It’s Not a Mistake; It’s an Opportunity

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Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, reminds us that God is a good God, loving, kind, and so very patient with us.

The message speaks to us of mistakes. We sure make a lot of them, don’t we? Sometimes they’re pretty embarrassing. Sometimes they’re costly to us, especially in the way of spirit. I’ve made a few I didn’t know how I was going to recover from; they took me a pretty piece downward. I’ve even had some roadrash on my face.

Here’s the good part about those mistakes. They are opportunities to learn and grow; and to grow in our relationship with the LORD/Lord, and in faith-in Him, and ourselves. God’s love shields us from the power of the pain, the embarrassment, the shame, guilt, and the fear that comes when we’re overwhelmed, and it all comes crashing down. The problem is that we don’t step into that little space that is enclosed roundabout by that love of God. We all too often choose to suffer; to allow the mistake to torture and immobilize us.

The thing to do is to seek God in the mistake. Seek the things He’s put there for you to learn and grow by. Seek that little mirror shard, that will show you just how loved and believed in you still are-by God. These are the treasures in your mistakes that turn the disaster into a springboard for you. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, have a good cry, or better yet, a good laugh…and carry on, my friend. Carry on. God’s still right there with you, and ready to keep walking it out with you, until you get where your’e going. When we allow ourselves to be held by the mistakes and their fall-out, we become blinded to the possibilities, and the power to be found through them.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Saturday Silly – July 27, 2019

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I apologize this didn’t make it up at midnight. I was feeling pretty under the weather yesterday, and took the day off. At any rate. Saturday’s here…Thank you, Lord, for another week that you’ve walked with me.

I was on my way from breakfast this morning, and ran into a friend of mine. He preaches on the streets; you may have spotted him near the freeway exits and on-ramps. Anyway, he asked me if I knew how many books in the Bible start with the letter J. I hadn’t had my coffee yet. I have to laugh; I came up with two, and was at a loss for the rest. You see, I ‘m the kind of person that reads the Word, and knows the Word, but I’ll be hanged if I can remember what book, chapter, and verse I read that Word in. It’s all the same to me-God’s Word. Whenever I do my Bible studies and posts, I have to look them up to be sure I’ve got their placements right.

Anyway, I made my way to the park behind the library, and was having my coffee, and thinking about my next Bible study: Your Glory. “You made them a little lower than the angels; you crowned them with glory and honor” This is the verse that came to me. For the life of me, I could not remember where, in the Bible, I read it. This thought came to me: “coffee.” I thought, “What?” “Coffee,” it came again. OH! HEBREWS! I’m still laughing!

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Put Yourself Into The Hands of the Potter

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I chose this song by Casting Crowns for today’s music post. It goes perfectly with today’s message. I hope it inspires and blesses you, strengthens you, as much as it does me. I’m blinking back tears as I write this. Sometimes it’s so very hard to let go and let God…but oh, how He does love us, and oh, how awesomely He takes what’s meant for evil against us, and brings it, and us to a beautiful glory in Him. God bless you!

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

For Giving You Power Through It All

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Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, reminds us that forgiveness is not an option. We are bid to forget all that lies behind us, and to fill our world with love and laughter.

I had to change my definition of forgiveness some time ago. I had to expand my understanding of forgiveness. That’s when I learned about the power, peace, and possibilities found in forgiveness. How can you lead someone out of a forest you’ve never been in yourself?

First of all, to forget the past is to be doomed to repeat it. However, the parts of it we need to forget are those very ones that held us bound to the ground, in pain, and immobilized by fear, guilt, shame, etc. That’s what forgiveness helps us to do. We are empowered by forgiveness, so that we are able to break the hold those things have on us; to let them go. That’s really all that forgiveness is; it’s letting go of the things that hurt and the ones who hurt us. Not necessarily in the sense of letting go of those who hurt us; but letting that “debt” go. Just as God forgave us through Christ Jesus, we can, through Him, forgive those who hurt us.

In order to do that, we need to change our definition of forgiveness, expanding it to it’s full meaning. You see, God uses all those things we go through for giving us power in regard to them, and in spite of them. We are blessed to be a blessing. When we are able to let go of the hurts, and of those who hurt us, we are empowered to be a blessing through them.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

The God Guided Life is Wonderful

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Hey, it’s Country Girl day at Inspirations.home.blog

Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, reminds us how our lives are hidden in Christ Jesus, protected, guided, and led by God, Himself. The question is asked: Are you beginning to see what a wonderful life the God guided and led life is? Proverbs 16:9 is referenced: “A man’s heart devises his way; but the Lord directs his steps.” And, the really great thing about that is this: God will give you the desires of your heart when you delight yourself in Him.

This song fits the messages from the last two days, as well as this one, perfectly. Being the country girl I am…Ms. Patsy Cline and Mr. Willie Nelson happen to be two of my favorite country singers, and they’ve done a wonderful job with this song.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Staying Close To The Lord

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Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, reminds us to stay very close to the Lord; to remain always in His Presence.

This is going to be a short and sweet one. As I’ve said before, that closeness comes from seeking God in everything around us. It comes by staying in His Word, through prayer, and through praise. It also comes through that joy we carry within as a result of our seeking Him and abiding in His Presence.

Whenever I feel as if there’s a distance between my spirit and the Lord, I look around to see where I’m at, what am I doing, what am I not doing. Usually, I find that I’ve gotten off the path and am slipping in my standards and boundaries things…my diligence is lacking, etc. That’s when it’s time to turn and start seeking Him like a little child that’s lost his/her momma would.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Keepin’ It Peaceful Inside

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Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, reminds us that peace within is worth every effort it takes to get it, and to keep it. We are bid to stop everything until we’ve regained it.

Nothing of this world is worth losing yourself to. Imagine your heart, mind, and soul to be made of glass. Every time we let someone, or something destroy that inner peace, it’s as if they’ve thrown a rock through the glass and left a hole in it. Pretty soon, the holes run into one another, and one day the whole thing just crumbles.

Inner peace is that peace with does pass all understanding. It is, not only the peace between us and God, and the peace we have because of God. It is also the peace we have with ourselves. That one is really important because that’s where the weakness is. That peace can be very, very fragile. We guilt and shame and blame ourselves…sometimes over the silliest things, really. We let others’ opinions disturb our peace, even to the point of it being destroyed completely. There are a lot of people who have to check themselves into a mental hospital because someone has destroyed their inner peace.

This is where standards and boundaries come in. This is where diligence comes in. This is where steadfastness, or stubbornness comes in. You not only have the right to define and protect your inner peace, you have a responsibility to. One of the greatest things I learned from Jesus, is that very thing. He drew the line, He walked the line, and He didn’t let anyone cross that line. No, inner peace doesn’t mean you’ll never get mad or upset at, or over anyone or anything. It means that no matter what’s going on, no matter how angry, upset, or overwhelmed you are, you know who and whose you are. And you do the same thing Jesus did. You draw the line, you walk the line, and you don’t let anyone cross that line. You are a child of God Almighty, the Creator. You are master over everything in the world that man must deal with. It is not master over you, so, don’t allow it to master you. When we learn this, it’s much easier to get up, dust yourself off, and keep going. It’s also easier to stay on your feet in the first place.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

The Greater Works

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Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, reminds us of Jesus” words: “Greater works than these shall you do, because I go to my Father.”

As I read the message, I thought about Jesus’ words to the woman at the well. “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” The issues of life flow from the heart. The good man, out of the good stored up in his heart, brings forth good things; and the evil man, out of the evil stored up in his heart, brings forth evil. When you add this truth from Romans 12:21 to the mix, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good,” you can see where the greater works need to be done. Your body is just your vehicle. Actually, it is the temple of the Holy Spirit. God breathed His life into every single soul that ever has, does now, and ever will, walk this earth. That tells me something about what I need to put into the hungry, the hurting, all I minister to.

“Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” This is from Luke 7:28. It ties in with the truth part. I see so many Christians trying to “look” perfect, or perfected. You see them in every church. But let me tell you something about humility. It takes a courageous person to tell the truth on himself, or herself. And, you have to humble yourself to do that when, really, what the world expects, is that your life is perfect because your’e a Christian. It must be, right? I mean, God’s supposed to be good, isn’t He? What about all that blessing stuff, Lady? Oh, yes, dear, God just happens to be the One who got me through all that ugly stuff, all that hurt, fear, anger, etc., etc., etc., But I am a work in progress; and will be till the day I arrive at those pearly gates. Do you know why John the Baptist didn’t have any problem with sin? He didn’t live with anybody; he was alone in the wilderness. It was just him and God. See, when he came to town, he started shouting and telling people the truth about themselves, didn’t he? LOL

Seriously, though, John preached repentance from sin, and baptism. Jesus came to show us how to walk after God. He gave us back our authority over sin-or, the author of sin. But, we are still in the world. He said we would have tribulation here in the world. He also said, “be of good cheer, because I have overcome the world. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, though. That’s why we’re told to put on the full armor of God. We need to lift one another’s spirits, bear one another’s burdens, share one another’s concerns. As I’m writing this paragraph, I’m thinking about the disciples in the boat during the storm. You know what? There was only one boat. That tells me we’re all in the same boat. When one team member gets tired or discouraged, the whole rest of the team encourages and cheers that one on. They minister to that one’s spirit. That’s where the greater works are done.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Praise the Mountains Away

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Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, bids us to praise Him. Praise removes the mountains of difficulty. The message ties in with Saturday’s message about keeping God’s standard; which is simplicity.

Simplicity is the key to peace of mind and spirit. It helps to keep things real. We over-complicate things, we over-think things, and we end up overdoing things and then, we end up getting overwhelmed.

As a Psalmist, I sometimes get away from the simplicity because I’m trying to write this grand, grand praise song for God. One of the simplest ways to praise God is to say, “thank you.” Two simple words, they are, but two very powerful words. “Thank you,” is the heart of worship. God’s already worked everything in our lives out in the spirit-from the beginning. That’s not your beginning, it’s THE beginning. When we keep that in mind, we can remain focused on the blessings, on the green and fertile valleys before us. Boy, when you start counting your blessings…you can’t stop the praise from rising up out of your heart.

I hope you’ll visit the twolisteners.org website and read both messages; they’re awesome, as usual. I think this song supports today’s post perfectly. I hope you’re as blessed by it as I am.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Saturday Silly – June 20, 2019

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Was I not just talking about Jesus laughing at me?

I was on the bus a few days ago, and this guy sat down next to me. He asked my wasn’t I that Christian blogger, Eden Stillwater. I said, “Yes, that’s me.” He got a little snide then. He said, “I’m a Wiccan; what do you think of that?” I said, “I don’t.” He said, “You know Wiccans are witches, right?” I said, “really?” Then the man says to me, “I think I’ll go sit somewhere else, I don’t think I can be friends with you.” He got up to find another seat.

I was careful to say this under my breath, but I said, “Yay, because I don’t want to be sitting next to you when that lightning bolt strikes, anyway.” Just then my phone signalled and vibrated. Needless to say, it startled me a wee bit; I jumped just a little. Now, imagine my face when I looked at that phone, and the caller ID read: GOD. I swear to you, I think I went forward in time to the judgment and backward in time to my birth all in the same minute, in my mind. GOD. I checked the message, and it was from some lady named Geraldine Oswald Davies. “Hello…oh, sorry, wrong number,” it read. Jesus will get you, yes He will. I think both He and I laughed and laughed…I bet He’s still laughing, too. I bet He told “GOD,” “well done good and faithful servant.”

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu