Blessings – Flying Above

March 31, 2023March 31, 2023

Not Worthy, But Welcomed & Wanted

Acts 10

Acts 10 is an enormous blessing to me and to all who are not Jewish. It’s in Acts 10 where Gentiles are grafted into the family of God.

The cross is our beginning and the testimony in Acts 10 is our blessing. It is the fulfillment of John 3:16. For God so loved the world…….not just part of the world – the whole world – Jews and Gentiles. Hallelujah!!

God loved me so much that He did all this for me. I can’t wrap my head or my heart around it. I’m not worthy. And that is exactly the point.

None of us is worthy, but we are all welcome & wanted.

One of the main characters in Acts 10 is Cornelius, a centurion of a battalion. He was a commanding officer.

I am very familiar with command. My husband was a squadron commander of a C-17 squadron during 9/11. The weight of responsibility is quite significant. The actions and beliefs of a commander affect the troops under him or her. And so it was with Cornelius.

Cornelius feared God and his household also. He gave alms to the Jewish people, meaning he supported them perhaps mostly in a financial way. And Acts states Cornelius prayed to God continually. His lifestyle and beliefs would have spilled over into all areas of his life. It’s merely speculation on my part, but from my military experience, I surmise he was an honest, fair, righteous and trustworthy commander. He would have been a commander that his troops respected and followed without question.

I love that God noticed him, call out to him and commended him in verse 4. It must have thrilled Cornelius’ heart to have that from God, even though he was a Gentile. Extraordinary !!

Though unworthy, God chose Cornelius & Peter to usher Gentiles into God’s family. All who were there received forgiveness, the Holy Spirit and then were baptized.

Not worthy, but welcomed and wanted. God is just that amazing. God loves extravagantly. God is not prejudiced and He welcomes all.

The Jews are God’s chosen people. Thank you God for choosing me too, and grafting me into your family. You welcome me and you want me even though I’m unworthy. Praise you……….both now & forevermore.

Peace & Blessings friends………………..

March 29, 2023March 31, 2023

When We Listen & Obey

Acts 8

In Acts 8, I’m struck by the account of Philip and the Ethiopian eunich. what strikes me is that Philip listened to the angel of the Lord and then obeyed – he went where the angel told him to go.

It seems pretty straightforward as far as Bible reading goes. But do I/do we simply read it through and neglect to see it play out in our own life?

When we accept God’s gift of salvation, we receive the Holy Spirit. So for us in this current day, we don’t encounter angels, at least not usually; although angels are among us, but are often not recognized till later, if at all.

So for us, it is a prompting from the Holy Spirit within us to go to someone, write a letter or card, send an email or text. Maybe we are prompted to do something specific like take them some food, ask them to join us for lunch, or simply go sit with them in a church service or other venue. Perhaps it’s to go stand by them when you notice they are standing with a group, but no one is engaging with them. It could be when a new neighbor moves in or when there’s a loss in the family and you are prompted to make banana bread to share with them.

I believe it’s all these things. I’ve seen it play out over and over in my life.

While I always did these things sporadically over the years, I see now that sometimes I listened but never followed through. I conveniently forgot or was too busy or much worse – chose not to respond. Yikes!

I’m sure I’m not the only one with the sin of omission in their lives. Sin of omission is knowing what to do and then not doing it.

Often I find the Holy Spirit prompts me simply by bringing someone to mind. Most often when this happens, it is a prompt to pray for them. Praise God I do believe I do much better at this than I used to. It’s certainly not any goodness in me. It is God’s growing me to be more like Him. It’s showing me time & time again the blessing of praying for the person.

With so much negativity in the world, I pray we will pay attention, listen to the Holy Spirit’s promptings and then obey. Even though people talk about “random acts of kindness”, I’m not sure I believe they are random for Christians. Because of Christ in us, the hope of glory, I believe He helps us make godly choices/kingdom choices. It doesn’t matter if it’s seemingly spontaneous or carefully thought out. All of our obedience in being kind to others matters.

May we all pray that God opens our eyes and our ears. And may we not only listen, but obey. May our kind deeds bear witness to the faith we profess and hold so dear.

Peace & Blessings friends………………………

June 22, 2017

Going Home. . .

John 1: 16 “From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another.”

I have just finished a wonderful week home, where I grew up. Home – where Tracy & I met. Home – where so many memories were made in the 20 years before getting married and moving away. My mind & heart embraced more memories than I could write about here. Each day I experienced smells, sights, sounds, people, that flooded my mind with memories – funny, strange, happy, sad, and every other one you can think of. They are all blessings!!!!!

There are many verses in God’s word that talk about blessings. I chose this one because this is how I experienced them – – “one gracious blessing after another.” You would expect that I would tell you the people were the most important. Yes – they were so very important. But the thing about this visit was that every place I re-visited, every sound, touch, taste, smell, everything evoked memories of people……………even if that people was me. (smile)

While there in the Binghamton/Tri-Cities/Owego area, I visited my high school, my college, each home I lived in, the home/area where Tracy grew up, where I met him, where we dated, the summer site at Cayuga lake where our family spent so much of our summers – oh my, so many memories, and the Mead Farm. The Mead Farm is where I stayed………………….it was just perfect………in a room upstairs in the farmhouse, quilt on the bed, cows in the barn, & field, farm equipment here and there and that wonderful aroma that perhaps only those of us who grew up in the country could appreciate. Old memories………..New memories…………..”one gracious blessing after another.”

The main reason I flew home was to speak at the Induction Ceremony for Tracy. He was inducted onto the Wall of Fame. My cousin, Bonnie Mead, was my date. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and then the ceremony. I’m not sure how to describe the honor to speak on my husband’s behalf. I looked out at faces of people who knew neither me nor Tracy and they teared up, listened intently, celebrated with me. It was extraordinary! My heart was sad, and yet full, proud, honored, soaring.

God put this whole trip together. There’s no way around it. From the very moment Bonnie tagged me on Facebook about the ceremony, everything fell into place. Within 4 weeks I was purchasing tickets, arranging car rental, place to stay etc. etc. etc. God spoke to my heart over and over and showed me that yes, indeed, I was supposed to go home. Now was the time. Blessings.

Isn’t that how God works? When we are in His will & seeking his face, He is so very faithful. I don’t deserve His favor and yet He gives it to me. I love Him so much for that. After all, who am I? Why should I enjoy “one gracious blessing after another”? I’m not sure why He chose to bless me with this trip. It’s at this point that I am so very glad He is the Author of the Play. He sees the end from the beginning. So I trust Him. I simply trust Him.