day 259: Closets, Storms, and Nervous Nillies

Joshua 1:9 

“Have not I commanded you? Be strong, vigorous, and very courageous. Be not afraid, neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

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We all get scared sometimes. Last Friday, we had some pretty big storms come through my neck of the woods. It did a lot of damage to counties and states around me.

School was let out at 12 noon which is a hassle... Very much needed... but still stressful. I, apparently, was a stressed out lady all day.

Got the girls, came home, and waited. Watched too much weather and by the time the storms came I *told* my husband that I wasn't nervous and there was nothing to be worried about.

Truth be told, I was freaking out a bit on the inside.

We all prayed before we ate (we ate supper like 'normal' 10 minutes before the storm was supposed to be at my house). I guess we were trying to act normal for the girls (6,5, and 19 months), but they knew (because they had been watching the tv too).

When my county got in a tornado warning, I put the girls in our bedroom closet and sat outside of it (with the door open) to watch the news. My husband decided it best for us to get inside the bathroom closet so we did.

All the while, my husband was praying (calmly... I have never seen him so calm in a storm... EVER!). I tend to hold things inside (a lot) so I was kinda snippy, but not hysterical-- and really nervous. 

We had the TVs on in the living room and bedroom and turned up so we could hear. The husband was watching the storm from the kitchen (yeap) and I was in the bathroom with my girls. Silly me, raised the blinds so I could see out (EEK!)---- that's when I got in the closet with the girls and hunkered down.

We didn't have a light-- just my cellphone (I really need to buy some flashlights). My girls are great little prayer warriors. Seriously, they will pray for anyone at anytime-- my middle daughter asked to pray at meals 3 times today. So, they sat in the closet and prayed a little prayer. Then we sang songs (note: "If Your Happy and You Know It" is NOT easy to sing when you are cramped in a closet with 3 other people... just saying...)

My husband finally came and told us it was all clear, so we got out. We didn't have any damage at my house. Thank God. I know there are lots of people who aren't as lucky and I'm praying for them.

Is there a point to this.... and how does it relate to the scripture?

The point is: Be not afraid, neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

*I* was afraid. I'll admit it. It's hard when you have little kids that you are responsible for during a storm like that (but I get nervous driving sometimes, truth be told.) But God was with us in that little closet. He is with us everywhere. I need to remember that. How about you?

You are never truly alone. I'm sitting in one of the bedrooms of my house right now as I type this. I'm the only one here awake. I'm sitting all alone-- but I know I'm not truly alone. God is with me. I feel like he's moving my fingers to say the words He wants (because I stutter when I try to say all of these things).

Where ever you go--- whether it be a church or a store, a closet or a stadium-- God is with you. Looking out for you.

Don't be afraid.... and don't be dismayed.

Much Love,

Kelly

day 258: The Young and the Restless

2 Samuel 12:11-12

"This is what the Lord says: Because of what you have done, I will cause your own household to rebel against you. I will give your wives to another man before your very eyes and he will go to bed with them in public view. You did it secretly, but I will make this happen to you openly in the sight of all Israel."

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Ah... what a great way to start a Sunday.....

David's family, bless them, had enough storylines to be on One Life to Live-- or The Young and the Restless.

And it all started when David saw Bathsheba taking a bath on her roof.

Sure, if he hadn't of, then killed her husband... then married her... Solomon would have never been born and things would have been very different. But it didn't mean it was right.

That one act by David set a domino affect that affected everyone.

God had Nathan tell David that: "I will cause your own household to rebel against you...."

And they did. At least 2 of his sons tried to over throw him as king.

Nathan also told him: "I will give your wives to another man before your very eyes and he will go to bed with them in public view."

And that happened too.... though I'm sure David never imagined that it would be his own son to sleep with 10 of his concumbines in a tent on the roof (ouch!)

All of this happened to David because of what he 'secretly' did to Uriah (Bathsheba's husband). God forgave him for what he did, but David still had to deal with the consequences of his actions.

God will forgive us, but we still might have the consequences to live with. Even with all of that going on, though, David never stopped believing in or praying to God. He didn't blame God for what was going on in his life-- he knew he's brought it on himself.

No matter our circumstances (whether our own doing or not), we must take a page out of David's book. Never stop praying. Never stop believing. And always keep our eyes on God.

God Bless You

~Kelly





day 257: The Rest of the Story

2 Chronicles 33:10-13

The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they ignored all his warnings. So the Lord sent the commanders of Assyrian armies, and they took Manasseh prisoner. They put a ring through his nose, bound chains, and led him away to Babylon. But while in deep distress.........

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Do you know the story of Manasseh?

I thought I did. His story is told in two places (like a lot of kings). The first place is in 2 Kings 21.

The cliffnotes 2 Kings 21 are:

*He was a really evil king.

*He built altars to "all the powers of heaven and earth" (ie NOT God) in the Temple of the Lord.

*He sacrificed his own son in the Temple to the 'gods'

*He practiced sorcery and divination, consulted with mediums, and psychics.

*Put a carved image of Asherah in the Temple of the Lord

*Manasseh murdered many innocent people until Jerusalem was filled with innocent blood.

That is all in 2 Kings. Then it says, "The rest of the events in Manasseh's reign and everything he did, including the sins he committed, are recorded in the Book of the History of the Kings of Judah."

*I* read that and thought Manassah pretty much as evil as they come... and he was. But I didn't know... the rest of the story.

Manassah's story is exactly why you need to read the Bible cover to cover. You miss things important like this.

Wanna know what happened to Manasseh?

Well.....

2 Chronicles 10:12-13

.........But while in deep distress.........

Manasseh sought the Lord his God and sincerely humbled himself before the God of his ancestors. And when he prayed, the Lord listened to him and was moved by his request. So the Lord brought Manasseh back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh finally realized that the Lord alone is God!

I don't know about you, but that's a BIG chunk of his story to miss!

Manasseh was as evil as evil could be, but he sincerely prayed to God, God heard him, and he was saved! After that, he tried his best to lead Judah back to God, but they were too far gone.

If God can/will save a man as evil as Manasseh, He can/will save anyone. We all have people we pray for to be saved. Sometimes we feel like giving up because either it's not working (we think) or maybe they are 'too far gone'. 

It isn't too late until they take their dying breath, and Manasseh is a prime example of that.

We can get 2 things out of this:

1. We all need to read our Bible, and not just in snippets. If you don't want to do the B90 program, that's fine. But it is important to read it cover to cover (even if it takes years), and really get the story as it is told. You'd be surprised how much you find out.

2. Manasseh wasn't a good guy, but God saved him and used him. I dare say you haven't committed half the sins Manasseh did, so don't think God can't use you too-- even if you are a sinner (who's not?)

God Bless You

~Kelly



day 256: Walking by Faith (Guest Post by Mike)

Today's post is a first for 'Encourage365': the first guest post. At the beginning of this blog, I wasn't going to do guest posts because I felt like *I* was committed to writing 365 days of encouragement for you-- and then I decided-- you know, reading others posts are a blessing to me. And reading/writing guest posts could encourage you more than I can on certain days.

If you'd like to write a guest post, send me an email: ohthatmomagain (at) yahoo (dot) com. And if you'd like your blog listed in the directory, let me know.

Here is what Mike has to say:


Walking today in the un-perfect printed path in the snow, I realized that this was just like our own lives. It wasn't straight .It was curvy. Left to right, right to left. As I'm trying to walk the best I can by looking straight and keeping in the lines, I realized I started singing the song of "We walk by faith and not by sight" After I finished singing that song quietly, there was a wind and the sun just shone in my face. Then before I knew it, I was at the end of the trail. I had completed the long trail, and there were many foot steps many becoming lighter by foot step.

I think it's a little to often how we look at ourselves and find ourselves concentrating on the earthly things, walking by sight.I can often see myself walking by sight. And how often I realize that I need God to help me walk in a straight road and to walk by faith. But how happy God will be when we let him in.

So then God throws a brick and says that Walking by sight is dangerous because we start to worry about all the things and not just worry about the troubles of this day, and we look into the future... We need to let him walk us by faith and let him see the things of our world and let him take care of it. We might think that we can look after everything, but really, we can't. WE NEED GODS HELP!

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

16 "For this reason we never become discouraged. Even though our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day. 17 And this small and temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory, much greater than the trouble. 18For we fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever."

What we really need is to keep it simple and not to fix our eyes on the things that are seen. But to pray and wonder what are these great things that are not seen. Yes we will go through plenty of things and yes we will have our own sufferings, but our reward will just become that much greater! Our pain will be like that curvy track in the snow. Going to the right then going to the left. Until it reaches the last bit and there is no more trail to follow.

" For We walk by faith and not by sight"

For when we walk by our faith we carry our cross and follow Jesus. When we look forward at the road to see if it is going right or left we are walking by sight and doing the opposite. We need to look forward, carry our heavy cross, and follow the path by faith and not by deceiving sight.

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- Mike

I have the privileged to guest post at encourage 365. I am the witter at Life of us and saints blog. If you want to see it click Here

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day 255: The Battle is Not Yours

2 Chronicles 20:15

He said, "Listen, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Listen, King Jehosaphat! This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid! Don't be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God's.

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The Battle is Not Yours, but God's

How many times do we try to fight our own battles?

We do everything we can to 'fix' it (whatever 'it' is) ourselves. If we have a pain, we take medicine to fix it and when that doesn't work, we pray about it.

We have problems at work and try everything we can think of to fix it--- then, when push to comes shove-- we pray about it.

We have problems with our husband/wife, and we read all of the books, blogs, everything *we* can think of. When that doesn't work, we pray about it.

Everybody had battles.  Big or little all battles are big if they affect us in any way. Addictions, family issues, unfaithfullness, whatever it may be-- everything is important to God.

Whatever your battle is... whatever you are fighting... stop and pray about it. Not just pray, really hand it over to God. It's not your battle to fight, it's God's.

God Bless You

~Kelly