Whats with the "Fish out of water" lifestyle these days?

Something about these week has stirred up something in me that's urging a boldness to flow out of me. That being said, i'm simply talking about not allowing the world's opinions, much less my own selfish thoughts, to hold anything back when it comes to the TRUTH that has been implanted in me. The truth that is day in and out flowing constantly within me. A friend was talking with me at the kitchen table earlier this week and we were talking about seeing people raise from the dead and healing. I started telling her about how foolish it was for me to expect to see such things for myself until I truly grasp hold of the fact that i, myself, have been raised from the dead from a lifestyle of sin and death into new life on top of being healed into a brand new and pure creation from a ragged and dirty carnal minded person. As I was reading this morning in my book, something about this section stuck out to me. I want to share it with those of you who might could also place yourself in my shoes.

   When Jesusbreathed on the disciples in John 20:22 and said "Recieve the Holy Spirit," He was, in essence, both answering David's prayer and fulfilling Ezekiel's prophecy. The word for spirit in Greek is pneuma. In the Old Testament Hebrew it's ruach. Both can be translated "breath."
   Jesus came to breathe His breath--His sweetness, His completeness, His very being--into you and me so the He is the operating system to which we default. So that in Him "we live and move and have our being"(Acts 17:28).
   Trying to live apart from the Holy Spirit is like a goldfish trying to survive outside water. We may look alive. We may flop around a lot and move our mouths, making strange gasping noises now and then, but we will never know what it means to really live. To glide free, breathe, amd live effortlessly in the liquid life of grace.
   Too often, I fear, we Christians settle for this fish-out-of-water kind of existence. "Well, I'm just a sinner saved by grace," we gasp, as though that somehow excuses and explains away our spastic, flip-floppy behavior-- almost hold one moment, completely unholy the next.
   As though Christ's coming and dying did nothing more than secure for us a place in heaven.
   As though spritual mediocrity is the best we can hope for here on earth.
   As though God created us to be captives even though everything in the Bible says we've already been set free.
   Pastor Mark Buchanan, describes this halfway life too many Christians settle for as "conversion without regeneration, an initial encounter with Jesus that doesn't lead to a life abiding with Jesus." He calls it "borderland"
                                                                         
                                                                    excerpt from Having a Mary Spirit by Joanna Weaver

Im leaving you with this verse until the next time I get around to this, "Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord." Lamentations 3:40

Missions: The Road Less Travelled

A call to be His hands and feet. sometimes it involves sacrifice but it always leaves you being blessed more by the people you encounter than by the blessing you are to those you meet. this is my follow up summary after i returned from Los Angeles, CA after a week long mission trip with the LA Dream Center.

The Road Less Traveled

Missions come at a high price. The heavy burden can almost be too much to bear. The sadness written on their face can sometimes cut a little too deep. And most of all, the simple thought of where their eternity will be spent if we don’t do what we’ve been called to do as disciples of our Lord, can make one sick. We have been commanded to share our faith, yet our schedules somehow fill up and we have no time to do so. We know the responsibility of proclaiming the name of our Saviour is high, so fear, many times, leads us to opt out when things get tough.

The road less traveled sums up what this past week has meant to me. Never in my wildest dreams did I see myself taking off a week of school, and loading up to head to California with 4 other grown women; but my wildest dreams came true, and that is exactly what I did. As I quickly realized, the L.A. Dream Center has something unique about it. I never figured out if it was the love or if it was the peace of a hope that was being fed back into the people’s lives that were involved in the programs offered; but if I had to guess, I would say it would be a mixture of both.

As we began our outreaches at the beginning of the week, I had no idea what to expect. I certainly did not expect to be moved and touched by the people we came in contact with in the ways that I was. Whether it was at Santa Monica, Adopt-A-Block or just taking time to listen to many success stories of people who had completed the program; I knew without a doubt that a powerful truth echoed in the verse “I am sure that the One who began a good work in you will carry it on until completion” (Phil. 1:6) for the Dream Center.

Irvin was a homeless man, made in the image of God, living on the streets off the beaches in Santa Monica. Sharon was a beautiful woman roaming and confused in a park downtown. Samantha was a two year old gift of joy in a dark and hopeless household. Angel was a young boy who I know will grow into a God-fearing man. And finally Damien was a baby who was born without a choice, into a non-picture-perfect life, but the Lord still has amazing plans for his life.

My eyes have been opened to the reality that surrounds us. That reality is harsh and not easy to chew on, but it’s happening even as this is being read. Violence is real, drugs are real, and the painful economy is becoming a valid problem as each day passes. These people struggle not only to provide for their children a bed to sleep on but also have food to eat and on top of a rent check that even a middle class family would struggle to pay.

The Dream Center opened my eyes in so many incredible ways. Not only did it push me and stir something up inside me while I was there, but it left a life changing mentality running through my head. We have the answer, the joy, the hope, the love, the compassion, and the burning desire to make His glorious name known. A radical and intentional life style is forced when living out and making known the word of God. Let’s get out of our seats and out on the streets and truly begin to take the road less traveled. We have a hopeless and dying generation waiting for us to take up the call. What’s hindering us?

Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is LIBERTY!

A weekend away from the same ole same ole of everyday life. Not a big deal to most, but I love to hour drive to and from Demopolis. The chaos and craziness of a major city is nowhere to be found and for 54 miles I have time to think, pray and meditate on what is actually going on in my life. This picture that is posted above is from a birthday party the other night. I may look like a child to most people, but what for a moment i think of what its like to be a child again. Childlike faith is what sticks out to me. I always pray for a faith to move mountains and to walk on water. Faith is a necessity in life that some seem to push to the side. unfortunately, as we grow older, we tend to try to dig deep into situations and through 'realities' into our experiences, when actually all we are told to do is have faith. Faith seems to be hard to grasp because on my plane ride out to Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago, I sat next to a man for 4 hours who simply minded his own business for the most part except for the times i caught a glimpse of him watching what I was doing. I simply was listening to a podcast and taking notes. He watched me write down my last note and then as i pulled my earbuds out he asked me what i was doing. I began talking to him and before I knew it, I realized just how much knowledge of the Word he had, the lack of belief he stood on and just how far I had to go which was just a silent push for my Father to dig deeper each day. But as we ventured into our last hour of our plane flight we talked about his life, my life and FAITH. Something he didn't trust in and something i was dying to experience in a new way. I walked of that plane in Phoenix pleading with the Lord for another push to go deeper in Him when in fact its been there the whole time. I dont have to beg and plead with Him to go to the next level, I just have to simply grasp hold of what i've been given and let it flow out of me. I spend so much time telling the Lord to give me faith to move mountains and faith to trust in the unknown and faith to see people healed when in fact the Word says that the SAME power that conquered the grave lives in us.  and we have been promised in the book of John that "anyone who has faith in me will do what I[Jesus] have been doing. In fact, He will do even greater things."  you've been given this power for a reason. don't sit and let such a powerful thing be useless. I leave you with this today, "But when you ask, you must believe, you must not doubt. People who doubt are like waves of the sea. The wind blows and tosses them around."(James 1:6)

Thank you Jesus for sending STRANGERS and FRIENDS to show me what Your Word says and just how to go about getting to this powerful place in my life.

Jesus was taken into the wilderness by the Spirit for the test. Matt. 4:1

Wondering why this page is called surviving in the wilderness yet? Good! cause I cant wait to tell you what the Lord has been doing in me these past couple of weeks!
Ive actually been reading a book about skills to push you thru your wilderness seasons in your life.
In this book, a wilderness season is described like this : "a time of testing, trying, and training an individual. It is often marked by a period of isolation, loneliness, temptation, sorrow and waiting."
Remember this "CIRCUMSTANCES THAT TRY US, TRAIN US. SITUATIONS THAT BREAK US, SHAPE US."
Nothing drastic has happened in my life, but life has been like a wilderness lately. alot of unknowns. When walking in the woods, some times you come across a place that you have to choose to go one way or the other. For me being an anxious person already, I hate these areas in our lives.
Kind of crazy but as I was sitting here this morning, I wrote a summary of my mission trip to L.A. that I went on about 2 weeks ago. The title of it was "The Road Less Traveled". didnt hit me until just now, but sometimes when we come across the areas in our lives where we have to pick which way to go, we often opt out on the tough "road less traveled" and we pick our stuff up and head down that easy path. My eyes were opened to so many incredible truths and realities on that trip. God ruined me that week and daily is continuing to do such a thing.
Life isn't a guranteed easy route. its unevitable that things are going to come along that will sure to throw us for a loop and there are areas in our lives that we are going to be pressed on every corner of our lives. but honestly I wouldnt want to be anywhere else but here. When life is uncomfortable, I come to the desperate place in my life where I can't do anything else but seek the Lord for Him to be my shelter and safeplace, to cover me with His safety. It never fails, He covers me. Desperation for Him causes a dependency on Him that results in a deeper relationship with Him.
We all will face times that we feel we are walking in a wilderness seasons. but buckle down and stand strong . He will bring it thru it if you lean and hunker under His faithfulness and mercy.