The IRS, ...and God

Last year about this time I was fretting about our business being audited by the IRS.  It wasn't that I felt we were doing anything wrong, but I worried that in ignorance we could have goofed on something.

The audit dragged on and on for months.  The longer it lasted, the more worried I became.  This is a poem I wrote while in the midst of the audit.

"Oh, God," I said,

"I need Your strength."

He answered,

"As your days,

so shall be your strength."

"Oh, God," I cried,

"I need Your joy."

"It is Yours," He said,  "new every morning...

The joy of the LORD,

It is your strength!"

"Oh, God," I cried again,

"I need Your wisdom;

I don't know what to do."

"Fear Me," He said.

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom."

"Oh, God," I sighed.

"I need your peace."

"It, too, is yours," He said.

"Yours for the taking,

My peace I have given to You."

"Where are you, God?

Why can't I feel you?"

"I'm here," He said.

"Nearer than your hands or feet.

My presence is always with you.

I will never leave you or forsake you."

So, now you're probably wondering how the audit turned out.  Well, first God had to get me to trust Him and rest in Him.  Then, ...finally, we heard from the IRS, and thanks to God and a good accountant, we came out okay!

Thanks for visiting my blog!  If you'd like, take a look at my other blog at http://www.namesofgodonrocks.blogspot.com/

(Linked to Spiritual Sundays http://bloggerspirit.blogspot.com/)

The Curve

It looks like an unremarkable highway scene.  Why will it always be infamous to me as "The Curve?"

This is the curve where the accident happened - the accident that took place right in front of me that claimed the lives of three of my siblings as we were on the way to the funeral home for my father's "viewing" before his burial.

Will I ever drive by it without remembering that night?  It's been over 17 years, and yet it's still a vivid memory.

This highway scene is on a Manitoba highway in Canada, and it looked much different in the dark of night in the middle of a blustery snow storm with only the head lights of cars trying to penetrate the night.

After leaving the scene of death at the accident and making sure the surviving relatives were stable at the hospital,  we finally got together with the rest of our family at the funeral home.  Breaking the news of what had happened was difficult, but my sister Betty calmed us as she quoted from Isaiah 55:8-9  "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways, says the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts."

Why is this scene of the accident so fresh on my mind again today?  Maybe it's because of  recent Easter and Passover celebrations, remembering when the Lamb of God was sacrificed in my place.  Maybe it's because I can't help but think about death and dying after trying  to watch "The Passion" movie again during this lenten season.  I say tried, because again I could not make it through the entire movie without turning my face away.  If facing the death of my family members was so hard for me and if I as a nurse cannot even bear to watch the reenactment of Jesus suffering,  how difficult was it for God to voluntarily let His Son face death so that I might live?

And that last sentence is where the HOPE lies.  It's because Jesus did not stay dead that I will see my family again.  Hebrews 7:24-25 says "...Because Jesus lives forever, ...He is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through Him."

My sister Faye, who was killed on that curve, loved this song written by Bill and Gloria Gaither.  We sang it at her funeral service.  It sums up what I've been trying to say:

God sent His son, They called Him Jesus. He came to love, heal and forgive. He lived and died, to buy my pardon. An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives, all fear is gone.
Because I know, I know, I know He holds the future.
And life is worth the living just because He lives.

How sweet to hold a new born baby, and feel the pride and joy he gives. But greater still is that assurance the child can face uncertain days because He lives.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives, all fear is gone.
Because I know, I know, I know He holds the future.
And life is worth the living just because He lives.

And then one day, I'll cross that river. I'll fight life's final war with pain. And then as death gives way to victory. I'll see the light of glory and I'll know that He lives.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives, all fear is gone.
Because I know, I know, I know He holds the future.
And life is worth the living just because He lives.

I doubt I will ever forget that curve,  but I KNOW my Heavenly Father will NEVER forget the cross.  Because the grave could not hold Jesus,  I know I will see my loved ones again.  Because He lives, I can drive past that curve on my next visit to our homeplace in Manitoba!

Linked to Alphabet Thursdays @ http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/search/label/Alphabe-Thursday

Insomnia vs. Sleeplessness

What's the difference between insomnia and sleeplessness?  And what difference does it make to me?!!

When studying my Sunday School lesson a few weeks ago, I came across 2 Corinthians 6:5 where Paul talks about all the troubles, hardships, and calamaties that he went through as a servant of Jesus.  I was rather surprised to find the word "sleeplessness" listed along with being beaten, put in prison, facing angry mobs, working to the point of exhaustion, and being hungry.

Since the word "sleeplessness" seemed to stick out to me, I did a little study on it.  Was  there a difference between insomnia and sleeplessness?  According to Webster, insomnia seems to be an abnormal inability to obtain adequate sleep, and sleeplessness is more that we are afforded no sleep.

Thinking back, I can distinguish between the times that I lay awake unable to sleep, and the times that  I didn't get enough sleep because of unceasing activity and the interruptions of life.  Sometimes it might be a combination of both, that I would lay awake unable to sleep because of all that had gone on that day.  I'd lay awake rehearsing everything, wishing I could just sleep.

This morning my sleeplessness was because it seems that "rising up a long while before daylight" is the only way I can get something done without being interupted.  Jesus did that to pray and prepare Himself for the day  (Mark 1:35). 

L.E. Maxwell,  my Bible college professor, continually repeated the phrase "The hardest thing in life is to KEEP BALANCED."  That's where I'm at again on this issue.  How much sleep do I need?  When do I need to give up sleep in order to spend time with God or to accomplish the things that He wants me to do? 

Well, I think I'll go back to bed beside my husband and catch a few more zzz's before it's time to fix my grandson some breakfast and get him off to school....

The "spit" of God!

Several times I've contemplated writing something of the power of the "spit of God" but usually fall back in fear and trepedation that it will be taken as totally irreverent!  However, the thought persists again, so here we go...

Did you watch the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding?"  Several times in it there were instances of people spitting on other people, and it was meant to be a token of good luck.  I'm not sure how you feel about spit.  As a registered nurse working in PACU, if I got someone's spit on me, I found it rather repulsive and would clean it off as quickly as possible. 

Not long ago I was reading from Mark chapter 8 in the Bible where Jesus said to the disciples "Do you still not see or understand?   ...Do you have eyes but fail to see?" 

What were they failing to see?   Jesus' disciples had just seen him feed the 5,000 from five loaves and two fishes and had 12 basketfuls of food left over.  Then again they saw him feed the 4,000 from seven loaves with seven basketfuls left over.  Whatever He was trying to teach them, they seemed to be unable to understand, so He gave them an interesting object lesson.

The object lesson involved a man that was blind.  I love the part where it says "He took the blind man by the hand and led him."  But then the next part seems just as significant - He spit on the man's eyes. 

I think it's interesting that the man did not experience total healing immediately.  First Jesus took him by the hand and led him.  Then He spit on his eyes.  Then He asked him, "Do you see anything?"  The man could not see clearly at first, but his vision gradually cleared.

It was shortly after the healing of the blind man that Peter made his bold confession that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the Holy Son of God.  I'm not sure, but I think this must have been what Jesus was driving at when earlier he asked the disciples, "Do you still not see or understand?   ...Do you have eyes but fail to see?"

There are more "spit" instances recorded in the Bible where Jesus used spit to bring about healing - i.e. Mark 7:31-38 where he spit and touched the tongue of the deaf and mute man bringing healing to him, and John 9 when he spit on the ground making mud from the saliva and applied it to a blind beggar's eyes.

Hmmmm.  Spit?   Healing power?  Well, if it's the "spit of God,"  ...Yes!  Come to think of it, my achy joints could use an anointing of the holy spit of Jesus right now.   And I would be happy for gradual or instantaneous relief!