Winging It in a Digging Way!

My heart fluttered like Neil Armstrong bouncing around in moon dust the day after I reconciled with Jesus. I seemed to be weightless even though human eyes would say otherwise. I inhaled pure oxygen and walked with great purpose. One small surrender…one giant leap into freedom.

My finger selected Christian music on the radio as I opened my Bible to the Book of Psalm. The words of the songs and Bible actually made sense to me! The day after my decision was the first day of a new found passion as I could not get enough of God. I soared with new spiritual wings and...I  was digging it!

Within a month I, too, was on the Lay Renewal team sharing my testimony at other churches in Texas and as you well know…word travels fast as The Houston Christian Women’s Club asked me to become a speaker for their club. I traveled from Lake Jackson to Anahuac and everywhere else in between. (Know where Anahuac is? I do!) I soon found out I was not as alone as the enemy told me I was. Many I shared with gave their hearts to Jesus too. One of the greatest highlights of my life.

In my own church I became the Mother’s Day Out Director as I directed over 30 teachers and 100 children. Amazing how I lasted five years in that same position but loved every minute of it. Had the opportunity to work with children, teachers, and parents.

And if all those blessings weren’t enough…the Lord gave me an open door to teach high school girl’s Sunday School. Again, thought I’d get my feet wet and ended up staying in water up to my chin for the next 15 years. God sweetly surrounded me with young ladies I could learn alongside with since I had skipped out of church when I was a teenager.

In Joel 2:22-23 the Lord promises, “I will give you back what you lost to the swarming locusts…it was I who sent this great destroying army against you…once again you will have all the food you want, and you will praise the Lord your God, who does these miracles for you…”

Give God praise today for giving you all the food you want…and more.

Was Had But Now Healed

I ran out of the choir room in search for the girl who just shared her testimony. She was part of the team who came from surrounding areas of Houston. I had never laid eyes on her before but now I considered her my best friend.

“Hi, do you have a minute?” I asked fighting to catch my breath after weaving through the crowd of women in the hallway. I grabbed her arm and continued, “Seriously, I need to talk to you right now.”

“Sure, what’s on your mind?” I began to share my whole life story as fast as a hummingbird’s wings. She fell against the wall with a puzzled look as her body language shot me the message that I was telling her more than she needed to know. Taking a breath I finished with, “In other words…I had an abortion too.” I grabbed both of her shoulders and said, “You shared your testimony for me! Can I really be as free as you seem to be?”

She grabbed me into a tight embrace as if to secure our new sisterhood. “Yes, you can be totally free from continual shame and guilt by trusting that when you ask Jesus to forgive you…He really does.”

Her sincerity gave me hope. I followed up the weekend of the Lay Renewal by rededicating my life to the Lord. I practically ran down the aisle of our church on Sunday morning as my teal colored dress was soaked with warm tears. I wanted the forgiveness my new sister was confident of and I received it.

You see…I fell for a lie, in 1974, by listening to a message that announced I had every right to decide when to start my family. It was a smart decision to postpone motherhood, but what I didn’t hear was the decision would haunt me for the rest of my life. I had been had, but now I was healed.

"Don't give any of your children to be burned in sacrifice to the god Molech—an act of sheer blasphemy of your God. I am GOD.” Leviticus 18:21 The Message

Be careful what the world tells you is right and good for you. Make sure you know how God feels before making a quick decision that could stay with you for a lifetime.

Is She For Real?

Have you ever been in a church setting where members shared their personal testimonies? Becomes very difficult to argue what God miraculously has done, doesn’t it? Nothing thrills me more than to hear another’s “Glory Story”, as I call it. Usually the circumstances they faced and the deliverance that came can only be explained by a divine intervention.

After I repented from straying away I felt an overpowering desire to return to a church family again. I was careful, though, to keep relationships at arm’s length until I felt I could trust God’s people again. Even though I went back to church…I still had it all wrong. Attendance was not the issue.

At the age of 26, I noticed on the church bulletin that we would soon have a Lay Renewal Team coming for a weekend of revival. Just the name of the team was intriguing and somewhat intimidating too.

However, for the first time in my life I heard authentic testimonies of Christians who share not only their victories, but struggles to get where they were. Masks were removed as the enemy was exposed. Renewal led them to revival.

One young lady stands out to me as I recall her powerful testimony. It grabbed me, tugged at my heart, and turned my spirit inside out. With knees trembling, she stood, walked up to the front of our choir room full of woman, took to the microphone, and shared about God’s healing with her decision to abort her baby. I had never heard anyone be so transparent. The year was 1981 and no one—I mean…no one—talked about abortion in the church and then to admit she did this despicable act and have the audacity to claim God could forgive her of it all? Was she for real? You bet she was. She meant every word she shared.

Isaiah 61:1b prophesies Jesus’ mission in this way, “…He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” And Paul writes in Galatians 5:1 “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery.”

The team was just a group of captives that had been set free and I wanted what they had. More next week…

Miss Trendy

Test; a word a teenager knows well. 7 periods, 7 subjects, 5 days a week, for 9 months meant lots of study times to prepare for exams. Just one test could make or break your report card.

Losing my grandmother, watching my mother grieve, and seeing the back of my father’s head as he left for long hours at work…presented an opportunity for a 13 year old girl to search for affection elsewhere. With the rage of new pop music I memorized lyrics such as; it’s your thing, do what you want to do; if loving you is wrong, I don’t want to be right; imagine there’s no religion; and she’s buying a stairway to heaven. “Goodbye hymns…hello rock ‘n roll!”

The world said, “There are no do not’s. Do whatever feels good to you.” Surely, God didn’t mean for my life to be miserable. So, I fabricated my ‘own’ family—my peers. Besides, I come from a denomination that believes in ‘once saved, always saved’. At 7 I was very sincere in my decision to follow Christ, but as a teenager, with estranged family members, I wondered far away.

As I drifted further away from Jesus the pinhole in my heart grew to be a crater. Dissatisfaction created an appetite for more satisfaction, which led to more dissatisfaction as desperate attempts to find ways to numb my pain only brought destruction. I failed the test of faith as a teen and young adult and began to question whether I was a Christ-Follower; seemed like I was more of a Trend-Follower because ‘I couldn’t get no…satisfaction'.

Hebrews 5:12 says, “In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!”

In other words…I chose to stay an infant. Ignorant of God’s Word.

Are you still on formula? Perhaps you need to learn to crawl back to Jesus so you can run in a race that leads to fulfillment. Or…were you sincere to begin with?

What Happens After You Say "I Do"?

Once you’ve said, “I do” to Jesus Christ, then you will never have another worry or care in the world, right? Wrong. One would assume the presence of God’s Son would shield us from any further struggles, but that was never a promise God made. What He did promise was He would be ‘with’ us during our trials but not that we would be trail-less.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, I accepted Jesus at the age of 7 years old. My grandfather, who was my pastor, baptized me by immersion to represent the decision I had made at the Billy Graham Crusade. The act of my Pop-Pop placing me under water was to represent that I am now buried with Christ, and then raised to a resurrected life. This ordinance was to show others I believed in Christ with all of my heart. Baptism did not save me…it was done to show others I accepted Jesus.

I enjoyed my new life as I became more active in church choir, missionary activities, and Bible study. I loved going to church. Not only did my entire family go there, too, but the whole church became my family. Was so easy to take this perfect lifestyle for granted and trust that God would always protect us as we served Him wholeheartedly.

But, on February 3, 1968 my ideal world stood still after one phone call. A nurse called to encourage us to get to the hospital as soon as possible. My grandmother stopped breathing while recovering from a simple removal of her gall bladder the day before. She died instantly with no success of being revived. We were devastated and from that day on my family fell apart. My perfect world was terribly shaken. I made the decision, at the age of 13,to stop going to church for awhile. Just way too many memories of Granny. Besides…why would God allow this to happen?

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” James 1:2-3

Have you been tested?

Is Transformation Necessary

For the past 13 weeks we have examined what would be necessary for a spiritual transformation. To tenderize a heart takes action for often we build a fortress around our heart to protect us from pain.

I learned this lesson as a 7 year old playing in my backyard. I knew there had to be someone greater than my daddy to make the grass and trees. Daddy only mowed and trimmed.

At church I heard about a man named Jesus who would take away my sins so I could live with God forever and ever. I thought about what it would mean to give my heart away to Jesus and give Him permission to live in it. I, also, wondered how a great big man would get into my little girl heart. It required childlike faith to believe in something I could not see but could feel.

I tapped my mother on the arm and said, “I have to go down.” She whispered, “Are you sure?” With blonde curls and big brown eyes I starred at her with great conviction and replied, “Yes.” No doubt God was speaking to my heart. My mother stood up, grabbed my hand, walked down the long row of steps, and on to the baseball field at a Billy Graham Crusade.

Perhaps I didn’t understand everything I was doing but three things I did know; 1) I knew I did some things wrong and was a sinner, 2) I needed someone who could forgive me and love me in spite of my imperfections, 3) I wanted to start over and have Him forever in my life and that someone was Jesus—the One whose sacrifice paid the price for all time.

…He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” Mark 10:14-15

Have you gone to Jesus with childlike faith today? Go to Abba (Daddy) and place every care you have in His lap. He’s waiting for you with open arms.


Next week we will start the third series called “Will It Be Easy or Painful”.

Once and For All

Sin cost. How do I know? I’m a slow-learner. The cost is unsettling in my soul. The disruption leads me to either run to find another sin to numb the anxiousness or causes me to fall on my knees with regret, because there is no worse feeling than that of being separated from God.

Atonement for sin is nothing new. Starting in Genesis, animal sacrifices were presented to God as a means of restitution. Atonement—satisfaction or reparation for a wrong or injury—to make amends. The cost was, and is, the same…bloodshed.

Hebrews Chapter 9 reminds us of how atonement was practiced in the Old Testament, then shares the provision of the New Testament. The temporary practice of animal sacrifices was to only lead to a permanent solution.

God loved us so much that He gave a sinless, perfect, and unblemished gift, Jesus. No longer would a perfect animal be needed to be our replacement. His only son would be more than sufficient for not only past sins but the ones yet to be committed. He took the place of all.

“But when the Messiah arrived, high priest of the superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old tent and its trappings in this created world and went straight into heaven's "tent"—the true Holy Place—once and for all. He also bypassed the sacrifices consisting of goat and calf blood, instead using his own blood as the price to set us free once and for all. If that animal blood and the other rituals of purification were effective in cleaning up certain matters of our religion and behavior, think how much more the blood of Christ cleans up our whole lives, inside and out. Through the Spirit, Christ offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice, freeing us from all those dead-end efforts to make ourselves respectable, so that we can live all out for God.” Hebrews 9:11-14 The Message translation.

Accept God’s greatest gift as His Son’s blood-transfusion brings life to your soul. There has been no sweeter gift to this world.