Just a thought by coppi

Just a thought by coppi – written in 2015

A light house does not blow fog horns but it only shines.  

When I read the above I thought of our walk as Christians.  Does our life reflect the light  of Jesus.  St Mark 4:21: and he said unto them, is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? And not to be set on a candlestick?  A candle beams its flickering light so we may find our way in the dark as does the Lighthouse.  As Christians we should let our light shine & walk in the light of Christ.  We need not blow fog horns but just shine & let the Holy Spirit beam through us.  Proverbs 20:27 The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord……i grew up in a very legalistic religion & if we did have a little light, it was totally blown out with dos & don’ts & lots of fear. 1 John 4:7: Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God….10: herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us & sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4 is filled with scriptures of love.  The pendulum swings both ways but should be in balance.  I guess my desire is not to be a fog horn but a flickering light for our Lord.

ust a thought by coppi

   He is Real

“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow.  It empties today of its strength.”  (Corrie Ten Boom)

Have you ever worried about something and it never happened?  I have.  All that energy wasted for nothing.  One can’t help but worry when the storms of life engulf them.  Yet, Jesus said to trust Him and have faith.  I think of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, when everything was fine in his world, he loudly proclaimed Jesus was the Son of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, but when John was sitting in a dismal and dark dungeon waiting to be executed, he sent his disciples out to find Jesus and ask Him if He was the Son of God or if they should look elsewhere.  Jesus told John’s disciples to go back and tell John that dead are being raised, sick are being healed and the Kingdom of God is being proclaimed throughout the region.  ‘Faith, unseen faith’.  Hope that Jesus is in control and all will be well is indeed difficult to believe as John, the disciples, and you and me will experience through life.  But our hope must be in Jesus, our Redeemer, and His promises. 

Just a thought by Coppi

Alfred North Whitehead suggested that great people plant trees they’ll never sit under. When you help someone live and pray in God’s will, you are planting such trees that will bear harvest for eternity.

As most of my Just a Thoughts readers know, I write thoughts about my hardships and triumphs in life so that “maybe just maybe” there is someone out there that can be helped through reading them.  I pray I am planting trees of help that I will never sit under.  My thoughts are now on WordPress blog where I have approximately 1,600 views thus far,  Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, which tells me I have planted trees I will never sit under. Please know, I write from my heart and wish not that a crown be placed on my head; I truly and sincerely want to help people, and if that can be done through being vulnerable about my life that is “dayenu” (a Jewish term)- it would have been enough.

in my other life before it crunched, i was doing a series of homeless people , and was going to do an exhibit of them and give the money made to help them find a way back to living. The above picture is one of my paintings of a homeless lady that lived out of a bag. All her life’s belonging were in that bag. I met many homeless ones who lived under bridges, etc. it always amazed me to see how they survived against all odds. But they did. My homeless paintings are scattered now, but that is because my life “scattered “ and i went back into a world of working to survive my own crises. Life does throw lemons, but it is up to us to make lemonade out of the lemons. I have squeezed juice from lemons and made lemonade much of my life, and am still doing it. But, God is good, and i look to Him to guide me. He is my shepherd and i trust His guidance. I have since i was seven years old when i knelt by my bed and turned “me” over to Him.

”

tucked into a bag.

into a bag.

Isaiah 49:16. Behold, I have graven you on the palms of my hands….

This scripture has meant a lot to me….so much so I did a painting of Jesus holding my hands.  I titled it “In His Hands”.  My model for Jesus hands was a friend’s hands from Spain. I put my hands into his hands & had someone take a picture.  My desire is not only to place my hands into his hands but my life.  I need His guidance, wisdom, direction & love to make my life complete.  Without Him “where would this ship be”.

Proverbs 17:3 -The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the LORD tests hearts. Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but the LORD tests the heart. As silver in a crucible and gold in a pan, so our lives are assayed by God.

Because God loves you, you can show your trust in Him by talking about all your feelings and circumstances with Him — the good and hard — through prayer. Don’t let your emotions rule your life; bring them to God so He can help you address them. He is not disappointed or frustrated by your struggles, doubts or pain.

People have always interested me. When studying art in Dallas, Tx, one of our assignments was to go to a place where people were moving around. I spent time at the zoo in Ft Worth, Tx,  and the Galleria in Dallas, Tx. I enjoyed drawing people wandering around looking at animals at the Zoo and shoppers at the Galleria.  I wanted to capture their mood and actions at that moment in time. I also spent time going to homeless shelters and the “not so swell” places in Dallas, Tx. When I was going through treatments for cancer and driving to Gainesville, Fl every month and sometimes days we, ( my bestest friend, Diana Stinson would go with me, I can’t say enough about Diana.  She was someone that encouraged me and kept prayers flying my way), would encounter different ones in the hospital and listen to their reasons for being there.  We learned a lot about the trials of life. We would try to bring hope and laughter in their sad lives.   When we were in the infusion room, we would (if it was around a Holiday) dress for the occasion. Christmas time we wore caps with rain deer horns with lights beaming brightly, etc. if anyone received a good report, we would ring a bell and all in the “drip” room would clap.  I made note of their body language and faces. It was a remembered part of my art assignment given to me years ago.

One of the most radical demands for you and me is the discovery of our lives as a series of movements or passages.  It seems as though we are always passing from one phase to the next, gaining and losing someone, some place, something.  Life is a cycle of happenings good and bad. We can either buckle under them, or move forward with hope pulling us forward on this journey in life.   And, who is our Hope?  Mine is Jesus and His promises in the Bible.  Life is full of choices.  We are free to make our own choices.

picture is not clear, but believe me, it is absolutely beautiful – so much so it takes your breath away. tammy i love you, and your beautiful creations. You are truly gifted. 💕🩷💕

truly.

created by my beautiful niece, Tammy.

“Do not be afraid, have no fear,” is the voice we most need to hear. This voice was heard by Zechariah when Gabriel, the angel of the Lord, appeared to him in the temple and told him that his wife, Elizabeth, would bear a son; this voice was heard by Mary when the same angel entered her house in Nazareth and announced that she would conceive, bear a child, and name him Jesus; this voice was also heard by the women who came to the tomb and saw that the stone was rolled away. “Do not be afraid, do not be afraid, do not be afraid.” The voice uttering these words sounds all through history as the voice of God’s messengers, be they angels or saints. It is the voice that announces a whole new way of being, a being in the house of love, the house of the Lord. . . . The house of love is not simply a place in the afterlife, a place in heaven beyond this world. Jesus offers us this house right in the midst of our anxious world”.  Henri Nouwen 

I read this today, and it spoke to my heart.  Through the centuries of time, darkness, and fear would peep its ugly head into the lives of saints and people of all ages.  “Do not Fear” and “Do not be be Afraid” are the words we/they needed to hear.  And the beautiful part of Henry Nouwen’s  message is we can have that love and peace now  –   it’s not simply a place in the afterlife, we have it now, right here in this anxious world.  Do not be afraid, Do not be afraid, Do not be afraid-the message from his messengers, sent from God, to you in time of need.  

just being with him is enough

just a thought by coppi

just being with him is enough

just a thought by coppi