November 9, 2017

Greetings My Friend,

Reading my daily Bible reading then copying down passages that speak to my heart amazes me by the time I get to the point in my journal where I ask the question "What does the Holy Spirit say?" More often than not the passages from the OT, NT and even one of the Wisdom books like Proverbs I find all line up with what the Holy Spirit is directing me to, add to that there are times the Holy Spirit then answers me with another passage of Scripture. Recently I was in the book of Kings and read, "Concerning this house which thou are in building, if thou wilt walk in my statues, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then I will perform my word with thee which I spake unto David thy father." For me I circled the word "if" because that if is an important part of the covenant God is making with King Solomon. It is important to follow God and His ways not ours. Next I was in Proverbs "Turn you at my reproof: behold I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you." I circled the word "spirit" because God is spirit and this points me to not look at the world with my eyes but with my heart which is my spirit connecting to God's Spirit. Finally in Mark I read And he said unto them. He that hat ears to hear, let him hear." For me when I come across these passages through out the Bible it makes me perk up, take note if I am clearing out the clutter in my mind, my life so that I can hear what God is telling me in my spirit. When I wrote out "What does the Holy Spirit say?" I took time to read each of the passages I wrote, I noted the overall theme was to stop and listen, then do what God tells me to do in doing this my life will be made better maybe with a struggle but better. I heard the Holy Spirit tell me "Choose this day who you will serve.." Next I wrote "How will I serve others?" It seemed today that the Holy Spirit set me up to write "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." I felt the lesson was "lead by example." With our failed first marriages Junior and I have worked hard to have a good marriage, we looked to the Bible for direction, took classes in a Bible believing and teaching church for several years until we moved to Virginia. When we moved to Virginia we had gotten away from praying together, studying the Word together and our marriage hit a slump. We loved each other but our life was not as rich as it had been. Once we started praying and studying the Word again our marriage began to fill rich again. Recently when Junior hurt his shoulder, I was able to step beside him, understand if he was not touching me and giving me encouraging words due to his pain. As he felt better I requested the hugs and gentle words of encouragement and he complied. I am thankful when Junior gets short with me that I am able to step back take my feelings out of the situation and observe what may be going on with him. Recently while shopping he called my name, I did not respond quick enough so his next words were rather harsh. I responded with "You are a jerk!" He let me know he had to use the bathroom, while he was gone I figured out that he must have had to go rather badly, when he came back we were friends again. In another life this situation would have gotten rather ugly with us leaving the store. That brief moment of being apart allowed us to regroup both of our attitudes then move on in friendship. These moments are made okay because we strive to live life according the Word of God in our lives. As my thoughts came to a close after reading what I had written I mused that each day I need to commit to God to be in my life then strive to turn all things over to Him. Not only is my marriage made better, I am able to face my Parkinson's, Junior's disabilities, life in general. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet