A Big Comeback ~~~~In Udder Words Tuesday

Thou hast bathed me once for all in the sin-removing fountain, cleanse me now from this day’s defilement, from its faults, deficiencies of virtue, harmful extremes, that I may exhibit a perfect character in Jesus.

 

As I got up this morning the first thing I did was look down at my spiritual attire from yesterday. Stains from the behavior of days gone past still told their stories as they stared back at me. As I worked my way to my front porch to listen to God via the birds and the sounds of the other farm creatures and through my heart I began to pray for a needed comeback.

 

First order of business was to thank the Lord for bathing me already in the sin-removing fountain of Christ’s blood that cleared a very dirty slate. No matter how hard I try, like Paul in the Bible spoke about I seem to keep on sinning even when I don’t want to. It’s like in the fight between the flesh and the spirit the flesh seems to win a little too much.

 

Oh how I would like to be like the football team that is down 42-6 and the stadium clears out and goes home figuring it was a worthless cause to stay. Yet the team comes back to win 42-48. A victory that would shock the world the next day as the headliners in the paper blared out the results of a great comeback.

 

Thanks to God and the sin-removing fountain of the blood of Christ who died for us the ability to make that big comeback is ours. We can exhibit a perfect character in Jesus. It would be wonderful if this instantly happened the first time we accepted Christ into our lives but it doesn’t work that way. It’s something that we constantly need to be working on. As long as we are alive there will always be the rivalry game between the flesh and the spirit.

 

No matter how far down we get we have to keep on fighting to make that big comeback that shocks the world. With God as our coach and the Bible as our plan of action we are eventually going to win but we will never win without a fight. The choice is ours on whether we want to be the people in the stadium who give up and go home or the ones who are left fighting on the field who refuse to quit.

 

We need to refuse to quit. Instead we must strive for the big response in Christ that can be ours. A victory that is ours not just for a season but forever thanks to our ability to accomplish a big comeback in Christ.

 

© 2013 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing       In Udder Words Tuesday

Karen's Crossing Fight a Good Fight

2 Tim 4:6-8 I have fought a good fight. I have finished the race and I have remained faithful And now the prize awaits me, the crown of righteousness that the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that great day of His return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to His glorious return.    Good News Bible

 

 With several scriptures marked and highlighted in my daily Bible my eyes could have fallen on any of the scriptures standing out in yellow. Each one of them holding up their hands as if to say, “read me, read me.” However, my eyes went to the first one and no further. Perhaps it was because of the tears in my eyes that I couldn’t go any further or was it the tug in my heart that said, “Stop here.”

                                

How many of us can truly say, “I have fought a good fight.” To us a good fight means we beat the crap out of someone else to get what we want. Perhaps the better meaning is to try our best whether we succeed or not.

 

Right now this is where I’m at with my cancer. I want to make sure I have fought a good fight. As I type those words the original tears that showed up as I first read the scripture have returned. One by one they run down the same path on my cheeks as the previous tears. I’m beginning to think those wrinkles on my face aren’t from old age but from the water flow of tears over the years. Each trench representing not old age but the pain, joy, sorrow, and excitement that brought on each waterfall of wetness.

 

Both spiritually and physically I want to know in my heart I have fought a good fight. That I have I been a good enough soldier for Christ, one that God would recruit if He needed backup. I hope so.

On November 4^th Don and I will be flying to Arizona to a Cancer Treatment Center of America hospital that I checked myself into. We will be there 3 to 5 days if not more. If I could fit Nycol in my pocket I would take her along too. My loving sister Juli and dear sweet niece Stephanie gave me the information and within two days with the whole process moving quickly I was approved to go and airline tickets purchased. Confessing to my doctor to what I did I told her I had to do this in order to know I did all I could.

 

Several days after being approved to go to the Treatment Center I got to thinking, ‘I did this same thing with my epilepsy.’ Over 25 years ago when I had epilepsy I checked myself into an epileptic clinic my sister Robin had found in Washington. After being in the hospital there for a week they told me 90% of my seizures were stressed caused and only 10% were epileptic. They told me I didn’t qualify for the surgery to cure me until I got rid of the 90% of stress caused ones. For five years after that I took my stress issues to the Lord and leaned on His scriptures and strength to see me thru. Next I found myself in Portland Oregon facing the same doctor I did in Washington and he told me the stress seizures were gone and I qualified for the surgery. The end result is I have been seizure free now for 27 years, Praise the Lord.

 

I had done all I could for my epilepsy and now it’s my cancer that has my attention. I doubt if the outcome will be exactly the same as with my epilepsy but that’s okay. I asked my doctor what if they say the same thing, “90% of your cancer is stressed caused, come back when you get it taken care of.” Ha, ha….just teasing I told my physician.

 

What they are going to help me with is eating the right foods that kills cancer cells and avoid the ones that enhance them. Broccoli kills, sugar enhances. Oh, why couldn’t that be the other way around. J Dream on Karen. I made the mistake of telling this to my co-workers the other day and when I asked them for a donut all I heard was, “Veggie Weggies Karen. Veggie Weggies.”

 

I can’t believe the wonderful support group I have around me. My family, church, co-workers, friends, and even total strangers have reached out to be my support. I can fight a good fight because of God and those around me. I will do all I can to beat this disease I fight. It may win by taking my body but “Veggie Weggie or “nanner, nanner” to it because my body wasn’t going to last forever anyway but it can’t have my soul. That is the part that lives for all eternity so in the end who truly wins. It will be me.

 

Cancer will never fight fair but I can still fight a good fight in spite of that, in my heart and in my spirit.

 

I love Jesus, and I love those around me He has blessed me with to be my support team. Those who will be there on those days I don’t feel like fighting any more. Yes, I’m confessing. I have those days but thankfully they are few and far between.

 

Let the fight begin! Oh, it already did almost two years ago.

Packaged Deal

 Micah 7:7,8 As for me, I look to the Lord for his help, I wait confidently for God to save me, and my God will certainly hear me. Do not gloat over me, my enemies! For though I fall I will rise again. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord Himself will be my light.

Recently at a county fair I was talking to a veteran about my grandpa’s military things I have from WWI. I told him I have the trench coat he wore, the dagger off the end of his gun, and the New Testament Bible he carried in his pocket. The coat was used to keep him warm and protected, the dagger was the tool he used to defend himself and the New Testament Bible was his weapon of choice to fight against his spiritual enemies.

This scripture in Micah are those three things to us and more. It is the trench coat used as a shawl for ourselves for warmth and protection. The dagger-like tool needed to defend ourselves and the weapon required to fight our spiritual enemies. Three in one wrapped neatly in the package of a few words that carries a lot of power and strength.

 Starting out with the snug fit of, “As for me,” you can just see Micah as he stood before the crowd claiming his coat. This was his pelt, his thing that he must have covered himself in frequently. It was a strong statement from him like it was from Joshua when he said it before the Israelites. “As for me and my household we will serve the Lord!” What a wonderful thing to use to wrap your family in, a one size fits all kind of a deal.

 The first layer of wrap is in the fact that he looks to God for his help but he doesn’t stop there. Another wrap of the snuggly fit coat is how he waits confidently for God to save him. As you stand there wrapped in those two things you can’t help but feel the warmth and protection it gives us. This is what gave Micah his confidence and it can do the same for us as well. Indeed the assurance in the Lord that serves as a part of this well-fitting garment for us to snuggle into.

 Once fully dressed in the trench coat of his confidence in God Micah now makes sure he has the dagger needed to defend himself. The dagger or sword used to pierce his enemy as well as our enemy today which is the devil and his evil workers. As Micah stood firm so can we as we speak out against the evils of the world making the exact same statement, “Do NOT gloat over me, my enemies! For though I fall I will rise again. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord Himself will be my light.”

 Oh man, you can just hear the power behind his voice as he stated these words. “Do not gloat over me, my enemies, though I fall I will rise again!” We need to know that although Satan can knock us down or trip us he can’t make us fall to the point we can never get back up. Why? Because we have the third part of the package and that is the weapon of God’s word to keep us spiritually safe as we carry it around in the pocket of our heart.

 There’s no doubt about it there will be times when we find ourselves sitting in the darkness of a gloomy world. We will experience what it is like to be surrounded by it to the point it feels like it overtakes or overwhelms us. However, our hope is in the fact that though we find ourselves there the Lord himself will be our light. In other words we have no need to feel overwhelmed; God’s light will pierce the darkness every time.

 We don’t have to wait at the end of the tunnel for the light of God to pierce our darkness He does it in the midst of our hard times. Our responsibility is to look for that light and go towards it, to maintain our confidence knowing that though we fall we will rise again thanks to the Lord. Though we sit in darkness the Lord himself will be our light. Thanks to Jesus.

Wow what an honor to know that the Lord himself will be our light. We are that special to Him that He is willing to be the light in our life that gets us through the darkness. I don’t know about you but His light has helped me through many hard times. It has shined in the darkest of places and lite a path that guided me out to where I needed to be. He is my confidence, my help, and I know He most certainly will hear me, He always has. He may not answer when I think He should or the way in which I wanted but that’s okay.

Yes, as for me, God is it. He is the strength I need to endure, the light I need to walk in, the security blanket I cuddle next to in the promises of His word. The reason I can rise again when life knocks me down. The sharpen tool capable of piercing the lies and schemes of the devil. He is the package deal that will see me though life itself forever and ever amen. Selah! So be it!

Thanks for joining us today. Be sure and visit everyone and see what they have to say about today’s scripture. In the meantime think about the invitation God puts out for us, “The Lord himself will be our light.” You can’t get any better than that. This scripture is a big sword but not too big that we can’t carry it around with us and draw it out when necessary and lean on daily for strength and support. Put on your trench coat of confidence, your dagger of defense and your weapon of God’s word and fight the good fight of faith. God bless.

**I tried several times to get Mr. Linky to work and I don't see it. If he doesn't show up put your link in the comments and we'll take it from there. Watch all the Mr. Linky's I put on here in an attempt to get it to work will show up. If so pick your linky and take it from that spot. Ha Ha

Link up to:

Nina at

http://mamaslittletreasures.com/in-other-words-can-you-see-the-glimmer-of-light-on-the-horizon

Laura at
          http://www.laurarath.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-light-of-lord.html

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