Not Forsaken!

When I was growing up, my family moved around a lot. My dad was in the Air Force, so where he went we went. Because of this, we changed churches a lot, and we pretty much had to choose from what was available. We didn't always end up in a church that believed quite the way my parents did, but usually the differences weren't big enough to pose a problem. There were a couple of things that I was taught that I took to heart that weren't scriptural. I didn't realize that at the time, so they messed with my head.

One of the things that I was taught was that "God can't be in the presence of sin. He is too good and righteous to exist in the presence of something so vile. If God were in the presence of someone with sin in their life, they would be blasted into nothing instantly. God even turned His back on Jesus when he was on the cross because He couldn't look on the sin Jesus was taking on for us." This was supposed to be backed up by the fact that Jesus said: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Now, I was young, but I knew full and well that I had sin in my life, and if God would reject Jesus, who was only doing what God told him to do, then I was in BIG TROUBLE. I spent nearly 10 years in constant fear of God's sudden judgement and wrath. Then one day, I was reading in the Psalms and came across Psalm 22. This is what it says:

Psalm 22
For the director of music.
To the tune of "The Doe of the Morning."
A psalm of David.
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, and am not silent.
3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the praise of Israel.
4 In you our fathers put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
5 They cried to you and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not disappointed.
6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by men and despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads:
8 "He trusts in the LORD;
let the LORD rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him."
9 Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you
even at my mother's breast.
10 From birth I was cast upon you;
from my mother's womb you have been my God.
11 Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.
12 Many bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
13 Roaring lions tearing their prey
open their mouths wide against me.
14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted away within me.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death.
16 Dogs have surrounded me;
a band of evil men has encircled me,
they have pierced my hands and my feet.
17 I can count all my bones;
people stare and gloat over me.
18 They divide my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing.
19 But you, O LORD, be not far off;
O my Strength, come quickly to help me.
20 Deliver my life from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dogs.
21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
save me from the horns of the wild oxen.
22 I will declare your name to my brothers;
in the congregation I will praise you.
23 You who fear the LORD, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or disdained
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.
25 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear you will I fulfill my vows.
26 The poor will eat and be satisfied;
they who seek the LORD will praise him—
may your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the LORD,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him,
28 for dominion belongs to the LORD
and he rules over the nations.
29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
those who cannot keep themselves alive.
30 Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.
31 They will proclaim his righteousness
to a people yet unborn—
for he has done it.

That first verse nearly stopped my heart. Jesus wasn't crying out to God for forsaking him, He was quoting scripture!!! Psalm 22 is a prophecy about the messiah! Jesus was encouraging himself in the WORD. In the middle of this terrible experience, he was reminding himself that God knew all of this would happen, that it was part of the plan and that this fit in with what God needed to make things right between men and Him again.

Romans 8:39 (New International Version)
39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jesus was NOT FORSAKEN! AND NEITHER WAS I!!!!

This was the beginning of my journey to find out what God was really like. To find out for myself who God IS. I began this journey with TWO important points:
1 Even Jesus had to encourage himself with scripture in hard times. . . .
2 God LOVES me and He will always LOVE LOVE LOVE me!

And that goes for you TOO!!!!!

Name Change . . . 2

Well this is my best idea so far. I would appreciate feedback from anyone who is interested.

Name Change. . .

I'm going to be changing the name of my blog soon.  The current name just doesn't seem to fit where I'm going with this.  I don't know what I'm going to call it yet, but I should have something soon.

"A Ghost Raccoon With A Crystal Grenade"

This happened several years ago, but it made an impression.



A pastor associated with our church came one Sunday. He was on his way to be the pastor of a new church that needed one so Pastor Jack, our pastor, invited him to come and be blessed and sent to that church. At the end of the service Pastor Jack called him up and told the church that anyone who felt that they had a word from God for the man should come and share it after they were done praying. So I figured that it would be neat to have a word, so I asked God for one. I heard "b. . . . .capital B. . . . . . .Blessings with a capital B . . . . in music. . . . . . . . .Tell him."

. . .So I'm like: ok. . .that's cool I guess. (but in the back of my mind I'm thinking that I'd really like a vision or something. You know, 'cause they sound more like they're from God than "Blessings with a capital 'B'")



Hang on for a sec:

I saw a red velvet pillow. It was square and trimmed with gold fringe and tassels on each corner, and it was spinning end over end in the darkness. I watched as it flew toward an old wicker-framed rocking chair. The chair was empty, but it was rocking anyway. The pillow flew over the chair, turned horizontal, and lowered very slowly into the seat of the chair. Then the chair stopped rocking and I saw something shiny and transparent rising out of the cushion. As it rose up I realized that it was a ghost-like raccoon poised with arms spread out and standing on one leg. AND SMILING! (I know, I know, but it's what I saw.) The raccoon looked at me and held one hand out in my direction, palm up, and out of his hand rose up a crystal grenade. The grenade lifted up and hovered above his hand and began spinning faster and faster and as it spun it began changing shape the way clay changes on a potter's wheel. It turned into a trumpet. And then I heard God say "You wanted a vision so you got one. Now go tell the man that I'm going to bless him with a capital B in music."



So I did. I found out the next week at a meeting when I shared this that the man was really concerned about his new church because they didn't have a worship team and he was going to have to use CD's for a while. Well we used a lot of CD music that Sunday and then God gave me that word for him. God is soooo Cool! And personal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A raccoon with a grenade. . . .I don't ask for visions after I already have a word anymore. :)

Baby B's Breath Of God

Today I had a chance to help a friend, Moco. Moco is Curly Mommy's dad. While we were talking he mentioned that Baby B, Curly Mommy's newest child http://fuzzballchronicles.blogspot.com/2008/11/she-is-here.html, had been having some breathing problems. I had been telling him about some of the things that I mentioned in my last post, Abraham's Blessing, and this fed right off of that. As I listened to Moco tell me about how Baby B was taking fast, deep breaths, I also heard God say that when we speak His words, we are re-ordering reality to fit God's plan. He told me to tell Moco that whatever reasons the doctors might (or might not) find, GOD was saying that now Baby B was breathing in God's breath. God had His hand on her and everything was going to work out right. He said that He had a purpose for this little girl, and as of that moment, He was using every deep breath to touch her in a special way.