For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

Romans 1: 18 

But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries

Exodus 23:22
For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil

Romans 13:4

And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.

Romans 16:20
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him,

Revelation 20:1,2
 he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.

Revelation 14:10,11

He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

1 John 3:8

We need to change our thinking about the world and all its wickedness being so very dangerous to considering what a dangerous and powerful God we have.

Sure, this world is a scary place. 

And it’s even scarier when we consider that Satan is a roaring lion, seeking whoever he may devour.

That He is also a snake, who slithers into our safe places, and steals everything we love, 

Everything we have.
But honestly,  that sneaky roaring thing , with all of his MANY willing and often unknowing servants doing his bidding just can’t hold a candle to the One who makes the tempests swell and swallow up entire islands, while simultaneously guiding and protecting and blessing, and teaching every last one of the billions of people on the earth…

God’s nostrils breathe out smoke, and fire from His mouth devours the enemy!(2 Samuel 22)
And the all-consuming rage that Satan will one day be swept up in, carried away to the abyss will, 

Once and for all,

Be our GREAT VICTORY!!

I know I sure don’t want to be counted as one of God’s enemies on the day he exacts vengeance on every evil thing!

He is so much more violent, dangerous, frightening than anything Satan will ever throw at us!

This brings me great peace.

To know His fury and rage for all the evil I have seen, for all the things Satan stole from me, for all the ways he deceived me…

For the sin that created cancer, abuse, betrayal, neglect, grave illness, murder, jealousy, hate, and every other evil thing…

There will be a grand, awful, brutal, savage 

RECKONING!!!

Suddenly,  Satan doesn’t seem quite so intimidating, when we remember that God was the One who hovered over a world not yet created!

He will one day soon avenge us for every bloody wound the bully of our souls has doled out on us. 

We will be free!

And evil will be finally tormented!

Eternally.

Come quickly,  Lord Jesus.

…​looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God

Hebrews 12:2
Harper Lee, Jane Austen, Shakespeare, Daphne DuMaurier, Dickens, Joni Eareckson Tada, and Andrew Murray.

These are some of my favorite authors, even though  some of them have written books that are too tough for me to read anymore. But I still try.

My current top pick writer is Brennan Manning. His writing is beautiful, raw, and stabs me right in the heart sometimes. 

But.
Then there is Jesus!
Think about this.

God wrote each and every one of our biographies.

LONG before He decided to create light, or  the heavens, or anything else that He made!
He wrote the grand stories of our lives, right along with every single person in the bible.

And our stories are somehow woven into the tapestry of OTHER great stories.

Like Moses.

Like Paul!
He wrote MY story.
Every chapter.
Every one.
Including all the nights when doctors worked to keep me alive.
All those long, wilderness days when I wondered if “this” would always be my life.
And. 

On all those many nights when I  failed Him, and all I  could hear was the bleak, black crowing of having let Him down.

 Again.
He wrote it all, before I ever lived a day!
He knew all about the horribly bad  choices I would one day make, and He wrote it in. 

Included it, 
And somehow, brought me THROUGH it.
And I may be a little biased, 

But I LOVE my story!!
I mean, it’s  really good!!!
Well, the first twenty or so years were a bit of a snooze fest, but the last twenty???
Man, it has been one turn after another! It is page- turning, people!😃
And He writes ALL OF THEM. 

What an amazing thought! We can have total peace whatever chapter we are in, because it is already written!

And God knows how it ends.
Cancer,  abuse, betrayal, addiction, a bazillion other illnesses, and even death.

NONE of those things will ever stop your story!

YOU CAN’T DETER THE PLAN HE HAS FOR YOU, NO MATTER HOW HARD SATAN TRIES, AND NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRY!

I know sometimes we hate our story.

We get tired of this chapter that seems to go on for years.

We hate that our sin and shame has to be a part of it.

But ALL of it is totally GLORIOUS in the end!

Our story is jam-packed with His love, which redeems EVERYTHING!!!

The rescue is always the best part of any story.

“And they all lived happily ever after.”

You can’t get any better than that. 

And that IS my story.

And I  pray it is yours, too.❤

I read somewhere that Buddhists call the drudgery of routine , the ” laundry”. Well, some Buddhist somewhere probably got that from his mom. 

Because no truer words have been spoken!
I really don’t like laundry.
Don’t get me wrong…
I love putting on fresh smelling clothes, especially when they’re still a little warm from the dryer!
Heaven!
But I HATE the neverendingness of it.
There is always more to wash, more to dry, more to soak.
There’s always a crayon that’s mistakenly left behind in somebody’s pocket (cough! cough! Micah!)

Folding clothes is stupid.
It just is!
Once the kids pick them up to take them to their rooms, they are SO not even resembling a piece of folded clothing!
It’s so pointless.
But I DO it.
And I’ll wash those same shirts, socks and stained underwear (cough!cough! Micah!😁) within the next two days!

Guaranteed. 
“Drudgery”, indeed.
Monotonous, boring, robotic, mindless….
YUCK!!

How much of your life is beginning to feel like this?
How about your life with God?

Is it more of an intimate,  encouraging,  ongoing,  revitalizing relationship?
Or is it more like
Laundry?

Is it you and Him, figuratively holding hands when taking a walk down by the river?

Is it you, letting Him wipe away your tears?

Or is it a box you check?
Sometimes I treat Jesus like He’s “one more chore” I’ve got to finish.

And I  KNOW it’s not supposed to be like this!

And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

Luke 24:32

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.

Mark 12:27

My beloved spoke, and said to me: “Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away.

Song of Solomon 2:10

“O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, In the secret places of the cliff, Let me see your face, Let me hear your voice; For your voice is sweet, And your face is lovely.

Song of Solomon 2:14 

Now, don’t get me wrong. Every relationship takes work, time, commitment, and discipline.

But it’s also supposed to be EXCITING!

THRIVING!

PASSIONATE!

THRILLING!

ON FIRE!!!!!!

Please don’t miss those adjectives!

And please don’t miss those verses!

 Soak them in. 

Marinate.

These verses tell of the passionate love God has for each of us.

He wants EVERYTHING we are.

When I  hear how our hearts should BURN inside when He speaks through His Word…

When I  read how He wants me…

My heart,

My mind,

ALL my strength…

When I hear how He wants to steal me away to our “secret place”…

That’s BEAUTIFUL. 

Everything we’ve ever wanted and more!
And…
Nothing like laundry!

Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything. “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” ’ “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.

Luke 15: 11-22

If you asked me ten years ago,  I would state I identified most with the elder brother in this story.

If you asked me five years ago, I  would say the same.

If you asked me one year ago, I would have totally changed my answer.

It’s not like I was jealous of the forgiveness offered to all the prodigals  in my life, or that I felt less celebrated than others, or unrecognized in the deeds I performed.

My problem was that I had subconsciously put degrees on sins, and had decided that mine were not so severe as some others. 

I also identified with the older brother, in that I looked at his life and      learned that I didn’t ever want to become judgemental towards others. (Too late!)

I never felt I had much to learn from the prodigal son, because I was never anything like him! 

Never had I screwed up so badly that I found myself begging for bread, and forgiveness. 

No.

I was always the one wronged.

The victim.

The martyr.

Until last year.

Last year, I found myself not being able to look people in the eye…

Feeling like I didn’t even deserve to ATTEND my church, let alone serve at it.

I was filled with shame, grime, and every other filthy feeling.

Now, I’ve accepted God’s amazing forgiveness, one in which He forgets it ever happened!(Isaiah 43:25)

But I  can’t forget what I was forgiven for.

And I’ve also learned that even the “small things”, or the secret things I’ve done were just as ugly to God as the ugliest thing I think I’ve ever done.

Alot of people who have walked with God for many years would also say they identify more with the older brother.  And to that, I have to say, we need to look again at our hearts.

If we ever get to the place where we DON’T identify with the prodigal, the one who knew he was messed up  and didn’t feel WORTHY of being just a hired hand in the place he had once called home….

Check yourself.

We’re not supposed to live with guilt and shame, but we ARE called to never neglect ” so great a salvation “. (Psalm 119:93) (Hebrews 2:3)(Psalm 51:12)

We should always remember that we don’t deserve “so great a salvation”.

Nobody can earn it.

Nobody can win it.

Nobody can attain it.
We can only be given it, 

By Jesus.

What a beautiful truth!

Lyrics to be thou my vision

“I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.”

Those are famous lines from the movie, Taken. Liam Neeson rocks in the role of Bryan Mills, a former government agent, and a dad to a young girl who was taken as part of a sex trafficking ring.

Basically, Bryan Mills kills and destroys every THING and every ONE who stands in the way of him finding his daughter.

Don’t mess with a parent trying to save their kid! Especially not Liam Neeson, because he is fierce!

But we all have a fierce Father, too.

One who loves us with, as Brennan Manning would say, a FURIOUS LOVE. I am totally enamored with this description of God’s love for us!

Yes, He is gentle, kind, and quiet in some ways.

But He loves us FURIOUSLY,  too.

The word ” furious” means violent. But it also means intense, severe, forceful, turbulent, and SAVAGE!!

These are not passive words.

They are AGGRESSIVE!!

And that’s just the kind of Father we have! 

None of the waves of a mighty ocean can keep us from Him, because He CREATED those waves!

No storm…

No disaster…

No demon!….

Can keep us from this furious Father, who is moving heaven and earth, as we speak(!), to find us and bring us back to His savagely safe arms!

What a thought!

The other day, we had to talk to our kids about kidnappers, and about the importance of staying with Mom and Dad when we are in public places. As I expected,my daughter was a little freaked out.

I tried to explain to her that we would do whatever it took to find her if anything ever happened.  As I was talking, I felt this “surge” inside of me…

Like unexpected power.

I was getting furious at the idea that someone would take one of my babies from me, and I KNEW I would do ANYTHING to rescue them. 

ANYTHING!!!

How much more so would our heavenly Father storm the universe to rescue each one of us and bring us to Him!

God told them, “I’ve never quit loving you and never will.
    Expect love, love, and more love!

Jeremiah 31:3
4 Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
    and because I love you,
I will give people in exchange for you,
    nations in exchange for your life.

Isaiah 43:4

And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture

Romans 8: 37-39 MSG

What a God!

What a FATHER!

Do you get how much you are so fiercely loved by Him???

He is lamb-loving…

And lion-lashing,

ALL in one!

May we all get swept up, 

And “taken”, today…

By His furious love.

I’ve been reading a lot about the many, many people Jesus healed during the last three years of His life. So many of those stories move me, because I can identify with  the person in need of His healing touch at one time or another.

But there is one.

One story that actually hurts when I read it…..

Because it is so true.

So true, I  think, that it reveals what I, deep deep down, have thought or feared for all of my life.

Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. And He strictly warned him and sent him away at once, and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” However, he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the matter, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places; and they came to Him from every direction.

Mark 1:40 

Leprosy was a terrible disease which would cover someone  in contagious sores, and would eventually lead to losing parts of the body because they became rotten with infection.

These people were isolated from EVERYONE…

Called unclean.

He must have heard it so often, that word “unclean”, which they would announce every time he daringly approached the rest of world. 

It must’ve  felt like his name. 

Who he was.

He was

Unclean.

Then, Jesus comes to town, this amazing, mysterious Miracle Worker.

He had to have heard what He’d done in other places…so much so that he had no doubt Jesus COULD heal HIM.

But that wasn’t the leprous man’s  problem.

A problem he never tried to hide from the One who made all things possible. 

“If You are willing “.

Man, those four words break me up every time!

And they did for Jesus, too.

It says next that Jesus was “moved with compassion “.

The word used for compassion means ” to be moved in the inward parts”, or “to have the bowels yearn”.

Bathe in this for a minute. ( I love words!!!)
Jesus felt those words from that man so deeply….

So deeply…..

In His bowels!!

My goodness,  guys, He loves us so much!!

Okay, so Jesus heals the man of leprosy, and he basically dances away, finally free.

So, why does this story hurt me so much?
Because this has always been my fear…

NOT that He can’t do whatever He wants….

It’s just…

What if He doesn’t WANT to?

From the beginning of my walk with Him, this has been my largest fear, one I’ve never admitted to ANYONE.

But it’s true.

There are things that I desperately want God to do in my life, and in the lives of others.

“Good” things.

Right things.

Things that would bring me great joy, but would also bring God GREAT  glory!

So, you ask for years…

And nothing happens.

So you begin to think, “maybe He just doesn’t want to do this for ME.

what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

Matthew 7: 9-11

I know I’m not the only one who feels unworthy of His great love.

But friends, the problem with letting this train of thought into your heart , that God doesn’t love you as His child,  is that it will change how you then see God. 

You can’t see Him as loving if you could ever think He would keep you from the things your heart desires most for any other reason than it was for your good and His glory.

I love how honest this man was with Jesus.

He confessed he didn’t know if God would WANT TO heal HIM.

And Jesus answers him.

” OF COURSE, I WANT TO!”

We need to keep believing those words Jesus said to him.

“I. Am. Willing.”

Maybe it doesn’t or won’t happen for us immediately…

But if I’m one of His kids, I GOTTA  believe He doesn’t have snakes waiting for me when it’s time to eat.  

But bread.

He WANTS your healed heart.

He WANTS your healed body!

He WANTS your healed relationships!

He does.

He really,  really,  DOES!

Why do I  “gotta” believe this?

Because He loves me.
And,

Because He wants to.

Once, when I was a nanny, I  went to the King of Prussia Mall with the mother of the child I cared for. I had never been to a Neiman Marcus or Bloomingdale’s before that day. I remember being shocked, and slightly appalled, when I saw plain old, ordinary t-shirts ” on sale” for 45$!!!!!!
Can you say Walmart??!!!!

Anyway, she was shopping for jewelry,  and asked to see a set of pearls. Now, these pearls had to be removed from a glass case in the wall with special codes entered into a tiny  keyboard.  We heard a  Jetson-like sound, and then the salesman gently picked up  the pearls, and placed them softly into the mom’s hand. 

I remember she invited me to hold them, too. They were heavier than most sets of pearls my lower class hands had ever held. 

Each pearl looked different from the others…

But they were truly beautiful. 

In fact, the necklace was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen.

25,000 dollars worth of beautiful!!

I  VERY CAREFULLY handed them over, and spent the next several minutes trying to pick up my jaw off the floor.

Sometimes the real thing is really costly.

So, some people simply settle for an artificial version.

This is true in jewelry,  purses, clothing, and basically everything.

Including Christianity.

I would  be embarassed to tell you just how long I, for the most part, “faked it”.

 I knew the words to say, the words to pray…

I knew what to wear,  and I knew how to “behave”.

But I  never had the scars that are the REAL signs of walking with God.

Scars that come from painfully putting others ahead of myself,

Scratches and dents from enduring endless illness.

Bruises from all kinds of betrayal. 

Cuts from fully understanding my OWN sin and guilt. 
The real thing is beautiful. 

But costly.
So is the Kingdom of God. 

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
Matthew13:45,

When we finally find Him, we need to be prepared to give EVERYTHING.

Jesus tells us we need to be prepared to give Him ALL!

Our spouses, our children, our homes….

Every single thing that is dear to us.

In order to obtain what is PRICELESS…

JESUS.

When we can truly do that, we become a little more like Him every day.

Pearls.

Flawed in appearance, but flawless.

Blamed, but blameless.

Injured, but ABSOLUTELY PERFECT  

In the eyes of the One who bought us.
 

So, lately I’ve found myself spending a lot of time in the Old Testament, pouring over the stories and sagas of Noah, Jacob, Joseph, Moses….

In the shower the other day I  was thinking…..because I do my best thinking in there…

About Moses writing the first five books of the Bible.

Can you even imagine?????

Sitting alone with the Almighty One, writing down every word that thunders out of His mouth?

Being the first human to learn about Adam and Eve….the first to hear the awful truth about how sin entered the world and cursed us all…

The first to hear the heart-ripping story of betrayal of Joseph’s brothers, and the miraculous forgiveness that followed….

Being told what to write about his OWN awesome contribution to the Story.

Isn’t that crazy to consider????

So, when I  got out of the shower (😊), I went immediately to my Bible and read the last chapter of Deuteronomy,  the last piece of writing he ever did ( except Psalm 90). In it , is the following verse:

So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor; but no one knows his grave to this day.

Deuteronomy 34:5,6

I’m not sure if God let him write about his death before it happened, or if Joshua took over and wrote the rest of the chapter.

But look at verse 6!

I mean, I’ve read the Bible alot over the years, especially before my stroke, so there’s a chance I saw it before and forgot. But, do you see it?

It says, “He buried him…”
Ummm, GOD BURIED MOSES!!!

What?????

God buried Moses, and He’s the only one who knows where his body lays. It is the craziest, coolest secret 

EVER!!!

Is it just me who is floored by this??

His very own son….

He left His body to be tainted by the hands of the sinful men ( that’s the only kind of man there is) who buried Him.

But Moses….

This mere man…

This ordinary man, with whom He must have spent literally YEARS,  telling the story of the birth of the beautiful grace of God…

This human who God used to miraculously save an entire People!

This mortal, who literally knew the Creator’s very FACE!!!(Deut.34:10)

He was special to the Father.

So special,  He chose to bury him in a secret place.
I guess the reason this verse moves me in such a way is that He is such a PERSONAL God.

He was intimate with Hagar,  who was just a concubine,  who the Word says He “really SAW HER,  and she really SAW Him”, too. (Gen.16:13)

God’s heart broke for Leah, because when He saw “she was unloved, He opened her womb.”(Gen.29:31)

He loves us each so personally….

 individually….

intimately….

You know, alot of people say the Word is a “roadmap”, or a “manual for right living”.

It think it’s a story all about God.

But as much as it’s a story about who God is, it really has to be just as much a story of His great, unsurpassed, complete UTTER LOVE for His chosen people!

That’s you.
That’s me.
What a beautiful God is He…

Over the years, I’ve heard this about a million times:

“Oh, don’t ever pray for patience! You won’t like what He’ll put you through.”

When the Bible promises that growth and deepening your relationship with Christ will NO DOUBT bring you some trouble, conflict, and suffering (John 16:33), it takes a certain amount of courage to go ahead and ask for things like patience, grace, compassion, and joy.

Because all of these qualities , and so many more, come with some pretty serious price tags.

Developing patience means you will encounter LOTS of impatient moments. You will fight with frustration, both serious and petty, and you will wrestle with anger until it no longer has a hold on your heart.

Obtaining God’s grace will probably require the breaking of your heart, challenging you with the art of forgiveness time and time again.

Acquiring compassion will, no doubt, rob you of some deep-seated form of pride, something that will break you to the point that you can truly see and feel the pain in others.

Expect to lose some things you love…

Some people you love…

Some abilities you love…

Imagine if more of us had the faith to ask to become those who are not enslaved by anger…

Those who are  MASTERS of  forgiveness..

People who see and feel others’ pain.

We would be unstoppable!

If we would just have the faith to ask.

2 Corinthians 12:9 

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me

Romans 5:3-4 

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope

James 1:2-4 

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Understand that any good thing that we ask from God will most definitely cost us SOMETHING! 

So, never pray such a prayer without going to some special prayer warriors to make sure you’re covered in the most important place.

Because even though this request is going to cost you something you treasure right now, what you will gain will be absolutely, ETERNALLY PRICELESS!

So, go ahead….

ASK!!