Recognize His Glory

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 102. The psalm is a prayer of one in the throes of affliction. “All the day my enemies taunt me; those who deride me use my name for a curse. For I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink,…” (V9) We can see how the enemy wears us down in our weakness. This makes me think of those times when you’re doing that self talk, convincing yourself that God could never forgive you, never love you, or love you after all that, etc. Words like, “stupid, worthless, hopeless, etc.,” come to mind. That’s the enemy taunting you. He loves to put those doubts about God and His love for us into our hearts. He loves to beat us up with lying words. He’ll tell you everything you aren’t. God sees you in Christ Jesus. You are precious and honored in His sight. Precious, because He came to die for you; to pay the price to redeem you from Hell. Honored, because you are created in His image, after His likeness, and He believes in you. If God didn’t believe in you, He wouldn’t have entrusted you to care for His creation; to manage it, and to harness it’s power. And, He hardly would have died to save you from going to Hell, if He didn’t think you could overcome the world and worldliness, and the devil, who rules it.

Verse ten is the one that gets me. Every time I read it, I just want to shout, “No, no, no! God doesn’t pick you up just to throw you down!” We, unfortunately, have this tendency to sabotage ourselves. We squirm and fuss and fight Him, until we slip from His arms and fall. I finally figured out that I need to check myself for self-sabotage when I feeling not in sync with God. This is usually the case whenever I’m stepping into new territory, or moving on to the next level in something. See, that’s the devil pushing your doubt and confusion buttons again.

Verses 16-17 are powerful. “For the LORD builds up Zion; he appears in his glory; he regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer.” God always builds you up. He’s never the one who casts you down; we do that to ourselves, or allow others to do that to us. He appears in His glory. This is an important statement. At first glance, you’d think, “Oh, I need to expect bells and whistles, and radiant blinding lights, etc.” God is love, so His glory is love also. Do you know who that little old lady was, that walked with you from her house to the corner of your block when you got lost? Yeah, that was God; His glory resting on that little old lady. That little birdie on the wire, that flirted with me that day a few years back was God. Same thing, His glory on that little bird. That scripture in Philippians 4:8 comes to mind. “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” These things are some of the things that make up God’s glory. They’re all in His character. We need to learn to look more closely at those little, seemingly insignificant things and events. God is in everything; and is everything. His glory fills the earth.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Saturday Silly – May 15, 2021

I heard a couple of people on the bus recently, discussing the Marijauna legalization and some of the problems we have now due to that. One lady said, “They’re smoking that weed everywhere now! They don’t care where they’re at when they do! You can’t go anywhere and you smell it!” Her male friend said, “I know; you don’t even have to buy it anymore. Just walk by somebody smoking it; you can get high for free!”

I thought to myself, “Boy that’s true! The other day, some guys were on the corner by the dispensary, smoking their weed. I said, “Excuse me three times to the same tree there. It’s a good thing that when I went by the fourth time, I noticed it was a tree; I was beginning to think I had a stalker!”

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Saturday Silly – May 1, 2021

Most of you know I crochet. I love to take my little odds and ends of leftover yarn, and make doll clothes or other fun little things for children. I recently gifted a friend with a couple of little purses, and some Barbie clothes and accessories I’d made. I was told that the two year old loved the purse; and Grandpa put a dollar in it for her. She ran to Mommy and asked if they could go to the store, and stated that she was going to buy something for Mommy, because Mommy always buys her things. Mommy was so touched by this, that she gave the little lady another dollar, and told her to save it and the one Grandpa gave her. Mommy insisted that she was going to buy the little princess something as a reward for her thoughtfulness and generosity. I, having had four two year olds myself, when I heard this, couldn’t help wondering, “Do they know that they’ve just been robbed by a two year old?” LOL! Great job with those girls, Mommy! Hugs and kisses to you all.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Saturday Silly-April 10, 2021

Oh, my heart goes out to all you beauty operators and nail technicians. I’m contemplating a haircut for Summer; and I thought I might get my nails done too. Being a little more mature now, I am opting for the natural looking length for my acrylic nail tips. I’ve been checking out some of the salons in the area, and happened to catch this conversation between an elderly lady and the poor nail technician. “No, I don’t want those long, long squared off nails,” the elderly lady said. “Oh, you can have them any length you want,” said the technician. You might want to try the shorter version of the squared off ones.” “No”, said the elderly lady, “I like them oval shaped, and I don’t want them long because I don’t want to poke out my eye when I put in my hearing aid.” I’m not sure exactly what went through that poor technician’s mind, but it looked like it hurt.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Saturday Silly-February 27, 2021

February is American Heart month, Spunky Old Broads month, Creative Romance month, and Canned Food month…so, The old hobo was head over heels in love with the little old lady that pushed her cart past him on the sidewalk every day. He decided he would invite her to share a meal with him one evening. She accepted his invitation. That old hobo was a romantic, and he decided he would recreate the scene from Lady and the Tramp-(one of my favorite Disney movies). He served up a can of spaghetti and meatballs, a couple of almost stale rolls, and a small bottle of red wine. The two of them sat by the fire enjoying their meal. He saved the last bite from his plate, and offered it to the lady. She, being a spunky little old thing, put one end of a noodle into her mouth, and offered him the other end.(She wasn’t born yesterday, you know; she knew what was up.) Just as their lips touched, the cell-phone in the hobo’s shirt pocket started beeping. The little old lady grabbed her chest and shouted, “Oh, my God, don’t take me now! I think I’ve found the love of my life!” The old hobo, quickly took the cell phone from his pocket and shut it off. “I’m sorry,” said he. “I forgot to shut off the alarm. It’s to remind me to take my heart pill.” “Oh, thank God,” replied the little old lady. “I thought it was my heart monitor going off and warning me of an oncoming heart attack!” Doggone it! I really love spaghetti too! I’m going to have to ask my cardiologist about that one. LOL Ha! I’m a spunky old broad too, you know!

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Saturday Silly – January 16, 2021

My goodness, what a week it’s been! I had my cardiology appointment; hit the floor running to make it on time. I don’t know why, but it seems as if the buses are crawling along at fifteen miles an hour whenever you need them to hurry. Then, some of them go at breakneck speed, only to jump on the brakes with both feet and all their body weight behind them. Passengers and baggage come up out of the seats. LOL I think they need to serve cocktails on some of those buses, just like they do on airplanes. Speaking of airplanes, I was on a bus the other day, and there was a car wash just short of the stoplight. This guy was out front waving a white rag like crazy. I couldn’t figure out if he was trying to flag us down, or land a plane…we are right by the Air Base.

There are some characters on the buses, too. We passed a construction site, and someone asked what they were building there. A lady on the bus said, “Its an Amazon Warehouse.” “Oh,” replied the guy, “what’s if for?” “It’s where they’re going to lock up all the strong and angry women,” replied the lady. LOL

I got my ID renewed recently. I couldn’t believe it when I got the new card. My goodness; I need to get some good facial serum and face cream. My grandbabies will be calling me Grandma Sharpei. Sure enough, I sent a friend a selfie – of myself, and he texted me back: “Can she sit up and beg?” Hmm, maybe I could get one of the kids to take me to the dog shows; I could use the money. Ah, never mind…I can’t wag my tail like that anymore. Besides that, I’m not going to sit up and beg for anybody!

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

In Love, It’s Not Suffering

Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, remind us that, if we offer up our day’s events and happenings to the Lord, a blessing attends all we do. Then it becomes a sacrifice that is redemptive.

That’s the way God redeems the time. It’s the way we learn the joy in “suffering.” When I allow that 10 minutes of interruption of my schedule, to help that little neighbor lady get her cat out of the tree…If I just let God have that ten minutes, it becomes a gift to that little lady, and a sacrifice that’s acceptable to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:2) “and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.”

We so often think of service to the LORD/Lord as big campaigns, missions, and ministries. Truly, service to the LORD/Lord, is living daily in, for, and out of His love.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

When He Comes Through Us

Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, bids us to seek and strive to express Jesus’ divine love in every instance, every encounter, and in every way. In the message at twolisteners.org, He says, “I do not delay my second coming. My followers delay it.” This speaks of the second advent, when Jesus returns to Earth to claim His own.

When I read the message, and when I see Jesus’ love, compassion, peace, and power throughout the gospels, I see that second advent happening daily. First, when I surrender my will to the Lord, He can come and work His will in me. When that’s happened, Jesus can come and work His will-and His miracles through me. I recall an encounter I had with a little lady on the street one night as I was walking home. She and I had known each other for awhile, just in the daily passing among the homeless population. She turned as I neared her, and began screaming at me. I didn’t even hear what it was she screamed, but I asked her if she was alright. She seemed to recognize me then; that I was not a threat to her. Just that quickly, peace was restored to her. The compassion I learned from the Lord rose up in me in that instant, and came through me to restore that peace to her. You see, mercy seeks the reason; the cause. “Yeah, I’m alright, ” she said. I asked her if she needed some water, and handed her a bottle of it.

That encounter was an easy one because I knew she was not herself in that instant, so I didn’t feel threatened. But it works the same way when we do feel threatened, fearful, or unsure. If we allow the Lord to work in us, He can, and will work through us-and we can gain the victory. When I say victory, I have to tell you, I’ve come to learn that Jesus doesn’t just want victory for us. He wants it for us all; so victory should always include the other person. If it means being able to do nothing more than to speak blessing on that person or walk away and pray for him/her, then so be it. The victory is still both yours and theirs, and most of all, the Lord’s; because we obeyed, we planted a seed, and we interceded spiritually for that person. See, you’ve done much more than you thought you did, didn’t you?

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

It’s A Tool & Pavement

Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, reminds us that money is merely a tool, and pavement. (Ecclesiastes 10:19) “Bread is made for laughter, and wine gladdens life, and money answers everything.” The streets of Heaven are pure gold. (Rev. 21:21) “And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.”

We are bid not to count monetary gain as success. True success, we’re told, is the measure of God’s will and God’s mind that we are able to convey to others. It is the measure of God’s will working in our lives, that others are able to see, that makes us successful for, and in, the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus said, “but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” (Matt. 6:20) That’s a clue to you…add up all the praying you did for someone today, all the praise and thanksgiving you did, all the little niceties, patience exercised when the little old lady shuffled into the store so slowly in front of you with that shopping cart-and you smiled and said, “God bless you,” etc. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how much treasure you’re laying up in Heaven.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Saturday Silly-September 12, 2020

First, I want to say, I am so thankful to all you wonderful folks who give of your resources and time, and come to make sure the homeless people don’t go hungry.

I was sitting, doing my Bible study recently, when a car pulled up, and a lady handed me a sack lunch. I thanked her and she drove off. As I was looking through sack, I came upon a can of Vienna Sausages. These are not one of my favorites. “Oh, man,” I thought, “yuk.” Then I looked up to Heaven and said, “Okay, Lord, I”m offering up my suffering for my new house.” “That’s a pretty steep bargain,” I heard in my spirit. So I answered, “Don’t look at me; you’re the Jew. You taught me how to bargain.” Then I laughed. I thanked the Lord for my lunch and for the generous lady, and ate. Fortunately I had some bread left to wrap the sausages in.

I finished my Bible study after lunch, and decided to go to the store. As I came around the corner of the block, this truck came down the street, with a dog house in the back. Again, in my spirit, I heard laughter, and then, “You’re not the only who’s funny.” LOL…and I’m still laughing. Oh, how I love Jesus!

*That last part I worked into the story. It came to me yesterday while I was on the bus. But, Jesus really does do stuff like that.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu