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.

2023

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. (‭‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭43‬‬:‭18‬-‭19‬ ‭NIV‬‬)

“No amount of regret changes the past, no amount of anxiety changes the future, any amount of grateful joy changes the present.” — Ann Voskamp

Yesterday or the past still lingers around me.  I know my past is what made me who I am today, but I wish sometimes I could go back an erase some of the incidents that happened to me so I could move forward to the present.  Our lives, my brothers and sisters, were difficult growing up but there were times of joy in the toil.  On a farm one is blessed with many animals of sorts.  We had this pet deer that was adorable when it was a young yearling with lots of polka dots on it’s tiny body. We bottle fed him.  We loved that little fella but before we knew what happened, Buster, that is what we named him,  grew to be a big deer with a rack of horns numbering eight to ten.  He not only was huge but mean.  We could no longer go outside to play without him charging us and if he caught us the attack began! My oldest brother decided maybe if he tied a rope with a tire attached that would slow him down.  No way.  One day walking home from school we had to cross a field before reaching our house, we looked across the field and saw Buster. We took off running as fast as our legs propelled us to the safety of a tree.  We scurried up that tree and made it to safety before Buster caught up to us.  He even tried to climb the tree to attack us.  The tire on the rope slowed him but he was a strong and mean deer and he moved so swiftly that the rope holding the tire looked strangely like a flying tire tethered to a string.  Well, I guess you would say that was the end of Buster.  My mother told my brother he had to go before he killed one us.  My brother’s friend wanted him; I never knew if his friend wanted to kill him for a plate of venison or keep him around for breeding purposes. I didn’t want to know because i loved Buster regardless of his meannesses.  

There were many happenings in my country upbringing and sometimes I wonder how in the world we lived to talk about them.  But we did.  I really believe it was because of my mother’s prayers.  She read Psalms 91:1-5 daily and believed what she read:

“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day,”

Yes, my lingering past is parked in my psyche somewhere,  but as Isaiah 43:18-19 says “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past……..God is doing a new thing in me/you”. He will make a way for me/you to stay in the present – forgetting the past and leaving the anxieties of the future in His hands.”

Just a thought by coppi

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Mt 7:12- Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you.  This is the essence of all that is taught in the law & the prophets.

Mt 7:1-do not judge others, & you will not be judged.  For you will be treated as you treat others.  The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.

The standards in the Bible sometimes are difficult to do & my flesh rebels.  Yet again, as I read & re-read the above scriptures, I did note the dos that is required of me, but I also noted they were put there for my good.  If I do to others what I would like them to do for me, that’s for my benefit.  As, if I do not judge others & treat others with disgust, I will will not be judged in the same way.  In the Bible there are standards to live by – some, I will say to myself, I don’t like –  I will throw it out.  But, no, all are there for my benefit – the flesh says I will do it my way; the spirit says yes, Lord, I know your way is right & for my good, I will follow.  Life is full of choices.  Believe me, I have reaped from wrong choices I made; but thank God I have a redeemer, Jesus, who has & will lead me out/through them.  Lord, give me wisdom & knowledge to make the right choices in life.  Thank you for the Bible & it’s directives.

“What is so Amazing About Grace” by Philip Yancey.  This book was recommended to me by two different individuals & finally I purchased it.  I am so glad I did.  Growing up in a very legalistic religion, Grace was never heard from the pulpit –  only dos & don’ts & some of the dos & don’t are not even in the Bible.  I am so glad I decided to find out what the Bible said for myself. Grace, wonderful Grace is not earned, it is free. One can draw a red line from Genesis to Revelation and will note the pattern of redemption…He is coming, the One that will set us free by His blood.  He came, he died, a very cruel death at Calvary, but death could not hold Him.  He was resurrected so we might have eternal life.  How good is that and that is Grace.

I recommend the book “What is so Amazing About Grace” by Philip Yancey….

“Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow builds her nest and raises her young at a place near your altar, O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, my King and my God!”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭84:3‬ ‭NLT

“What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord, who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs. The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings. They will continue to grow stronger, and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭84:5-7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

 1. Even the sparrows know where to go and find safety.  If I stay close to you Jesus your safety net will be my net of rescue.  

 2. My joy and strength will be found in you.  

 3. When I walk through pain and suffering you will be with me – my weeping will turn to joy.  It will become as refreshing springs to my soul.

 4. You will clothe me with many blessings and I will continue to grow stronger, because I have trusted you.

Just a thought by coppi 

The deep fear behind every loss is that we have been abandoned by the God who should have saved us. The transforming moment in Christian conversion comes when we realize that even God has left us. We then discover it was not God, but our image of God that abandoned us…. Only then is change possible.” (Margaret Manning Shull is a member of the speaking and writing team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Bellingham, Washington.)

Oh my-when I read this, the words that soaked into my being was “the deep fear behind every loss is that we have been abandoned by God who should have saved us”.  And then I read “it was not God but our image of God that abandoned us” and my image of God was a God sitting on a throne with a big stick ready to “pop” me if I did anything wrong. Children are very malleable and if you tell them the moon is made of blue cheese, they just might believe you.  I was a very pliable child and set under a minister that taught a lot about hell, fire, and damnation.  As a result, my God became a very angry God.  To find the love of God became my quest and it was a tedious and long struggle.  I began to read the Bible for myself and not listen to a lot of hell, fire, and damnation ministers.  I prayed to know the love of God and gradually that God sitting on a throne with a big stick became a God who loved me and sacrificed his son, Jesus, on that stick (the cross).  “Jesus loves me! This I know, for the Bible tells me

Nineteenth-century Scottish minister John MacDuff was right: when you can’t trace God’s hand, trust his heart.

Henri Nouwen made popular the concept of the “wounded healer,” the person who helps others with the same struggles they have experienced personally.

When I started writing “Just a  thought by coppi” many years ago, I wrote about how I made it through the difficulties in life.  I journalized emotions of pain and joy.  I then started out emailing them to different ones who asked me to put them on my email list. My list became very lengthy.  I had to be vulnerable and truthful. Years past, when a friend asked if I would consider putting them in a book.  I had a friend who made that happen after a lot of preparation, etc. I kept praying and writing about thoughts of my life experiences enough that another book was published. Another friend wanted me to start a blog.  I did.  My desire was to help others going through difficult times, as mine, and praying my experiences would catapult them into knowing someone out there made it to the mountain top by holding tightly to the hand of Jesus.  He carried me.  Still does.

“But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.” Ps 1: 1-3
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Delight in the Word of God
Meditate on what it says. Store it in your heart.
You will stand strong against the winds of life. You will gain strength and wisdom.
Your life will not fade away into nothingness.
And, you will prosper in all the ways of life.

Just a thought by coppi

2022

Just a thought by coppi

My grace is enough

Over & over I said to myself.  “My grace is enough”.  Is it enough to solve my struggles of unbelief of how He is going to answer my prayer. How? When? & Where? When I was in college I hired a tutor to help me with a subject I was having problems with.  One of his suggestions was that I write how, when & where above each topic & then as I read it I was to ask those questions….he said it would help me retain the information.  I don’t think God needs me to do that but instead just say a simple prayer laced with honesty…”how I don’t know, when & where I don’t know either but I ask you to forgive me of my unbelief & put trust & hope in its place.

Just a thought by coppi

“it’s easier to relax today when we remember the greatness of the one who is working when we are not”………..”God loves us because He loves loves us.  As a result, we can be people of grace, not grades.  We can work because our father loves us – not so he will.”  Dr. Jim Denison

“I plan to stare long at the trees – really taste my toast & coffee.  Read my Bible not with a prescribed amount in mind, but letting a verse or two sink slowly into my heart until special meaning comes up like tiny bubbles to delight me”.

When I read the above this morning, immediately I was convicted by the words.  I was labeled by a dear friend years ago as a hyper-thyroid grasshopper.  She was right in her analysis, as being still was an impossible task for me.  However, now in my golden years, I am better but I still have to convince myself I don’t have to be everywhere & everything in the universe.  I can be “just” me.  

 “I love the person I’ve become, because I fought to become her”

“Where was God when ____? How could God allow ____? Why?”

These are the questions that flood our hearts and minds when the unimaginable happens. When things go horribly wrong and the world seems to be unraveling, how do you believe in God’s goodness? How do you cling to hope?  (Chad Veach in his book Unreasonable Hope).

 A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.  Ps 33:17-19. (In our world today substitute doctor, medicine, etc for word horse).

I have asked this question and have heard others utter the same.  I only know from reading the Bible that there are two forces in this world.  Godly and Satanic.  Satan is roaring around like a lion devouring all he can and God gets blame for many of his antics.  I have said before, my belief is simple “God is good and Satan is bad”.  I have had to stand and dress myself in God’s armor (Ephesians 6) many times in my life to avoid the attacks flung at me.  Yes, I wondered and asked why but somewhere deep within I knew that I could not fight this battle. “Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.’” 11 Chronicles 20:17.  Somehow I managed to stand dressed in my armor and stood firmly on scriptures waiting for my deliverance the Lord would give me.  Shaking – yes.  Wondering. – yes.  All those doubts – yes, but He is faithful if I will only trust him and stand firmly on His promises.

just a thought by coppi