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.

10/22

Ezekiel 34:26 I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.  

I will send him showers not drops.  Look up today, oh parched plant, & open thy leaves & flowers for a heavenly watering.

I can remember as a child, my mother would pile all of us into the car on Sunday & take us to church.  It was a small country church.  Not many people attended.   Mostly, a small group of “country folk”who  made their way there from their farms tucked away in the hills of Fredericksburg, Tx.  We were of that group.  I don’t think anyone was endowed with money but one would think that heaven was showering down blessings on us when the song book was opened to “Shower of blessings”.  “

“Showers of Blessings, showers of blessing we need;

Mercy drops round us are falling

But for the showers we plead”…

We sang – with gusto- with expectation – with hope – with belief even though circumstances were dire, a shower of blessing was on its way.

2022

Phil 4:6,7. “Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer & supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.  And, the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts & minds through Jesus Christ.”

Above scripture is one of many scriptures I wrote on a piece of paper when I was facing Cancer of the kidney back in 2011.  I went to my Bible concordance & looked up scriptures on healing.  I wrote them down & read them daily.  Went through that bump then came the diagnosis that they found Cancer on my sacrum. Another bump in the road.  Out came my scriptures.  Now, I was told the kind of Cancer I have, multiple myeloma has showed up again on my right clavicle.  I will start treatment on it as soon as my insurance company approves drug they are going to administer.  As soon as I got the diagnosis, I dug out my tattered paper of healing scriptures & started reading them & allowing the words to sink into my soul.  The peace of God that passes all understanding. shall keep your hearts & minds……peace.  The world can not give it to you….only God.

It is now 2022 and I just returned from seeing Dr Moreb, who has been my doctor since 2011.  He said my markers are great and I am still in remission and thinks I will live to be 100.  Lol. I am aware of the many other cancer patients who have not been blessed with a good report,  and that saddens me.  I do not know the “whys” in life and why all the suffering.  I have to leave that in the hands of a Sovereign God, and trust Him.  Easy “no”.  I only know in my own life, He has been the one who carried me through the valleys up to the mountain tops.  I would not have made it without my faith and trust in him.

10/22

“Here’s a question every angry man and woman needs to consider: How long are you going to allow people you don’t even like — people who are no longer in your life, maybe even people who aren’t even alive anymore — to control your life? How long?”– Andy Stanley

Interesting quote by Andy Stanley. For me, not so much today as it was in “yesterday years”.  I took a course on A WayOut that has helped me with this issue.  I have had to put up boundaries, but sometimes, I have to admit, the ugly rises it’s head.  I am a sensitive individual and truly dislike confrontation in any way.  However, stuffing your feelings is very harmful to your health as well as your joy, happiness, and being.  I am a follower of Jesus and have leaned on the teaching of the Bible for guidance and directions through my life. I will end this thought with “people are people and if you allow them to control you with their opinion , etc, and if they get angry if you do not agree with them then you are stuffing your anger.”  For me, I  seek the guidance of Jesus through journalizing the anger I feel and prayer.  Be the person God created; make amends if you are wrong, and don’t be controlled by anger of any kind.

Just a thought by coppi

Just a thought by coppi

“Gardens are a form of autobiography,” someone said. God as gardener, the intimate vision at creation’s beginning, can be traced throughout the Old Testament, in the psalms, and in the prophets. Jesus, too, concurs: I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. Such a reading of the world’s creation and the thought of a gardener tending to me, stirs a response akin to that of the man after God’s own heart: (Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.)

In Jill’s message this morning referring to God as gardener caught my attention. Jill also stated, “i can’t say that I have ever heard a sermon about creation as gardening, the creator of the world as Gardener. I had never considered what such an identity of God might mean to me or to the world around me. Yet here is one of the first passages in the Bible where we are introduced to who God is—and God is not a warrior or a judge or even a sovereign, but first, a gardener, a nurturer of all life, protector and planter, a designer, keeper, and pruner concerned with life’s flourishing.

I grew up on a farm in Fredericksburg, Tx and watched my mother plant a garden yearly. Firstly, she had to till the soil, turn the soil, dig a trench in the soil, and then plant her seeds. She cultivated her garden with care. Watering, trimming, watching that the different kinds of bugs did not destroy what she planted; she worked diligently making sure her seedlings survived and weathered the storms of nature before maturity. It was a difficult job but a rewarding one too. She was able to witness growth, beautiful growth of each seedlings when it fully matured. Yes, I can relate to God as a gardener, a nurturer of all life, protector and planter, a designer, keeper, and pruner concerned with life’s flourishing, because He has been all those things in my life. He has been my gardener.

If I can depend on my daughters’ love, why can’t I depend on God’s.

I got down on my knees telling God I would leave everything in His hands.

That little word surrender is the key to answered prayer.  Many times in my life, I have sung the old gospel hymn I surrender- “here I am down on my knees again, surrendering all, surrendering all.”  I love to read different stories on how God answers prayers when one finally turns lose of control.  The lady in above paragraph was telling about how she & her husband were struggling in the depression.  The only source of income was what her daughter could eke out of her small income.  She thought of suicide when out of nowhere a thought popped into her mind….”if I can depend on my daughters’ love, why can’t I depend on God’s”.  She dropped to her knees & surrendered everything to God.  She felt peace & joy.  The answer did not come immediately but the concern & worry left her being.  Her husband got a temporary job that eventually became permanent & she went back to college & got her degree to teach.

Mt 11:28. come unto me, all ye that labour & are heavy laden, & I will give you rest…

I ask myself “why do you hang on to some problem – you believe, why does it take so long for you to realize it’s better in the hands of one that stilled the waters, Jesus…why, I don’t know – I guess I think he will not do it my way….anyway, I am working on “surrender”.

Just a thought by coppi

Written 2022

“Gallery statistics report that the average time a person spends looking at a particular work of art is three seconds. To those who spend their lives caring for the great art museums of the world, I imagine this is a disheartening sight to behold day after day. It would have been interesting to hear the thoughts of the St. Petersburg curators who watched as Henri Nouwen sat before Rembrandt’s Return of the Prodigal Son for more than four hours.

I suppose most of us are more often like the three-second viewer than the captivated Nouwen, moving through our days with our eyes barely open. How often are we surrounded by creative mastery but unaware and unseeing—missing, in our absence, what is right in front of us? One of my favorite poems begins with the lines, “Lord, not you, it is I who am absent”. (Slice of Infinity by Jill Carattini 9/27/18)

Years ago when I was going through a difficult time in my life, I remember coming home from the many things I thought I had to do, falling on my knees as I was climbing the steps to where I lived.  I was tired, worn out, and lifeless.  I utter these words in prayer.  “Where are you God”.  I heard deep within me “stop and smell the roses”.  You see I never knew how to relax, be still, listen, and quit running”.  I was trying to concur everything, be everything, know everything, etc.  A human doing, not being.  I guess my mother was correct in her analysis of me.  “Coppi you can run anywhere in the world, but remember you have to take yourself with you”.  But, through the difficulties of my life, I had to stop and smell the roses.  I learned the meaning of silence and being present.  I still battle with ‘I must do” , but l never want to lose the fragrance of the roses.  🌹🌹🌹 

Truth is like a lighthouse on a storming, pitch-black night that steers us clear of the feelings that would wreck us.

My friend, Diana’s, father founded the Lighthouse in Riverview, Fl some 63 years ago.  This ministry has steered many women & men from wrecking their lives.  I have gone to some of their graduation ceremonies & have listened to their stories of living on the streets & in the back of a pickup trucks & wherever they could find a place to sleep waiting for the next fix or whatever they are addicted to.  Beautiful young ladies & handsome men with a habit they cannot turn loose of.  Sad; yes indeed.  Many find a way out when led or someone has directed them to the Lighthouse.  They stay in the program eighteen months & then are given the opportunity to continue their education or the ministers of the Lighthouse will help them find work to steer their lives away from slipping back into the world of drugs, etc.  These men/women when leaving the Lighthouse are equipped with the strength of the Lord through studying the Bible, Bible studies, working on the grounds of the ministry, sitting under the tutelage of great teachers, etc.  They know evil is out there so they must put on the whole armor of God to protect them.  (Ephesians chapter 6:10-18). Yes, some fall by the wayside but the majority are in the world – “as new wine skins”. One very important ingredient that I have noted in ministries of “a way out” is truthfulness & honesty with yourself & others. You have to admit you are a drug addict, alcoholic, etc.  Truthfulness is very important for healing.  As Jesus said you will know the truth & and the truth will set you free.  “John8:32”. Also He said (John 8:12) “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).  The world will leer you but Jesus will steer you.

“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”

“We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ. It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God.”

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭3:4-5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Do you think you are not qualified to do anything – I do at times.  Join the ranks of Paul, the Apostle.  Paul’s ethnicity was Jewish.  His father, a Pharisee, though Jew, a Roman citizen.  He was trained & educated in Jewish schools, under Gamaliel, a man   of candour, of learning, of reverence for law, and zeal against apostates.  Yet, he often said in his writings “without Christ I am nothing” and in Philippians 4:13 – I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. So, if the Apostle Paul knew where he got his strength and qualifications, I think I will ask the Lord to give me the gift of trust (Ephesians 2:8) and when I feel inadequate/not qualified to do anything, I will lean on the qualifications of the Lord.  The scriptures tell us to do so – now, I need to apply this truth in my life.

“Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless. But I will rejoice even if I lose my life, pouring it out like a liquid offering to God, just like your faithful service is an offering to God. And I want all of you to share that joy. Yes, you should rejoice, and I will share your joy.”

Philippians 2:16-18 NLT

I was reading Philippians 2 this morning when the above scriptures pulled at my heart strings.  Saul, his name changed to Paul, when he met the Lord on his way to Damascus to persecute the Christians (Act 9:). After that encounter with the Lord, his life took a dramatic change.  Nothing matter more to him than spreading the gospel to the world and having lives changed to really know the joy of the Lord.  And, what excited and gave Paul that joy?  ” I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my life was not useless”.  His life was certainly not useless because his witness and writings have endured for generations and the test of time…..”your work Paul was not in vain”.