Faith Filled Fridays From Croley’s Corner of Chicklit Power

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

Wow, can you believe it’s already May 1^st? If this is your first time to Faith filled Friday, welcome. I hope this day has already found you rejoicing. Grab your coffee, journal and let’s see what He has for us today.
My oldest granddaughter Jordan came to stay with us for a few days and during that time she would go with me on my prayer walks. She asked me why I came to this particular spot and I told her I can overlook the valley and be at peace and hear from the Lord and it’s my time to talk to Him as well. She was happy with the answer. We stood there for a few minutes then decided to move on.
As we walked back home she started picking up rocks. She soooo LOVES rocks. There were so many different sizes and colors. She was in rock heaven. Her little pockets were stuffed and overflowing, and in addition, her hands were just as full. She asked if I wouldn’t mind helping her carry some back to the house because if there were any boulders I’d find a way to carry them. I answered her: of course, I’d be happy too.
I suggested to her, however, Jordan, why don’t you get just a few and leave the rest behind. She simply answered: “Well, Tutu, each one is special. They have different colors and some are just really unusual and I can’t just leave them.” I could see her heart and where this was going.
She wanted to inspect each one when we got home and soon she realized how heavy these small rocks became in her pockets. She said, “You know, if you could somehow melt these all together, wouldn’t that be awesome? It would make one big rock with multiple colors”!
I said, “Yes, it would be awesome…but each rock has its own significance and each one if fitted together just right would make a pretty good foundation.
So started the thought …the rock!
We represent, by our confession the type of person on which the true church is built on.
The Rock is what Jesus is referring to in Matt 16:18: “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”… Jesus refers to Himself as the rock.
A rock is a symbol of strength and immovability it also was a place in the Old Testament where people in danger often took refuge. God is depicted as the Rock of Israel, being the strength, security and deliverance for his people.
Where do we run to when our lives begin to become weighty?
There’s no excuse for us as believers. We may be barraged and seemingly bombarded by the enemy and honestly we too can be our own worst enemy. Sometimes all he has to do is plant a little itty bitty seed and then we run amuck filling our minds like my granddaughter did with her rocks, and they became too heavy. We find ourselves flailing our arms and running in a mad circle, going nowhere but into confusion and defeat!
Christ has given to us a sure foundation, yet it’s up to us whether we continue to build on it or allow the foundation to become unsettled which can cause a shifting and cracking.
Ask yourself this question: What or who is prevailing against you? Remember, you have that choice to allow it to “prevail over you” or “you to prevail against it!” Conquer! Overcome! Get the better of it! Win through it! Be victorious!
Acts19:20: “So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed...Prevail and Carry the day. Make it a great weekend; keep Him close to your heart….
Until next week,

Love Deb.

The Waiting Room … In the Hospital of Life March's WOW

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

“Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.: Phil. 1:6
It’s great to be with you and share from my heart to yours this month’s WOW (Words of Wisdom and Weapons of Warfare). Grab your coffee, your journal, and don’t forget your Red Strand of Faith as I am sure He will give us some reasons to tie some more knots!
So we left off with the exam room at the hospital … in a spiritual sense, of course. :) But one of the most important things we need to understand about this room is we don’t have to wait until something is wrong to be examined! And His love letters to us even give us an exam time, a daily exam time: In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly (Psalm 5:3 NIV.)
What do we do in the exam room? Psalm 139:23 tells us how easy the exam can be. It begins like this: Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Oh, but that means we must take off the mask! Hmm, that reminds me of a conversation I was having with a new friend in a leadership class I’m taking; she described it as a “church face.” What if we were to look to Him as the ultimate physician, and allow Him in to treat all – emphasis on all – our wounds?
Do you have a hard time actually making the time to go to the doctor? Do you like your doctor? Are you intimidated by your doctor? I actually have a great relationship with my earthly doctor, and he has an amazing bedside manner, never talking above me or down to me, but always, always he takes the time to explain the reason for symptoms, whether they be immune-systematic, or sinus-related, or even orthopedic-related. But he has to have the information first before he can give me a diagnosis!
Well, our Heavenly Physician is even better than our earthly doctors! Why? Because He knows all our symptoms, the diagnosis and He has the cure for whatever ails us. However – yes, there is a “however” -- He does like for us to share our burdens, speak to Him, with Him. When I think of real people talking with/to God from the Bible, I have to say one of the greatest role models in this area is David for he was real before God. He never put a mask on or hid what was in his heart when talking with God! I mean talk about a guy who had a lot to talk about with God! He was on the run for several years of his life for his life, an outcast, lost his BFF; he was betrayed time after time after time from someone who was like a father to him.
His visits to the exam room were consistent, and I would bet they were more than once a day.
And then when he became a sender instead of a leader – if he had gone to the exam room then, he may not have walked right into temptation. But he didn’t; instead, he continued on in his temptation, deeper and then had that affair. He stayed out of the exam room and that led to his next sin, the murdering of the husband whose wife he had the affair with! Talk about an incredible drama! Wow.
I can almost see him running from God, and the exam room! I’m not sure how long he stays away, but he does come back to this room and in Psalm 51, we are able to witness the most beautiful prayer of repentance because he returned to the Great Physician and allowed Him to do an in-depth examination!
Oh, Coffee Hour Friend, how long has it been since you’ve allowed yourself to enter the exam room?
The great Physician is waiting … for He who begins His work in the exam room will be faithful to complete it … until the time of Christ!
Love,

 Evinda

Power Friday at Chicklit Power

Thanks so much for joining me for our Power Friday at Chicklit Power. Grab your coffee and come on in.

This week’s power thought comes from a real-life situation and as my husband and I listened to the details, I think both our hearts squeezed with sorrow. At first we were hopeful hearing that our friend had received a confession and thereby some sort of validation. I held my breath as our friend relayed the details of what had transpired leading up to the confession and then what happened after. It’s what happened right after the so-called confession that hope went out the window. It became very apparent that the reason for the confession was really for the sake of the one confessing. This is definitely another co-dependent trait, symptom, whatever you want to call it!

Don’t get me wrong; none of us have a camera into this person’s heart, but the person receiving this confession didn’t feel the relief and hope that often a confession can bring.

It really made me stop and think: Why do we confess when we do? Is it because we are genuinely sorry for the wrong/hurt it caused, or because we need to get it off our shoulders so we can feel better? That’s where this power thought comes from.

“A confession coming from Godly sorrow has the power to heal both the offended and the offender, but a self-seeking confession doubles the wound.”

Thoughtfully,

Evinda