Is more like a smolder these days.....

 It's 2011
Already so very many changes have taken place in my life!

and I am NOT liking them!

What can I say? I am not a happy camper....I have never been one for change.

Even when I was the instigator. 

BUT, what can you do? Life is what it is. As much as we like to think we can control the timing of and how things turn out in our lives but  we can't.

Oh we can "set goals".....but the truth of the matter is....ultimately, we only have as much control over lives as the Heavenly Father sees fit to give us and we will only live here on this earth long enough to carry those goals out 

 as long as he has deemed for us to. 

So, here I sit in an entirely different  place than I was last year about this time. Last year same time I was in a comfortable place in my life. I had wonderful church family, close friends, family life was good, work was ok....Now my life is not so comfortable; everything has changed. I feel like an orphan. I don't have a church family,  my father died pretty suddenly last summer, apparently I am going to be a grandma sometime very soon....but I never hear from my grown children any more, my best friend in this world is permanently moving away and work has become a major source of angina for me with it's ever changing expectations and goals.

Well....sorry for all the MAJOR "Woe is ME!"....but there IS a an end to all of this. I truly do trust in the Lord through and in all of this.  

I can't possibly be the only one who feels this way. Even if there is only one other person out there who struggles with change and with the thought of, "Why?"...."Why is all tis happening to me when I have be faithful and obedient to you Lord?"

Guess what? Just because it may seem as though things aren't going right doesn't mean  you are doing something wrong!

That is right!

Just take a look inside the Word of the Lord! There are so many examples of Men of God (and women) who were obedient to the voice of the Lord and were lead into the desert or into AN UNKNOWN LAND.

Such as Abram.

God called Abram to leave his comfortable place, his family...everything, and go to a place that was unknown to him.

Abram is just one of so many. Ruth and Naomi, Moses, David,  and Joseph and Mary, Apostle Paul...so many others.

The key here is obedience.

I may not "like" the change. That is just my human nature, which BTW I am working on changing day by day!....But I am embracing the change because I know deep down inside that it is God ordained! I know the Lord goes before me. I have a peace deep down inside my soul that supersedes my dislike and so I keep a steady pace and I don't give up but keep on keepin' on as I set my eye on the prize set before me! Life eternal with my Lord!

As for all the temporal  things? They shall have their time....as it is ordained by the Almighty....and I trust and I am learning every day to trust more and more in HIM, my savior, that He knows what is best for me!

His timing.....NOT mine!

God’s Time

It’s hard sometimes to understand, God’s great, all knowing and mighty hand.

We see our world in limited view, knowing our need; at least we think we do.

We do our best to live obediently, without complaint, expediently.

Not comparing ourselves to one another, not being jealous of sister or brother.

Somehow, some way, hard as we try, we just can’t help but wonder why;

God seems to have overlooked our need, and still has neglected to water our seed.

As hard as it is to understand, God’s great, all knowing and mighty hand.

Let us remember his motive is pure love, he looks over us all, from his throne above.

His vision encompasses our entire life, from beginning to end, every joy; every strife.

He knows the plans he has for us, they are good not evil, in this we must trust.

Knowing down deep within our hearts, through all the tears and false starts;

God’s Word is ever and always true; HE will always see his promises through.

If we fully delight ourselves in Him, not just in part, he will give us the desires of our heart.

Amy Colleen

What You Want ....

What You Want From Me

A Song from the Lord

  

Your heart Lord;

 What you want of me, oh Lord.

To sit with you and listen to the desire of your heart;

To hear you tell me how you care, oh Lord.

To sit in silence, wonder and awe.

This is what little you want me to do.

**

And still I say, “What can I do for you?”

Precious Lord, Holy Master.

Tell me, “What can I do for you?”

I want to please you.

**

Still nothing has changed for you.

You want me to be with you.

Be with you.

Come be with me ~ is all you say to me.

 Come be with me.

**

And still I say, “ What can I do for you?”

Precious Lord, Holy master.

Tell me, “WHAT can I do for you?”

I want to please you.

Still nothing has changed for you.

You want me to be with you.

Be with you.

Come be with me ~ is all you say to me.

 Come be with me.

Still nothing has changed for you.

 You want me to be with you.

Be with you.

 Come be with me ~ is all you say to me.

 Come be with me ~ is all you want from me.

Come be with me.

Amy Colleen ~ Copyright 

"Out with the OLD and IN with the NEW!" As the saying goes.

Farewell yet another year! UN-believable!

Where has the time gone?

I would have to say that 2010 has been one of thee most emotionally challenging years I have had in my entire life....easily....and I am happy to wish it a found ado!
 I can only hope, pray and trust that 2011 will bring some what less of a tsunami of emotional and physical trials my way. If not at least that I will have learned how better to walk in the peace afforded me through Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus our Messiah).
What with all the relational challenges in my life, (in and out of the family), changes in leadership at church, at work, conquering nasty melanoma and breaking multiple bones in my body at differing times; and deaths in my immediate family,  (just to name a "few" )...I am ready for a NEW Year to begin!
"Out with the OLD and IN with  the NEW!" As the saying goes.

So whatcha' say? anyone care to join me?

I really have no idea what 2011 holds for me. It very well may be just as hard as 2010, for all I know. But I am bound and determined NOT to look back no matter what!

If there is ONE thin I know for sure. It is that the Lord loves me. HE has brought me through all of this. HE has allowed me to go through 2010.....and I made it through. The waters rose high and they did not over take me; the fire burned hot but it did not consume me. People, friends and family turned away from me, but HE, the Lord, stayed right by my side and in fact when I could go no further, HE carried me.

The Lord showed me a secret place inside the mountain.
When I cried out to Him, "Lord I can not climb this mountain! I can not!"
The Lord answered, "My precious Amy. I am not asking you to climb the mountain. Follow me inside the mountain."

That's when He shared with me about wisdom and knowledge being the true treasures of life. How they are learned through life's struggles. Then He went on to compare them to the treasures found INSIDE the mountains caves.  As the Lord spoke to me I had a vision of what He was saying.

"Although the mountain top is beautiful," the Lord said, "and most everyone sets their sights on reaching the top of the mountain, the deepest darkest part of the caves is where the most precious treasures are found. One must first find the cave then dig deep and mine into the wall of the cave to find precious rubies and sapphire and diamonds. On the wall of the cave you'll find gold dust to get to the purest gold you need to dig deep inside."

I was utterly amazed at what the Lord was showing me and telling me.....He continued by sharing with me about King David.....and all the time he spent in the caves and what he wrote in the caves; all the wisdom that came forth from his time spent INSIDE the mountain caves. The Lord also shared about Apostle Paul and his time in prison (or in a cave) and ALL the "nuggets of treasures" that came forth from his time as well and John and others as well.

This was quite a beautiful time I had with the Lord. As always ....this time seemed especially healing for me  though.

And so I look especially forward to what ever 2011 holds for me...and who ever my precious Master allows in my life.

May the Lord Bless you as well this coming New Year!!
AmyColleen


p.s. I Miss you

YES!... G-D is STILL and Always in Control!!!

This is AWESOME! This Torah-Bite (weekly teaching from Torah) actually goes hand in hand with what my Pastor from Montgomery Assembly spoke on Sunday! Awesome! Pastor Dave Sunday Dec. 12, 2010 Va-Yehi For the week of December 18, 2010 / 11 Tevet 5771 Torah: Bereshit / Genesis 47:28 - 50:26 Haftarah: 2 Melachim / 2 Kings 2:1-12  Misinformed Feelings When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him." So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, "Your father gave this command before he died, 'Say to Joseph, Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.' And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father." Joseph wept when they spoke to him. (Bereshit / Genesis 50:15-17; ESV) Just as God revealed to Joseph in dreams years before, God placed him in a position of power over his family. No one could have guessed the context in which this would occur. Second only to Pharaoh in Egypt, Joseph administered a massive food program which sustained not only Egypt during a severe famine, but also the surrounding region. Joseph's brothers had no clue that when they plotted against him they were seeking to destroy the very person God had planned to use to save them. In a way only God can do, he used Joseph's brothers' violent hatred of him as the means by which Joseph was put into a position to preserve not only their own lives, but the destiny of their whole nation. Imagine what it must have been like for the brothers to spend the rest of their lives in Egypt under the good graces of Joseph. I am sure they were well aware of how blessed they were in a material sense, having suffered through the first years of the famine. At the same time, it must have been very difficult emotionally. We know this from our passage. They had figured that Joseph was only being kind to them for their father's sake. They thought that once Jacob had died, they would be the targets of Joseph's vengeance. It is most likely that the message they sent to Joseph about Jacob's request regarding forgiving them was fabricated. But they were understandably scared of what Joseph might do to them. After all, they deserved retribution for their evil, and Joseph had it in his power to severely mistreat them. But note Joseph's response to them. He wept. Joseph was heartbroken that they thought the way they did. As we saw last week, Joseph regarded God as having the upper hand in his ordeal. He knew that God was using him to preserve his family. He had no animosity towards them, his graciousness toward his brothers was firmly rooted in his trust in God. I don't blame the brothers for not being quick to accept where Joseph was at. They certainly had not conducted their own lives this way. If the roles would have been reversed, then they may have taken advantage of their position of power and insist on retribution. They couldn't fathom that someone could forgive, accept, and love them as Joseph did. I wonder if God weeps for us much like Joseph did for his brothers. How often do we relate to God, not on the basis of reality, but from misinformed feelings? He has done everything necessary so that we could be in an intimate relationship with him. Through the Messiah he has demonstrated to us his forgiveness, acceptance, and love. It is understandable that those who refuse to turn to him in repentance and trust would feel alienated from him, but those who have been reconciled to him have no reason to fear his rejection. One reason for being uncertain about how God relates to us could be due to serious unresolved issues in our lives. Having a sense of God's disapproval when we are involved in truly wrong things is appropriate. That sense of disapproval is a sign of God's work in our lives and should drive us to get right with him. But other times we are uncertain in our relationship with God due to misinformed feelings. This comes from basing our understanding of him more on how we see ourselves and life, than on how God has revealed himself. God, like Joseph, grieves over our how we allow our feelings to misinform us. When we begin to base our understanding of God on his own revelation of himself rather than upon our misinformed feelings, we will begin to relate to him in the way he longs for us to.

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