All those years ago, in the heart of a desolate child, God reached down and plucked me from the clutches of the enemy… in every sense of the words!
Utterly lost and forgotten, until He sought me out!
It’s been quite a journey since…
Dream of anything…
Snacks, of course…
Through anger, fear, and the nightmares that haunted me, I fought God for years. I refused to let go of the very things that were destroying me from the inside out… memories! Mine, theirs, the memories became baggage that only gained weight with the passage of time.
The good, the bad, and all that lay between… He never let go of this broken one, this forgotten child. After all the things I did to push God away from me, He still held on with such intensity, I could no longer deny Him!
Truly, I am walking this earth because of the grace and power of God, and God alone! Positive, oh yes… I’d say that encounter had a very positive effect on this child!
If you know me at all, in even the least of my writings, you already know the answer I offer this prompt! In truth, we are all in the very same story, book, tale, movie, script or song… we are all intricately woven into God’s tapestry. Many have written about it, sung about it, reenacted the story in a movie or play, but in truth… we are all in there!
Why? John 3:16 baby! For God so love the world, that he gave his one and only son, that who so ever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life! If I got any of those words wrong, it’s due to simply writing without looking at my source, but you get the truth of it!
When the sun shines, in all it’s brilliance, I place my trust in Him
When the rain falls so heavily that I cannot see the path, I place my trust in Him
As I hold my granddaughter in my arms, I place her in His loving arms
As doors before me slam shut, I place myself in His loving arms
He is with me in the good…
and, with me in the bad…
Whether sun, rain, good, or bad
We are never alone… even when it feels that way.
How do I know these things? Why the bible, of course.
Look at what Jesus did for us, just to make a way to his Father
How must Jesus have felt as he hung upon that cross?
Alone
Betrayed
Abandoned
Rejected
Ridiculed
Despised
… and yet…
He stayed!
He could have called the angel’s down to assist… but he didn’t.
Hanging there, between two other criminals, both guilty.
How must He have felt?
Did he hurl insults and curses toward those who rejected him? No…
What must it have been like to discover at the moment the temple veil was torn, that you’d made a grievous error in your judgement of Him?
Whatever happened to those whom He’d healed while walking this earth? Where did they go? What did they do with the rest of their lives, in all that came after that Sunday Morning?
The stone removed…
The angel in the tomb…
The encounter on the road…
Where did all the people go that saw Jesus after the resurrection?
I find myself pondering these and other questions, at the approach of Easter Sunday. So much happened in Jesus earthly life, during his ministry. I can’t help but wonder what happened to those most impacted by their encounter with the Son of God.
It wasn’t as if there were only a handful of followers, with a lot of nasty government officials. It was quite the opposite, in fact. There were numerous believers, with only a handful of hateful leaders. It always amazed me what fear will cause people to do to each other. Jesus walked 30 years with humans, and He still walked all the way to that cross, willingly allowing himself to be impaled upon that post. He did it all out of love for us, His people. I’m always in awe of God’s willingness to sacrifice his own son’s life, just to save us from ourselves. We’re our own worst enemy, at times.
Whenever I write out my own struggles, and then compare them with His… I think I’m getting off rather lightly, compared to the path He walked. It really is a beautiful thing to accept a gift that you know you’ll never be able to repay… a sacrifice you can’t match!
There was a time that I could lose myself in my children, my crafts, my pets, camping, church… and friends.
Times changed, however, bringing circumstances and life interruptus’ that, in one way or another, robbed me of the entire lot!
I will always cherish the memories, treasuring each and every moment of love given and time spent… but life goes on, and as they say, time waits for no man, or woman for that matter!
Admittedly, at no point in all those years did I fully walk with God!
That has changed… thanks be to the grace offered by my heavenly father.
Currently, my days are filled with walks along the river, as I listen to music and fellowship with Him. I lose myself for hours in study of His written word, seeking the lifegiving wisdom within its pages. When I work on any of my literary work, I can easily forget to stop and eat, or even drink a full cup of coffee before it gets cold. It is normal for me to re-heat my coffee or tea repeatedly, before drinking the whole cup. My hubby actually has begun tapping me on the shoulder when I’ve gone too long without eating or drinking.
I believe that though we live day to day with very little, in terms of material things, I feel rather blessed with all the time God spends in molding this vessel. Thankfully, I’m so very lost in HIM, that there is nowhere else that I would rather be found…
While one may consider it failure, God calls it an opportunity! Our failures are His perfect moments of teaching, bringing good for His purposes. God does that with all of our choices, you know… the good and the bad.
God sent his only son to earth for us, where we promptly crucified him, so one might assume that this was a big epic failure!
What did God do?
He resurrected Jesus and rolled that stone away, leaving an empty tomb behind!
God has been righting our wrongs, healing our wounds and miraculously turning our failures into successes from the beginning of time! The Bible says that God is faithful, so logic dictates that only success will follow, from both our triumphs and mistakes.
I am a work in progress, and as God is not done with me yet, failure is just a means for Him to continually show me how He can do anything… the sky’s the limit, as they say.
My future is very bright, as the bible confirms…
“For I know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. Jeremiah 29:11
While I COULD wile away the hours here, for your sake I won’t. Why? Because I actually DO have a brain!
But, the prompt did ask what three objects I couldn’t live without. Well, the first thing that came to mind was my brain. Without a brain, which is the central nervous system for this flesh mech, I, just like the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz, would simply hang limp on a pole in a corn field.
The second object that’s a must-have for survival, again, can be answered by one of the characters from that old movie, The Wizard of Oz. Remember the Tin Man? Without a heart to pump blood throughout the body, nourishing all of the precious organs that make us flux an flow, we would simply break down, shrivel up and cease to exist!
While I realize you were expecting me to call up the cowardly Lion for my third object needed, I think his courage actually came from his heart, so those two sort of go hand in hand, in my humble opinion. I’m going to call upon our beloved Dorothy… and her little dog too!
What is this thing that I am eluding too? Lungs! How on earth would Dorothy, or Toto for that matter, be a proper example of lungs, you may be asking? Judy Garland, who played the role of Dorothy, had an amazing singing voice, did she not? And, Toto had the ability to bark, which he did a great amount of, in order to protect and save the group of adventurers on several occasions. I am pretty confident in thinking that they both had a decent set of pipes!
Don’t ask me why The Wizard of Oz was the first thing that popped into my head when I read this mornings Daily Prompt question… I’ve no earthly idea.
But, you do have to admit that it worked pretty well. And, I’m being fully honest in choosing a brain, a heart and lungs as the three objects I couldn’t live without. I’m fairly certain that none of us would get along without them, don’t you agree?
In truth, I can get along without every other earthly object if it came down to brass tacks, as they say.
Here, have an apple. I promise, the trees won’t throw them at you…
Even when waters are deep, hold to your faith in Him. May this mornings song encourage you to keep going, even when you are weary, and your strength is gone…
I can hardly believe that it’s been two years since I wrote this! Though we’re no longer in that beat up old R.V., this road trip is far from over. With that in mind, it seemed appropriate to re-use this old prompt response… hugs.
I don’t have to think back too far, as we are still living in an RV, living like nomads wherever we go, and for however long we stay. We don’t really have any home left, here on actual earth, so we rumble along on this road trip, taking safe harbor wherever it can be found.
If you think about it, everyone is on a road trip of sorts, and I would imagine that we all feel like it’s quite memorable. I appreciate the prompts use of the word most, while referring to the road trip, as they could have used best, worst, happiest or saddest… but they chose most memorable. Life IS most memorable, wouldn’t you say?!
Don’t we always say things like, it’s a wild ride, it’s gonna be a bumpyride, it’s a crazy ride, or Baby, what a ride? So I don’t need to think hard on why my thoughts drifted this way, once I began reading the prompt question.
Life is most definitely a journey, or road trip if you will!
It would take us all a very long time, to write down all of what we’ve seen, felt and experienced, along each of our personal highways… oh wait… that’s what I’ve already been doing, right here on WordPress… you’re welcome!
As a girl of only eleven, I’d already discovered the item I was most fond of… my survival, or my physical life, if I’m to label it as an actual thing. No, it’s probably not what one might call an item, but sure felt like it.
Daily writing prompt
Describe an item you were incredibly attached to as a youth. What became of it?
Sometimes, life has a way of getting reduced into nothing more than a thing… an item to be played with, bartered, or thrown out when it’s usefulness has been expended.
For some souls, it can take an entire lifetime to figure this out. They don’t feel the harsh bite of reality pop up, for a good long while. Who knows, maybe everyone begins to take notice of being less valuable to society, once the body begins to slow, and they lose the ability to carry on at the pace they once held.
Then there’s souls like mine. We discovered, early on, how little value we held, how we weren’t valuable enough protect, to care about… never worthy enough to be saved! This was my dark alleyway of existence, wandering through the night until I found a place to sleep… doing whatever I had to do to secure food, warmth, and sleep… never safety… just sleep! This life was not much but it was mine, and I valued it above everything else!
I’m 55 now and nearing the age when most are preparing for retirement and their golden years… not this runaway!
I strive to prepare and strengthen myself for something bigger, better and still yet to come.
It has taken some considerably long years to get my life to this moment, and I couldn’t have done it without God. And, I didn’t care for the item I was so attached to, nor cherish it, as I did when I was a child. None the less, I’m grateful to say that it’s still in tact, for the most part.
If you’ve any curiosity about what has become of the item I was so attached to as a youth, you need only read the letters I have written over the years, here on WordPress.
As this site is really all I have to show for explaining things, it will have to suffice as my best answer!
I pray that my words, my life, and my purpose will always reflect a light that is not mine, but that of the Almighty! There is no greater calling, or mission, if you will.
Mine is a testimony of redemption, cleansing, healing and unfathomable grace, from the One who created the very foundations of this world.
It was simple, really. All I had to do was believe in Him, and trust fully in the words spoken by His only son, Jesus Christ. The mission given me was, and is, the same one given all those ages ago, while Jesus walked this earth…
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35
When you accept one of my silly virtual cookies, they are stuffed with as much love and light that I can muster. And, then I pray that you will be covered with a myriad of little healing cookie crumbs… blessed crumbs, even. I know they aren’t real, but I guess it’s sort of symbolic, in hopes that you’ll see how valuable and precious you are to me, and more importantly, how much you’re worth to God. He loves you, whether you believe it or not, and He will never stop loving you… ever!
Why do I do it? Because, I’ve been called to do so. Not only that, but it fills me with such peace and happiness, knowing that everything I do for others is to be for His glory, not mine…
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16
Journey With Me! 