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.

“When Moses finished speaking with them, he covered his face with a veil. But whenever he went into the Tent of Meeting to speak with the LORD, he would remove the veil until he came out again. Then he would give the people whatever instructions the LORD had given him, and the people of Israel would see the radiant glow of his face. So he would put the veil over his face until he returned to speak with the LORD.”

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭34:33-35‬ ‭NLT‬‬

In my reading this morning, I thought gee the laws & sacrifices the children of Israel went through were tedious.  Then I looked at them in another way, all these laws & sacrifices were fulfilled in Jesus.  When reading the Old Testament look for the thread of blood pointing to the fulfillment in the sacrifice of the unblemished lamb, Jesus.  The veil that Moses covered his face with because it shone so brightly and the veil that covered the entry from the Holy Place into the Holy of Holies was spit into when Jesus proclaimed from the cross “it is finished”.  Now we come directly to our God, not through sacrificial means but through the perfect sacrifice, Jesus, the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. The entry is not blocked, the veil is split, it’s free to enter for all who will come.  It’s called the grace period.  The sacrifices have been fulfilled!  Grace, wonderful grace coming down from the father above…..

Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” — John 1:46

There’s only one way to really know Jesus: we must follow Philip’s advice and experience Jesus for ourselves.

That’s because Christianity is essentially a relationship with a Person. What we experience as we follow Jesus inspires us to love Him, share His truth, and continue following Him. 

Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see. — John 9:25

The healed man did not have all of the doctrinal answers. But one thing he did have was a life-changing encounter with Jesus.

2 Kings 16:17: And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

“Like the woman at the well I was seeking

For things that could not satisfy; 

And then I heard my Savior speaking:

“Draw from my well that never shall run dry”.

Fill my cup Lord, I lift it up, Lord! 

Come and quench this thirsting of my soul; 

Bread of heaven, Feed me till I want no more 

Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole!”

“Open my eyes” –  “Fill my cup – “Come and see” – “Though I was blind but now I see” – I have been a Christian my entire life but my Christianity was based on what I could do to earn my salvation.  I believe it was down in the valleys of my life, I was forced to relinquish servitude for a relationship with Him.  I had to “come and see” and experience Jesus for myself.  Phil 3:13-14. Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on…….

Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭11:34‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“Our hope is not based on something that will happen after our sufferings are over, but on the real presence of God’s healing Spirit in the midst of these sufferings.” Henri Nouwen

We are not alone out there with our heartaches and troubles, but we have the almighty God besides us and in us and his promise “He will never leave us or forsake us”.  (Deuteronomy 31:6)   He is our hope & promise to grasp onto until the morning sunshine of blessings shine through the dark shadows of hopelessness.  Time….how long will I have to wait for this light is my thought & question? There were times I thought God had forgotten me and other times my prayers seemed to have wings of angels carrying them directly to the throne of mercy.  I do not know the answers but I do know “He will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of His presence and the pleasures of living with Him forever.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭16:11 NLT – I must trust Him that He will answer these unanswered prayers in His time and believe that He wants more for me than I do for myself.  I find myself singing the following little song many times…..it speaks to my soul.

“This is my Father’s world: Oh, let me ne’er forget; that though the wrong seems oft so strong; God is the ruler yet.” (Song writer).  

Just a thought by coppi 

Mary believed

Luke 1:45. Elizabeth to Mary – “you are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said” – 

“How” is my first response when I hear God’s still small voice saying “you won’t have to” in answer to a prayer I have been praying diligently about.  Zechariah uttered how when the angel Gabriel came to him with the Good News that Elizabeth was going to become pregnant with John the Baptist. How will God ever do that – impossible – but hopeful, yes indeed.  I look back at all the how’s in my life that our Lord marvelously moved in my life – circumstances that I thought impossible. God doesn’t need our reasonings on “how” but “yes, Lord I will believe & trust you”…..”you are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said”……….and He did!

Just a thought by coppi

John 17:3 – “He gives eternal life to each one you have given him.  And, this is the way to have eternal life…To know you, the only true God, & Jesus Christ, the one sent to earth”…

As I was reading John 17 this morning, I could not get passed “to know you”…”Coppi, you have to know him, not about him”.  My quest to know Jesus started years ago while living in Dallas, Tx.  I knew a lot about him because I was a church ingrained individual but I did not know him as my father, my abba father.  It’s been a journey but I have found, I have to be totally honest and open to him about what is in my heart.  He already knows, but I need to express the doubts, etc to him.  I need to spend time with him.  I have done this now for many years and each time a little more light of his love has shined through.  I have found the same principle is true in earthly relationships. To know an individual, i must know the person inside the outside covering.  I need to spend time with them, i need to share openly and honestly about who I am,  and what makes me “tick”.  I need to remove the mask of trying to make you believe I am something I am not.   It’s risky, but for me, it’s worth the risk,  i want to develop a relationship – I want to know you. 

Faith step: Ask Jesus to make your faith as big as He is, not merely as big as your logic

Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

JEREMIAH 9:23-24

Just a thought by coppi

“We are too prone to engrave our trials in marble and write our blessings in sand.” – C.H. Spurgeon

“May I never forget what God’s has done for me..”. I say this nightly, and I list what He has done.  Sometimes as I go through my list. I cry, because I am so very grateful.  In the book of Joel 2:23 “Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given you the autumn rains because he is faithful. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.” 

‭‭ “We take our rain for granted until we go several days without it.  The land looks tired and brown and things start dying around our yards.  But almost as if it was a train coming on time, you have started bringing us the summer rains again.  Things are greening up.  The thirst is quenched and crops are budding forth.  There is mercy in raindrops.  Thank you for loving all that you have made enough to water the land.  Water our souls too with the wetness of grace and peace coming from your word.  Help us find insights in the word that delight our hearts and guide our thinking.  Make us less stressed and more peaceful.  You drove out the drought of selfishness and despair.  Replace it with the soft green grass of grace, love, faith and peace. “

When I was going through the trials engraved in marble, my dear friend, who is no longer in this world, would call me and quote this scripture to me. She would encourage me to hang on because Jesus would send the autumn and spring rains.  That scripture meant a lot to me as I journey through years of hanging on.  But God is faithful- the rains came and he replaced my grief and sorrow with soft green grass of grace, love, faith and peace.

If you are going through trials “hang on, the rains will come – God is faithful”.

11 Peter 1::19b

You will do well to pay attention to it, as a lamp shining in a dismal place, until the day dawns & the morning star rises in your hearts. 

Tom had never been to New Orleans and he wanted to see and do all activities, one being walking down Bourbon Street at night.  It’s true, Bourbon Street is different than walking down any other street.  So much going on…lots of not so good happenings.  Very loud music, everyone walking in the streets, lots of people who are inebriated,  different ones playing drums on a ten cans & other objects, others dancing in the street, many dogs doing tricks & running around, bars enticing people to enter….name it  you will find it happening on Bourbon Street.  As we meandered our way through the traffic of people, I noted a beautiful young girl standing on the corner.  She was causing lots of attraction as she was scantily dressed with a rack of deer horns laced with lights on top of her head.  Tom said I am going to have you take a picture of me with her to send to my friends as a joke. I took the picture but went up to her and said “why, is a beautiful girl like you standing here soliciting money”.  She responded “I am from a very small town in the swamps and I can’t find work there, so I came here”.  Then she said ” I sense you are different than the others gathering to have pictures taken, you seem to have class”.  We spoke briefly but In the time we had, I tried to encourage her to find a better way of life.  She was beautiful but needed directions and guidance.  For the next two nights we were in New Orleans, Tom and I would go back to Bourbon street to find her.  Tom wanted to give her a small Gideon bible with money tucked in it and I wanted to pray with her and tell her about Jesus and how he could help her find a new life.  We never found her.  Our prayer was that maybe someone else would come along and add water to the drop we gave her. 1 Cor 3:6-9:  I planted the seed, Apollos watered it but God has been making it grow.  I don’t understand all the whys of life but I trust in God and not my own understanding – I will pray for this young lady and trust God to take her out of the darkness of Bourbon Street into His bright light of hope, peace and joy.  I also will pray the morning star arises and shines into her heart.

Ps 23…the Lord is my Shepherd…..

I love the expression made by Clint Eastwood – “Go ahead and make my day”.  I think I will add to his words and say each morning “Go ahead Jesus and make my day” and then trust Him to do guide and direct me in the way He wants me to go and lead me to people who need a word of encouragement, love, and hope in their life.  I have Multiple Myeloma, which is in remission and has been for sometime, praise the Lord; however, I still have to go once a month for blood work, etc, and when I go to the Cancer Center to have my blood drawn and see all the ones sitting and waiting for treatments, I ask God to direct me to a person that needs love and encouragement.  I can’t tell you how many times I am seated by a person who really is in need of hope and encouragement.  I have prayed and encouraged many hopeless ones, but they too have encouraged me.  Under my daily prayer list, they are listed as “my cancer friends”.  So Clint your expression “go ahead and make my day” is a good one but better when i insert the name of Jesus after “Go ahead, Jesus, make my day” – shepherd, lead, show & guide me in the direction you want me to go.

Just a thought by coppi

Count your life by smiles, not tears, count your age by friends, not years, and remember we do not quit playing because we grow old…. we are old because we quit playing”

“Maybe being grateful means recognizing what you have for what it is. Appreciating small victories… Maybe we’re thankful for the familiar things we know. And maybe we’re thankful for the things we’ll never know. At the end of the day, the fact that we have the courage to still be standing is reason enough to celebrate.” – Meredith Grey

I can still hear my deceased husband say to me “Coppi, age is a number.  You are as old as you feel”.  Interesting, I have never felt old because to me life is a gift from God and He wants me/us to enjoy this life.  Yes, I also know if you have a sickness or in pain over something that has happened in your life, it is hard to be joyful.  Why, because I have walked in those shoes several times in my life, and when you hurt, who wants to be joyful.  I also know in “2 Corinthians 12:9-11 (NASB), “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”  I lean hard on His promises, I cry, I become angry, and I experience all the emotions related to the crisis, but in the end I come back to Him, my Shepherd, for His help and strength.  Indeed, age is a number.  And, as long as I can, I will enjoy that number and never “quit playing”.