It Is I

Today’s message comes from Psalm 75. It is a song written by Asaph, extolling God’s power, and warning the wicked not to exalt themselves against God. Verse 3 caught my attention. “When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its pillars.” (ESV)

When I read this, and thought about my life-fresh out of my parent’s house as a single woman, and later as a wife and mother. When we live under generational curses, we’re not always aware that we are reacting in the present, to what we’ve experienced in the past. That statement in verse three means a couple of things to me.

First, it makes me think about running helter skelter, here and there, to and fro, trying to keep all the little balls I was juggling from hitting the ground. You know, you become a “god” or “goddess.” You’ve got it all “together” and those wounds…WHAT?! What wounds? Yeah, those ones, my dear. We don’t think they show, but they do. If we’re lucky and smart enough to turn to God (The Real GOD), He’ll help us see them too. Secondly, I think of the responsibility of keeping our little family “earth” from tottering, spinning out of control, and coming apart. This, when you’re living under generational curses, doesn’t work well. You can find yourself living co-dependently; and you’re passing on all the things you learned wrong.

The flip-side of all of that is that you can unlearn those things, and learn new things; the right things. You can heal the wounds, so you no longer have to cover them up. You can establish new standards and new boundaries for yourself, and for your children. Hopefully, your children will have better things to pass on to their children, as a result. After all, when it comes to the choice to change things and make them better, who makes the choice? It is I.

Romans 2:1-6 was referenced with this psalm. It’s a great checklist to look at when we’re coming out from under those generational curses. It’s also a great reminder of where you may have been, and a help to keep one humble and compassionate.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

The Bridge From Death To Life

Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, bids us to learn from our Lord, Jesus. It is in learning of, and from Him, that we begin to dwell, or abide in Him. Therein lies our power, our passion, our purpose, and our peace. The message tells us that teachers are to point the way to the Lord. Then we must accept Him, and learn of, and from Him.

“Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment. Indeed, he has crossed over from death to life.” (John 5:24) As I think of this scripture in terms of salvation, I am reminded of my own salvation. As a young child, I attended church with my grandmother. Growing up, I spent a couple of summers at Bible Camp. As a teenager, I attended church alone; neither of my parents went to church. At the age of 14, I said the sinner’s prayer, and accepted the Lord as my Savior. But it wasn’t until I found myself alone with the Lord, at that well…(John 4:5)…that I really got saved. It was there that I realized I’d been drinking from the wrong well. (John 4:12) “Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?” I’d read that verse probably 100 times before. This time, it hit me like a ton of bricks. This is exactly what happens in generational curses.

That’s when things began to change in my life; because that’s when I began to change. I began to seek out the Lord and study His teachings. I began to really look closely at my life, at my habits, my hurts, my thoughts and attitudes, etc. Then, I began to learn from the Lord (The Word-made flesh). We truly do cross over from death to life, as we begin to change our attitudes, our thinking, our words, and our ways. It isn’t a simple process, it’s a lifelong process…but, really, it is a simple solution. When we die to all those old dead and deadly ways, we can rise to the right ways; to ways that honor, create, and sustain life.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Saturday Silly – September 7, 2019

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My, my, my! Lot of things to celebrate in September. Two of my babies were born in September; one at the beginning of the month, and one at the end of it. The first Miss America, Margaret Gorman, was crowned in New Jersey, on September 7, 1921. Among other things, this is Chicken month, and Self-improvement month. And, September 7th is the great Buddy Holly’s birthday.

Those of you who know me, know that I like to streamline, so often I combine tasks into one smooth operation. That’s what I did with this bit of information. For my self-improvement project, I started working out to get rid of those chicken wings on my arms. I happen to be a Buddy Holly fan. So, I was doing my workout to “Oh, Boy,” one of his hits. Now, being homeless, I don’t have any dumbbells to work out with. Well, not the kind you lift, anyway. Anyway, I do carry a couple of bags that contain my water and stuff. So, here I was, listening to Buddy Holly, and working those arms.

The trouble started when I got to the exercise where you’re reaching behind you with the weights. The very first rep I did, I reached behind me, bags in hand, and some guy snatched one of my bags and ran off with it. One of the guys at Catholic Charities tried to chase him down, but couldn’t catch him. He gave up and came back to where I was standing. He asked, “What were you thinking, anyway? What were you doing, lady?” I said, “I was trying to exercise my arms so I can keep them firm. Older women like to look sexy too, you know.” He broke out in the chorus of, “That’ll be the day.” LOL ** This is a work of fiction. I’d never have let either one of those guys get away with that in real life. LOL

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu