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.

Ps 40:6….Mine ears thou open

When my ears are open to the world around me there’s no telling what I may hear – perhaps even the voice of God.   Ruth Howes

Just a thought by coppi

Ps 5:3 – In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you & wait expectantly

If you are faced with doubt-laced questions & If you’re confused by circumstances ask Jesus to open your mind & heart to the facts you need to know to follow him-

Let nothing remain hidden that needs to come out-

It’s in the the mornings I seek the Lord.  I read scripture, I read different meditations & I pray.  If I have questions, doubts & if I am confused by circumstances I bring them to the Lord in prayer……I let nothing hidden in my heart stay there, I bring it before the Lord. In Ps 32 – King David learned that he could not hide his sin from the Lord.  It was when he confessed the hidden sin that the joy of his salvation returned. (Ps 32:5).  God loved David, & He loves all his children, too much to allow unconfessed sin to go unpunished.  So it’s in the mornings for me to bring praise, gratefulness, & prayer requests before the Lord, & try very hard to leave them there & wait expectantly.  Coppi, I hope you’ll remember God can use the bleakest day to deliver His gifts.

Just a thought by coppi

he following this morning and thought I would like to share with my “just a thought” ones.  Choices we make in life can be regrets when our life here comes to an end.  Life is a gift from God….He made us fearfully and wonderful and knew who we were before we were born (Read Ps 139) and loves us just as we are.  Be that person He created – no one in this world is “you”! 

Here’s the rest of Bronnie Ware’s list, adapted from her book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying–A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing. Which item most resonates with you?

1)  I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
This was the most common regret of all. When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honored even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.

It is very important to try and honor at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realize, until they no longer have it.

2)  I wish I didn’t work so hard.
This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.

By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.

3)  I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.

We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.

4)  I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.

It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.

5)  I wish that I had let myself be happier.
This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.

When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.

Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.

“By admitting your inadequacies, you show that you’re self-aware enough to know your areas for improvement…and secure enough to be open about them.” –Adam Grant

I have been at this a long time—-every since I took a course on “A way out”.  It’s risky but worth the effort. I had to rip off all my masks and be me, “warts” and all. Acceptance was big in my life.  The risk of not being accepted made life easier….no more masks, one was enough “me”.

Just a thought by coppi

Genesis 2:18 – behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. Is. 49:16.  “I was on His mind”.

I love the way Charles Spurgeon says it:  “I have graven thee”;  it does not say thy name’.  The name is there, but that is not all:  I have graven thee.  See the fullness of this!  I have graven thy person, thine image, thy case, thy circumstances, thy sins, thy temptations, thy weaknesses, thy wants, thy works;  I have graven thee, everything about thee, all that concerns thee;  I have put thee altogether there.  Wilt thou ever say again that God hath forsaken thee when he has graven thee upon His palms”.

I did a painting of Jesus holding my hands. I did this painting in a time of great pain in my life.  I knew my only hope was to be in His hands so I visualized my hands in his – thus the painting.  My name is engrave on those nail-print hands but not only my name but “all that concerns me”.  

Just a thought by coppi

We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing.  We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it – Psalm 39:6

I used to think life was forever.  That there was loads of time.  That I could do  everything I wanted if I did it slowly. I don’t think that anymore.

Put aside your busyness today and spend time alone with Him.

As I read above scripture and different quotes, I have to remind myself what’s important in life.  Life is a gift.  Is it wrapped in busyness – rushing hither and yonder like moving shadows or to walk softly before the Lord that you may be able to hear His voice.  For me, I have to remind myself that I am not the ambassador of the world and i must depend on the Lord for His direction & guidance in my life.  And, to have that direction & guidance, I have to spend time with Him.  My friends in Texas used to call me the “hyper-thyroid-grasshopper” – hopping everywhere trying to accomplish everything before I died…..I use to think that but I don’t anymore!  Maybe because I see”gray” in my hair!!!  But what is important for me is. “Do justice – love mercy – & walk humbly with the Lord.

Just a thought by Coppi

“If prayer stands as the place where God and human beings meet, then I must learn about prayer. Most of my struggles in the Christian life circle around the same two themes: why God doesn’t act the way we want God to, and why I don’t act the way God wants me to. Prayer is the precise point where those themes converge.” — Philip Yancey

I have said this before, but I will say it again – “I think when i get to heaven, I will be sorry I did not pray more.”

Just a thought by coppi

Paul asks the question in Romans 8:31: “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
The question isn’t simply, “Who can be against you?” You could answer that one.
Who is against you? Disease, inflation, corruption, and exhaustion. Calamities-confront us and fears imprison. Were Paul’s question, “Who can be against us?” we could list our foes much easier than we could fight them. “From MaxLucado The Lucado Inspirational Reader

For every crucifixion, a resurrection is waiting to follow – perhaps not immediately but the possibility is there. Quote from John Ashcroft book ‘Lessons from a Father to his Son’.

I use to have a hard time with the “IF God is for me” because I wasn’t so sure at times He was, but the next verse reads “Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?” Romans 8:32. I have now replaced the IF with “SINCE God is for me” – I like that better. I had a dear friend at Adams Golf tell me “Coppi, you have made lemonade out of some of the lemons that were thrown your way in life” and my immediate thought was “Since God is for me, I was able to face the fears, calamities, and foes and not let myself bog down underneath them”. Not easy, but SINCE He is for me, calamities, sickness, hardship, inflation, etc can be released to Him. For every crises there is a resurrection. It might not be immediate but it is possible. I think of how horrible the crucifixion was for our Lord and what He endured for us, but then I remember the glory of His resurrection and what all He accomplished for us….”Grace glorious grace, at the cross you called it finished, Grace wonderful grace at the cross all my sin is covered”….crucifixion but then came the resurrection! That is the way I handle the lemons thrown my way in life because I know a resurrection will come!

Unclogging The Shofar….

“The most uniquely Biblical musical instrument was the shofar, the Hebrew trumpet from a ram’s horn.  The word shofar comes from a word that means clear.  To make a sound you have to be clear.  You can’t blow through something that’s all clogged up.  You’re called to be the Lord’s shofar-a vessel of God, an instrument for His purposes…..in order for God’s Spirit to blow through you have to be clear, you have to be free of obstructions & clogged up stuff like bitterness, un-forgiveness, pride, lust, anger or anything that’s going to stop the blowing….”Jonathan Cahn

Anytime I read about a shofar, I think of Standish, my deceased husband.  He loved the sound of the shofar.  Our dear friends, Ralph & Diana Stinson, so graciously gifted him with one.  Standish was an Episcopalian & blowing the shofar in the church we attended was not acceptable.  However, when we visited the Messianic Jewish Synagogue or the Light House Gospel Ministries, out came the shofar.  It takes a lot of breath to blow a shofar & Standish would give it his best…..many times another “shofar blower” would come stand by Standish (he was much younger than Standish) & together they made beautiful music for the Lord.  I remember at Standish funeral in the  Episcopalian Church, his “shofar buddies” stood in the back of the church & blew the shofar…..The Episcopalian church had not planned for shofars to be blown, but I am sure Standish planned it, as he wanted all to know part of the music in heaven is the clear trumpet sound of ram’s horn, the shofar.

just a thought by coppi