Dappled Peace And a Touch of British Isle

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Peace…be. 

I’m driving around town Sunday afternoon, searching out English countryside-style architecture and gardens to photograph for you here… when peace, gold-leafed with sunlight and shadows dancing across woodwork and stone and carved words of blessing and Old World doorways and pillars and wrought iron fretwork lanterns and gates, taps me on the shoulders.  Perches there… soft as…         pillowed rest.

Birds are chittering gleefully, merrily singing… winging… everywhere, punctuating otherwise quiet gardens with melodies of praise… running across stone bannisters and feathering their tiny footprints soft upon the ground…  as I ponder where else I’ve seen the quaint charm I’m seeking…

I remember the stately church on the corner of one of our most beautiful tree-lined streets — the one where one of our presidents grew up, sang His Sunday songs of worship in the pews, was married and later farewelled to heavenly realms from…beneath the pealing bells…

And stopping there with camera in hand, I find these words carved above the threshold…

Peace…be.

Little evidences of His heart…strewn and hidden and set about for me…and you… to find.  Here, there and everywhere.  Like a parent who has planted secret clues to a scavenger hunt… only these are more like lantern lights, flickering hope along the way home…

Reminding me, somehow,  of more…

Of inspiring quotes I saw handwritten on cards at a friend’s home the other night… truths about prayer and beauty and turning hearts to God lilt behind my eyes in memory, like sweet reflections through leaded-pane windows that lead to others…

Others… from His Word... verses I’ve penned out upon little 3×5′s and posted about my own home on fridge and sometimes on mirrors.  Places where my eyes will fall on them, and I will read them aloud, or whisper them to my spirit…  To say, Lord, I believe Your Word in my situations… more than I believe what seems to be … I’m thanking You that not one of Your promises has failed…  Words I’ve drunk daily, deeply, into my spirit in times of need, then watched Him bring to water into wine fruition in wholeness and deliverance and grace…

And of a tender story I heard the other night…  A mother, recounting a night of God’s wonder in her little boy’s room, as she prayed over her ill and deeply slumbering child.  Whispered out truths… praying from a place of victory He has already won, so that she was not battling for victory against the Enemy of our lives, but as Jesus did in the desert, holding up her sword of the Word from a place already in His victory…standing in heavenly armor…raising the shield of faith against the arrows coming against her son…

Lord, your word says he is healed by your stripes (1 Peter 2:24).  That You heal all our diseases (Psalm 103).  You set your angels about us to keep us from falling (Psalm 91).  The enemy has no right to us, we are washed in Your blood… You have told us to pray in the authority of Your Name above all names… Greater is He who is in us than he that is in the world…  In Jesus’ name I pray…

“A-MEN!” piped her child in his daytime voice, making her jump.

Shocked, she stole over to his bed… bent over.  But his chest was still quietly moving up and down, no sign of waking.

She resumed her whispers, and again as she came to the end, his little voice chimed in.  Amen!

How could he pray with her when he was asleep? she wondered, puzzled even as a thought warmed her.  His body may be asleep, but his spirit is awake to Me…

And in the morning… her boy was up and running and well…

Peace…be.

I remembered then… waking in the middle of the other night with a prayer tumbling out from my lips…  And how I’ve often wondered if God can have us actually praying while we sleep…

Though your body may be asleep… your spirit is awake to Me…

And as I step into a secret alcove of a garden spot around the corner of the church, into dappled sunlight and English lavender, I click my camera with that song of peace winging all around… in lyrics to an age-old psalm…

Sing Halleluia to the Lord…

(Thanking Him too, for bits of the England of my dreams even here in my own back yard…  )

Peace be to you and yours in this very moment…washing away every anxious thought…His dappled grace on your pillow this night.

©  Pam Depoyan

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    Heather

P.S.

Like the man behind the curtain, ignore the false date in front of the bush… ha.

Can any of you photographers out there tell this digital novice how to stop my little Vivitar digital camera from putting dates on my photos? 

The Heart of Our Father: I rise on You today!

God will bless you more than any other nation—your families will grow and your livestock increase.  You will no longer suffer with the same horrible diseases that you sometimes had in Egypt. You will be healthy… 

~ Deuteronomy 7:14-15, Contemporary English Version

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Keyword meanings as I seek Your Heart in these passages, Lord:

“Nation” God wants to bless =  Not referring now to an actual geographical country, but to “The spiritual place where the flock of Your pasture flourishes,”  those who choose You above idols and false gods, everyone who answers your knock (behold, I stand at the door and knock, whoever invites me in, I will come in and sup with them…), the lambs you carry on your shoulders, the center place in our lives where we choose Jesus and the Holy Spirit to live in and through us

“Egypt” =   Not talking any geographical place here, but the spiritual “land” we “lived in” when resisting Your wooing heart, the place we dwelt in apart from You,  any place or thing we have given home to in our lives that has blinded us with deception as to who You are or kept us bound with destructive lies and hopelessness

“Livestock” – the fruit of my labors, the work of my hands, the provision of my needs, blessed in and by Him that we may be His blessing to others as well

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   Prayer:

Father, what a wonder it is to know You sent Jesus to make me [fill in your own name] part of Your very own “nation” in the heavenly realms!  No longer a part of a nation against you…but ever more to live in You!

As I read this Deuteronomy passage – the Word not only to Your chosen People of Israel but to me, now, it’s Your Father-heart that leaps out at me!

On this earthly Father’s Day, I see my Heavenly Father, Who:

• Longs to bless me, not stone me… as Jesus said.

• Chooses to set me apart from those who don’t choose to follow, not to puff me up, but to show Yourself mighty, loving, true on my behalf – like you did for Daniel and Joseph and Your People, that others would say, Look what the God of Israel [and of Me!]  has done!  Surely HE is the one True God!   Just because…You love me.

• Desires that the world see You shine out of my Life, that they may turn longingly back to You.  As Isaiah 60 promises, You rise on me with Your light, and bring others to see You through it!

• Makes healing a part of this gift! Setting me free of diseases that the Enemy wants to put on me… the Enemy who wants to convince me that I deserve them, or that I have failed, or that I am doing penance for something Jesus already paid for, or that it is just something I just have no defense against.  The Enemy who wants to keep me bound, when You have broken my chains and tell me, take up your mat and walk!

• Is for me in ways beyond my imagination.  You want to bless not only me, but all those I love.  To make every area of my life to flourish like the palm tree, solid and growing in You, to walk in the light of blessing not curse, to be a living witness of Your grace won on the cross.
  

• Calls me to put on my heavenly armor (Ephesians 6) and stand in your promises.

Today I will let myself soak in the promise You hold out to me in Your word, no matter how I feel.  You make me healthy… and I praise You and hold up the shield of faith, put on the breastplate of Your righteousness,  against lies that tell me I must just succumb to sickness.  Because You have said it, I will hold up the banner of Your words against arrows coming against me… I WILL be healthy because my God tells me so.  Not in my strength… in Yours.   With David, I sing with joy against all the Enemy would say… for…

“The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!
The Lord’s right hand is lifted high;
   I will not die but live,
    and will proclaim what the Lord has done...” (Psalm 118: 16, 17)
  

  Thought to ponder: 

How have I seen His blessing on my ‘health” lately, and maybe not realized it came from Him? 

Do I see myself as living in the “nation of the Lord”?

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©  Pam Depoyan

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Hobnobbin’ with Holley Gerth! :) And… chocolate!

We-ell… Holley and I didn’t exactly… hobnob.  Not in the way my Walter Mitty mind played out the scenario as it might have been …

Ring ring.  I pick up the phone.   “Hey, Pam, It’s Holley!  I’m going to be stopping by to visit soon…”

Or no… a little too off the wall.  Maybe…

“Hey Pam, It’s _____ book editors calling.  We picked your name randomly to be Holley’s Holiday Visitor Guide while she’s in our beautiful area!”

Plans start swirling even as they are relaying this news!  I know just the perfectly quaint, fun spots to take her… those off-the-usual-guest-route places friends wowed me with so many years ago when I was still just a newbie here.  She’d just love the little beach town charmer with all the cool shops and bed and breakfast cottages and the fabulous known-for-it’s-homemade CHOCOLATE and ice cream waffle cone parlor, I muse.  Or how about that lovely old church-turned-restaurant with its striking stained glass still in place — and the feel of long ago praises echoing somehow in the air?  Or… wait a minute… a tour of the dunes from a pontoon off shore!

Ummm…  So goes my Walter Mitty alter ego, as I pull the store event invite card from my mailbox…    On this humdrum, cram all my errands into Saturday, I’m stunned.  Who’d of thought I’d ever find this inspiring and fun author I’ve “met” online… the lovely lady who has taken time to even make a warm comment here a time or two… right in my own back yard?  Not something I’d ever really contemplated.  Not because I think of her as impossibly far off or of celebrity status.  Rather… though she pops into my email box regularly with encouraging words and heart that chimes to mine… she’s just not someone I am likely to meet walking down a nearby street, because she lives and writes and cheers from states away.

Yet… I’m continually awed by how God weaves our storylines in and out, a dot and dash moment here or there, sometimes lines of dialogue more, in such an unexpected small, small world way!   (I picture Him grinning over that one. Because I’ve known Him to coincide my life with others I’d never in a guzillion years have imagined before in His God-sized dream way.  And I continually want to be looking more expectantly for those Divine appointments…be they for a guest character paragraph in my book of time — or His writing me into someone else’s — or more…)

Actually though, silliness aside, I didn’t really think of her being here as a possible  split-second Divine appointment, until a friend used that phrase when I mentioned Holley’s coming.  So, pondering that while driving to the bookstore that night, I asked Him. 

“Lord, is this a Divine appointment in any way?  Is there anything You are thinking in this? I don’t expect to do more than just say ‘Hi, I’m that ‘apples of gold’  blogger who sent you that email…’”

At that moment, a thought of another such time when I met someone even more incredulously out of the blue flashed in my memory.  And something He led out of what I know now could only have been an encounter arranged by Him,  meant to encourage us both...

Hmmm… an idea percolated as I pulled into the parking lot to Ladies Night Out with Holley.

Feeling a bit harried.

Snatching a sandwich of time in between another place I really wanted to be at the moment, planning to pop in here and then get back to that treasured celebration still underway…  I wasn’t sure I would be bold enough to ask the thought formulating now, but looking to His lead. 

Praying for that ease that comes across in writing, even between strangers who love to encourage.  Especially those who share His penchant for heart to heart connection…

    Stepping inside the bookstore, a descriptive phrase befitting a cliche novel zipped into my mind at the sound of twittery happy women floating towards me: The atmosphere tingled with anticipation…   And there…between a makeup tips spin-a-wheel display, a sample tasting buffet of mouthwatering Lindt chocolate bars and a stage area charmingly set with a comfy leather chair and side table awaiting Holley… it really did.

“We’ve decided to start off a little differently,” announced the events coordinator, welcoming all to the chocolate and makeup areas, sampling some gourmet desserts on the way… and concluding with a living room chat with Holley.  “And if anyone wants to catch her early, she’ll be happy to sign books before as well as after…”

Making my way over to a tall round table where she stood, early signing a book or two, I greeted Holley, exchanged hellos and nice to meet yous.  She told me of how she’d come for a writer’s meeting, agreed to this speaking event.  Asked if I lived close by… mentioned how her hosts planned to take her and her husband to a well known nearby town on the weekend. (Not the one of my earlier Walter Mittying thoughts…but similarly fun.)  “That’s my guy…over there,” she smiled, pointing to her husband…

Enjoying a bite of some scrumptious chocolate, strawberry and whip cream torte that certainly looked and tasted both gourmet and homemade, I staked a chair in tonight’s cozy event area where each place held a fun notepad gift, chatted with a couple of others… until lights went down and Holley took her chair and welcomed us in to her book talk of God-sized dreams for you and me.

I loved how she expressed it.  “Many hear that term and think — oh, I’m too ordinary or too humble or too small to have one of those…,” she opened brightly, enthusiasm bubbling,  “but a God-sized dream is really one that God has tailored just for you, to the size of your heart, and who He has created you to be…”

How she encouraged every dream, however big or small.  That it really isn’t about our interpretation of big or small.  “Maybe you think, oh sure, I can make fabulous brownies…but what good is that?”  she sparkled.  “But God wants to shine His creativity through each of us in so many ways…”

How she spoke of all women…whether physically a mother or not…as being a Mama (a particularly moving thought to me), created to “give birth” to something beautiful in this world, straight from God’s design in who He made you…and me…  To nurture and grow it in the ways and glory-giving light of the Lord that shines Him to a longing world…even if that simply means your own family, friends or neighbors…then multiplying out…

How she told us of the roots of her own God-sized dream to write and uplift women.  Of her insatiable love of books as a child  (stacks and stacks of them, reading in her grandparents’ Christian bookstore).  Of how she had seeds of an encourager and a greeting card writer in her even back then, when she’d find herself presenting her friends with handwritten lists of “10 Reasons Why I Like You.”  (And how her words spoke to my own life dreams that seem to dovetail in so many similar ways of being an encourager, a reader, a writer…since girlhood.)

How, as an accredited Life Coach, she led us to beginning an exercise this night, one to carry home in our own prayer times.  To pen one word descriptives in those gift notebooks on our chairs…  “dream clue” words encapsulating one of our strengths, then one of our skills, and on to whom we may be called to serve.  Asking ourselves, What is it that brings me joy when I do it – because it seems such a part of me?   “Being a dream-chaser,” Holley inspired, “means waking each day and asking, ‘Lord, how can I bring You joy today?’”

And how she finished with a challenging nudge to taking bold baby steps towards uncovering and following those dreams He has for us that will also touch others… And,  in not leaving “without letting me hug on your neck,” as she invited in her warm Southern Hospitality style.

Wanting to catch her once more before scooting back to my other event for the evening, I managed to reach her ahead of the signing deluge.  Just.

“Have a great time during the rest of your visit this weekend,” I said again.  Then…taking her advice about being bold… took a breath and said it.

“I know you have your own far-reaching blog,” I began, thinking of all of you readers here who might have loved pulling up your own chair this fun Ladies Night Out evening. “But I had a thought on the way over tonight.  Would you be interested in doing an interview on my blog?”

Without a pause, she met my eyes.  And said — Yes!

Not wanting to hold up the line forming behind me, I grinned and stepped away…  “I’ll be in touch on email, then,” I finished on a wave.  “Your talk was wonderful!”

Thank you, she mouthed, turning to the next in line.

  And even then, I was thinking of what I might ask her… and of inviting you each to stay tuned with your cups a warming… as I get back to her for that  upcoming Apples of Gold heart to heart with Holley. 

Sooo…   No… we didn’t exactly hobnob.  But…  you might say we shared a bite or two of chocolate (a passion of hers and of mine) in the same room together!    And the promise of a piece that will make you feel like you’ve been hobnobbing too…

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©  Pam Depoyan

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Chasing Blue Skies

Imperfect Prose  at Emily Wierenga’s place 

Faith-Filled Friday

A Holy Experience

Heart to Heart with Holley

Dove Light

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“His heart has just become so hard,” she said sadly, as we were saying goodbye.  

We’d talked about many things as she snipped and shaped my hair for the last hour or so, circling around as we often do to stories of the Lord.   To a beautiful message her pastor taught recently echoing a theme strong in my own spirit lately.  What if we really believed God not only could but will do what we are praying about?   What if we came to Him so full of expectant faith, like the lepers, the woman who touched His hem, the friends of the paralytic?

“But he seems so lost…” she mourned, painting for me this one who means so much to her, but seems impossible to reach.  “We were raised to believe, to trust in the Lord…but somewhere along the way he started listening to intellectual doubts in college…would not forgive God when we lost another we loved…”  I pictured a ship tossing to and fro on waves, crashing on the shore of anger and sorrow and fist shaking at God who seemed not to answer an all important prayer…  a wreck barnacled-over and crusty and filled with seaweed.  But somewhere, a plaintive voice protesting too  much.  As though he is yearning for someone… somewhere… to restore his faith in the Father…

“I am going to pray for him with you,” I said as I followed her up the stairs and out to the front porch.

Her eyes swam, but her smile brightened.   “Yes… that would be wonderful.  He needs as many prayers as we can gather!”

I stepped out into the still sunlit evening, the door closing behind me, down the driveway to my car at the curb, and… jumped!

There… inches away from my face… stood a beautifully formed  mourning dove.  Perched on the edge of my car roof, like a living carved statue of feathery grey clay.   Amazingly calm on the smooth finish, like the one that often stands on the roofline of my neighbor’s home.  Sometimes on my back deck rail.  Looking for all the world like a sentinel on guard at it’s post.

Poised facing the house, this one looked at me oh so gently… eyes meeting mine.

“Bird,” I addressed it, with a wave as close as I dared, “You’ll have to leave now.”

It remained, soulful eyes meeting mine.  Completely at peace.  Unafraid of even me.

I didn’t want to jar it by opening the door, so I tried again.  And again.  Laughed softly.  It didn’t want to go.

Finally, I jangled my keys.  With hesitancy…it soared off.

Not a mark on the car where it had been.

And as I climbed into my driver seat, I thought of the scripture CD I’ve had playing back and forth to work lately in my car.  Of the Father’s Heart for the Prodigal Son-conversation left behind at the porch step…but just beginning to prayer in my thoughts…  Of a bird that reminds me of His Holy Spirit.  Perching on my car outside her home… as if to say… I’m with you both, watching over your prayer.  I have him covered.  I will never let him go…

Was that a little “song note” from you, Father?”  I wondered aloud.  Did that bird sense You here…?”  I smiled.  The CD began again with a beautiful promise filling my car…along with a fresh benediction of wing-tipped peace…

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©  Pam Depoyan

A Little Note More :  As I was drawing the lakeside cottage image above this weekend, I mused over a touch it seemed to need at the bottom…  Thinking of that bird I often see on my neighbor’s roof, I suddenly remembered a sketch of a gull I could incorporate into this.  Another sentinel of peace.   And today’s moment with the dove reminds me of this same feel:          All’s right with the world…because no matter what… God is watching over us.    May that truth stand guard over your hearts in this moment and always…

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                              Then I will ask the Father to send you the Holy Spirit who will help^[1] you and always be with you.

~ John 14:16 Contemporary English Version (CEV)

1. help: The Greek word may mean “comfort,” “encourage,” or “defend.”

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Come in to praise and sup… Day 2

“Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. ‘I will take away sickness from among you, and… give you a full life span.’”

~ Exodus 23:25 – 26

Worship:  To honor with reverent love, adore and esteem, extravagantly respect .  Origin: Middle English worshipe worthiness, respect, reverence paid to the Divine Being, from Old English weorthscipe worthiness, respect, from weorth worthy,                          worth + -scipe –ship.

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Prayer:

Provider of Wholeness.  The One Who Heals.  LORD God, I AM.

How great is Your Name! (See…Character of God: Call Me…Rapha — Day 1)

You make my heart sing… and then you tell ME [fill in your own name] — in and out of that very song of joy YOU WILL BRING ME BLESSING.

Like rain that nourishes the plants and foods that grow, You will move in the very midst of my songs of worship to nourish and feed me body, heart and soul.

O, make the full import of this Word of Who You ARE as my Healer steep and soak inside me… more and more each day.  In our world of high tech foods, unrevealed additives and technology-created hybrids, I need Your blessing on all I eat, on the water I drink and cleanse in… more than ever.  I TAKE this Truth and wave it back to You Father, in ribbons of flag songs raising and celebrating You with praise.

Glory to the Lord Who desires to make me whole… in every way.  To give me the full number of my days (as it says in the amplified version).  I will not look behind me to sickness that has gone on before…or ahead,  as if expecting illness to conquer… but instead, I will declare Your victorious words over corrupting disease — releasing them back unto you with joy.

Extravagantly.

Hosannas ringing.

Because You said it, it is MORE than true.

In what simply, deceptively,  seems to be a small, everyday moment of wellness… as well as in each momentous healing answer…  I will say…YOU, O Lord, did this.  And this and this.   

And how much more…Even before I see the answers… I will purpose to give thanks and say… You are fulfilling Your healing Word in me.

I TAKE this promise today and savor it.

YOU bless my food and water to bring me health.  You take sickness away from my midst and watch over the number of my days to fulfill each one in You.  And I rejoice over that gift, in You…

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Thought to ponder…

How might I add His healing promises to  “saying grace” over my life each day this week (including, but not limited to  food)… and over those I lift up?  When God says His eyes are searching the world for someone to show Himself strong on their behalf… do I believe that means me? (2 chronicles 16:9 KJV)

This week, I saw God move mightily through months of “taking his promises” like my daily grace… restoration of beauty for some heavy ashes when symptoms were shouting otherwise.  I also saw Him give someone else much- prayed-for favor even over chemo ill-effects as so many lift him up to God’s full healing.

In the last days, weeks or months, how have you experienced His healing touch?

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©  Pam Depoyan

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Photos:  http://www.fotosearch.com (Water Lily Pond at Monet’s Giverny, Fresh fruits with water splash, Sunbeam in green forest with water)

Triple-20 Blessings

                    “Well, then,” Jesus said, “… go down to the lake and throw in a line.  Open the mouth of the first fish you catch, and you will find a large silver coin. Take it and pay the tax for both of us.”

~ Matthew 17:24:27

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Disclaimer:  Red car pictured here only resembles the memory-glazed image of the          “jaunty car” in this story. Though the real one was not quite as glam, something about this does capture the feel!    (I just couldn’t resist this clipart, Charlene…right down to your sporty sunglasses I can still see you wearing!)

During our college semester breaks, my roommates and I returned to our family homes, spread out an hour apart in three opposite directions from campus,  by hectic California freeways.  I’d asked them to meet at mine for an afternoon, plan a time to catch up.  Maybe we could even splurge on a reasonable and fun restaurant lunch!

Finally we’d found a date that worked.  More than food, it was the laugh-till-we-cried goofiness we were all craving as Cathy and Charlene pulled up to my driveway in separate cars.  We had maybe three dollars a piece on us – a deep-pocket stretch for us ever-broke students in those days – but we could always split sandwiches if necessary.  Piling into Charlene’s jaunty red car, her long blonde hair streaming out the window, we took off for a favorite chili and pie place, running on mile-a-minute girl talk.

The somewhat commercial back roads were relatively traffic-free as we tooled along, when suddenly something light fluttered and flew across the windshield, whisked high into the wind.

“Oh… my… gosh! Did you see that?” Charlene (the soon to be bank professional) screeched.  “I think its money!”

“Wha–?!” Cathy and I spluttered, then screamed, as Charlene speedily checked her rearview, spun the car around to an empty lane and chased down the flying green paper now skittering across the road.  She brought us to a rocking stop and hopping out, snatched it just as it was about to take off again. Cathy and I gaped in astonishment.

“Girls!” she shouted, waving it like a triumphant ticket to the yellow brick road.  “You won’t believe this!  It’s twenty whole dollars!”

We scanned the block to see if anyone might be searching for a lost bill, but in this office park area on a weekend, there was little activity.

Eyes glistening, we stared unbelievingly at each other for a moment.  Then burst into gleeful laughter.  “Wow,” we chimed in united awe.

Instantly, I pictured the prayer and praise sheet we had tacked up back in our campus apartment.  The simple everyday prayers we had listed there… for our tests to go well, for my grandma who was ill, for our grocery funds to stretch.  Most of all we loved re-reading our day by day record of His mysterious ways answers.  Sometimes, even to petitions we hadn’t had time to put into words yet.  Like the gift of being able to splurge on a fun lunch together and 60-mile gas money – two ways — for two.     

That afternoon, those mile-high ham-stacks, accompanied by generous slices of homemade corn bread and honey butter, topped off with warm berry pie became our loaves and fishes celebration.

©  Pam Depoyan

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… An Added Note… 

The other night, I heard a minister talking about two incredible instances of God’s manna from Heaven provision.   In the first, he told of his then high school graduating son, and one weekend they’d spent as a family at a lake cottage some years ago.  Calling the young man in, he watched as his son stopped, looked deeply into the water at his feet, stooped and plucked $20 dollars out of the people-empty lake!  Later that night, as the boy drove back to town, his car ran out of gas.  Reaching into his pocket, his fingers found the only money he had – the $20  Just enough to fill his tank!

“But that’s not all,” the minister went on, unfolding another just as unbelievable story about his father and mother in-law, when they were young ministers themselves, just starting out, and wondering where their next dinner was going to come from.   While they were walking along a street, something green whooshed by them on the wind and fluttered to the ground against a nearby wall.  Running over, they scooped it up.  Again — $20!  And again — not a person about that could have been searching for it.  Awestruck at God’s apparent provision, they could only praise Him.   And looking up… they realized where they were.  Standing right outside a wonderful dinner restaurant they’d never imagined eating at that night…

Goosebumps ran up and down my arms as I listened… remembering this little moment in my own life that I’ve shared above.   “Hmmm… Mysterious-er and Mysterious-er,” Alice might have said.  As for me and my friends… we KNOW.  The wonder of God’s delight in giving to His children…in the most unexpected ways…at just the right moment!   Hearing our hearts prayers even unspoken. Plunking us right down in the absolute right place at the right split-second…

I don’t know why each of these stories held the same $20  amount.  But I DO know…  His eyes are on His sparrows!   And today… if you are in need of your own little miracle, may the recounting of praise for these triple-20 blessings multiply His assurance and provision back to you…in all ways… from our Jehovah Jireh…

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A Holy Experience

Photos:  http://www.fotosearch.com, http://www.visualphotos.com/image/2×4696616/woman_in_convertible_sports_car_racing_down_the

Character of God: Call Me…Rapha — Day 1

²⁴ And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” ²⁵ And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log (or, tree), and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.

There the Lord made for them a statute…saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes…I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer. (Jehovah Rapha)”

~  Exodus 15:24-26, English Standard Version (ESV)

Prayer:

Father.  O, Father.  So many times I have thought of your Old Testament people as fickle followers who crazily turned to their own handmade idols, time after unbelievable time — all while you never stopped hovering in a cloud of Love over them.  “How could they not see?”  I have wondered.  Yet, maybe today’s idols are just more subtle?  Do you look at me and yearn, because you want me to see?

This Exodus verse is a Word steeped in days before Jesus gave His broken body, poured out His blood for us.  Days when you revealed how just trying to meet commandments could never “work,” because there is no way for us to “be good enough” for your holiness.  And so… your Son took our place.  HE became our Holiness.  Opened the way for us to be cleansed, made us whole in all ways, blessed us to walk right into your Throne Room as heirs.  Made righteous in and through Him.   I am only just beginning to know what that truth – heirs made righteous – encompasses.  A child of the king.

That’s why… I don’t believe you have “put diseases” on us since the Cross.  Instead, our adversary (the devil) continues to roam this world, seeking those he may deceive or steal Jesus’ victory from…  (John 10:10)  And you want us to take your Word deep into our hearts…to combat lies (even sickness coming against us) with Who You Tell Us You Are as our overcoming strength.

In this passage, I hear Jesus wooing me today.  Like a Singer tenderly crooning to my soul.  Listen to My Voice.  Follow Me..  Take My Hand.  Believe against what seems logical… know… open up your hands and receive all I have for you.  For I – I – AM the LORD, YOUR HEALER.

Exodus.  The bringing of your people out of slavery.

And… on your say so, Lord… I lift up my open palms to You this day.  I want to listen for you, hear Your Holy Spirit leading.  Stand sure in your armor (Ephesians 6) with the belt of truth girding my core being, the helmet of salvation on my head, the sword of your word in my hand, the shield of faith thwarting all fiery darts of despair — that the devil’s deception cannot enslave me.   I receive that Truth over all my needs for health.  And thank you for it…before I actually see it come to pass –

Like the psalmist, I say — restoration… renewal… deliverance… victory… resound inside me!  For YOU, O Lord, ARE My Healer.   Thank you Jesus, for being the “tree” that TODAY makes your free gift of living water sweet!  Amen.

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Thought to ponder…

Am I holding back from ways you want to heal me?  Do I feel… unworthy… like it is possible for others, but not me?  How can I know you more as God MY Healer?

©  Pam Depoyan

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