My Worst Nightmare--And--Sixteen Years Here?

"' Finally, the servant who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Master, I knew that you are a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So in my fear, I went and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what belongs to you.’ ‘You wicked, lazy servant!’ replied his master.---Matthew 25:24-26

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After I arrive in Heaven? Personally, this scenario would horrify me (yeah, even there):

Four friends in Heaven: "Debra! How marvelous to see you here."

                                         (Hugs all around.)

Debra: "Thanks, Everyone! I really missed each of you."

Four friends in Heaven: "Say, we heard America was nearly taken over                                                 with riots!"

                                                       "And sin ran rampant in the streets and the                                                   Government!"

Debra: "Yes, it was a dreadful time." (She shudders.)

Four friends in Heaven: "So tell us! How did the Lord use you to fight

                                         against the darkness?"

                                         "Yes! Tell us."

                                         "What adventures did you have?"

Debra: "Well I, uh, prayed a lot." (She smiles.)

Four friends in Heaven:   "Sure, sure. All Christians were called to do                                                  that."                                              

                                                       "But what else?"

Debra: "Uhm, I soaked in the presence of God pretty often."

Four friends in Heaven:  "Also good. But what specific ways did God                                                 use you through your gifts?"

                                         "What ways did you fight evil Marxism?                                                         Socialism?"

                                        

Debra: "I, uh--"

Four friends in Heaven: "Yes, how did you make a difference?"

                                        "How did the Lord move through you to change                                             History?"

                                         "To awaken and warn others so they, also,                                                    would fight?"

Debra: "Er..."

Four friends in Heaven:  "Tell us how you helped others who struggled!"

                                         "How did the Lord use you to speak light into                                                the darkness?"

                                         "Yes! We love hearing how God moves upon the                                           Earth through His called and chosen ones."

                                         "Yes, and how others will recall their time upon                                            Earth for all eternity."

Debra: "Uhm, well ... They said we must stay home so I did. I prayed an awful lot. God helped me think happy thoughts while I waited for it all to be over and --

Four friends in Heaven: "And?"

Debra: "...and I was afraid, but right now I can't remember exactly why."

Four friends in Heaven:  "Oh."

                                         "Oh."

                                         "Oh."

                                         "Oh."                      

Heaven forbid.

I've shared this before, but--- 

When Christians tell Lance Wallnau, "I just pray for our Country. I believe that will change things," he asks them, "Well, how's that working for us so far?"

"Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.... Faith without works is dead."   ---Luke 17:33, James 2:17

May we become more eternity-minded!

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Sixteen years blogging as of tomorrow! Unbelievable. Those early days remain as close to me still as last week.

What an adventure!

And just one of many lessons I've learned? Via the comments, how to better handle criticism and rejection. At first negative comments royally bugged me, but now? Phhht. Who even cares? As long as I've obeyed God in what I said and did, that is what matters. That is--He is--my daily peace. My everything, truly.

Oh, what a valuable lesson for these days when one just might get her nose snapped at by speaking simple truth!

You won't always please people if you are going to please God." --- Paula White-Cain

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Debra's Favorite Lavender Things:

This lavender warming oil is awesome no matter how many reviewers whine about it. ツ But then, I use it for a different purpose.

I sprinkle it upon my bed pillows and real lavender stems. It even helps me sleep better at night. No, really.

My first bottle? Lasted 2 years(!)

And oh! My new favorite wax melts. Can something be strong and subtle at the same time? Wild Lavender (makes a difference. Trust me.).

Oh! Nearly forgot. Tom and I began watching the tv series called Forever. How refreshing to find something new to view! We'd never even heard of it and it began in 2014. Where have we been?  シ

(We're watching via CW Seed, a station we easily added to our Roku/Youtube TV set-up.)

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And to end this with a bit of humor (thanks for sharing this, Dolores!)---

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Oh and---please wake up!

"For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15

Mercy? Are You Serious?

"The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." ---2 Peter 3:9

"For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment."   ---James 2:13

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So I reread Jonah recently and thought, "Ha! The comedic relief book of the Bible."

I mean, it (pretty much) said, "God told Jonah to preach to sinful Nineveh so Jonah, instead, took a boat ride to Tarshish."

Maybe I'm easily amused, but that makes me giggle. 

Why? Because Jonah's so us. We think, "Maybe God won't notice if I choose something different." But trust me--He notices. Then He makes certain our life goes all peace-out-the-door, rocky-road-ish until we obey.

And for Jonah, that meant nights spent inside a whale's stomach.

But what caused the whale to release Jonah? His repentance, praise and gratitude; a powerful combination, indeed. Even today.

So Jonah travels to Nineveh, warns its citizens that God's majorly upset with their sinful behavior, and poof! The king realizes that God has watched all the bad and ugly stuff and He wants it to stop or else.

The king spreads the message, telling everyone to get the sackcloth out of the closet, fast the milk and honey, stop sinning and repent. Maybe God wouldn't crush their city, perhaps He'd forgive them, instead.

He did. And that's what made Jonah mad. 

He'd have preferred fireworks and buildings collapsing, some good old-fashioned sowing-and-reaping sin principle stuff. But all along he just knew God preferred mercy. "Mercy, mercy, mercy," he probably muttered sarcastically under his breath.

Jonah was so bummed-out that He told God (basically), "I can't understand you or your mercy and I'm tired of trying. Just take me now."

Well, that's my Reader's Digest condensed version, anyway.

And here's today's lesson:

Anyone can criticize Jonah for his heartlessness and believe ourselves better. Yet if we're praying Today's rioters and tyrannical politicians  will reap punishment and harsh lessons? That they'll pay dearly (and I don't mean money) for their sins? Well, are we better?

Like I said, Jonah's so us. But he need not be. May we, ourselves, repent, praise and extend great gratitude to a mighty God who showed us such enormous mercy that He gave His only Son.

Because of love, the same love He longs to shine through us, so that a battling world can see to find the peace they seek.

"Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."   ---from 1 Corinthians 13

What do we pray for more often? For those being driven by demons to 'get theirs' or for them to be set-free?  (And hey, I'm asking myself. Seriously.)

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I've recommended Tim Janus' videos before, but here's a new-to-me one which I listen to nearly constantly. Gives me that soundtrack of my life feeling.

Oh, and here are movies Tom and I have watched lately which I can actually recommend.  シ

Undercover Grandpa

The Spiderwick Chronicles

Ace Wonder

The Vast of Night

Oh, and The Healing Powers Of Dude is a really cute series at Netflix.

Louisiana Governor Calls For Three Day Fast And Prayer

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"For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15

Encouragement: It's What The Cool Kids Are Doing. :)

"So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God... Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing." ---Romans 14:12, 1 Thessalonians 5:11

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Once I read in a book--

"Not everyone has an actual gift of encouragement, but the Bible asks every Christian to encourage others.

True, that.

A handful of friends have told me they can't go all controversial truth on Facebook (especially) lest they lose their job. Honey, in Today's world I understand that. Trust me, Tom became mighty nervous after reading a guy lost his job because of his wife's Facebook post. Yikes! (And we all know about Tom's mouthy wife, right?)  ツ

But how about these alternatives?

Encouraging those who do speak up? The warriors, fighters, truth defenders?

Why not answer their posts with a simple, "I appreciated this!" or "I needed this today."?

Or at the very least, click 'like' or 'love'. (I like how Adam The Woo often signs off with, "Please give this video a big thumbs up. It lets me know you care.")

People gratefully notice these things. They do.

--Or--

You can open a Google account using a creative name, then anonymously encourage those making inspiring videos. Those Youtubers who strengthened your weary heart.

You can do the same at Twitter, anonymously let the writers (and commenters) know what they stated was meaningful. And retweet, thus spreading truth way beyond 'Us 4 and no more' walls. Also you can tweet your own wildest, most controversial beliefs there.

Where we royally blow it?

When we believe this lie:  "_____ is famous and he gets tons of encouragement already. He doesn't need me."

But what I've seen? What well-known truth warriors get is a ton of mental attacks. Truth-despising demons work overtime on bold people. Every day 24/7, satan plans ways to stop truth and spread lies, instead.

Everyone is fighting a battle. Everyone needs encouragement, especially these days gone all what-the-heck-is-happening? 

And what I know for certain is that God makes a way for us to share our beliefs and encourage others where there appears to be no way. He's a professional at that.

How remarkable that one reason for our date of birth? So we'd be present to speak into someone's life perhaps just an hour before they'd planned to go into hiding forever or to destroy it, even.

Oh, the responsibility! Yet also, oh the mightiness of a huge God who pays attention to all details and easily equips us to help make the world go 'round as it should. 

As He planned it so very long ago.

"Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad."   --- Proverbs 12:25

I try to always click the thumbs-up and/or subscribe buttons at Youtube because it's another form of encouragement and it helps with their income.

"The problem is many of us believers are behaving like the world. You're scared like the world. You're angry like the world. You're anxious like the world. But if you look like the world you can't influence the world... You gotta stand out, you gotta be different. We were put here. You are the seed that God planted on this Earth and He expects a harvest."   --- Kynan Bridges

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Tom and I really enjoy the old Rockford Files series (we're currently rewatching it) so we loved catching the Jay's Garage episode with Mike Rowe and the Rockford car. Check out the preview here.

From 'Good People News':

Not always sure how to encourage someone? Remembering this often helps: 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you'.

Let's arrive in Heaven having done all God created us to do!

"For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15