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.

Just a thought by coppi

A cosmic game of hide and seek is often how many view the search for God. “Where are you?” is the question that echoes throughout the ages as human beings seek for God in a vast universe often filled with inexplicable mystery- Margaret a Manning Oct 19, 2020
Have you ever wondered where God was when the storms of life blow into your life. I did. And, as I read the scriptures in the Bible I note that the Apostles did too. Not only the Apostles, but the prophets, Kings, and the Israelites. No one is exempt from problems. Why God do you hide your face from me when I am in need? Where are you? How long before you answer my prayer? These are just a few questions thrown toward God. His answers are not always the way we want, but He will answer your prayer. It may seem like forever before you see a glimmer of the answer, but it will come. I went from different training periods in my life before I realized the importance of my answered prayers. Yes, training is difficult, but the end results is the catalyst God is after. He wants you to know Him and His love. He wants a relationship with you.

Isaiah 41:10

In this passage, God reminds us in comforting words that He will always be with us. He encourages us not to be fearful, as He will uphold us with His righteous right hand, allowing us to stand firm.

The Bible tells us that even as we walk through hard times, God is with us (Joshua 1:9; Isaiah 41:10). Hard times are never pleasant; however, God can teach us a lot through hard times. During hard times, we will face trials, temptations, and tribulations, yet the Lord never leaves us during these times.

Today I had an email from a dear friend after reading my thought yesterday, January 14th, 2023, within it she said “I have heard you talk about your mother and her deep faith, but I have never heard you speak of your father.”  I replied “I really never new my father as when he died I was very young and could not recall a memory of him”.  What I knew about him was what my oldest sister, Ruth, told me.  One of the things she told me was that he loved us very much and was proud of his ten children.  Now he was gone and my mother was left to raise us by herself.  It was a difficult time for her and us.  Ruth told me that daddy moved us from San Antonio, Tx where we lived in a nice home and went to a church not inflamed with hell and damnation, but my father wanted us out of the city because he feared the boys would to get in trouble there.  To be very truthful, as years went by and we were older, I always wondered what if he left us in the San Antonio, Tx where there were more opportunities for us and life would not be so hard and difficult for my mother and her crew of ten children.  My father was in World War 1 and was inflicted with mustard gas which affected his lungs and caused his life to end sooner than necessary.  I guess he thought it better to move us away from the city lights to a place where we could survive on the land if anything happened to our country.  Note: remember he fought in World War 1.  My life began here in  Fredericksburg, Tx on a small farm situated between Fredericksburg and Kerriville, Tx.  There began the journey of what made me who I am today.  We walked through difficult times, but God was true to his promise – “He would always be with us.” —-He was. 

Just a thought by coppi

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.