F-1-1 WORDS FOR INSPIRATION: PS TO THE SKINNY MAN’S AUDACITY

In 2004 I moved to Saltspring Island to begin writing my first book Voices Crying in the Wilderness, A call to prophesy.  I spent 2 years there: summers in my 20 foot class C motor home and the winters we rented whatever we could find. Each day I drove to the community cinder track to walk my mile. There was a warning out that a cougar, with cubs and also a bear were spotted on the island at  the time, so this discouraged me from taking my usual constitutional along the scenic beach roads and I resolved my efforts to the track and it gave me an accurate account of distance each day, so that was fine.

One day as I podded my course an obvious pro strode onto  the track, shaking out his muscle mass and creaking his neck about. He was obviously training for some important run as he had an assistant timing his runs. He was most professional indeed and came speeding past me numerous times as I plodded my measly mile.  He paid no attention to me as he drove by me spitting up cinder bits and cutting in front if I happened to be in his way.

The Skinny Man’s Audacity was inspired by this daily contrast of goals. I wonder where he is today as I write this. I wonder if he won his race. That was 12 years ago. I continue to plod along my track today tending to my own race and allowing others to tend to theirs.

This morning I experienced an epiphany…revelation…and this brought to mind the essay I wrote in 2010 (inspired by the incident in 2004)

THE VICTORY IS NOT WON UNTIL THE JOB IS DONE.(LST)

This lead to a well known idiom: “It’s not how you start your race, but how you finish.”

And the Bible reminds us:

The end of a thing is better than the beginning.

Eccl 7:8

8 Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
KJV

Job 8:7
7 Though your beginning was small,
Yet your latter end would increase abundantly.
NKJV

I hope the SKINNY MAN’S AUDACITY inspires, strengthens and encourages you as it has me today….  Keep on plodding!!

HEALING IS THE CHILDREN’S BREAD PART I

The wonder of the manifestation of Jesus’ miracles is not reserved just for “those out there” somewhere. His compassion, mercy and grace are immediate for all who call upon His Name, believing. Here is one person’s account of how Jesus became more real and His caring love undeniable in the face of body malfunctions and illnesses…more than 25 physical healings.

We tend to take our bodies for granted hoping that they will sustain us into old age without too much repair or maintenance. However, we are quite sophisticated walking, living machines. Like any machine, things need tuning up and servicing in order to keep things running smoothly. God has graciously provided us with physicians (The Lord bless them all!) who do everything they know how to help us keep our “engines” in good working order. BUT when a physician is occasionally confronted with some sort of malfunction of our equipment that they just can’t heal on their own, Jesus will step in and take care of whatever the physician cannot take care of. After all HE DESIGNED AND CREATED OUR BODIES. HE KNOWS EVERY DETAIL AND FUNCTION. HE IS OUR GREAT PHYSICIAN! AMEN!

My first encounter with Jesus and His offer to heal me happened before I even entered a church. It was not long after I invited Him into my life. I was watching a well-known, but much ridiculed, TV healing minister, Earnest Angley. Brother Angley turns 96 this August (2017). I watched him on TV in my early days and actually attended one of his crusades in Vancouver, BC. During his preaching, he suddenly stopped and pointed directly to me and informed me that Jesus wanted to heal my spine. I didn’t know I had anything wrong with my spine. He kept commanding me to stand up and receive my healing. I was a very new Christian and I was a little embarrassed at his rebuke and wouldn’t stand. He turned and continued on with his message.

I discovered several years later that I did indeed have a problem with my spine. I had suffered for 5 years after delivering my 10 ½ pound baby boy with sciatica. Now…I am a simple country girl and I heard lots about rheumatism, sciatica, lumbago and all that sort of thing and from the old tales from home thought it was like having a cold in my hip. The pain eventually became so severe I could not walk. My husband had had enough of my groanings and put me in the car and drove me to a well-known sports chiropractor he knew personally. There, I was x-rayed and it was discovered that I had scoliosis, a deformed vertebrate and an extra vertebrate, not to mention misalignment, leading back to my pregnancy and delivery of my big baby boy. I remembered brother Angley’s words to me and was amazed that he knew all this. I still did not connect all this to Jesus wanting to heal me at the crusade. It was more about brother Angley and how he knew that I had a badbback condition. But as I grew and understood more and studied more of His Word, I realized I had missed out on a wonderful miracle. His mercies are new every morning and great is his faithfulness, for the sports chiropractor was very skilled and within weeks I had completely recovered from the persistent pain of more than 5 years. The scoliosis remained and over the following years I could see a definite lean to the left. Let’s leave that for now.

This was not the last of brother Angley! In my book Voices Crying in the Wilderness, A call to prophecy, I give my testimony in detail. Here I will simply say at this point I had found a church and was attending church and group meetings at least 3 times a week. My husband and I came into relationship with Jesus at the end of the 70s revival…of course we had no idea we were part of a revival at the time. One day I decided not to attend church (We likely had attended other meetings during the week and needed a rest.) My husband attended church and I stayed home. I watched brother Angley on TV. He spoke a Word that Jesus was healing someone of a “widow’s hump”.

Here again I noticed that I was developing a definite protrusion on my back at the top of my spine, just at the base of the neck. I commented to my husband that I hoped I was not going to develop what I, by then, understood to be a generational infirmity. My maternal grandfather had a very noticeable hump on his back and complained frequently of a pain in his neck.  About ten years ago I also met up with a cousin I hadn’t seen for many years and noticed his condition was so severe he could barely lift his head. My mother too had a slight protrusion at the top of her spine. Mine was not looking good and I would deliberately try to stand as straight as I could, but I could see this family condition was more and more noticeable.

BUT THIS TIME I HEARD BROTHER ANGLEY AND IMMEDIATELY RECEIVED JESUS BLESSING OF HEALING. Brother Angley commanded that whoever this Word was for must stand up and begin to praise and thank Jesus. This is did without hesitation! I jumped up from the sofa and began to praise Him with hands lifted in the air and thanked Him with such joy. I knew I had been healed. When I checked in the mirror my spine was completely straight at the top. This was very exciting to see and I couldn’t wait to show my husband when he returned from church! Wow! This might not mean anything to someone who has not experienced such a deformity, but even now it is such a wonderful blessing to remember what He did for me!

The last couple of years I have felt a strong sense that I was to share my testimonies of Jesus’ healings. For whatever reason the Lord has held me back until now. I know His timing is always perfect and what I share here, He will use to inspire and strengthen others’ faith and trust in Him. To Jesus be all the praise and glory! Amen!

Ok…back to the scoliosis…I do not have a record of when I was healed of scoliosis, but that too is long gone. I do know it all happened around the same era. Sometimes I received a healing and didn’t even know for a time and then realized that whatever was ailing me was completely gone. So if you are counting, you will have to fill in the blanks as I may not get to all 25 plus healings in this testimony. Another thing…if I die of something tomorrow that would in no way diminish my testimony of the years and years of His wonderful healing and maintained blessings in my body. We all go at some time. I would love to be translated and not taste death, but not sure that is my lot in life.

So at this point, the Lord helped and provided one of the best chiropractors available to bring healing to a (1) severe sciatic condition, (2) Jesus then healed me of the generational “widow’s hump” (3) and He healed the scoliosis.

Another healing about the same time (era) came one Sunday morning in our worship service. Our church was well known as the “Worshiping Church” and it was not unusual for members of the congregation to receive healing or deliverance. (I will talk about deliverance later.) A little girl born to friends of ours (Her parents became pastors later and at one time were our group leaders.) had a birth defect where her foot was quite twisted and she had difficulty walking. During one of our evening worship services everyone gathered around the little girl (I think she was about 4 years old at the time.), laid hands on her and prayed for her healing and with astonishment everyone watched the little girl’s foot twist back around and straighten…perfectly straight! He parents continue today to pastor a very successful church in the lower-mainland of BC. PRAISE YOU, JESUS!

Well, back to my own experience. I tended to suffer regular bouts of bronchitis. One Sunday morning I was dripping bronchitis, coughing and hacking and all sickly. I decided to go to church anyway. I knew there was healing in the “house” and Jesus might touch me and heal me. The worship was wonderful; I was lost in the presence of God and my heart soared with His. We finished our worship and listened intently to the message preached, making notes as usual. I didn’t think much more about sickness until we left the service and I realized I was completely healed. Just in case this seems ho, hum to you, which I do understand. Just think AT 10 AM I WAS DRIPPING SICK AND AT 12 PM I WAS COMPLETELY NORMAL!  Bronchitis does not just vanish in 2 hours! But healing now had become normal for me. Well, almost normal. It would be a few years yet before I completely handed my life or death over to Jesus, trusting Him completely and allowing Him to take charge of my health and healing, or death if that was to be.

I will pause here for a breather. This finishes a particular era and beginning of a growing understanding and trust in the power, compassion and love of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. ARE YOU ENCOURAGED! I surely hope so. This is just the beginning. The Lord bless all who read this message with renewed faith and blessing in their physical, mental and spiritual being. Amen!

I think you are asking for more on the subject of recovery. My experience over the past 5 years while working with families in varying stages of recovery is that recovery seems to be an ongoing, never-ending process for some. For others, who have truly received a powerful encounter with Jesus and His amazing healing power, freedom indeed is experienced and they move forward into a completely new life with almost unlimited options for what they might do from here on. leaving behind the stigma of once a loser, always a loser. I hate stigmas. It is like stepping in some horrible sticky stuff that you can’t wash off your shoes and follows you everywhere like a dark nasty gunk.

The most challenging aspect of drug and alcohol dependency that I have seen is the lack of education which stunts and limits hopes and dreams for an abundant future. If I could draw a bottom line for this unfortunate category of life it would be: If you haven’t encountered Christ’s power of deliverance in your body and mind then go into long term rehab…my recommendation is one of the Dream Centers (men’s in Calgary, AB and women’s in Edmonton, AB) spend the year (or 2) getting your life clean and sorted out; AND THEN IMMEDIATELY register for some sort of advanced education program. Of course grade 12 equivalent is the first place (I discovered that those I was working with actually did not test above Gr 3. If someone tests at grade 3 then start there. As a former tutor that’s how I handled working with children with reading challenges…always start at THEIR beginning and move forward from there.)

Once the basic education is achieved then move forward into something that truly interests you: whether academics at a higher level, such as college or university or trade school. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with choosing a trade. One thing I still would like to do is sign up for cooking school…always wanted to open a restaurant. For some reason we are conditioned to think that we must have a university education…and this is fine if you are wanting a complete universal education, but if you are wanting to specialize in a trade then there should be no further concern that one must have a university education to enjoy their life or provide for their family. EDUCATION IS ALL GOOD! The Bible says so much about the importance of knowledge in Proverbs. I agree. If I was 20 years younger I would continue to pursue greater knowledge of more of my interests. I have a niece that has just entered her doctorate program in statistics. How I envy her. Go sister, go!

I referred to several different categories of dependency recovery: some ongoing and unresolved, some provided complete freedom after encountering the power of Jesus. But there are many also who have “seen-the-light”, so to speak, and simply made the decision to turn around and head in another direction, leaving the drugs, alcohol and other sticky stuff behind. My absolute congratulations to all who have moved forward. This brings to mind a scripture:

Phil 3:13-14 Phil 3:13-14
13 Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward — to Jesus. 14 I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.
(from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
Amen!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Do you hate the feeling of discouragement?  Well, so do I! I can’t stand the invasion of any negative presence in my mind.

1. Discouragement can affect our judgment in so many ways: actions, words, decisions to mention just a few. I make it a policy now that if I have been overtaken by discouragement (which happens to us all from time to time) it is not a time to make any sort of decisions until I encourage myself again…or someone comes along that encourages me. Then I can see clearly and think clearly to make a decision that is sound and profitable. I have counselled others numerous times to not make emotional decisions: whether it is at a moment of an extreme joyful state or, at a time of a general state of discouragement…or anger…or confusion…frustration. I think one of the worst emotional decisions that we make as a people is separation from our loved ones. I would say after many years as a lay-counselor that 90% of divorces happen during a state of emotional turmoil. I recall our friend, pastor and counselor (psychologist) (Dr.) Paddy Ducklow many years ago encouraging us with these words, “I know that it feels like everything has been tossed in the air and it will never come down again….but it will. You might FEEL like you can’t take any more, but you can.”  His words were true and have sustained us through many trials and testings over the years. Thanks, Paddy!

If you are discouraged today, please know that there is ALWAYS hope for a future. My husband says, “It’s not over ‘til it’s over.” And this is also a powerful truth and encouragement. There have been moments in my life where suddenly all hope seemed to vanish and I was left with a sense of hopelessness. I felt that I would never recover and my life was over as I knew it.  BUT…GOD IS BIGGER THAN ANY DISCOURAGEMENT WE FACE. HE IS A GOD OF RECOVERY, GRACE, LOVE, LONG SUFFERING, COMPASSION, MERCY AND ON AND ON….

God always speaks to me to be “strong and courageous” when I feel knocked down. Believe me, I don’t feel like being strong or courageous when I am sitting in the pit of glum. In fact, I would just as well like to give up and quit. BUT! I know from experience to….

Ps 27:14

Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord. KJV

Ps 37:7-9

7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.

8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.

9 For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. KJV

And my favorite reminder from my God….

Isa 40:30-31

30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall.

31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. KJV

Now…if you are beginning to feel some encouragement and that yukky sense of hopelessness is fading and your mind is clearing and your shoulders are straightening, here are a few tidbits to keep you going and help you completely shed the heaviness of hopelessness…or just get free from the yuks of life:

I have found that each and every time I become discouraged over something God steps in very quickly and speaks encouragement from His Word. Why His encouragement doesn’t just yank me out of me gloomy state, I don’t understand. Somehow it takes His Word PLUS the compassion and mercy of my fellow sojourners to lift me out and send me on my way.  I hope that this post is that additional boost to lift you up and send you merrily on your way.  SPEAKING OF “MERRILY”!    This came to my attention this morning as I was watching 100 Huntly Street.  There was a segment on sharing the original definition of the Christmas greeting “Merry” Christmas. It was a wonderful boost and I pass it on to you.

One Hundered Huntley:

(Paraphrased)

The Christmas greeting Merry Christmas originated about 500 years ago with the first Christmas carol. The definition of “merry” is not referring to happy or even joyful, but its usage was to depict “great (ness), might (iness) and strength”. I love this!  Amen, brother! I can’t wait to wish the next person I see a merry Christmas! A GREAT Christmas…a Christmas full of might and strength!  Amen to all! Even the song “God rest you merry gentlemen” makes more sense. This is a wish for these men to be great, full of might and strength. Awesome!

I decided to take this another step:

Prov 15:13

13 A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken. KJV

Strong’s Concordance: Merry (vs 13 and 15) here is to be joyful, have wealth, welfare, be loving and be well favoured.  But what caught my attention was the word spirit in vs 13:

Strong’s Concordance 7303: a broken spirit = courage (is broken), mind (is broken), breath (is broken)

Wow! That just about says it all.  When we feel discouraged our courage is broken, our mind is broken and even our breath is broken (Have you ever noticed when your breathing becomes shallow?). Give this a little thought and you will get the picture.

Prov 15:15

15 All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast. KJV

Well, all of us receive a few lemons and some of us a lot of crap. It’s what we do with those lemons and all the crap that defines us. You know to turn lemons in to lemonade, but have you ever used the crap as a rich fertilizer and grow the best darned crop of lusciousness you ever saw!  Ha, ha, ha on the devil.  Remember…we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, brother, sister, father, mother, our children, friends, spouse or neighbor, but against the forces of darkness in this world. GOD IS GREATER AND SO ARE WE!  Ephesians 6:12-19

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! (from The Willows Freedom House)

September 15, 2015

THE GARBAGE MAN’S INTEGRITY

Definition of integrity: (thefreedicionary.com)

–“to test”, “to make honest”

I awoke this morning at 3:30. My mind kicked in. Promises, promises…. Lately, I found myself saying I would do this or that and have for one reason and the other not followed through. This is not me at all. I remember my father as a man of his word and I endeavored in my life to follow his example. I was a person of my word. If I said I would do something, I did it.

Some time ago I committed to return to my blog and continue speaking life to those who needed encouragement and strength. That is what God called me to do…to go and strengthen my brethren. I was feeling a little discouraged in my efforts recently and I asked Him what use I was. I was not seeing the dead raised or the lame walk, or blind eyes opened or other mighty signs and wonders in my ministry. He reminded me that he had not sent me to do what man expected me to do but He had sent me to open prison doors for those who were bound in doubt, fear and brokenness…whose lives had been slapped around as a result of, or resulting in, poor decision making. (By the way: life is entirely made up of a sequence of decisions we make…good or bad.)

This was not all He spoke. He spoke something new: “Go and commit what you have seen and heard to faithful men who will be able to teach others the same.” (2Tim 2:3) This was consistent with His instruction over the past year or 2…”Go and tell them what YOU have seen and heard.” This was an amazing epiphany: not what OTHERS have seen and heard, but what I have seen and heard. This command greatly settled me in my spirit. “Yes, Lord,” was my response. But recently He has added further insight as I pondered my value to the scheme of things here where He sent me, questioning Him as to whether I was really of any use. He spoke, “I have made you an “influence”. Wow! This brought things into clear perspective. Yes, I could see this, and now I was settled. Now I understood why He spoke before one of my meetings last fall, telling me that there would not be any healings there or deliverances. This was not my calling…IT WOULD COME, but through another’s calling. AMEN! My part was to influence, to bring enlightenment and understanding…to turn the light on, so to speak. Yes, I would bring sight to the blind…spiritual sight. Amen to that too.

Now to get on with why I sat down at my computer this morning.

Yesterday…Sunday…started out a most peculiar day. I was up and ready for Church on time and looked forward to fellowship with my friends and church family. But something was amiss. The Lord was speaking, but somehow I just was not getting it.

“What are You saying?” I asked, feeling somewhat impatient with Him. He has a new manner of getting my attention and sometimes it takes some focus to figure out what He wants and it can become frustrating if I don’t get it. This morning all I wanted was to join with my brothers and sisters in celebrating Him and each other. The summer had been so disjointed and disruptive without much fellowship and now it was fall and time to settle in again. But He persisted that there was something He wanted me NOT to do. It seemed that He was telling me I was not to join with my beloved friends for worship. Then the question came, “Where then?” There was only one other church that I could think of and that was a 35 minute drive, making me an hour late for their service. I headed out, feeling disgruntled and complaining that I had better have heard Him right or I would be a mess all week.

I missed worship completely. Worship is such a joy and strength to me that I continued with the attitude that this had better be God. The Word was good as it always was when I joined with this amazing group of saints, but I wasn’t hearing anything that would warrant my 1 hour tardiness or abandonment of my own fellowship until Pastor began to share a story. Now because I was not completely tuned in at the beginning, I may not have all the details correct…you are most welcome to correct me if any part of this story is not quite accurate. But here is what I remember. True story.

“There is a city in Egypt known as Garbage City. There are 300,000 people who live in this city…literally a garbage dump. They survive by rummaging through the garbage and then selling what they find. They do this by going into a nearby city and where they collect the garbage and return to Garbage City to sort and retrieve any small items that they might find and sell back to the people of that nearby city.

Word was out that a rich man of the nearby city had lost his watch. The watch was valued at $11,000. This would certainly change the life of whoever found the watch. The search was on. Well…it was found amongst the garbage collected by an impoverished man in rags in Garbage City. This man’s life was about to change forever. He was now a rich man. That’s what everyone thought. But the man was not concerned about becoming rich at all. He was only concerned about his integrity. He had devoted his life to Jesus Christ and he wanted to do what Jesus would do. Without hesitation the man took the watch and located the rich man in the nearby city, returning the watch to him. The rich man was so amazed he asked the man in rags why he would return the watch…the watch could change his life. The man in rags explained that he was a follower of Jesus Christ and he only wanted to do what Jesus would do. The rich man was so impressed he said to the man in rags. ‘If you are showing me Who Jesus is then I want what you have. I want to know the God you serve.’ The rich man invited Jesus into his heart as the man in rags had done. God took the rich man and worked great things in his life so that he went on to do great things for God and in other’s lives in the nearby city and beyond.”

Now this might first appear to be a great story of Jesus’ witness in us and through us and that would have been worth the journey for me to the neighboring church in itself, BUT there is something more amazing. On Saturday I had a conversation with a man regarding God working integrity into his life. We spoke together of an opportunity he had to take benefit for himself at the cost of someone else. I could see in the spirit that God was at work in this man, testing him and providing an opportunity for him to gain integrity in his character. I knew this man was on the Potter’s Wheel…he was a teachable man…God had His strong hand upon this man, preparing him for service. I shared what I saw. “This is a test for you. Your decision to do right will make an impact on this person you are connected with in this season.” We thought about this together, that God was at work here in his life.

Well! Praise God! His ways are surely higher than ours. If I had not responded to His prompting on Sunday morning I would have missed the opportunity to receive His confirmation for this man! Now he will read this and the Holy Spirit will confirm to him what He revealed during our discussion on Saturday. This man with be strengthened and encouraged. Amen.

We are truly walking examples of Jesus Christ! There is a trite expression that “We are the only Jesus that some might ever see.” There is a profound truth also. The man that I spoke to on the weekend is in a position of “influence”. He has an opportunity to “influence” the person he could take advantage of, to show that person who Jesus REALLY is. Amen.