outside when the Holy Spirit put on her heart to call me. I told her what had happened with my dad and she offered to call the man who was our assistant pastor at the time to see if he could go to the hospital to see my dad.

By the time I got to the hospital, my dad seemed to be over whatever had happened to his body earlier in the day and no one knew exactly the reason for his seizure. He had never had one before or since.

A few hours later, the assistant pastor and his wife came. She talked to me in the hallway while he went in to visit with my dad. A short time later the pastor met us in the hallway and said that he had talked to my dad about his salvation and my dad had said yes, he wanted to receive Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. They prayed together right there in his hospital room. Needless to say, I was overjoyed. After all those years of not only my prayers, but come to find out, the prayers of many saints throughout his life, my dad finally opened his heart to Christ for salvation and I knew I’d see him in heaven someday.

I will always wonder if the evil forces that were brought into our house as a game so many years before had slowly but surely permeated our home and had somehow taken hold of my dad to such an extent that it took a miracle of the Holy Spirit to unleash it from his body, and if that was really the cause of the seizure the same day he prayed to receive Christ.

I’m sure that never in their wildest imaginations did my parents ever believe that their lives would turn out as they did. One looked for a way to pass the time by satisfying her curiosity about contacting the spirit world. The other seemed to dismiss it as if it were nothing. I believe the enemy gleefully used both perspectives.

What may be a game to us is no game to the enemy; it is an open invitation into our lives. And when we overlook the seemingly innocuous ways the enemy worms his way into our lives, he grabs the chance and runs with it. He is always looking for a way to deceive and to lie and he’ll use whatever methods work, even wrapping them in pretty packages and entertainment, and he counts on us seeing the deceit as only an apple.

I don’t for one second believe that the enemy ran scurrying from me when I received Christ as my Savior. Oh, he has no hold on my soul anymore; Christ is my Savior and always will be. But I see the enemy using the same, old tricks to try to get me focused on him instead of the Lord. 

As believers, we have a choice every day about who and what to allow in our lives--the Light of Christ or the fruitless deeds of darkness. Whoever and whatever we give place to in our lives each day--that is where we’ll receive power and direction.

“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.” (Ephesians 5:8-11)

Keep On Keepin' On

If you look back on your life, you probably realize that you have persevered through a lot – illness, rejection, doubt, loneliness, loss, regret, death. But you’ve made it! You’re still here and you’ve learned a lot through it. I hope you’re closer to the Lord because of it. Still, the temptation can sometimes be to give up when we face yet another difficult trial. But now is not the time to give up.

Now is the time to persevere.

The Lord Jesus Christ knew perseverance and He exampled it to us all the way to the end of His life.

“Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” (John 13:1)

Not only did He continue in obedience to His Father all the way to the cross and the grave, but He persevered in love. He didn’t persevere begrudgingly, He didn’t become bitter, and He didn’t become weak or weary.

He persevered with love.

But how do you do that? Maybe you’re tired right now and don’t know how you’re going to make it through. You cannot do it alone.

Persevere with the One Who gives love and strength and hope.

Hold onto Him and none else. Make Him your hope, believing in Him for all things. Make Him your Lord, allowing Him to lead you through all things. He will be with you and love you to the end.

“You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, ‘He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.' But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.” (Hebrews 10:36-39)

Dying to Bring Glory

It's been my pleasure again to contribute a devotion to the monthly newsletter for my favorite online Christian store, Halas & Phos, Salt & Light.  I hope you'll check out their huge assortment of merchandise, from Bibles and skateboards to t-shirts and jewelry and much more.   You can sign up to receive their newsletter by email here, and be notified about new merchandise, the latest sales and other encouraging devotions and stories. 
Blessings.
Dorci

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” (John 12:24 NKJV)

A brilliant field of flowers begins with a single flower, and that one flower begins with a seed. The seed must die before it can sprout into a seedling and mature into a beautiful blossom. The blossom then sends out many seeds, the wind carries them and they come to rest in the ground. The cycle repeats itself over and over until the field is ablaze with color and beauty.

Life is brought forth through death.

(read the rest at Halas & Phos here.)

Dibs

I decided to drag myself out of the house yesterday, and pulled my family along with me. I’d been hearing about the movie, Despicable Me, and a lot of people had been saying some good things about it. So, despite the fact that it’s an animated movie and my family consists of 3 grown men and me, I was able to lure them out from their t.v. and video game haze.

We were first in line and the moment the theater was clean and the doors opened, my oldest son headed inside and straight for the 14th row, middle seat, eyeing the screen first to make sure his aim was right. He sat down, I sat next to him, then my husband, and then our other son.

We had plenty of time to discuss snack selections. In all my movie-going years, I’d never had Dippin’ Dots before and I decided to take the plunge. So my husband and the oldest headed back down to retrieve the snacks. When they came back up the oldest had a thing of Dibs. He loves his ice cream. If we’d been at home he would have had a big glass of milk to go with it.

So we sat there watching Despicable Me, the youngest and me with our delicious Cookie Dough Dippin’ Dots, my husband with his movie theater popcorn, and the oldest with his Dibs. We laughed and laughed at the silliness on the screen. The laughing felt good and almost made me forget that I’d been feeling as though I could identify with the movie’s name. The enemy of God and of His children had been hard at work aiming those fiery arrows and getting some pretty direct hits, and I’d been weary from the combat.

I finished my Dippin’ Dots and shoved the empty container into the cup holder next to me. We laughed some more. And suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, without a word, my son handed me a single Dib. It was one of the nicest things anyone had done for me in a while.  It was made even more special knowing that my son guards his ice cream with the tenaciousness of a Rottweiler. I took it, without a word, smiled, and ate it. It was the best tasting Dib I’d ever had.

I think of the irony of it now. The enemy had been calling “dibs” on my heart and mind for weeks, making me feel useless and unloved. And with one symbolic “Dib,” one simple but kind gesture, God reminded me that I am loved and that He has called dibs on my soul and I will never belong to another.

“But now so says Jehovah who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel; Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine.” (Isaiah 43:1)

What is Salvation?

Are you saved?  Do you know what it means to be saved, I mean all that it means to have a relationship with Jesus Christ? This is a very good and clear explanation given by one of my favorite pastors and teachers, Greg Laurie, in his unique Greg Laurie-ish way. 

My sincere prayer is that everyone who watches this will be saved.  I also pray that if you are saved, but you've been away from Christ for a time, you will come home and be reconciled to Christ, Who has never stopped loving you even for one second.  And if you're saved and walking with Christ, I pray that you'll continue pressing in closer, day by day, to your loving Heavenly Father.

"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." (1 Corinthians 2:6)

If you make that decision for Christ for the first time, or you come back to Him, and would like to let someone know, or if you have any questions or would just like prayer, please send me an email by clicking on the envelope to the right.  I'd love to hear from you!

God bless,
Dorci

His Indelible Love

I walked into a room in our house where the t.v. had been left on and playing on that channel was one of those shows about tattoo artists and I got sucked into watching it pretty fast. Not my usual thing, but it was interesting.

A man came into the tattoo parlor with some pictures and a story behind the tattoo he wanted inked over his heart. It seems when he was very young, he and his dad were flying in a small plane and as a strong wind kicked up, the plane’s tail went up and the nose went down, threatening both of their lives.

His dad’s instinct was to save his son. He used his own body as a shield between the life of his child and the ground they screamed toward below. His dad made the ultimate sacrifice with his very life.

The man had brought in a newspaper clipping with a picture of the plane crash and a picture of his dad holding him when he was a baby. His request was to have a collage of sorts with the picture of the two of them and the date that his dad saved his life permanently memorialized over his heart as a reminder of his dad and the gift of life he had given to him that day.

More than once the man remarked that he was indeed special to have received that kind of gift. Only a precious few have faced death and have been loved enough by someone that they willingly gave their life for their loved one’s. The joy on his face at being loved that much by his father was palpable.

How could the analogy have been made any more plain?

Jesus Christ came to give His own life to act as a shield between our souls and hell. He placed Himself in harm’s way, giving His very life to pay for our sins so that we wouldn’t have to face punishment for them ourselves.

If we’ve put our faith in Jesus Christ, not only have we been given a second chance in this life, but we’ve been given the gift of eternal life.

How incredibly special is that?

Just think of the magnitude of God’s love for you - that He sent His only Son to die for you. And what’s more, God kept loving you until you were brought to the place of repentance and faith in Him and you became His child.

If we daily remember how privileged we are to be loved so much that Jesus Christ willingly gave His very life for us, then we, too, will beam with joy at the very precious gift we’ve been given.

Now I’m not saying we should have that sentiment indelibly inked onto our bodies, but we can have the joyful remembrance that His love will always be written on our hearts.

“No one has greater love than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13

A Well-Worn Heart

What is it about the show Touched By An Angel that gets me every time?  When I think of it I remember how it can be a little on the cheesy side.  But I think I've hardly watched a show that I can get through without a least a tear or two.  This last one I watched was no exception.  In fact, I cried most of the way through it.  Darn their cheesiness. 

It was about a 16-year old girl who was in the hospital and needed a heart transplant.  Another woman, in the same hospital, had just been in a horseback riding accident and was being kept alive by machines.  The doctor and the angels were trying to talk to the woman's husband to explain to him how he and his wife could help this young girl by allowing the woman's heart to be donated.  The man would hear nothing of it.  He couldn't accept the fact that his wife was really already dead and his own heart was broken. 

The doctor's daughter visited the young heart patient and they became fast friends.  At one point, the 16-year old girl, facing her own death, looked at her new young friend and said, "You've done well with your heart."

At that moment I thought, have I done well with my heart?  Have I used it to it's ultimate capacity?  Have I loved all I could love?  Have I forgiven all I could forgive?  And, of course, the answer is no.  I've succeeded many times, but others I haven't.

But I have this moment in time to choose whether to do well with my heart or not.  I pray I choose to do all I can possibly do with my heart with the power of God moving me for the rest of my life.  I have one life.  One chance each moment.  How will I look back on those moments when my life nears its end? 

At the end of the show, the husband is finally able to accept his wife's death, and sees the good in donating his dear wife's heart so that another doesn't have to die.  Sadly, he chose too late.  The young girl received her new heart, but along with a new body in the arms of her Savior. 

The husband had been warned many times not to take too long in his decision.  And God speaks to each of us, too, to choose Christ before it's too late.  God desires to give you a new heart.  Not a literal heart, of course, but a soul-heart, if you will, that is not laden with your own sin, but rather one that has been forgiven of all your sins because of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for you on the cross.  You can receive that forgiveness by simply telling God that you are sorry for your sins and that you want His Son Jesus Christ to come into your life to be your Savior and your Lord.  Please don't wait. 

If you have any questions, please email me by clicking on the postcard in the sidebar. 

God bless.
Dorci

George Street Testimony

Never underestimate the ability of God to work powerfully through you when you simply do what He has called you to do at this moment.  He may not call you to be a pastor or a well-known evangelist, but He has called you to your own ministry. Whatever that is, whether that's raising children to love the Lord, praying for a neighbor, or sharing the gospel with others, if you'll do it faithfully, in God's strength and to the best of your ability, though you may not see results in this lifetime, He will do amazing things.  This is but one such story. 

"For as the rain comes down, and the snow from the heavens, and does not return there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring out and bud, and give seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall My Word be, which goes out of My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall certainly do what I sent it to do. For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break out before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands." (Isaiah 55:10-12)

Armour of God - Breastplate of Righteousness

Armour of God Part one, Part 2a, Part 2b, Part 2c


I doubt a week ever goes by without the enemy wagging his boney, little finger of condemnation in my face. he usually doesn’t have to wag it very long, though, before I take over condemning myself – a consequence of having removed my breastplate of righteousness.

“and having put on the breastplate of righteousness..” (Ephesians 6:14b)

The enemy loves to bring up our past sins, whether it was 20 years ago or yesterday, and shoot his arrows directly at our hearts –

Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!

If we’ve taken off our breastplate of righteousness – our claim to righteousness through Jesus alone - we are completely open and vulnerable to those attacks. The arrows of guilt sink deep into our hearts and we stumble in the knowledge that we have sinned against our beloved God. We condemn ourselves and our usefulness is lessened because we aren’t standing in the righteousness that is ours. Many times we will then try to earn our righteousness back by – performing this good work or being “perfect” - then we’ll be made right before God, we reason.

“But Jesus said, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20)

Today, that’s kind of like saying, unless you’re more righteous than the Pope, you’ll never get to heaven. So many people look at that statement, and because their idea of righteousness is being a religious leader, or serving at church, or feeding the hungry or being a missionary, or any other type of work, they think they’ll never make it.

But Jesus boldly made that statement because the scribes and Pharisees were missing it. They thought it was all about their own self-righteousness rather than a righteousness that comes through faith in God.

Even Christians, knowing they have been justified through Christ alone, can try to earn God’s love and favor through good works. We couldn’t earn righteousness through good works before salvation, and we’ll never be able to earn it that way after.

“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

Did you suffer so many things in vain--if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith-- just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’?

Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’

So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’ (Deut. 27:26) Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for "The righteous shall live by faith." (Galatians 3:1-11)

It is by your faith in Jesus Christ that you have been made righteous. We can so quickly forget that we haven’t been given a second-class righteousness that works sometimes and sometimes doesn’t; we have the righteousness of Jesus Christ that we now claim by faith through His precious blood that was shed on Calvary. If you have that faith in Him, you have been justified and are no longer guilty of even one sin you committed. God has declared you to be innocent of all charges.

So, let us add to our royal armour the breastplate of righteousness, along with our belts of truth, so that when the enemy tries to dredge up the past to condemn us, our hearts will be defended as we boldly stand in the righteousness that is ours through faith in our everlasting Lord, Jesus Christ.

Once we’re saved we will still sin, but there are still no works we can do that will erase the guilt. There is only one thing to do: fall into the waiting and loving arms of the Lord, asking for forgiveness. The enemy’s arrows can no longer touch you as you remember that even before the words, “I’m sorry” are uttered from your lips, you’re already forgiven and have been since that day on Calvary.

Armour of God - Girding With the Truth

Armour of God Part one.

As we continue on our journey to our own Promised Land, remember that there will be attacks by the enemy along the way. But God has given us tools, so let’s begin to understand the usage of each piece of spiritual armour, clothe ourselves in it, and master it.

“Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth,” (Ephesians 6:14a)

I’m going to stop mid-sentence in this verse so that we can focus on truth, which is a weighty piece of armour all by itself.

But first, let’s take a quick look at the words “stand” and “therefore.”

Greek Word Lesson Alert!

Stand - “abide, appoint, bring, continue, covenant, establish, hold up, lay, present, set (up), stanch, stand (by, forth, still, up).”

Therefore – this word should always cause us to look back to see what it’s there for.

Verse 13 said, “Therefore, (because we wrestle against spiritual wickedness - vs.12) take to yourselves the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."

So, we need to keep abiding in our relationship with Christ so that we can withstand the days of evil, or the days of trials - the days we are attacked by the enemy and our faith is tested so that at the end of our lives we are still found standing boldly in Christ, proclaiming His Name to all.

Okay, onto the armour.

When Paul was writing this letter to the Ephesians, it was common practice in that day to “gird the loins” or gird the waist. Because the men in those days wore long tunics, in order for them to work or fight efficiently when they went into battle, they had to pull up the hem of their garment so that they didn’t trip on it and that allowed them to move about freely without stumbling. So girding about was the way they readied themselves.

The first thing we need to do to ready ourselves is to know the Truth with a capital T. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

In order for Him to make a statement like that He either had to be off His rocker or He had to be God, claiming that He was the personification of all truth.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” (John 1:1-3)

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

We can only stand in the strength of Christ if we have already come into the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, Who is the Truth, the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth.

So, do you know the Truth that is Jesus Christ? He is the only begotten Son of the Father who loves you so much that He came to earth, born as a baby in a humble stable, to live and then die as payment for your sins. All you need to do is ask for forgiveness for your sins, accepting Jesus’ payment for them.

“For He has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son; in whom we have redemption through His blood, the remission of sins.” (Colossians 1:13-14)

If you would like to read more, please click on the tab at the top entitled How To Know God.

If you have truly received Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, don’t ever let the enemy tell you that you aren’t saved.

“And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blamelessly at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who called you, Who also will do it.” (1Thessalonians 5:23-24)


Next up: Breastplate of Righteousness

Thursday Thanks - The Hope of Heaven

Oh, these bodies of ours. I don’t know about you, but I first noticed my body was beginning to..shall we say, “turn,” (you know, like that brick of cheese you forgot was lurking in the dark recesses of your refrigerator, behind the leftovers) when I was about 29. Nothing big, just the normal aging process beginning to show on my face. Oh, what a surprise my body had in store for me then! I can just picture my DNA molecules getting together on Saturday nights and discussing how they were going to morph and cause me all kinds of grief in the coming years.

Getting old is no fun. And it’s not any easier watching our loved ones get older. And it’s especially heartbreaking when they get ill and when they die.

But God’s Word says, (to paraphrase) Aha! But this is not all there is! I will give you hope by telling you that if you are my child then you have a special place here with Me in my home – your home! Mi casa es su casa!

Okay, what it really says is, “Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, so that where I am, you may be also.” (John 14:1-3)

I feel a song coming on after that one. And:

“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” (Philippians 3:20-21)

Amen and amen!

I long for my new body and my new home with Jesus more than anything else. No more stiff joints, no more fatigue. No more headaches! No more tears, no more pain, no more suffering. And I long to see my loved ones who are already there. In this world we grieve for our loss of them, but God is good to give us the hope of heaven.

And so, I am thankful that God has made provisions for us in heaven, where we can be with Him forever, where we will laugh and sing and run and dance (we're doing this together, right, Ylisa?!)and worship, without thought of our bodies ever getting tired or old or weak. And all that we do will be for the purpose of glorifying our Lord forever! And not only has He prepared a place for us, but He has given us hope by telling us now! Through it all in this life, we have the hope of heaven waiting for us.

If you have somehow found your way to this blog and you don’t know where you’re going after you die, please go to the tab at the top entitled, “How to know God” and read the post. Through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ you can have your sins forgiven and have the hope of knowing that when that day comes for you to leave this earth you will be safe and sound in the arms of the Lord in heaven where He has prepared a special place just for you.


I couldn’t find a good video of Rich Mullins singing his song, “That Where I Am,” but I also love listening to a little bluegrass when I can.

Enjoy!

Friday Funnies - Fourth of July

Ode to Fourth of July

Oh, Fourth of July, how we adore thee;
With thy Red, White and Blue sales, both vehicle and sofa;
With thy crowds in the malls and specials on the tube-
Perhaps even time for a quick Jiffy lube.

We grill to our hearts’ content all manner of fodder
Lo! Dogs that are hot and bovine that’s grounded!
Cobbed corn, beans baked, and pies galore!
Watermelon seeds spewed ‘cross the floor.

Oh Fourth of July, we love to gather
‘neath your billowing banner this day
To gorge, then splash – but not too soon!
Lest a cramp in the belly would surely spell doom.

Then in darkness we gaze at the fireflies-
God’s own special brand of flame in the sky;
And reflect on the meaning of this special day-
Freedom that was purchased-a price others did pay.

Oh, Fourth of July, may we ne’er take you for granted.
For we love the freedom of which you remind us.
And above all that is done in silliness and contemplation
May we hold dear our freedom in God's gift of salvation.

Thursday Thanks - Suffering with a Purpose

Just when I feel I'm beginning to fall into my oh-so-familiar "why" pit, God reaches over and pulls me back out again. He's good to me that way.

So this week I'm thankful for the staff my Shepherd used to keep me from falling: a video of a young woman named Rachel, speaking in front of hundreds of women about her terminal cancer and her faith in Jesus.

Rachel was recently diagnosed with cancer for the second time. The first time it was breast cancer and this time the cancer is in her bones and liver and it is spreading. Her doctors give her 6 to 14 (I believe she said) weeks to live. She is married and has young children.

Her message helped me to gather in my mind all my own suffering and, once again, give it purpose: to draw closer to my God and to glorify Him. Is there any greater purpose in the world?

Thank you, Lord. And thank you, Rachel, for sharing your trials and the wisdom you've learned through them. You have fulfilled your purpose.

The video is 55 minutes long, and I promise you won't regret the time spent. You can find it on her website, Death is not dying.



Update - Rachel went home to be with Jesus on July 2, 2009. Please uphold her family in your prayers.

Is There Still Passion?

I had a post all set to go for today. In fact, I still have it minimized on my computer.

But I woke up this morning thinking about Mel Gibson. No, not like that. I was thinking of a recent interview I saw him do on The Tonight Show. Mel talked about his impending divorce from his wife of 20-something years and the fact that they've been separated for the last 3. He admitted that he'd done a "hatchet-job" on his marriage and he was willing to take the blame for its failure.

Then he confirmed the rumors not only that yes, he is dating that beautiful woman people have seen him with, but yes, she is pregnant with their baby.

I thought of all that and then tried to reconcile it all with the man who wrote, produced and directed the movie, The Passion of the Christ. It is without a doubt the most heart-wrenching, powerful, emotionally raw and most realistic movie -even using the Latin and Aramaic languages- ever made about Jesus Christ. I've only been able to watch it again one more time since we saw it in the movie theatre and my eyes were closed for much of the scouraging scenes and my stomach was sick for most of the movie.

That was my Lord suffering and dying for my sins.

The man who made that movie had to have poured out his heart and soul into it. He reportedly spent millions of dollars out of his own pocket to make the movie because no movie studio would take a chance on it. He endured criticism for everything from holding private screenings for certain individuals, to the opinions held by many that the movie was too violent, to the controversy surrounding his original desire to have no subtitles, to the attacks of others who claimed that the movie was anti-semitic.

But he made the movie anyway. It seemed there was a passion that moved Mr. Gibson to make that movie. He even thoughtfully chose to be the hand who hammered the nail into Christ's hand because, he explained, it was his guilt that nailed Him to the cross.

Indeed. And it was mine.

So what has happened? How has he gone from a man who so desperately wanted to tell the story of Christ's crucifixion, giving us all a glimpse into what it could have looked like for an innocent Man to be nailed to a cross for our own sins, to a man who admittedly ran his marriage into the ground, and now, before he is divorced, is openly dating another woman, and has gotten her pregnant. And he's on a talk show talking about it.

Of course everything I just wrote I thought about this morning in a matter of seconds. And the thought that lingered, that led me to the computer to write something different to you today was, what has happened to our love for God? What happened to the love that Mel Gibson seemed to have? What is happening to the love of self-proclaimed believers in Jesus Christ in this world?

How can we say we love Christ and hate our brother?

How can we say we love Christ and get divorced - something that God says He hates!

How can we say we love Christ and harbor unforgiveness?

How can we say we love Christ and go about our merry way, doing our thang, never even considering if that thing is God's will, never even going to Him and asking the Lord what His thing for us is?

Are there people left out there who still love Jesus Christ with all their heart, with all their soul, with all their strength and with all their mind? We don't even seem to respect God anymore. I hear Christians use God's name in vain; I hear Christians whine about having to go to church (which is anywhere believers in Jesus Christ gather), I hear Christians complain about helping a brother in the Lord.

Where is our love for the God Who sent His Son to die for our sins?

Has our love grown cold? Have we tip-toed into the world just a little bit too much? Have we been affected by the world rather than us affecting the world? Are we just afraid to look different? Are we afraid to have some of the types of attacks that were aimed toward Mel Gibson directed at us?

The Lord has increasingly put on my heart that times for all of us are going to get more and more difficult. The world is going to turn against the Christian faith more than it ever has. There is going to be a shaking of our faith, and if we're sitting on the fence when it happens, we may not know on which side we'll end up.

Please, I implore you, if you have been on the fence with your faith, one foot in the world and one foot trying to live a Christian life and yet not doing very well at either, get off the fence and get back to your first love - loving your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let's ask to be so filled with the Holy Spirit that we are overflowing with His love so that it spills out all over everyone around us. Let's love God enough to desire to do His will, to be Jesus' eyes and ears and arms and feet on this earth. Let's have the mind of Christ.

Ask God for forgiveness for the sins you've been committing and for going your own way.

Love your brother.

Work on your marriage.

Forgive those whom you need to forgive.

And then lets get back to regular prayer and ask God what He wants you to do today, and then do it! How does He want you to spend your...His...money? Does He want you to take the time to tell someone, maybe a co-worker, maybe a neighbor, maybe a relative, that God loves them and sent His Son to die for them, too?

If you find that your love for God has waned, ask Him for it back.

Let us be the salt and light in this dark and lonely world. Let us be the example of loving unconditionally, not just when everything is going our way or when others are loving us.

I pray we seek to be Spirit-filled and love as Christ loved - passionately, joyfully, wholeheartedly, unabashedly, sacrificially, without thought for ourselves, but thoughts only of others and for their good.

And if you're hearing for the first time that God loves you so much that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for your sins and you want this relationship with Him, click on the How to Know God tab at very top.


"Therefore since we also are surrounded with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest you be weary and faint in your minds. You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin." (Hebrews 12:1-4)