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.

“God makes an amazing promise to us in Philippians 4:6-7. Scripture says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” How incredible! If we will make our requests known to God in prayer, giving our burdens and anxieties over to him, then he will swap those burdens for a guarding peace that surpasses all understanding. How much do you need his peace today? What areas of your life feel burdened? What do you feel anxious about?” (Craig Denison 2/3/19- First 15)

When I read above scripture this morning my mind raced back to the year 2011.  That year was filled with sorrow. I had lost my husband, I faced two surgeries, and was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma.  I was lying on the couch in my home writing scriptures of healing, hope, peace, and love on a sheet of paper.  I still have those scriptures and have encased them in a plastic cover.  Every night before I go to sleep, I read them.  The first scripture on the list is Philippians 4:6-7.  I made requests – lots of them, and still do.  God was my source and still is.  Tom, my husband of now, tells me I need to re-type all those scriptures on a clean sheet of paper so they will not deteriorate, but I say “no”.  I pinned them by hand every time I found a scripture that spoke to my heart.  The page of scriptures is yellow, areas covered in tear stains, and edges are torn, but each and every stain are a reminder of a time in my life that I leaned heavily on Jesus and the promises in the Bible.  I still do.  He is my anchor amidst the storms of life.

Yesterday a nurse was preparing me to get ready for cataract surgery. They were running late so she asked me to come into a room with her so she could go over all the questions, etc they ask before surgery.  When it got to my age, she looked at me startled and said “surely you are not the age listed on your fact sheet”. “Yes I said -but age is a number, it’s how you feel that counts”.  She then said “what do you do to stay young”.  Since I am a follower of Christ I always look for a window of opportunity to witness the love of Christ to a person.  My response was simply:  “I try to take care of the temple Jesus lives in, me, by feeding my inner man with God’s word as I would my outer person nutritionally.  She was from another country and immigrated to the United States years ago.  She, too, was a Christian and spent time witnessing to me, which I enjoyed.  The one thing she said, that struck a chord with me was that people of the United States should read what the Bible says about how God warned the people of Israel to stay away from worshiping idols, etc and doing their own thing and forgetting about him.  She said “God had great patience with them, but they would not heed His warning”.  She said she was concerned the Americans were doing the same thing as the Israelites.  My thoughts drifted back to what my dear mother would say (she has been gone many years now) “When you take God out of a country, it will fall” and I can’t help but think we as a nation are headed that way.  

My cataract surgery was successful and I am on my way to seeing much better, which I am grateful for; but I pray and wonder about our nation and what we stand for:

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

May we change our direction….I pray so.

Just a thought by coppi

He that demands mercy, & shows none, ruins the bridge over which he himself is to pass.  Thomas Adams

A state of mind that sees God in everything is evidence of growth in grace & a thankful heart.  Charles G Finney

We all struggle with our humanity, with our soulishness, but cleansing is not found in the shadows; it is found in the burning light.  It is hard to show mercy, grace, or to see God in everything if we stay in the shadows.  John 8:12. Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the World; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”  John 1:4. In Him was life, & that life was the light of all mankind.  Many years ago, as a young child, I experienced this Light” & through the rest of my life, even when times were over-shadowed with dark times, I depended on Him, who is the Light, to carry & guide me through the tunnel of darkness to the light of day.  I, still do today.

“Don’t measure the size of the mountain; talk to the One who can move it. Instead of carrying the world on your shoulders, talk to the One who holds the universe on his.” — Max Lucado

“Do you love me?” (John 21:17)

Jesus asked Peter this question three times, and each time when the answer was yes the response was “Feed my sheep.” Talk is cheap. Love is everything. What do you do to show your love? 

“Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15)

Jesus asked this of the disciples when they were repeating what other people were saying about Jesus’ identity. So much for what other people think. What do you think? That’s what counts.

Written in 2021…

“To love is to be vulnerable.”

—C. S. Lewis

“a study conducted by the American Journal of Preventative Medicine concluded that social media is both our greatest opportunity for social connection and our greatest source of loneliness.” 

It’s hard to be vulnerable.  It’s hard to allow anyone in your walls of protection.  I heard someone say once when they were asked to give a speech “I am three persons – one who I want you to believe I am – one who you think I am – one who I really am.  I will tell you now that being up here getting ready to speak, I am the last person.  I am nervous, fearful, and afraid.”   Vulnerable and honesty is hard as you want people to love you, and if they see flaws they just might not.  My dear friend, used to say to me “Coppi, everybody has clay (easy to fall apart) feet- no one is perfect”.  Over the years of my life, I have tried hard to be who I am realizing we all come from different backgrounds and are individuals reflecting hurts and pains from happenings in life.  But, to be real, one has to be vulnerable.  Not an easy task but necessary to become you.  

“Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are our own fears.” — Rudyard Kipling

I have been stymied by my own fears most of my life.  Fear was a dark cloud looming behind me.  I told myself as long as I hide behind this darkness and not turn around and face the fear of whatever was holding me captive; light was blocked.  Do you know how hard that is when you live under the circumstances of low self-worth and thinking that accomplishments is the way to acceptance.  If you fail in what ever it is that has a grip on you, devastation moves in like a tsunami and if you succeed, the pain that comes from struggling to learn something hard followed by the delight in knowing that I can still surprise myself through learning is satisfying.  It’s a dichotomy.  “The division of two things that are completely different:   The dichotomy between what people think they are and what they do.”  To simplify me, I had to dig up the root that was choking my life.  Face the reason, acknowledge it, work at uprooting it, (I am a believer in Christ) and asking Jesus to help me move on with Him as my guide and director.  I gave up being the ambassador of my life.  I wanted to walk in light – not darkness.

Just a thought by coppi

“Luke Ditewig of the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Boston writes: “We Brothers say that the person who most gets under your skin in the community has a special role to play. That one is your teacher. Often what annoys us in another relates to something in ourselves. Uncomfortably, he or she is the one whom you especially need on the bus. We all belong in one large, messy family of God.” 

I read the above quote several times before it really sunk in, and when it did, i said “yes, from my experiences in life that was always the issue.  If jealousy was the problem, it usual represented itself in something I envied in another person.  I detested the way I felt and would usual be in my closet praying to God about the situation.  The ‘ugly’ was never removed until I honestly confessed to the Lord exactly what the problem was.  In Ps 32:1-5 NLT -David was faced with the same issue ‘“Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight! Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty! When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. I Finally, confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I ll confess my rebellion to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.”  Complete honesty is what the Lord wants – truth is hard but it works.

God loves you simply because he loves you. You don’t have to work for his affection. You don’t have to set yourself straight before God can pour out his love over you. The father in the prodigal son story ran out to meet his son before anything had ever been set right. He didn’t know his son was there to apologize. He didn’t care. He simply wanted to love his child. Your heavenly Father feels the same way about you. He longs to love you right where you are, as you are. He longs to fill you with love to overflowing. He longs for us to experience this love and oneness just as Jesus did when he walked the earth.

As you enter into guided prayer, open up your heart and allow God’s grace to settle in. Allow him to free you from works-based religion and guide you to a lifestyle of relationship. God is not an angry taskmaster who shows affection only when you succeed. He is a loving Father who will always love you no matter what. Take time to receive the depth of his love for you today. Allow his love to heal you, transform you, free you, and lead you to the abundant life he has always longed to give.

2 Corinthians 4:18, NIV: “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Get your eyes off man and keep them on Me. Follow Me and you can have a close relationship with Me too.” People will disappoint you, just as you will disappoint them. But Jesus will never disappoint you if you keep your eyes on Him.

God moves among the casserole.  (Bowie Stevenson)

Sure I am disappointed and hurt when a ministry’s leader falls under the ‘curtain’ of sin.  In my many years of life I have seen more than I would like to mention, but I must remember they are human, not God, and probably are attacked by the forces of evil for reaching people with the Good News, the Gospel of Jesus Christ more than the usual.  My mother’s famous quote to me was “eat the meat and spit out the bones”, which is what I labelled the wisdom of a mother.  I was one that wanted to see God and when a minister brought the word of God alive in my spirit, I focused on him/she too much and I guess when they show their humanity, my image faded into great despair and disappointment.  Keep your eyes on Jesus – not man, and you will never be disappointed. “Eat the meat and spit out the bones”…..

The Apostle Paul says in Philippians 3:13-14 TLB:  “Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us”.

Isaiah 43:18 -19 says, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!….”

God says, “For I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more.” This is where Godchanges the past of all who commit their lives to Him. He forgives our sins and forgets them!

Have you ever regretted something in your past?  Gee, I have.  My past regrets weighed me down when I dwelled on them.  I finally had to seek the Lord and I truthfully said to him “ there are so many things I regret in my past, I am so sorry for them and wish I could go back and have a “redo” of my actions”.  I would have hugged more, loved more, have more understanding, laughed more, and the list goes on and on.  But I can’t.  But as Warren W. Wiersbe says “Most Christians are being crucified on a cross between two thieves: Yesterday’s regret and tomorrow’s worries.”  I do not want to crucify myself with regrets – I want to make amends when I can and when I cannot, I will commit the “undo” to God with a contrite and thankful heart to Him for healing. Reading Scripture with the Holy Spirit brings God’s word to life. The Bible isn’t just a book of rules. It’s not just a list of do’s and don’ts. It’s meant to be read with the understanding that its words were inspired by the One who dwells within you. “May your heart be stirred to meditate on God’s word that it might produce peace and joy in your life today.” Greg Denison

I want to look through the windshield and not the rear view mirror.  That’s my desire.  My regrets are in God’s hand and so is my future.