Poetry & Prose ~~ "Abba, My Father"

Abba my Father, thank You for giving me life,

            For making me Your child, filling every need.

Your joy is my strength, and You are my song in the night.

            Come fill me up now with Your love and peace.

Abba my Father, thank You for sending Your Son.

            Jesus paid the price for a debt I could not pay.

Your awesome Love for me is more than enough,

            Showing me Your mercy, giving me Your grace.

Abba my Father, Your Holy Spirit sets my heart on fire.

            Breathe upon me now like a mighty rushing wind.

Being filled with more of You is my heart’s one desire.

            You are my Comforter, Savior, and my closest Friend.

           

Abba my Father, I will forever praise You,

            I come to You now on bended knee.

I worship You now in Spirit and Truth.

            You are altogether lovely, so beautiful You are to me.

Contributed by Lesta of Heartsong Treasures.

Happy Reading in Poetry's Presence & Happy Father's Day!

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Real Women ~~ Real Answers: "A Woman of Worth"

I conduct Bible studies for high school girls.  Each one of them is searching for her worth.  As older or mature women, isn’t this something they should see in us?  Not all of these students have good examples set before them.  Even the ones who do still struggle. Our culture is pressing in harder than ever on the youth.  Remaining a virgin is mocked, while having lost it is the norm.   I listen to the high school girl who allows her emotions and feelings to dictate what she believes. These feelings surpass God's word and His truth. Last year one of the young women took her own life. I was devastated. I felt like I was in a losing battle for these girls and was tempted to give up. But, I know I am not in a losing battle. I am on the winning side!  This motivated me to teach the following truths from scripture pertaining to the source of our worth, but it has to start from the older women mentioned in Titus 2:1, 3-5.

Colossians Chapter 2:

I can relate to Paul in Colossians 2:1-3 (ESV), "For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance and of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

I encourage the young women to substitute the town in which they currently live for "those in Laodicea."

What are you seeing about you in these verses?  Paul has a struggle for you.  I have a struggle for the girls I lead in my Bible study.  Do you struggle with those to whom you have the opportunity to minister?

What does Paul want for us?

       To be knit together in love.

        To experience all the spiritual riches.

      To have understanding.

      To have knowledge of God's mystery in Christ.

      What is hidden like a treasure in Christ?

      Wisdom

 Knowledge

God is the ultimate source in our lives for all that we need.  Proverbs 2:3-7

"Yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom from the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity."

As women, if we struggle with how to find our worth, these verses show us where we need to go.  But what do we do instead? Do we talk to our friends, shop, eat, or keep overly busy?  We look for the hidden treasure, meaning our worth and purpose, in all the wrong places.

Where is the treasure found? In Christ.

Colossians 2:6-7,  "Therefore as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk with him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving."

When we are in Christ what are we instructed to do?

1.     Walk with Him ( learn how he lived His life)

2.     Get rooted in Him ( all the manure ( trials we go through) around the trees helps them grow and have strong deep roots)

3.     Get built up in Him ( let Him be our strength and comfort)

4.     Get established in our faith. ( study the word by yourself and with others)

Colossians 2:9-13, "For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and YOU have been filled with him, who is the head of all rule and authority. Having been buried with him in baptism in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead.  And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us ALL our trespasses."

How did Christ Jesus give us worth?

1.     We are filled with Him.

2.     Buried with Him; our old sin nature is nailed to the cross.

3.     Raised with Him ; we are new creatures in Christ.

4.     We were dead (don’t drag the old nature of the cross behind you. It’s a rotten dead corpse!)

5.     We are forgiven! We did nothing to earn this forgiveness. We are alive! But God!  Ephesians 2 : 4 -5, "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ -  by grace we have been saved!

God not only offers us Salvation, but secures it!

6.      Ephesians 2:8, "for by grace you have been (perfect tense) saved through faith. And it is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.

There is even more. Ephesians 2:6, "and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus."

We are going to be given new bodies when Christ returns. My worth doesn’t need to come from my body shape. Thank you, Jesus! But, this fleshly body has to die. My wrinkles are telling me that I am in the process of cocooning!  A butterfly doesn’t get beautiful until the caterpillar part dies. My flesh is in the process of dying. 

Do we really take all this to heart? Why do we turn to other ‘things’ to find our worth?  Why do we act as if we have no worth? Why is not what Christ did for us enough?

When we don’t recognize and steward our worth in what Christ did for us, we can’t give it to the next generation. 

Contributed by Elaine Oostra, Parma, Idaho who has just authored her first book titled One Brick At A Time.  Congratulations, Elaine!

Happy Reading for Real Answers!

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Real Women ~ Real Answers: Are You Following An Illusion?

ARE YOU FOLLOWING AN ILLUSION?

My Monday commenced with a brisk early walk under a waning moonlit canopy of black velvet sprinkled with innumerable stars that glistened as diamonds in the sky.

As I continued on my way, I heard a strange noise behind me.  It took me a couple of minutes to discern that it was the tinkling of a bell.  In the pitch darkness, I attempted to locate the sound since it was quite foreign and intriguing so early in the morning.

I turned around several times trying to determine the source to no avail.  Suddenly, I spotted an object behind me and to my right.  When pivoting to the side, what to my wondering eyes did appear, but a feline sporting a bell tied around its neck!  It lunged toward me, then backed off, and continued this pattern for a short while.

Considering that cats are often independent creatures and not all of them happen to be friendly to strangers, I did think it a tad strange that this particular one was following me so closely.  Suddenly, the reason became obvious.

The bottom of my walking stick must have resembled a mouse, of sorts, to this cat!  Ergo, perhaps it thought it might be able to score an early breakfast.  Actually, since I am no Felis catus expert, I am only conjecturing as to what might have been flitting through the cat’s mind.  My assumption is based upon its actions at the time.

Thank you for granting me some grace in the area of artistic design.  Obviously, from the picture above, my talents lie elsewhere.  Some days, it seems as though I am still looking for them . . .  But, I am quite confident that you can at least get the gist of my story.  I am quite elated, however, because I have progressed from simple stick figures to some pictures that closely resemble a cat and a mouse.

The kitty-kitty continued to follow me for the next several minutes and departed as abruptly as it had appeared.

There are times when nature can be a valuable teacher, and I deem this one no exception.  It begs the question, “Are you following an illusion?”

Just exactly what is an illusion?  It is something that is or is likely to be wrongly perceived or interpreted by the senses.  It is also a deceptive appearance or impression, false idea or belief.  Since we have five senses, this increases the probability of wrong perceptions, deceptions, and false beliefs.

In my real life happening, the cat thought it was following a mouse or other object in which it was keenly interested.  It’s obvious that when it got close enough to the bottom end of my walking stick, it realized it was not a standard menu item, and lost interest.  But from a distance, the constant movement of the black padded object moving along the asphalt might have appeared to be a mouse or edible object.

Without getting too far off in the weeds with my little story, cats have a wider field view of 200 degrees compared to that of a human’s 180 degree view.  Their eyes have six to eight times more rod cells which are more sensitive to low light which help them to sense motion in the dark.  Also, a cat’s elliptical eye shape and larger corneas and tapetum help to garner more light.  Humans have the eye edge in the areas of the retina, motion detection in light, eye cones, etc.  The creator’s design is perfect for each species.

There are times in life when not everything is at it appears.  It’s when we get up real close and personal, so to speak, and do some examining and investigating of our own, that we can make a correct judgment.  Sometimes this requires removing the “rose colored glasses” as those have a real tendency to distort reality.

This little Monday morning experience has stirred my spirit to examine the subject of illusions in my own world.  There is one area, however, that is of utmost importance which is the spiritual one.  In the 24th chapter of Matthew, Jesus’ disciples came to him privately inquiring as to the signs of the times.  Verse 4 of that chapter reads, “And Jesus answered and said to them [the disciples], ‘Take heed that no one deceives you.’”

I would encourage you to study the Bible from Genesis to Revelation to arm yourself with the whole counsel of God.  Truth can and will defend itself.  Within the pages of the most important book ever written, we can discern truth from falsehood and empower ourselves as women to fulfill the entirety of what God has called us to be and to do.  As we walk out our lives, I am beyond confident that all of us can hear those “warning” bells when applicable.

Happy Reading as you discern those illusions in your life!

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