Happy Dance

We went to a dinner the other night and there were many people there from our church homegroup.      It is interesting at times just to sit and listen to the conversation. There were some that were talking about their sinful past, almost in a sort of bragging way, and then there were some that were talking as if they never had a sinful past at all.

I sort of can identify with both groups in a way, because I have been guilty at times of talking about my past as if it is something to be proud of or at the least amusing at times. I can remember at times sitting there thinking I am so thankful I am not as bad or sinful as that person speaking is, what a joke!

The truth is that we have an old nature and it will act up if we let it.

The tremors after an earthquake are called ‘aftershocks.’ The same is true spiritually, even after we make that decision to follow Christ we will still have those tremors [aftershocks] of fear, lust, pride, and temptation.

I have been through some of these just lately and I knew that I could either accept them or I could just send them where they should go, they will, and do pass if we stand up to them in the name of Jesus.

Today I verbalized that in God’s strength I will stand until the shaking quits…. Until the thunder stops rolling…. Until the midnight turns to the dawn… Until I feel that peace again…. Until the wave of loneliness passes…. Until I see my physical healing…. Until the struggle is over!

Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me” [Phil 4:13] that word strengthens is a continual verb. He does not just strengthen me once; He does it repeatedly. He does it every time I face a difficult challenge, or when a memory comes back to try and haunt me, or when I face a really hard choice, or when I have those moments of self pity over maybe some things I didn’t get.

Some days I need a little more strength than other days, but every time I receive that strength it is because I have run to ‘El-Shaddai - the nurturing, protecting One,’ and He is, and will always be there for me.

In His love

Les

Job 11:16-19 (Amp)

16For you shall forget your misery; you shall remember it as waters that pass away.

17And [your] life shall be clearer than the noonday and rise above it; though there be darkness, it shall be as the morning.

18And you shall be secure and feel confident because there is hope; yes, you shall search about you, and you shall take your rest in safety.

19You shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid; yes, many shall sue for your favour.

Is it possible to remember those hurts and hard times of the past without all the pain that is attached to it, to be able to remember without it having a hold on us and crippling us with fear?

I know without doubt that when God heals us and frees us, He also take the pain and the misery out of the memory, but we have to choose first to face those hurts to be able to be free from them.

Much like when we are stung by a bee and the pain is intense, but once we remove the stinger from the bite, the healing then starts.

The Holy Spirit ministers to us in the areas of our hurts once we make the choice to face them, and as we forgive and accept forgiveness and then let them go, He heals and sets us free from them, Divine surgery, we are separated from the pain of the memory, from the fear, from the hold it had on our lives, free to move on and grow in Him.

It was the dark of the night and now it is day!

Psalm 30:5
For His anger is but for a moment,
His favour is for a lifetime;
Weeping may last for the night,
But a shout of joy comes in the morning.

David well understood this when He wrote this psalm.

We will remember our hurts, but no longer will it cause us to live in the dark, we will be free of the pain of them, it won’t control us anymore or rob us of our joy of the morning. No more bad dreams, no more fear of going to sleep, no more fear from the past

Job 11:19
You will lie down unafraid, and many will look to you for help.

Our God tells us in His Word that no one can make me afraid in Him I am safe.
Let the peace, love and anointing of the Holy Spirit heal the scars, break the chains that bind, and set us free to dance before and with Him.

In His Love

Les

Psalm 103:5 "Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s."

Have you ever wondered how an eagle could stay out all night in the rain and cold and not get pneumonia? The secret is ......oil! Each day he excludes a coat of fresh oil that flows over his feathers as a protective coating.


There comes a time when the oil dries out! Now the feathers don’t bend, they break. His coat is threadbare. His vision has become dim and his strength is waning. (that sounds so like I have felt at times)

There is only one thing to do. Fly back to the mountains where he was born. For 4 months he will begin to examine his coat. Each diseased feather must be painfully plucked out! It calls for honesty and perseverance.

But God has a plan!

After all these feathers have been removed, new ones will grow in their place. Please note: .. new feathers will NOT grow over the old ones just to make him look good.

Its only when he... "removes"... that God... "replaces"... Now he has a brand new coat. His vision is refocussed, and his strength has returned.


I feel like I am in the process of plucking out feathers at the moment and it can really hurt.


But God has a plan!

Psalm 29:11....... "The Lord gives strength to His people; The Lord blesses His people with peace."

In His Love

Les

Jesus urges us to ask, seek and knock.
This means our faith has to be an active one.
However, sometimes we are too proud to ask, so we
Don't receive, we are too lazy to seek, so we don't find.

And we are too timid to knock, so the door dosnt open to us.
We mustn't wait for good things to happen, or to fall into our
hands. We must be humble and trustful, yet bold and energetic
if we are to receive good things from our Father in Heaven.

In His Love

Les

Nearly 32 years ago [on the 23rd August] I gave birth to a baby girl after spending 2 months in the hospital trying to save her life, she was born dead at 36 weeks. They wouldnt let me see her, hold her, they just simply took her away and told me to forget I had been pregnant. See in those days that is the way they did things, it was very brutal and very cruel, there was never a chance to really grieve or to say goodbye, there was nothing that one could do to put closure on this.

I asked my husband to see the funeral director and tell him that we wanted to be there when they buried her, but we were just told...too late its been done, but here is the bill for it all. So there has not been many days go by in those 30 years that I have not wondered where they laid her to rest, I knew where she was! she was with her God in Heaven, He sent her to do a task and she completed that by pointing us to Him. I still needed to know where they laid her body though. Every year on her birthday this would trouble me more. This year she would have been 30, and I was determined to find her this time. I rang a few people eventually, I was given the name of a man that was in charge of the cemetaries here in this town....he was so nice and he told me that they knew there were a lot out there still wondering where their children were. So he arranged to have a headstone made..which the company that made it then donated it for the babies buried in an unmarked plot in the cemetary.

Yesterday they had a ceremony to unveil that headstone, and it was lovely, they also had white balloons tied to the fence that parents could release in memory of their babies. John and I released one each and the balloons flew straight up, so high that eventually they dissapeared from sight. Quite fitting I think, because I know that she is up there so high up , so happy with her God.

The ceremony was over...the mayor had spoken, and then the Holy Spirit prompted me to ask the mayor if I could please say a word.... Now for those that know me, this is just not me, I just dont do it well at all standing in front of people and speaking, but the prompting was so strong and so I was obedient to my God and just let him give me the words He wanted me to say. I knew that there was then a release in the hearts of the other parents, and one by one they all came forward and spoke from their hearts, they all then said by doing this they now found some closure and release.

There was a photographer from the newspaper that took our photos and they will do a story on this, I feel that will be a good thing, because for all those then that never got to be there or even knew it was on, they will also then know where to go...

I dont intend to be there visiting a headstone often, because I know she is really not there her body may be but her spirit has, like that while balloon been flying high and free since the day God took her to be with Him.

John 11:25-26 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

Joanne Louise, I love you and one day I will hug you, I look forward to that day.

Love from your momma xxx

It’s been 30 years now Lord since she went to live with You. I miss her Lord, and You know how much I love her so.

As much as my heart is full of love for her, it still cannot come close to the love You have for her. Please Lord will You tell her I love her still, and I will be there one day to hold her.

I used to wonder why You took her before she was even born. Why we never got to take her home. I never got to hold her, to see her or tell her how much I loved her and how much she was wanted.

Father God I see now, her purpose in this life. She was sent to bring us back home to You.

Such a short life. Such a full ministry she had. Your purpose in her life was fulfilled and You took her back to be with You....thank You Lord for the gift of this angel even for a short time...I was blessed to have been able to carry her in my womb for all those months.

She was buried and yet for all those years I didn’t know where. There was no grave for her. An unmarked plot was all they would say. Everyday I would wonder and every year on her birthday I would wonder even more...I knew she was with You, but I would liked to have known where they laid her body to rest.

You heard the cry of my heart Lord, You answered my prayer.

A man who loves You too, also heard Your voice and now I know the place she rests, a white picket fence he has put around the plot and a stone remembering her and other precious babies.

Thank You Lord for this healing... This love of Yours to me.

30 years Lord it’s been, and in each of those days, there You were with me all the way. Always using this time in my life to build me and change me and heal me and make me free.

Thank You Lord for all those 30 years and thank You Lord for this answer this week. And thank You Lord for my Joanne Louise... An angel lent for such a short time, but a lifetime of love to us and from us.

Phil 1:6 We are confident of this very thing,
that He who has begun a good work in us will complete it
Until the day of Jesus Christ.


I love You Abba with all my heart

Les