Stories that Shine on an Awesome God

Posts tagged ‘God’

Creative Healer

Pulling folders out of the metal cabinet, I glanced at their tabs before tossing them into the trash bag. “Church Communications, Youth Ministry, Sermon Topic Ideas . . . .”

“I won’t need these anymore, ever,” I gritted as the mound on the floor grew. “After what I’ve done, the shame and dishonesty, God can never use me again. Never.”

My eyes fell on a manuscript draft that had launched a creative flourish nearly a decade before.

“This I’m keeping, but not much else.”

The emotional pain constricting my heart blocked any thought of creativity.

I tied the ends of the trash bag and set it outside the room that had once been my daughter’s. Before she married and left home. Before I had turned it into my own private space to write and study. The file cabinet was empty just like my side of the walk-in closet down the hall.

It was time to leave. Time to make a new home. Time to live out the consequences of my choices in an arena devoid of church fellowship or ministry.

Four years later:Image of Corn plants against the sky

I bent over a hoe, scratching dirt around tender corn stalks. Creativity did not enter my mind. Surrendering to the hoe, to the whole, huge garden that my new husband loved, filled every crevice of my thoughts. Straightening my back, I gave in and breathed an agreement to learn the lessons that garden had to teach.

“And I will write! I will write those lessons.”

Creative musings stirred as if roused from the grave. New life seemed to surge from deep within.

“Perhaps, just perhaps God will use me again.”

Thank you, heavenly Father. Thank You for being a God who creates and recreates. Always. Constantly. You never stop creating. Creativity is how You mend a tattered heart. Thank You for the creativity You place in me. Thank You for its healing power.

How has God revealed Himself through your creativity?  Care to share?

“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”  Psalms 51:10

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Creative

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God in the Ultimates

There was a time when I longed for an ideal, romantic love. My life story seemed to prove that it didn’t exist. Consequently, I thought that perhaps God didn’t exist. My pinpoint of a beam, searching for the truth about Him, grew dim as it swept the darkness.

Finally, like the young woman in The Heart of Rose-Marie, I cried in desperation:

Image of Husband & Wife Holding hands at altar

“God, I’m tired of spiritual limbo. Your way has to work in every circumstance, for real problems. That’s what I want to test.”

My discourse with the All Mighty began:

“So what is faith?”

“It’s naked trust, and I haven’t had much experience.”

“What kind of experience do you need?”

“Experience with trusting in the ultimates.”

“What are the ultimates?”

“Life, death, health, economic security. An ultimate for me is to find my reason to be, who I am, my place of belonging. Another ultimate is to love and be loved. God, for Your way to mean anything, I want it tested in these ultimates.”

From that day on, I began to search for situations where God’s way was tested and worked. I began to interpret my  life experiences through the lens of Him proving His way in my joys and challenges. I began to recognize the genuine, ideal Love that was working in my heart.

I began to get to know Him.

The better I know, the better I can trust. Even in the ultimates.

So, how has God proven His way to you personally, in your ultimates? Especially in matters of your heart. How have you gotten to know Him?

“In him we live and move and have our being.”  Acts 17:28

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Intro & Knowing God

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Gathering Glimpses

image of Sunlight thru the cloudsI’m a writer, and writers, the publishing world tells me, need “platforms” and platforms may be built by “blogging” and blogging Is just another way to help me “find my voice” and finding my voice basically means that I have a “passion” for particular areas in life that fills my writing in my own unique style.

Well, I have a passion. I have a spark that bursts into flame every time my pin light, the flashlight beam of my mind, shines upon a fresh view of The Lover of My Soul. When I open the Word, it’s the promise of that warm inner rush that lures me.  Each morning I open my eyes to a quickening expectation that puts my feet on the floor:  That a slice of this day’s experience will draw me further in to Him. Nothing thrills me more than to discover a new example, a new angle of God’s love at work. Nothing.

Not far from my bed where I can view it daily, is a picture of Jesus Christ in shades of blue and gray. His body spreads across a rock. His strong arms reach out with hands clasped in petition. In tones of agony, he pleads with his Father, his Abba Daddy. He has a voice. In fact, he is the Word. He has a platform. His agony on that rock is my very life.  He has a passion. His every fiber throbs to reveal, in full, glorious light, the Father.

Christ In Gethsemine

I suppose I could have called this blog an eclectic gathering of glimpses of God. Whatever. I simply want to share, with the point of my pen, what my beam of light catches. I want you to share your glimpses, your light.  I have no idea if it will develop a platform. I only hope that it will intensify my passion, and perhaps yours.

“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” John 3:17

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Intro & Knowing God

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