The Puppy and the Peanut Butter

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1 “Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.”   Voltaire As I write this, our Goldendoodle puppy Sadie is persistently attempting to clean the insides of an empty peanut butter jar. She has the top part really clean but hasn’t figured out how to get her face and tongue far enough down to clean the bottom.  She has been working on this for over half an hour! She has gotten the label all the way off and … Continue reading The Puppy and the Peanut Butter

Hope

“Behold,” he wrote, “a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” Isaiah 7:14 A few days ago, we celebrated the first Sunday of Advent. Advent means arrival or coming and refers to the coming of Christ. The first candle lit on the advent wreath is the candle of hope. This past week as I was trying to come up with a way to explain hope that the children would understand (I teach Sunday School) I was coming up with little more than frustration. But then I saw hope that I could explain to them. … Continue reading Hope

Born in a Manger

When I lived in Montana, I had an old barn on the property. It housed chickens and provided shelter for horses and goats. It was filled with bales of straw and had a rope swing hanging from the high beam. My daughters loved to play in that old barn. It probably wasn’t terribly sanitary despite the hours I spent shoveling out unsanitary things; animals being animals and doing what animals do. I would never have called it clean. Certainly not company ready clean. Certainly not clean enough for a baby to be born in, other than a colt. And definitely not … Continue reading Born in a Manger

Speak to the Mountain

If anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Mark 11:23 I just finished reading a wonderful book called Healing Prayer by Dr. Reginald Cherry. In it he writes that we are to use the authority given to us as believers “to speak to the specific mountain of sickness and command it to be gone” We are created in God’s image and when He spoke, things happened. Jesus is the one who spoke those words of … Continue reading Speak to the Mountain

How Much Longer?!?!?!

When Pharoah let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, ‘If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt’ Exodus 13:17 I have been told it could have been a ten day journey at the most, leaving Egypt and heading to the Promised Land.  But it ended up taking 40 years. The only reason I can see is that their thinking had to change and it took a very long time for that to happen. They had to have time to … Continue reading How Much Longer?!?!?!

Reflected Light

By your words I can see where I’m going;    they throw a beam of light on my dark path. Psalm 119:105 I’ve been looking for answers. Not just about this pain but about other areas of my life that I feel need changing. I haven’t as yet gotten any definitive answers. But I am reminded of a teaching I heard Larry Huch give. He said the priest that entered the temple wore what is best described as diamonds or jewels on the shoulders of their robes. The light from the lampstand stand reflected off of those stones and onto the letters of … Continue reading Reflected Light

The Unstoppables!

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31 Here in the Pacific Northwest, it rains a lot. Rain is pouring down as I write. Fox 12 News launched their new promos calling all of us rain-drenched Northwesterners the Unstoppables, proclaiming that we don’t let the rain stop us, we continue with our plans regardless of the rain. I have to admit, that when it comes to doing things in the rain, I am somewhat stoppable. For a number of years, I let pain stop me. I felt powerless … Continue reading The Unstoppables!

The Freeze Game

No weapon that is formed against you will prosper;  Isaiah 54:17 A couple of weeks ago at work, the kids were playing the Freeze Game. This is a game they made up and if I understand the rules correctly, if the “Freezer” pointed his his freeze machine (his hand) at you and made a slight hissing noise then you were frozen.  I don’t know for how long.  A five year old approached me with his freeze machine pointed at me and said he was going to freeze me.   I asked him if he knows what the Bible says. He said … Continue reading The Freeze Game

Build Your Faith

Every healing Jesus provided in the New Testament had one common piece. Even though the method changed this piece was present, either in the individual in need of healing or those around him.  And that element was faith!  Faith is simply believing the words of Jesus. If He said it, He meant it, if He meant it, it must be true. Our job is to settle the issue in our heart.   So the obvious next question would be – how do I build my faith?   Romans 10:17 tells us – So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word … Continue reading Build Your Faith

It Is Finished

I sat in a doctor’s office the other day. Having switched insurance providers, this visit was merely an opportunity to meet each other. He had my health records from my other provider. He had seen on my record the diagnosis of fibromyalgia and mentioned that I would have that for the rest of my life. I told him that I had been healed of that some years ago. Divinely healed by God. He is a Christian and asked how did that healing happen. I told him mostly through prayer but I realized later that before the prayers, there had to … Continue reading It Is Finished