Friday This and That

"But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”  ... Luke 21:36


*****

Whew. For three days God had me reading those online testimonies about people who'd seen hell either by visions or having visited in their spirit with an angel or Jesus or by near death experiences and oh my, it was rough.

But oh so necessary.

And through all the reading, God showed me I'd become drowsy to the realness of hell--that I needed to stay awake to the severity of the fact that millions are rejecting Jesus (and/or what He calls sin thus making their other judgements, murky) and landing in this horrid place forever after they die. 

He also showed me that my love and mercy toward people often was out-of-balance to where I sometimes no longer even saw (nor really cared about) the sins they committed which the Bible says will keep them from Heaven. He reminded me, yes, He is love and He loves to show mercy, but He is also a righteous judge. 

And His judgements are perfect, no matter how harsh they may appear.

The reading of those hell-visiting testimonies was awful--but Grace read along with me. Then I'd walk around the house afterward with questions, but immediately God would answer them. He was so there in all of this for those three days. He is so good.

And now it's time to move on in my reading, but may I never become drowsy in this area again.


******


So finally I've come to a true acceptance and peace with Tom's 'retirement'. Only took 18 months. 

Yet when you've lived a Suzy Homemaker lifestyle for 33 years--and adored and splashed around in those days--time is required to learn how to appreciate a whole other way of living. But I'll not feel guilty about the length it took for acceptance, for it came in stages, through many trial-and-error lessons and that's how we learn much in this Life, anyway. So I'll not hang my head that the total acceptance required a whole year-and-a-half.

But. I did apologize to Tom for all the times I'd been a pathetic, cranky goon during those adjustment months.  ツ


*******

Some of you have asked how to become closer to God and how to be aware of His manifest presence. Well, good news! I found a beautifully written chapter from F.B. Meyer's book, The Secret of Guidance, which just may answer your questions. Here's the chapter:  In The Secret of His Presence.

Wonderful, lovely, truthful writing there... the kind of things which will set us all free to live closer to God's heart, in great peace, while still upon this Earth full of hard times.


******


"One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple.
For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent
and set me high upon a rock. "  ... Psalm 27:4,5


******