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Nov 29
Love0

Overcoming Grief: Through the Valley & The Stages of Grief

By Hope For Today, Overcoming Grief
Book Excerpt from “Hope For the Grieving” by Bill Stevens

Help in the Valley:  Stages of Grief

 

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me;  Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:4

The grief process is like a valley. A valley that is dark, dangerous, despairing, and depressing. The place where you dread the most. A place where you surely don’t want to get stuck there, but unfortunately so many do and never make it through the valley.  You see on the other side of this dark valley is a place of light, new normal, a new beginning, and a place of renewal. You never forget the one who you lost, and you don’t want to. Is the pain ever gone? The pain lessens as you follow Christ through the valley. This journey leads to you t a new place, a place where you deeply miss your loved one, but your life is not ordered around them anymore. There is a new order to their life. You have made it through the valley. The darkness of the valley does not overshadow your life like it once did.

 

“Part of every misery is, so to speak, the misery’s shadow or reflection: the fact that you don’t merely suffer but have to keep on thinking about the fact that you suffer. I not only live each endless day in grief, but live each day thinking about living each day in grief.”  C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

 

Psychologists tell us there are five stages of grief. They are very accurate to what a person goes through, and they can be likened to going through a very long dangerous valley.

Five Stages to the Valley of Grief

1. Shock/Denial

  • – “I can’t believe this is happening,” Numbness settles in. Some refuse to face the reality that their loved one has passed and they never get out of this stage. For months or even years, they walk around and talk about their loved one as if they are still here, and still coming home. There is this seemingly total refusal to face reality. Please don’t stay in this place. Christ wants to take you by the hand, and lead you through this hard place.

2. Anger:

  • You will be angry at someone. It could be yourself, your loved one, doctors, other family members, the guy minding his own business walking down the street, and many times we are even angry at God. It is important to know that anger is normal, but it is not an excuse for wrong actions. Don’t stay in the anger stage, or you will become bitter and healing will never take place. Too many dig into being bitter and unforgiving toward someone, mainly God. It is ok to be angry at God and tell Him how angry you are with Him, just don’t let go of Him. He understands and loves you. What happened to your loved one is not His fault and He did not do this to you. This is a broken world and He wants to help you navigate the brokenness we are faced with every turn of the day. We are in a broken world (see Genesis 3), but that is why Christ came to be our Savior!

3. Depression:

  • Sadness that will hit you like a wave and knock you down unexpectedly. Expect it but don’t stay in it. Know that this is just a stage and tell yourself that. Hang on to Christ! Get out and go do some things with your friends. Good friends can help you through these deeply sad times. Stay away from friends who will enable you in your hard days and encourage you to do things that are not healthy for a person going through this valley. They may be well-meaning, but they are not really helping. Many wrong choices can keep you in this place of darkness when you are meant to make it through it!! You are passing THROUGH the valley, hang on to Christ who is the source of our strength and hope! Let Him lead you through it!

You will feel at times like C.S. Lewis did in the loss of his wife.

“Her absence is like the sky, spread over everything.”   C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

For in grief nothing ‘stays put.’ One keeps on emerging from a phase, but it always recurs. Round and round. Everything repeats. Am I going in circles, or dare I hope I am on a spiral?   C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

 

4. Bargaining:

  • God, I will do __________(whatever) if you don’t let me experience this kind of pain again. Trust God and let him have your anxieties. So many times people make desperate deals with God. God loves you so much and wants to carry you through this – not to the place where you can say, “I made a deal with God,” but “God Himself carried me through the hardest days and helped me every step of the way.” He wants you to know His presence during this time, so you can rest in him and not be controlled by worry, fear, and anxiety.

5. Acceptance:

  • You made it through the valley. You have allowed the Lord to carry you through the valley of the shadow of death, to the other side where there is a new beginning. On the other side of this valley, there are sunshiny days, green meadows, and streams of running water – a beautiful place of healing and new beginnings. No, you will never forget your loved one. You should not forget them. This is a not a place of forgetting, but of a reordered life with a level of spiritual and emotional healing in your life.

If you get stuck in the valley and don’t really deal with your grief, you will be miserable. And when someone else dies not as close, but near you, it may open up all the repressed feelings you have. It can flood all over you. There is nothing wrong with letting it out.  But please take time for yourself and allow yourself to heal emotionally and spiritually.

 

Grief is like a long valley, a winding valley where any bend may reveal a totally new landscape.  C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

 

Weep and mourn the life you had in mind, but continually give it to God trusting Him to work in and through your life. Remember, you are passing through the valley! The valley is not your destiny. The place of healing on the other side of the valley is where Christ is leading you! Find your hope and help in the Shepherd as He leads you through this dark place.

There is a blessing on the other side of the valley.

 

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.” Psalm 23:5

A table? Not a real table, but a lush green flat easy-to-walk-on plateau far above the dark valley below. The place of safety and blessing for the sheep, farm above all the enemies that tried to destroy them in the valley. There is a new beginning once you make it through the valley. A new day has come. A new normal has come. The deepest pain is gone. You don’t hurt like you do now. Let Jesus carry you through the valley, He will help you; He will heal you; He won’t give you a life of regrets but of healing & blessing.

The Promise of Being with Christ Jesus Forever.

 

Your forever home is Heaven! God is leading you through this valley and this life to get you to your real home, Heaven!

 

“ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.” Psalm 23:6

Those who follow Christ have the promise of being with Him forever. It is the place called Heaven, the House of the Lord, the dwelling place of God. Jesus said it this way, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” (John 10:27)

Nov 06
Love0

Bed’s for a young homeless couple and their baby!

By ShowLove

Bed’s for a young homeless couple and their baby!

This young couple is just trying to survive, when most young people their age are having the best times of their lives. Imagine having an alcoholic abusive dad, and then your mom having to run away from the abuse. That is what happened to this young lady. She escaped the situation by staying with some friends. Then this 18 and 19 year old found themselves with a beautiful baby boy and homeless.

We were so thankful that we got to help them with beds, especially a baby bed for their beautiful baby boy!!! We shared with them how Christ loves them and how His life can make an eternal difference in their lives. Dad and mom are great people! This young baby boy has good parents! 

We are so thankful for our generous supporters who make changing lives like this possible! You put the smile on their faces!!!

We are so thankful we are able to Show the love of Christ to our city and SHARE the love of Christ as we go!

If you would like to help sponsor a family and support the work of this ministry, please see our Ways To Give page. We want you to experience the joy we have in doing this!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
3 To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;

Isaiah 61:1-3

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Nov 05
Love2

The Next Revival & Great Awakening

By Christian Living

Can America see another Great Revival and Spiritual Awakening?

Bill Stevens

November 8, 2017

PRINTABLE PDF DOWNLOAD

American Christians yearn for the Holy Spirit of God to move and usher in the next national Revival and Great Awakening, but it may not come.

A group of hungry Kingdom seekers prayed and the Holy Spirit of God moved mightily across the colonies in the early 1700’s ushering in what history calls, “The First Great Awakening.” History books call it a time of “religious fervor” but it was Sovereign God moving across this land bringing people to Himself, influencing the founding fathers as young men, and bringing hundreds of thousands into the Kingdom in a matter of months. We fully became a Christian nation overnight.

 

In the 1800’s another group of hungry Kingdom seekers prayed again, then God moved again in what we know as “The Second Great Awakening” and swept down the eastern seaboard and moved heavily in the southern states. Hundreds of thousands came to know and follow Christ in a matter of months, and churches were started all over the south.  It so affected the south, that it solidified the Christian heritage in the deep south.

 

People born in the communities touched by these movements have been born to spiritual-privilege. They know what it is like to experience the love of Christ through many people when life hits them wrong. Even the most rebellious and even evil of people have Christ followers speaking love and truth into their lives, praying for them, and showing them Christ’s love. When life hits wrong, the church – no matter the denomination – Christ followers show up to help those in need and to be there to comfort and pray for them.

 

Imagine being raised in a community and state where there was virtually no Christian presence and the hope of Christ was not present or presented. That is the case with most western states. They look for hope in everything in the world, but Christ Himself.

 

Have you ever wondered why the western states are mostly non-Christian, with non-Christian values, and many antagonistic to Christianity? Most of the western states have around 8% legitimate followers of Christ. That is 92% that do not have a personal relationship with Christ.

 

Why? There has not been a real “Third Great Awakening” which moved across the USA through the western states, ushering hundreds of thousands into a relationship with Christ in a matter of months. We have NOT seen anything like this, and we may not see it either.

 

Revival and Awakening is based upon a big IF.

 

“If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.”  II Chronicles 7:14

 

What if the reason we haven’t seen true revival and awakening is because we have substituted a cultural form of Christianity for so long that we hardly recognize the real thing? I have been guilty of the following and believe we have strayed as a generation in a number of areas.

 

First, are we as American Christians really paying the price in prayer, seeking God’s presence like those who did it for us in the 1700’s and the 1800’s?  Those followers of Christ paid a dear price in time, effort, and spiritual war to seek God to move across the land. This is not a value in most churches. What’s valued? The next event, program, silver-bullet sermon, worship experience, and not disturbing too many of the wrong people so the pastor won’t lose his job. I understand, I have been there and done that for 22 years. I have been as guilty as the next guy.

 

Second, we may be more like Jonah than Jesus in a few ways. Jonah and the people of his day loved their nation more than their neighbor. Jonah despised those who had radically different political and theological views than he did. He would rather them go to hell than have a liberal or someone with different religious beliefs live next door to him.

 

Third, do we really want God’s will to be done and HIS Kingdom to come? God just wanted to send an awakening to Nineveh, a godless immoral city of 600,000 people. He wanted the greatest revival and awakening to happen in the most godless place on the planet. These people made ISIS look like playground bullies. Jonah would rather “nuke-em till the glow and shoot-em in the dark” than reach out with the love of Christ to those who hate the USA. Friends, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only thing that will change a person’s heart.

 

Last, have we rejected the power of God for the means of man? Have we substituted the political ways of man to achieve the work of God?  Trying to solve a spiritual problem with political means never works. Protesting and picketing the abortion issue has done little over the past 40 years to quell the tsunami of abortions. I heard of one man who met families outside of abortion clinics, who did not wave a sign or chant a slogan, but simply offered to pay for the birth of the baby and to help the family financially raise them. He was not independently wealthy, but he trusted God to provide for those families through his work, and God did! Real love is demonstrated by bearing the burdens of one another. Until we seek His Kingdom come, His will be done, HIS way, we won’t see the power of God come upon this nation once again.

 

I hope we as a nation don’t have to experience the pain and agony that Jonah did. Jonah so refused to love his neighbor and desire for them to know God that he was put in a horrible pit, of a whale’s belly, until he would obey. Even then he obeyed with a bad attitude.

 

Will we see Revival and Awakening?  I believe it all depends on our heart. If our heart is for Christ’s love to fill us and flow through us to whosoever, then we may very well! But if our goal is to regain some golden age of patriotism, nationalism, and religious dominance, then I believe we can’t expect more than what Jonah got. Until we really mean it when we sing, “I surrender all” to the Kingship and Lordship of Jesus then we cannot expect to see His Presence here.

 

My heart’s desire is to see God’s people seeking Him across this land, seeking His presence, turning from the wrong ways of trying to handle spiritual problems, and sharing the message of Christ to whosoever because the Gospel of Christ is the power of God to salvation! Every great revival and awakening has begun with a passionate group of Kingdom seekers faithfully praying for the presence of the Spirit of God to sweep across their nation. What will God say about you and your loyalties to the values of Jonah or to those of Jesus?

 

What will history say about you? Will it say that you were part of the repentant group that prayed until God swept across this land once again, bringing millions to Himself overnight, changing America back to a Christian nation once again?

 

“The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”  1 Timothy 1:5

Bill Stevens

Bill@TheWellLoveland.com

 

DOWNLOAD AS A PRINTABLE PDF

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Oct 09
Love0

Don’t Give Up! There is Hope for Today!

By Hope For Today

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Romans 15:13

 

God wants you to have hope that things will get better and that He will carry you through every obstacle you face! You may be thinking that your life is such a mess, your family is so messed up, your decisions have destroyed you, or maybe life just took such a bad turn and you see no way out. There is hope to get through it. God wants you to know He loves you and is not out to get you!

 

You may feel so hopeless, like you are dying of thirst and lost in a desert. But here comes Jesus with jugs of cold spring water to and an umbrella to get you out of the heat, quench your thirst, and to fill you with life again! And to give you a fullness of joy knowing that He is with you! And to give you hope that you are going to make it out of this very dry-empty-hard place and he is going to bring you to a place of joy, peace, and laughter again. When Jesus shows up in your situation, you are not only filled with joy, but with peace as well.

 

God’s Peace is the removal of the inner conflict in your life that comes from worry, anxiety, and fear of the future possibilities. But God’s peace also removes the anger and frustration from your soul in the right now. It is a supernatural touch of God that we all need everyday!

 

This is God’s promise to you! This powerful touch of God is available for you right now! It is activated by believing – real faith in Jesus, who is the God of hope! Faith that you are going to follow Him, listen for His direction, and that He is capable to deliver you through and from any circumstance or situation! He will move in power when you seek Him in faith to help you overcome!

 

So, turn to Christ today, stop fighting against Him, and ask Him to lead you through your troubles. Read His Word, the Bible, (start in the Gospel of Luke or John) and write down the trouble people had and how Jesus overcame it for them! There was nothing impossible for Him then and there is nothing impossible for Him today! Seek Him and ask Him to do this for you!

 

Keep saying this today: I have hope, peace, and joy because my Great God is able to deliver me through or from every problem!

Pray this today: Father, fill me with joy and peace today because my faith is in Jesus to deliver me through or from every problem I am facing! You are my hope!

Memorize Romans 15:13 and let His word change your life.

Remember! Don’t ever – ever – ever give up!!! There is hope, no matter how bad it looks!

 

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Sep 23
Love0

So what do you say?

By Hope For Today

So what do you say?

    So what do you say should be done to the woman you just caught sleeping with ….

  • Your husband?
  • Your brother?
  • Your father?
  • Your best friend?
  • Your neighbor?
  • Your brother-in-law?

Homewrecker! Hoe! Slut! That is what would be posted on every social media account we can think of.

Some guys caught this woman in bed with a friend of theirs and sent him packing, but decided to make an example of her by having her killed, publicly!

They wanted to stone her to death. Stoning? Picture this! An angry mob with lots of soft-ball size rocks throwing them at her head like a carnival game. The first one and the last one get the prize! Well, no prize but you get the picture of the viciousness of this kind of execution. Instant justice by the public.

Jesus was teaching a large crowd one day and this happened…

“The religion scholars and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery. They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said, “Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say?” They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring charges against him.” John 8:1-5

There is no shortage of self-righteous hypocrites today trolling around with big rocks, ready to throw them at someone who breaks their religious rules. Today they may not use real rocks, but they will “kill you” with their tongue. Jesus had them everywhere during His days on earth as well, but they used real rocks, baseball sized ones! There was a real group of people called Pharisees who saw themselves as the religious enforcers during the day of Jesus. Jesus called them “hypocrites,” which was their word for an actor in play, someone who pretended to be something they were not. They were fakers.

So WWJD? They wanted to know to trap Him. But as the kids in my home neighborhood would say, “He don’t play!” Jesus didn’t play their games, especially bullies. He bent down and wrote in the sand, with this angry mob around him with stones in their hands the woman in the judgment seat.

Jesus knew everything they thought, why they were doing what they were doing, and how it would play out. Jesus is God, but they didn’t get it. Their idea of God was far from the reality of who God really is, so that is why God became a man, Christ Jesus, to demonstrate and reveal to humanity who God really is.

We don’t know what he wrote in the sand that day, God’s Word the Bible does not say. It may have been the names of these men’s side chicks, their hidden sins, their past sins, or just the Big Ten – the Ten Commandments of God.
But we do know this…

“Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, “The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone.” Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt. Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest.” John 8:6-9

Something got through to their hard revenge-filled heart, willing to run over a woman and kill her for the sake of hurting someone else’s reputation. The oldest left first… I guess those who have been around the block a few more times, learn a little quicker in their older age. I told one guy the other day, I am not the kind of pastor who throws stones at people. He said something very wise. “I have found when I throw stones at others, they bounce back and hit me.” There is a great deal of truth in that statement!

So Jesus told them, the one without sin could begin the stoning party and he went back to writing in the sand. And they all left.
“The woman was left alone. Jesus stood up and spoke to her. “Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?” “No one, Master.” “Neither do I,” said Jesus. “Go on your way. From now on, don’t sin.” John 8:9-11

Wow! Totally unexpected turn of events! Jesus did not condemn her. Not only did he not condemn her, he stood between her guilty self and certain death. She was guilty and the law of the day actually said she and the guy in adultery should be stoned to death. But Jesus is about redeeming, restoring, forgiving, adopting, assuring, and transforming a person from what they should not be to the person they should be. It is called GRACE!

Grace is the unexpected, undeserved, loving favor of God to do what we are not capable of doing. For this woman, grace meant removing the guilt, shame, condemnation, and real punishment from over her life! It is called the love of God!

Jesus came to give life! He didn’t bring condemnation. He came like a strong life-guard swimming out to us as we were drowning in guilt, shame, and condemnation to extend to us a life-raft to save us! He is our rescuer, our Savior!

He did not leave her without boundaries either.

He said “Go and sin no more.” He simply told her, what you have been doing is wrong. Stop it or it will destroy your life and the lives of others. He did not approve of her behavior at all. He told her with a great demonstration of love that God loves her in spite of her behavior, and that she need to make much better choices in the future.

Jesus brought grace and truth. Demonstrated love to us personally and clear instruction from God’s Word how life should be and our lives should be. Grace forgives and fills us with joy and truth keeps us in the place of joy! He took all of our guilt, shame, and condemnation when he died on the cross! His resurrection proves he can forgive our sin and give us new life!

If you think you have blown it, you haven’t!!! God loves you and wants to forgive, restore, redeem, and transform your life! He wants you to be filled with joy and know His love for you!

Ask God today to help you receive His gracious forgiveness and walk in His truth!
Blessings
Pastor Bill

Bill@TheWellLoveland.com

 

Sep 23
Love0

Beds for homeless babies and abused single mom!

By ShowLove

Beds for formerly homeless abused single-moms & babies!

The joyous squeal of the formerly homeless 10 month old baby boy climbing on to his own bed is something I never want to forget!! We were able to help two different unrelated single-moms this past week. Both of their stories begin similarly as abused wives in very dangerous relationships. One western state and another from an eastern state, who both sought refuge in Colorado and landed strangely enough in Loveland.

No pictures of faces of these families for their safety.

On the same day we were able to help these two families!

Northern Colorado Family #1

She was an abused mom from a western state, with a 2 year old and a 10 month old, landing in Loveland, Colorado with no contacts and no friends here. She found help at a local house for abused women, but homeless. This Christian ministry shelter counseled her, took her through their program, helped her get a job in a local school, and provided an air mattress for her and her babies. This went on for 3 months and then she was able to get an apartment at a low income apartment complex, but she had nothing but clothes.

She told us that she was reasoning within herself saying that she could do without a kitchen table and a couch, but she really needed beds for her and her babies.

With a little help from her kids (2 yr old & 10 month old) my family and I were able to get her new beds & furniture together!

Through the help of our support partners, we were able to provide

  • A bed for her, and a twin bed for her toddler, and a baby bed for her little 10 month old tyke!

  • A glider rocker for her and her babies.

  • A cube organizer to act as a dresser.

  • A futon couch and a folding table with some sturdy safe chairs.

The little girl wanted everyone in the house to see her bed!

The little boy crawled at a feverish pace to get to his new bed and sit on it! I will never forget his joyous squeal, but also I will never forget it because it took us 3 times to get the blessed thing together!!

We prayed and thanked God for allowing us to be part of the answer to her prayers! We thanked the God of the Bible who redeems our lives, forgives our sins, answers our prayers, and give us a new hope and future. His name is Jesus! We have a good-good Father who is not abusive!

Pray for her and her babies as she starts this new life!

We could not have done this without our financial support partners!

And we could not have done this without our spiritual prayer partners who prayed for us to have openings like this!

We need both of these streams to continue this kind of work! Thank you all again!

Northern Colorado Family #2

No pictures of faces of these families for their safety.

This dear lady and her children came from a violently abusive relationship, and when her older daughter (20) was able to get her tax refund from working at a fast-food restaurant, they ran away from this violently abusive relationship. I was grieved hearing their pain, and I cannot write nor will I write all the evil that had happened to this family and the terrible grief they had been through.

This mom and kids had gone a few steps further down the line than the other family. They had been able to move from air mattresses to real mattresses, but they were on the floor. So we were able to get them some box springs and bed frames.

My family and I know what it is like to sleep on the floor for months. You never get rested, the bed never feels right, and as soon as your roll out you realize you are still in a terrible situation because you cannot even sit on the side of your bed, like one should be able to. If you have never been there, thank Jesus. If you have, you know the ongoing grief that this does to a family, but you also know the joy of simply having a real bed to sit on and sleep on.

Thank you again for your prayers and financial support! It not only means the world to us, but to these families now as well!!

 

If you would like to help support this kind of work, then please sign up on our SERVE 970 page to volunteer and/or you can help contribute financially to this work. The only way we can do this kind of ministry to help the community is through the donations of our partners.

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Sep 17
Love0

You can’t get there from here! God’s Guidance

By Hope For Today

 

You can’t get there from here

I could see a huge outcropping of rock in the distance that beckoned me as I sat in the opening session at my first silent retreat in a palatial ranch estate in the mountains outside of Denver. But there was a problem, I could not get there from here. My high school geometry teacher taught that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. My college football defensive lineman coach said the same thing, which meant you just go through whatever is in front of you to achieve the objective. Clearly that is not the best advise for navigating the obstacles between us and what God has called us to do.

If I had taken the straight path, I would had gone down a treacherous rocky mountainside, through a thicket, through a dense forest, and gotten knee deep in water, and scaled a 30’ rock face to get there. But the wise, thicket scarred wet to the knees King Solomon said, “with humility comes wisdom.”

My journey to the call began by walking away from the direction of the objective to achieve my ultimate objective, sitting on top those rocks overlooking the valley and the beautiful brook flowing through it. I started away from the direction of the rock and walked down the backside of a mountain to the bottom. I could have sat down and spent my time at a picnic table on the way down, but it didn’t feel right and I would have missed out on the glorious adventure.

At the bottom of the hill, I took a hard turn back toward the rock. Going away I could not see the vision of the rock anymore. All I could see was a path downward away from the goal. I hoped it would open up, but I didn’t know. But at the bottom of the hill it did open up and as I turned back, the vision was before me again. Clearer and closer, and more exciting than in the beginning. As I walked from side to side down a rocky boulder strewn pasture leading to the valley below, I could see it was still further than I anticipated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The beautiful babbling creek in the bottom of the valley begging to be fished, but I was heading to the rock, overlooking the valley. There were not cows in the pasture, but there was still the problem of bogs and cow piles. Life can lead us through places where we can trip and fall into a cow pile, or just step into it. Fortunately, this time, my steps were sure, but the brook twisted, curved, and was deeper than I expected. As I wandered around in the pasture following the creek and again I walked away from the vision to get to where I could cross somewhat easily. God had made a path through the water, a solid sandbar of rocks and pebbles that was crossed with just a little hop and a jump.

 

Then there was the climb up the mountain to get to the rock. I always wondered why the patariarch Abraham stopped in Haran and took a looping path to the promised land. He was tired! He had to stop and rest for a while! Sometimes we over spiritualize things and what we need to do is stop and rest for a while. Jesus took Peter, James, and John upon the mountain to pray. I am certain there was no easy path to the top and that they had to stop and rest along the way.

I made it up the mountain to the foot of the rock, but it was 30 feet tall straight up. I was still 30 feet from where I wanted to be, and I was not about to attempt climbing it, so I kept walking up around it, and then I see it.  God had made a stairway so I could step up those 30 feet to where my eyes first fell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Such is the nature of following God’s call upon our lives. It can be more difficult than He wants it to be or it can seem like it will take forever.  But it is just a walk with Him up, down, through, and around obstacles with our Good Shepherd, if we hear his voice and follow him. It is imperative to stay tuned to the Shepherd’s voice.

He is on top of the place where He wants to take you. He can see every step you need to take and save you from lots of painful steps if you will have faith that his steps are the right steps and you stay attuned to his voice.

The path back is going to be much easier. I know where to go. I could bring someone back with me now, much easier and faster if they would listen to me. We need others in our lives who have already been there and done that, and willing to coach us in the steps along the way. See with humility comes wisdom.

Father, you are so good in your ways. You are our good-good Father who has a plan for our life and you want to carry us to places we could never imagine!

How did I know where to begin this journey?

At the ranch, I could not see a path to the rock, the place that beckoned me. All I away was hardship and the prospect of pain looking out through the thicket. But when I drew near to the cross, I began seeing a path. The closer I got to the cross, the more visible I could see the path down the mountain.

The cross is always the beginning point of every journey to where God is calling you. The Good Shepherd knows the way, has gone the way, and wants to show you the way personally.

 

 

Lord, help me to be as gentle and leadable as a sheep. Protect me from my own stubborn streak and the inner desire to follow my own ways. Thank you for leading, guiding, directing, and protecting in the calling upon each of us. Lead me in the path to the place you would have me to be.

Knowing Christ means knowing the Lord Jesus as your Shepherd who leads you and guides you along life’s journeys.

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell[a] in the house of the Lord
Forever.

 

Aug 17
Love0

Single working mom, going through surgery.

By ShowLove

This week we were able to help a single mom who is having surgery and will be out of work for the week. We love families and it’s a joy to get to help meet the tangible needs of this mom and her kids!

We are so thankful for YOU, our supporting partners, who know the need of giving hope to people in their times of need!!!

Jesus said, “Do to others as you would like them to do to you.” Luke 6:31

 

Aug 17
Love0

Groceries for a single mom and her children.

By ShowLove

I don’t want to tell you how upset I was when I found out this wonderful stay-at-home mom’s husband left and refused to pay for the needs of his family.

There are some things in life that should upset and anger you. This is called injustice.

The Well was able to bless this mom and help her get groceries and gas to take care of her children.

The Bible tells us that God takes care of the fatherless, widows, and those who are defenseless. And He calls and expects His followers to be his hands and feet here in helping them. We got the blessing of being able to help this family.

“Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.”

Psalms 68:5

 

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