Be Still 7.16: OMG

Oh, My Holy GOD, mornings are special in these retirement years.

There is something about getting up in the early morning that make “Oh, My Holy GOD, mornings” beyond description. Something about walking out into the humidity when it is still cool enough to tolerate.  Something about Choc lab girl as she walks slowly down the ramp, trying to keep her footing secure. Something about watching the birds flit in for their early visit to fight over which spot they want. Something about Spooky-Sparkle-Shadow kitty lifting her paws, daintily, out of the dew wet grass. Something about watching the homes around neighborhood wake up and make their way to work or run an early morning errand. 

Something about quiet time with I AM – YHWH – ABBA – PAPA that leave me whispering over and over in awe – Oh, My GOD, thank You.

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!”

1 John 3:1

I’ve fallen in love with spending the first hour of my waking day on the front porch.  Bible open in my lap.  Pen and prayer list close by.  Reading aloud the Psalms and any scriptures that are appointed for my day ahead. BUT – I’ve found that I still have a hard time just being still and listening.  I have a hard time not continually talking My Father’s ear off with all my tears, complaints and gratitudes.  Even old songs make their way forward at different points, and I end up singing them aloud as well. 

I know I am in a loop here but  – Being Still is hard.

At some point, Choc Lab Girl always returns to lie at my feet.  Sometimes when her head hits the porch floor, I wonder how she doesn’t have a head ache for the rest of the day.  Wiggling toes stray down to rub themselves against her soft fur until she sighs (rather loudly, I might add).  Laughing I can identify with her because I often feel like YAH does the same thing to me as I set myself down on the porch to begin my day.  His breath ruffles my hair as I babble in His presence, and I can almost hear Him laugh as I sigh…rather loudly in response.

“Great is His faithfulness.
Great is His faithfulness.
Morning by morning
New mercies I see.”

Chisholm/Runyan

Everyday, somewhere or sometime during the day, I hear or see – ‘Oh my god’ or OMG (almost always in capital letters); on social media, movies, the “news” programs, even family and friends…but to me, the saddest thing in the world is that it is never said with awe in these times in which we live. While OMG seems to be everywhere – AWE – seems to have disappeared from our vocabulary – our attitudes – and for the most part – our lives. 

 AWE: (Germanic, n/v) an emotion variously combining dread, veneration, and wonder that is inspired by authority or by the sacred or sublime.

When I was growing up, my dad had a heart attack when I was 10.  I was home alone with him. On the many days of not knowing if he would live or die, I would walk to the hospital to look in the window of his room to see him lying in his bed and then walk to my childhood church where I would sit for a long time. There was “awe” in that sanctuary.  Often, the minister, a former WWII POW, would come and sit with me.  We would talk, pray, and cry together. I’m not sure he was ever trained how to comfort a 10-year-old girl, but he let the HOLY SPIRIT lead him, and I was comforted as he must have been comforted during his WWII experiences. Later, when I took my membership class, that same minister would talk about the “awe” in which we should hold GOD the FATHER, His name and His altar.

You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who takes His name in vain. 

Exodus 20:7

In these latter days, there are many things that offend the sensibilities of those who try to have a relationship with Yeshua Ha’Mashiach and carry it with them into the world.  Somehow – hearing OMG doesn’t even register a twinge on the radar for most.  It is heard over and over and over…and yet…it was the second thing that YHWH listed on the mountain as His finger carved two stone tablets for Moses. [Exodus 20]

“Awe” needs to be returned to the name of GOD.  We need to remember His faithfulness.  We need to show our gratitude for His faithfulness. We need to try to find His righteousness in ourselves once again.  The good thing is we can do it – morning by morning – if we seek Him and spend time on the mountain with Him.

“And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.  If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.”

1 John 2: 28-29

#latterdays  #Hedrawethnigh  #rapture

• 

• 

Be Still 1.30: Divine Appointment

Today, I think I heard my guardian angel laugh … or cry … not sure which, but I’m pretty sure they were frustrated and questioning the Holy Spirit to Gibbs’ slap me again.

It started out as a normal Monday.  Get up.  PT stretches. Feed critters. Walk Choc lab girl. Gym.  And – then the routine got changed – and not because I planned it.  Short story made longer… a Gibbs’ slap upside the head changed my world — again.

“Go to the car wash.”

“Say what? I am not going to the car wash. Yes, I know I need to get the car cleaned.  It has been a couple of months, and the mouse droppings have been littering the inside (although I’m pretty sure they are dead, if the disappearing bait in the trap is any clue – so forgive me for that – they chew wires). It is the end of the month. No money left in the account. I don’t have a book in the car to read while I wait. I have a plan for today. Not going to the car wash. No way am I going to the car wash. Period.”

“Go to the car wash.”

“Seriously, again? Look, I will check the account, and if I have money in the account I will go.”  I moved the car to the side of the gym parking lot and pulled out the phone. I checked.  No money had cleared yet.  I pulled out of the gym parking lot and got in the turn lane to head for home.

“Go to the car wash.”

And…that’s when the Gibbs’ slap occurred.  I might have said “ouch” as I pulled into the other lane, but I didn’t quit arguing.  “Okay, I will drive by the car wash, and if there isn’t a line, I will get the car washed….but this is stupid.  It is always busy on a nice day like today and… (I might have yelled this) I don’t have enough money.  Remember, I said I’m not buying anything that I have to use credit to buy, remember?  That was Your plan, after all.”

“Go to the car wash. There is no line.”

I might have laughed since I was sure I was having a mental breakdown with all this conversation going on in my head and with my ears still ringing from the Gibbs’ slap. The car wash on a sunny day – at noon – was going to be busy. And – I didn’t have a book to read. – Not to mention the money again.

I should know better by now.  There was no line.  The car wash prices had gone up (surprise, surprise), and I began to whine again about the money, my lack of a book to read, and this whole thing was spoiling my plan for the day. I had things to do.

“Trust Me.”

Got out of the car. Paid the bill – (which, btw, just happened to be a friend I hadn’t seen since COVID) and then noticed…..I had left phone in car.  Walked back to get phone, so I could move the last few dollars I had from one account to another to save my butt from ‘overdrafting’ when I noticed a phone call from another friend who has been dealing with a lot of spiritual and worldly attacks.

I called her because I  knew it must be important since she was calling on a Monday during her work hours.  Turns out – she did need to talk, but it took us about 15 minutes of talking on the phone to figure out – – – we were at the same place. I was getting my car washed; she was getting her car inspected – – – at the same business. I was sitting outside; she was sitting inside – – – at a table exactly behind me.

And that is when our angels were either laughing or crying or wishing they had the power to Gibbs’ slap the both of us.

Devine appointments are like that. Appointments made for a reason beyond our ken. Appointments made in the fulfillment of His masterpiece not ours. They are sometimes called GODwinks or serendipity or coincidences. But they are more than any of the terms we can give them. For whatever reason Our Father wanted my friend and I to be face-to-face. Perhaps, we both needed the hugs and physical presence of each other more than just a phone call.  Whatever it was, I am sure it happened exactly the way He needed it to happen – although – I’m sure He wouldn’t mind if I would quit arguing with Him from the get-go. The wisdom for me today is that it was also meant as an affirmation – especially when I logged back into the bank account and found out that I didn’t need to move money after all (surprise,surprise). Proving once again, He is faithful – even in the tiniest of things I worry over. The takeaways from today’s affirmations is that Our Father continues to fulfill all His covenants. I just have to Be still, ponder and wonder at the lessons He is teaching me even in my days of gray hair. So here is the short version of some long ponderings as I drove home. 

My plan for the day wasn’t as important as His plan was for others.

A senseless idea to me was a perfect idea for Him.

My logical, worldly excuses held little weight in the light of  His wisdom.

Be still, listen and know that:

“I AM THAT I AM”  Exodus 3:14

#latterdays #rapture #Hedrawethnigh

GRATITUDE-ATTITUDE AFFIRMATION 2022 #17

Annnnnnddddddddd….what color was the wooly bear caterpillar this year????

It is officially cold in NC.  Maybe it is me.  Maybe it is being an elder.  Maybe it is because we had such a beautiful, warm fall…………..right up till this week.

I suppose that it could be just a winter like every other a winter.  Yet, this year’s cold seems to have more of a bite when that wind blows. And I am sooooo thankful that I got most of the fall chores done, so I don’t have to deal with being out in the cold more than I like.  However, as I type this, I am laughing since back in my OH days, the high 40’s registered as “a bit nippy” instead of hitting my “ugh – that’s cold” designation.   

“You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom! Had you walked in the way of GOD, You would have dwelt in enduring peace.”

Baruch 3:12-13

For those of you not familiar with Baruch, it is a book of the Catholic and Orthodox canons.  Protestants denominations do recognize it as part of the Biblical Apocrypha. It is thought to be written by Baruch ben Neriah, scribe to Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, and written during the time of the Babylonian exile. If you look in the Catholic Bible, Baruch is the book right after Lamentations.  It makes a lot of sense to me since both books bear witness to what happens to a nation that doesn’t listen to the watchman on the walls and walks away from the covenant of the One who brought them out of slavery.

The cool thing about GOD, who made a covenant with the Jewish people and got angry with them when they broke the covenant, is that even in the midst of the horror of them turning their backs on Him, His laws, and His love – of them losing their country to their enemy – of them being forced to walk the path of servitude (again) – of them enduring atrocities that they never considered being possible – this same GOD sent His watchmen/prophets/Angel of the LORD to comfort them – to encourage and comfort them even in the depth of His wrath with them.

A reminder – an affirmation – that if they humble themselves and turn from their wicked ways, He will hear from Heaven and honor His covenant with them again. Baruch writes of this in his closing chapters.   

Which brings back to the original covenant.  Those 10 laws that were carved on a tablet in the very beginning of this journey between GOD and His chosen people.  Each day, I keep coming back to these laws.  As always, I remember the laws somewhere in one of those file drawers that has been relegated to the bottom drawers of my mind.  I don’t always remember them in order and certainly not in their entirety.  Today as I read the 4^th law that was carved – first by the finger of GOD and then rewritten by Moses – the familiarity of it came back. As I re-read it for a time out of time, the solemnity hit me in a different way. 

GOD created everything for us. He asks so little, and yet – from that beginning – He planned a “rest” at the end of the work.  The whole Bible points to this plan being fulfilled even amid all our failings to acknowledge that “rest” in even the littlest way.  Whether it is physical, emotional, spiritual work, He promises a rest – a restoration – a repristination – a time when we will humble ourselves and sit in His AWE.

The affirmation in the midst of lamentations for a country falling apart.

He sent His Son to point out how it is done. Jesus came and after His work, He humbled himself beyond anything we can conceive so that He could lead us through the narrow gate and take us back to His Father. The work days – the days of waiting – are coming to a close.  The Bridegroom has prepared a house for His remnant – His Bride. The wedding feast is not far off. A day of rest, feasting and joy. A day when we can once again rejoice in AWE of the Father.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.  For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”

Exodus 20:8-11

#latterdays #rapture #Hedrawethnigh

GRATITUDE-ATTITUDE AFFIRMATION 2022 #15

2 empty Christmas boxes back in the garage.  One step ladder still sitting in my kitchen.  And just like that, the dreary, bone-chillin’ day (as one of my former students mentioned to me today), has been swallowed by little touches of light that warmed these aging, arthritic bones deep down to the marrow.

So on this 15^th day of November, I AM BLESSED and THANKFUL!!

There is something about colored lights spreading out around the house that just lifts the song right out of me.  Christmas carols.  Hymns. Choral music. Praise music. It all surfaced and Christmas decorating became fun even though I am alone, and often, the only one who gets to soak all that light in on a daily basis. 

That is the sad part – not being able to have someone to share it with me on a daily basis.  Then I remember, I am just spreading a symbol around the house of the truth that lives within me – Yeshua Ha’Mashiach’s Light, Jesus Christ’s Light that I get to share every day when I travel to the gym, visit with friends, worship in church, talk with my neighbors. His Light – His gift to me. Dr Jeremiah wrote a neat devotional on neighbors today. He said, “Jesus’ point was this: Your neighbor is anyone with a need that you are able to meet. Look for a neighbor whose need you might meet.”

Your neighbor is anyone with a need that your gifts can, in some way, help them overcome that emptiness they feel.

As I bask in the few colored lights I set out and watch Marty Goetz’s ‘House of Worship’, the Bible verses that the Holy Spirit pointed out to me today are circling.  One is a continuation of the First Covenant YHWH made with the people He had brought out of slavery.  Yesterday, I linked the 1^st and 2^nd commandments together because they are so closely tied together in today’s society.  Actually, I could have easily linked this one in as well.

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.”

Exodus 20:7

How often is this commandment broken?  I don’t have to list them.  You hear them every day – even if you don’t leave your house. Our society thinks nothing of saying – writing – or even singing: God, Jesus S. Christ, Jesus.  Saying it not with awe or reverence, but casually – a slip of the tongue – in anger – in jest – in “coolness” of peer pressure.

Re-reading these commandments during this space of time has blessed my  journey in a surprising way.  Many Sunday school/Bible school memories have popped forward….from making clay tablets to making a tabletop, cardboard altar on which the teacher had us copy a shortened version of the commandments to a song that – for the life of me – I can’t remember the tune that taught them.

To me, the whole 3^rd commandment just calls forth: ‘Be intentional, for I AM is always listening and considering what you want to say to Him’.

The rain has slowed to a sprinkle tonight and I am yawning, but there is one more verse that continues to haunt the depths of my soul.  I have a friend who writes a daily devotional on FB.  It is 2 Bible verses and a reflection.  I am intentional about seeking it and reading it.  If it doesn’t pop up on FB on its own – I go looking for it so I can pass it on to others.

Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?  Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.  These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

John 16:31-33

The part of this verse that caught me in prayer and continues to echo especially after what happened in our world today – in our nation today – is underlined.  The hour is coming.  The hour has now come.  The hour that we will be scattered. The words are like the harmonic overtone of notes that continue to resonate in me. Why? I have no idea. It is just something that I continue to ponder and pray over. And then – I read the rest of what He said. The hour is here – but so is the rock-solid promise at the end of this last piece of teaching that Jesus gave to His closest disciples. 

“In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”  

John 16:33

#latterdays #rapture #Hedrawethnigh

A high resolution photo of a solar eclipse from FB

GRATITUDE-ATTITUDE AFFIRMATION 2022 #14

3 wrenches later, one connector battered, and shoes filled with ice cold water, success is mine!! I completed the task and am beyond thankful on this fourteenth day of November. 

Outside water hose has now been disconnected from faucet for the rest of winter.  Of course I am not about to mention that I tightened it before I remembered the whole ‘right-tighty/lefty-loosey’ thingy, but in my defense, perspective is everything when dealing with a split faucet.

It’s always the perspective, right?

A few days back one of my former students posted this “Everyone’s a victim in their own story.” I immediately laughed and wrote back.  “Not me. I’m always the heroine.” Back in dem ol’ days – prior to having any technology in my room except a book – I would eventually succumb to the parents’ dictates to close the book and turn off my light. Mr. Sandman wasn’t always right there with his yawning magic, so I would practice the piano in my head or do the dance routine that Mrs. Porter was teaching me that week or tell myself a story (with me as the heroine) in all the fantasies a small girl could imagine during those mid-20^th century years.

“ ‘This is the covenant I will establish with them after these days,’ says the LORD. ‘I will put my laws I their hearts, and I will write them upon their minds.’ ”

Hebrews 10:16

I realized early in life – for whatever reason – that the LORD had written his law not only in my mind but carved it deeply in my heart.  Like every human on this planet – save One, I have lost my perspective at different points in my life and grieved the Holy Spirit within me.  Sometimes being back trodden for years – and sometimes – just long enough to get my sense back by being Gibbs’ slapped by the Holy Spirit. (I hereby testify that the Holy Spirit does not like to be grieved by my stupidity.)

I find myself reflecting/pondering/questioning during these latter days, the whole lefty-loosey/righty-tighty thing from a different perspective. The thinly veiled spiritual battle in our culture rages around me and the world if we have the will to open our eyes and acknowledge it. Today, opening my eyes led me to looking at Our Father’s First Covenant and the laws of that covenant. I never know where My Father is going to lead me when I start pondering the things He puts in front of me when I open my eyes, and true to form, I never saw this one coming.

‘I AM the LORD your GOD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.  You shall have no other god before Me.’

Exodus 20:2-3

I had not read the entire first law of the Covenant in a long time. I had forgotten that Our Father went into a lot of detail in this initial law. He established who He was, what He had done for His chosen ones, and what He expected those people to do in honor of that action. And yet – the chosen people broke that covenant before Moses even got back with the stone tablets. I re-read the story of this first covenant and then compared it to my own journey. From my golden ol’ age perspective, I look at those early stories that I told myself before I fell asleep, I see that golden calf being raised up even though that law was written on my heart.  I grieved the Holy Spirit even in those early days of my thoughts and actions. 

You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath.  You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing loving devotion to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Exodus 20:4-6

I have found in these latter days that it is way too easy to make an “idol” out of the things I desire more than I want to honor that first covenant.  A covenant that Our Father chose to enter into with us.  A covenant that He has never broken. He sacrificed His Son to make sure we understood His commitment to keeping His side of the promise. Yeshua then sent the Holy Spirit to seal us to Him.  He carved those laws on our minds with the blood He shed for us on Passover. And yet – even in our minds – we break that covenant over and over. 

Goals, desires, money, power, fame, our physical surroundings/possessions, politics, the stars, priests, traditions, feelings……….the list could go on and on and on. Idols have always existed in this world.  It is how the evil one continues to roll the apple towards us, and just as it happened to Israel, so too, it will happen to the world. The prophets of scripture wrote about it.  The watchmen on the walls are proclaiming it. The ‘righty-tighty/lefty-loosey’ perspective is affirming it as the Days of Noah continue to manifest themselves more freely.

I tremble at the thought as I sit here tonight and wonder how there can even be a faithful remnant in this world – a bride preparing for the bridegroom’s coming – a lamp with enough oil to burn through the night.

And yet – because Our Father is faithful, I know that in His WORD I can put my trust. It is the eternal hope that He promised in all His covenants.

“Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”  

Deuteronomy 31:6

#latterdays #rapture #Hedrawethnigh

Moses (c. 1350-1250 B.C.) Hebrew prophet and lawgiver. Transformed a wandering people into a nation; received the Ten Commandments.The 23 marble relief protrait over the gallery doors of the House Chamber in the U.S. Capitol depict historical figures noted for their work in establishing the principles that underlie American law. They were installed when the chamber was remodeled in 1949-1950.

AFFIRMATION of 2022: Love Your Neighbor

I have been trying to give away at least one thing a day for the past month.  The challenge is to give at least 365 things away before January 2023. Have to admit that most of those things are books – some clothes – some food – some yarn – some knickknacks – some odds and ends that I just haven’t used in years (notice I did not mention any of my stuffed animals or childhood toys of horses and Barbies). But today, as I walked around the house, my shelves are still full.  My closet and chest of drawers are – still filled. My cabinets are – – – still filled. Then I remember – I have only given away 29+ things (if I don’t count the yarn skeins or individual pieces of clothing). 

“The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching.”

Aristotle

It is hard for me to pull books off of my shelves – especially my old picture books. Those stories and authors have been a part of my life since before I began to read. What if I want to read them again? The books I used for teaching also stay my hand.  Am I really not going to teach these things again – – – ever??? An early diagramming book from the 1940’s? Spelling units based on Greek and Latin base words? How to create poetry for the non-poet??  The Puppies for Sale stories by Dan Clark for inspired journal responses???

Then there are the books that have given me wisdom about YAHWEH, Yeshua Ha’Mashiach, and Ruach Ha’Kodesh – seriously – how do I give those away?  What if I want to look something up? The wisdom of Madeleine L’Engle as she walked her own path of faith through the death of her husband and family members? Taylor Caldwell? Ayn Rand?

Ugh…life decisions are hard.

I scan the book shelves and look at the things that aren’t books. Things that were part of my mother and grandmothers’ life, and I sigh rather loudly…spooking my snoring lab girl once again. How do I give away the figurines that sat on my grandmother’s shelves? How do I give away the little cardboard suitcase that my mother carried as a child? The short fragments written in the calendar journals of her life? The poetry books that my mom loved to read and send in letters to others – – and that I read to her when she could no longer read for herself? The sheet music that we sang together or the ones I when I accompanied her on the piano?  Can I really give them away?

“You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

Mark 10:21b

As if in confirming this affirmation challenge, YAH has sent many treasure chest memories my way. As I sit on the floor beside my choc lab girl, her head resting on my lap as I scan through a book one last time before I chuck it into the bag to take to the near-by free shelf. Gems of knowledge turn in my mind and get brought out of those dusty file cabinets in my mind as they are embedded in my heart all over again.

I thought I would be entirely bored this year.  It is the first time since 1973 that I haven’t spent any time in a classroom. And yet – this GOD-given time of retirement has allowed me time to teach myself a few Hebrew words and even some scattered attempts to write from left to right (lefties, like me, might find that challenge a little less daunting than those first sentences that were written in 1^st grade) – learn more Jewish traditions and wisdom (especially written by Messianic Jews) – knowledge filtered by the Holy Spirit – but lessons designed just for me by the greatest teacher/preacher of all, and the One who loves and knows me best.

Strangely this past week – YAH sent me back to the beginning – the beginning of teaching of His chosen people. 

“And GOD spoke all these words…”

Exodus 20:1

10 commandments. 10 laws.  10 rules.  10 concepts that would help guide individual tribes into one cohesive group that would be a neighbor to the One who created them all and saw the nation they would become for such a time as this. After reading my daily devotion from a group I follow on social media, I re-read those first two words that He carved on a tablet of stone:  “I AM…” YAH’s name is at the beginning of the first 5 commandments. I continued reading them until I got to the last two words on those tablets: “…your neighbor.”

“I AM…your neighbor.”

Neighbors surround us every day in our many communities of life. Sometimes, we like them – sometimes not – sometimes – we don’t even know them.  I like to think of that as I pull things out of drawers or off shelves to give away.  Things that I have treasured enough to keep are now going to neighbors that I don’t know, but who will – hopefully, treasure them as well. I scratch my lab girl’s belly and thought about Jesus’s summarizing the commandments. Hmmm…now that just might give a whole new meaning to Jesus’s affirmation when He gave the Greatest Commandment.

Jesus replied, “This is the most important: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

Mark 12:29-30

#Hedrawethnigh  #keeplookingup #affirmation

Hebrew for Christians

TABERNACLING 2021: Lessons Learned

“Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man…”

Benjamin Franklin

It is hard to believe that it has been a year of trying to daily tabernacle with YAH.  While Our Father is always faithful and to be found, His wayward, back-trodden child is not.  There were – like always – up and down days for this ol’ gal.  Days when I would joyfully dance into the tabernacle and jabber endlessly, and those dreaded days when I felt like I was being dragged by my ear, head down, tears streaming and waiting for dressing-down that I deserved.

But you must return to your God,

maintaining love and justice,

and always waiting on your God.

Hosea 12:6

I am a Gemini in – oh – so many ways of that duplicitous birth sign. On those days when He had to seek me out, tap me on the heart and drag me – kicking and screaming – into the tabernacle, I often found a dark hole in my spirit that I had no idea even existed. An empty space that was meant to be filled with something greater than I ever expected. A GOD space waiting for me to recognize. Sometimes,  when the confident, sassy “ME” of my inner self is in control, I don’t listen as well as when I am the embarrassed, repentant “ME”…which is almost every day in one way or another. Those are the days when I realize GOD’s character is so much more than I ever knew.

GOD’s character is: “…merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, extending kindness to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin…”

[Exodus 34:6-7]

Tonight, as I eat my trail bologna, Swiss cheese, shrimp, a tiny bit of lettuce, and get ready to toast 2022, I realize that Tabernacling with Our Father in 2021 has shown me many of those deeper vices that I “turned a blind eye to”.  Always hoping that no one – especially YAH – would notice or that they would just totally disappear all on their own with no one being the wiser.

Amazing, how delusional I can be when it comes to my own life flaws and poor choices.

He has, through His WORD, shown me many ways to find peace with those He has placed in my sphere – whether they be “neighbors” physically, emotionally or spiritually – near or far. Another area where I continue to struggle.  I can plan it all out in my head and lose it the minute I see an individual face.  Yet – after this year of tabernacling – I feel His peace … even when I blow it and don’t find any kind of peace with my neighbors. He just shakes His head, tucks me under His arm, buries His WORD a little deeper in my spirit, and encourages me to try again.

“Blessing is God’s default setting—His first and foremost reflex. If you don’t believe that, you’ll doubt the goodness of God.”

Mark Batterson

Best of all, I have, at least I hope, as Benjamin Franklin so aptly put it “…become a better [wo]man…” physically, emotionally and spiritually in 2021, so that this New Year of 2022 will be an affirmation of all the Light He has shown me in this 71^st year of life. 

The New Testament describes Yeshua as the “Aleph and the Tav, the one who is and who was and who is to come, God Almighty” (Rev. 1:8)

May 2022 be blessed by His WORD – Light – and Grace for all His…and your… walk together for the next 365 days.

#Hedrawethnigh

TABERNACLING 2021: Palm Sunday

“Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth day of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.”   

Exodus 12:3

One of my students wrote me a note a last week. The watery smile came out, as I pressed that small note into on of my notebooks where I keep students’ notes and pictures that have been given to me over the years. Every now and then – when I have one of those crazy days or when the arthritis is reminding me how old my body feels, I pull that notebook out and remember why I still teach.

After teaching in the inner city, rural public with a few Mennonite/Amish, homeschooling 3 of my own, urban alternative, small Christian school, another rural school, it is fun to be on the ground floor of a new Christian school for my last teaching gig. Got to crow, I love teaching. I love teaching about YHWH. A friend said her daughter calls preachers, “God-tellers”. I like that. I like that as a teacher-preacher I could be a “God-teller” as well.

This week, the “God-Teller” in me was teaching about the Jewish Passover. So often in Christian education, we don’t teach the relationship between the Jewish traditions and our Christian ones. Yeshua was a Jewish Rabbi. Jewish followers became his disciples/apostles. Most of his teachings and parables relate to the stories those Jewish people knew well, and I have found that knowing those stories enhances my own “Faith Journey”. Thus, they just tumble out of my mouth as I teach.

“Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany…The next day the great crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.  They took palm branches and went out to meet Him, shouting:

“Hosanna!”

“Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Blessed is the King of Israel!”

John 12:1,12-13

When we juxtaposition Passover with the Easter story, our eyes and ears become a little more open to how omnipotent Our Father is in everything He does – even sending The WORD to fulfill the Word in a way His lost lambs might recognize Him: tying it to their Holy Feasts

According to John’s account, Yeshua rode into Jerusalem on the very day that the Jewish people were choosing their unblemished lambs for Passover. The 10 day of the first month – Nisan. The people rejoiced when they found their pure lamb for Passover. The pure, without flaw, lamb would live with the family that chose it for 4 days – until the day they took it to the priests for sacrifice.

On the 10th of Nisan, Yeshua rode to Jerusalem, to the “home” of His people. The people rejoiced when Yeshua rode into Jerusalem. They laid their coats and palm leaves down for Him to trod upon. That pure “lamb” lived and taught in Jerusalem for the next four days…until they took Him to the priests for sacrifice.

It just so happened – like I believe that – there are no coincidences in YHWH’s timing; I was teaching on the 10th day of Nisan this year. Since I teach K-7th grade, there was a varying degree of knowledge about Palm Sunday and the Jewish feast of Passover. Basics facts to deeper connections flowed depending on our interaction and the Holy Spirit prompting. But in each class – there would be those eyes and ears that opened.

Needless to say, Tabernacling with YHWH, takes us on different “Faith Journeys”. Every year, mine continues to evolve. I continue to learn. I continue to listen and watch. I continue to pry my eyes and ears open when I often just want to curl up in a ball and ignore the world. That is what Tabernacling with YHWH during Passover/Easter is all about.

Peace.

Joy.

Grace.

And the greatest of these: LOVE.

#Hedrawethnigh

Tabernacling 2021: Glorious Quest…

“It is the mission of each true knight…

His duty…

Nay,

His privilege!  To dream…”

Man of LaMancha

My youngest grandson wrote me this morning.  He said he woke up at 3:30 and couldn’t go back to sleep.  I laughed.  Waking up at 3 or 3:30 is nothing new to his grandma. I think I have done it all my life. I call it my “wrestling-with-EL” time.  He wants me to get up and get on with His work.  I want to go back to sleep.  So – we wrestle.  Back and forth – tossing and turning – praying, crying and laughing – until….

To dream…

It is a duty – nay, a privilege – to wake up and wrestle with GOD.  I am usually exhausted when I finally give in and get up, but somehow the physical exhaustion never kicks in until the next evening, and then that blessed peace fills me to the brim; eyes propped open with a nap here or a nap there until I dream … and oh my… such dreams.

Those dreams are usually the best. Filled with amazingly cute, blue, fuzzy, mop-headed dogs or creative goals or plans I have yet to try or riding across wide open spaces on a purple horse who flies so fast her feet barely touch the groundless seas beneath us or threads of stories yet to be written as I reach for that star He placed before me. 

This is my Quest to follow that star,

No matter how hopeless, no matter how far,

To fight for the right,

Without question or pause,

To be willing to march into Hell

For a Heavenly cause.

Man of LaMancha

I love wrestling with My Father and seeing the Glorious Quest that waits just beyond the sleep.  In times such as these, wrestling with GOD is what gets me through.  His Spirit nudges bits and pieces of His WORD deeper into me; yet – somehow – bringing them closer to the surface so that they sing in my mind in the day ahead.  All the while, the peace that passeth all understanding circles around me, lifting my head above the waters that threaten to overwhelm me. I relax.  My body floats to the surface as I feel His breath breathe life once again deep into my soul. 

The old wineskin becomes new again.

This week’s wrestling led to a new Exodus 3:14 Valentine devotional to replace the one based on John 3:16 that I had already planned to use with my 7^th graders (sigh). I never know how these wrestling night changes are going to work in the “real world”, but a quest given is a quest undertaken, right? The inevitable discussions that come out of these Poppa-GOD given quests as we color and think together (as He knew they would), and I find myself praying internally that I don’t miss His signposts for direction that He has already set-in place to guide those youngin’s that He has placed in my sphere for times such as these.

What can I say?  GOD is good – all the time.

And I know, if I’ll only be true

To this Glorious Quest,

That my heart will lie peaceful and calm

When I’m laid to my rest.

And the world will be better than this,

That one man scored and covered with scars,

Still strove with his last ounce of courage,

To reach the unreachable star.

Man of LaMancha “Impossible Dream”

#Hedrawethnigh

TABERNACLING 2021: Baby Step One

As I began this process of Tabernacling with the Father in 2021, I wasn’t sure where this word would lead me – or even – where I should start.  Still not sure. But – here I am.  Taking a deep breath and doing what I always do.

I have figured out (after many times of being unsure, lost and looking over the side of a cliff) that if I pray and open His WORD, His pillar of Light (which is always there) becomes so bright that my rebellious eyes find His lens through which I see best.  His hand (that was always there) reaching out to help me stand.  His rock sturdy under my feet so that I might step forward on the path (that He laid out before me as He knitted me together) with confidence.

After a week of pondering this, that, and the other, here is the first baby step in this tabernacling process: it is much harder than I thought. Thus, back to His WORD to dig a little deeper.

Building the Tabernacle of the Spirit is much different than the physical place that Moses built long ago. G-d gave him a vision on the mountain, and with that correct lens in place, Moses went back to the people, and the day after he brought back the second 10 Commandments, he laid it before the people given to his sphere. Needless to say, it wasn’t easy then either. The tiny remnant that followed him out of Egypt, had taken many dings to their faith by the prince of this world, and their faith in people – even Moshe – was pretty much at the lowest point possible. 

Hate does that – which in times such as these – is a lesson we need to consider and pray about daily. I beginning to see that His Omniscience is one of those traits that we also need to remember as we Tabernacle with Him.

“Let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them.” Ex 25:8

G-d knew He must give them a physical place to meet with Him.  A meeting place away from what they knew in their daily lives.  A meeting place set aside just to get to know Him and hearing His words.  It had been generations since they had met with Him. His words spoken in secret would now be shared openly. A baby step in their new faith walk with Him.

A physical place.  Portable for all the moves to come. Abba gave the perfect vision of what it should look like to Moses.  The people brought all the physical materials necessary – even their gold and jewels.  In fact, they gave so much that Moses eventually had to tell them to stop.  Artists stepped forward to give of their talents to make the vision become a concrete plan.  Materials molded into shapes.  Pieced together by talented fingers and tools. Perhaps, a pounded or burned finger or two in the process, but so worth it.

After generations of pain, loss and desperate cries, the people smiled at the work of their hands and rested. A place to meet with G-d as Moshe had done at the top of the mountain stood before them.

They covered their heads, repented their sins, and got fitted for a new lens to correct their vision.

My Tabernacle is portable. A place within but somehow a place separate.  A place away from the busyness of this shaking world and yet – a part of it – no matter where I am. It is styled just for me with talents and gifts that He has given only to me.  As I cover my head with the thick cloth of repentance for all my rebelliousness, I know already who walks beside me and will stand in front of me as I enter. 

In times such as these, it is good to know Who and What fills our lamps with the holy, anointing oil of His Light.

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Joshua 1:8

His Pillar of Light leads