"I Remember"

I am amazed at how fast this year has gone!! I remember thinking..We can't go to Arizona,we'll die of the heat. God took us there anyway, and I am still here and nothing has melted yet.I remember thinking, I will never see my family again, low and behold my sis has been to see me twice and my mom once..boy was I wrong...I remember leaving Montana and knowing God had a better plan for us. I was right!! I have learned so much in this "desert" of Arizona..I guess God does some of his best work on His people in the "desert". The people in our church here have taught me many things..they have no idea. I have learned how to be quiet, how to watch people disagree(from a distance) I might say, and to keep my opinion to myself..Just nuggets of gold I could have only learned here and still have people love me!! I remember thanking God for bringing us here and then asking why are we here??? then understanding why we are here ..all in 7 months.I remember watching my shadow die..my most loved dog Hoover..That is a memory I choose to forget!! I remember asking God just recently, What do you have in store for next year? He knows exactly where we will be, working for Him in his Kingdom. He directs our steps each day. I remember God is my all and in Him we find our life and our memories. He creates and manifests the road we walk each day. Be it happy or sad..It "is" and He holds our hands through it all and if by some means we can't walk that road..He carries us in His arms until we are strong enough to walk again. I remember God each day..Do you??

"Joy of the Season"

I am learning to understand that I only know one thing for sure... Jesus and Him crucified...Doctrine, opinions and tradition have no place in the church today...We all know how Jesus felt about traditions of men....WOE was the word He used most!!!

I feel like He must be wondering why we continue in some ways to follow man instead of what the Bible says...Jesus is "the word" and yet, instead of being in the word we listen to someone elses already chewed version and take it for gospel....Now you preachers out there..don't get mad, I am not talking specifically about you..

I am just challenging the body of Christ to READ the word..and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you as well, like it says in 1 John 2:27.The "Joy of this Season" rests, in my eyes, in the fact that I can read His word and learn what is His will for all saints..not just me, all saints..and I have people to help me understand and I can count on the promises of the Lord!!I feel privileged to have the word of God to help me understand that we are here for a reason and that can be "The Joy of the Season"Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all my Facebook friends!!

"The Little Campfire that Could"

Time flies when you are having fun...I feel like I have been on this earth for 10 years in the past month!! Fun??I think not...God is a desert sort of deity..Placing you there for refining, and a fire kind of Father that can warm your insides or burn the beauty out of you.

I for one love the times when it is warm and fuzzy, but there has to be times of refining as well..
My dog had to be put to sleep. That in itself, was unbelievably hard watching him die and taking care of him. I kept waking up and thinking it was a dream. Oh I know it was just an animal, but people who love them, they understand.

God has been changing me inside and out as well..
You know how you think you "know" something, and then God turns your belief upside down? I am learning our Almighty Father is a wisdom giver. All you have to do is really ask..like James says and then WATCH OUT!!! If you open up and really listen, He will teach you things you never thought you could understand.

He may even put you through things you never thought you could make it through..without grabbing hold of something to keep from falling off the edge!! I grabbed His arm so many times this past month, I feel like I pulled it OFF!!

I've got some burn marks on me..They will fade in time, but the pure patience and understanding that I have gained from this last month, will forever be with me.
Our God is a compassionate God and one who loves us. He helps us grow and I am just learning the blessing of a little campfire on my bottom..to get the point across!!

"Change the Pain"

So many people are in "pain" today. Emotional and physical.I look at people's faces and I so want to reach out and tell them, Jesus has gone through everything you are going through..right now!! I want to hug them and tell them everything can be peaceful if you ask God to help and give your life to him to figure out!!

Christians are in pain as well..but what do we say to them?? Faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God.. Do you ever just want someone to talk to you about God? We as Christians, need to reach out and comfort our own..Jesus said to love one another..and you will know them by their "love" Sometimes I think we just take for granted that our brothers and sisters are fine and we really just let people fall through the cracks...We are human and need the love of our Christian family.

When was the last time you said.."I should do such and such..." and never did it..I am guilty of this also.."I should take a meal to..." I should go visit..in the hospital" " I should help so and so.." Jesus said..I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was homeless and you gave me a room, I was shivering and you gave me clothes, I was sick and you stopped to visit me, I was in prison and you came to me..Wow

I am cut to the heart..Out of the mouth of Jesus, comes such simple stuff. God gives us ways to change the pain in this world..very simple steps. Ask God to OPEN YOUR EYES to see what you would not normally see..He will and He will give you ways to serve...Thank you God for giving us a way to "Change the Pain"
Dee Hall

"He Can Handle It!!"

My Jesus is the savior of the world..in case you haven't noticed, but most of all, He is my friend! I have had a really rough last 3 days..My dog is sick, and I have been just fighting with myself!! Do you ever just resign to "give it to God" and than as soon as you do..You "take it back" Man God must be get very confused at me!! "Here ya go..take it"

Nope "Give it back, I want to be miserable some more..Not quite feeling bad enough!!" "Okay here ya go, I am truly ready for you have it now" "No, just one more time God..my eyes aren't puffy enough..I want to see how depressed I can get!! Jesus said " My Yoke is easy and My burden is light..What does that mean??

Yoke up with me..Get in the yoke with Jesus!! He is the big oxen. He will carry most of the load..He is bigger and stronger and knows where to go and how to get there..We are the little cows..unlearned and lost..most of the time!!!He has big broad shoulders..we are barely able to carry ourselves..Most of my life I never understood this concept..He is our big brother and will carry the load..if we really give it to Him!!

Jesus can give you peace and it isn't hard for Him..He wants to..really. I have learned in the last few days..Even if this is the worst..It isn't the worst!! I may feel like God is silent..But it doesn't matter..Even if He is..I do not have to be..Cry to Him.. He can handle it..Pray to him..He hears you!! Weep at Him..He is holding you even if you can't feel it!! God is my friend and my Father. He can handle anything I can't.
Dee Hall

"because I said so"

Do you ever pray? "Gods will be done" And just exactly what do we mean when we ask that? Are we really ready to forge through the flood that God might put us through? Or do we flippantly say this and then complain when God puts us through a testing of our faith..I, for one, am pro at this. Asking for God's will and then crying like a baby when it isn't mine!!

Ya know..God didn't say, contrast to popular beliefs, that being a follower of Christ was going to be hunky dory all the time. In fact ..there are many believers out there confused as to why they aren't livin' the good life. God's will is so much different then our 3rd dimensional pee brains can even fathom. Boy when God said..My ways are not your ways and neither can they be..He was right. I keep forgetting that scripture.

Hmmm again what are we asking when we pray for Gods will? I asked one day, not too long ago,"God use me to further your Kingdom" Things began to happen that only God could put together. I thought, wow God is really going to use us this time in a mighty way. To make a long story short we ended up in the smallest town I have ever seen and here I sit wondering, What did I pray for?? Oh yeah..after much complaining, about the heat, the town, the mission here, the people, the loneliness, oh and let's not forget my,my,my wants...Oh yeah..I prayed for "God's will" Wow..God's will..not mine.

Ask me a few days ago why I was here in the smallest town on Route 66 in Arizona and I would have told you..I don't have the foggiest idea..I am human and Thank God he remembers even when I don't. He remembers when I longingly prayed for His will and I meant it..I really did!! The grace God gives us is like a splash of cool water on our faces that can gently wake us up or a cold bucket, like I needed, to rip us out of a dead sleep and get us going again. It is not about me!!

Isn't it nice when "your will" and "God's will" are the same..and life is grand..Just remember, that is not always the case, and in fact..more times than not, it won't be...Because He is the potter and you are the clay and sometimes I think I hear God saying to me, just like my dad did.."because I said so..that's why" May God bless you and continue to mold and shape us into Jesus
Dee Hall

"Get Back on My Road"

It has taken me a long time to get the fact, everyone is not walking down the path of our Lord at just the same place. For many years I believed it was my job to convince each person to get right next to me on that road. I realized, with much disappointment each time, that no matter how hard I worked, they remained exactly where God wanted them.."GO FIGURE"

As much as I wanted to walk in every way with each of them, God finally taught me..It is okay to be different..to be at different places..with different opinions and even different beliefs!! That is taboo in some churches...And then it dawned on me...God is the judge..He really is!!! Oh I know what some of you are secretly thinking.."She will come around" Come around to my belief..our belief..in our church..

Unity is not conformity...There is a difference..Jesus wants us to have unity "in HIM", but don't you think He knew we would all have our opinions on many different things? He made us...
I have seen so many people hurt from judgementalism and self righteousness..It makes me literally sick to my stomach..Splits in churches over the smallest of things and hate between brother and sisters in Christ!!

I think God is crying over His church...He never imagined His children acting like..well children..
or did He??

Our God is a most wonderful entity!! He knew what would happen in the future!! He is so long suffering...He allows us to be different..in so many places..Romans 14..shows us this.
I ask you now to evaluate yourself as I did, and ask God to give you a Spirit of grace upon people who are not where you are on that road...Ask Him to keep your heart soft.

Ask yourself this question..Do you believe every single thing you did just 3 years ago..If you do I feel sorry for you...Gods Word means different things to different people at different times in their lives..OOOPS did I just step on some people's toes??

I am sorry , but His Word is a living word...working with our conscience and molding us into what GOD wants each individual to be..
He is able to make us stand...through Jesus...and if our heart is open and not closed..He is able to teach us all things through the Spirit..which dwells in us...
Please be a student of Gods Words and find out what he wants from you.
Dee Hall

"Go the Extra Mile.....Even if it Hurts"

I had something put on my plate today that was a test for me. How was I going to handle this difference in opinion? I could get mad and prove my point and yet, Jesus said, "Don't" He says to love everyone and when opposition comes..no matter what it is.."Don't fight!!" "Pray"..So I did. Jesus said if someone slaps your cheek turn and let them slap the other!! What??? No way ..that can't be right. Let someone walk on me??

My personality is the type where I need to prove what I know..Probably from having to prove the Bible to be true in so many Bible studies. It is instilled in me that I must prove "right" is "right" or "wrong" is "wrong". I have always pondered over those verses and have watched many Christians justify their nasty behavior by ignoring them.

They are in red and the words of Jesus himself.."Yes my child...Let someone have the complete upper hand" " Yes my child..let someone take advantage of you" "Yes my child let someone treat you badly" I thought for many years..Those are just guide lines.. No they are not!!! In Matthew 5:45 it says you must do these things.."that you may be sons of your Father in heaven!!"

I am always willing to learn Father..Thank you again for teaching me what love is about and giving me a lesson to learn AGAIN!! Each day if your eyes are opened wide, God will chasten you a little as we do our own children..Don't close your ears from Gods teachings..Give yourself wholly to another and walk with him that extra mile..Jesus lives in us and the world can not know him unless they see Him in us!!
Blessings
Dee Hall

"What Do You Choose?"

Tonight we drove out to a remote part of town and parked our car in the pitch blackness. The whole family, looking up into the vast array of God's magnificent cosmos remarked, "How could anyone not believe in a Creator,the almighty God?" Millions of stars dotted the black sky and the Milky Way was close enough to touch. The reason we ventured out to explore the sky is, tonight and tomorrow night's sky's are prime for meteor showers.

Of course some prayers were said and the show was great!! Sky( my son) and I saw the most and my husband complained that he couldn't get focused quick enough. One meteor turned a bright orange before it singed the earth. This little excursion only made me realize how tiny we are compared to the universe and like David said, in Psalms 8:3 and 4.

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars,which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him?? Basically this says.."Hey God, you are so huge and made such wonderful things..why do you even care that I exist, You are so big, "Why do you even remember ME..little ol' ME?"

Guess what people? He does..He cares so much for you that every hair on your head is numbered.. at all times, and let me tell you..the way my hair is falling out and breaking in this Arizona dryness, He must have a special "hair angel" keeping track of mine every second!! He knew you before you were in the womb..before you were born. How special is that? He knows when one little sparrow dies and he knows you and everything you think at all times.

Our Father is in us...Jesus said He abides in us..In Greek that means He makes his residence in us. He actually lives in us. When I get to feeling like He is not there and "does he really care?" I will remember the millions of stars I saw tonight and how my God said, I am more important to Him than everyone of those stars. That is so hard for me, as a human, to comprehend.Our God wants our love..that is why He made this world for us to come to..To choose. Are we going to love Him? or not. The great thing is, He gives us a choice!! He will never force himself on anyone..I think that is awesome! What do you choose? I choose life through Jesus Christ.
Blessings
Dee Hall

"ME,ME,ME"

How do we get so darn caught up in the "me" zone...You know..Woe is "me"I keep forgetting how God feels about complainers!!! Let me clear the fog.. Remember the desert people?? Those guys that walked around in a 90 mile radius for 40 years??

The ones who complained of no water..no "good" food.."What is this Manna junk?"..I can just hear them now..."What can we make with this!!!?" No BBQ???? "Where's the Meat?" "Oh we loved those leeks back in Egypt..and the daily beatings, and making bricks that fell apart and working our behinds off for the slave drivers that yelled at us daily" I wish we could go back there" We just can't believe those faithless Hebrews who complained when God was so nice to them...He took care of all their needs and all they did was complain...

He even gave them Quail for BBQ (hee) "..Dee..Dee..." "Yes Lord" "Here I am""Why are you complaining about the way I am caring for you?" O darn..Caught once again!! " Me Lord? Complaining?' "No Not me...I was just ah..ah..ah..well complaining..just a little..okay maybe alot" "You forgot how I always take care of you!!"" I know..but I am different than them ( the Hebrews) ..they had NO FAITH....I do""Oh really Dee..and how am I seeing your faith in complaining?""That was then this is now..our life is so hard, and I can't see your miracles like they did!!""Look in the mirror..Dee, you are my miracle"

Let us remember that God is there, and to look at each day as a new mountain to climb..He is there to carry us when we need it..but to let us fall so he can clap when we get back up!!! Make your God happy and keep the complaining to a minimum and the world will hear the birds sing more clearly!!Lord, help us to remember when you have shown us miracles and to sing with joy, and praise you each day!!
Blessings,
Dee Hall

"A Long and Meaningful Second"

Today I was reminded that our time here on Earth is so limited. The Bible says our life is but a mist..It is here today and gone tomorrow... That word mist is "Psssst" Pretty quick.. For some it seems like ages..and for some, like me, it went so fast. My years are but a fuzzy blur..I prayed last year "God please slow down time for me" He did..It seems to be to be slowing down and I am grateful. Maybe that is just old age!

Where does our time go? What do we spend it doing? I challenge you to ask yourself the question..What are the eternal consequences of what I choose to do? God gives us JOY beyond measure and sometimes tears beyond belief. Do we really give our day to God, or just minimal parts?

Let's look at it from a parents perspective..How would any of you parents feel if you could see your child through a glass each day( like a one way mirror) but they only spoke to you when they had time..You wait patiently, hoping for just a small conversation..You relish anything they might give you..a smile, an acknowledgement of any sort. You start to wonder, "Do they even love me?" You bang on the glass trying to get their attention..you yell..you scream.."please talk to me!!!"

You wave and eventually sit down in your sadness and wonder..What happened? Why are they ignoring me??Well friends..That is what God does everyday..He waits for us to pray to him..TALK TO HIM..He longs for us to give him TIME!!!! What do you do with your time?? We are but a mist. Please give your Father what He longs for, a kiss of time, a hug of prayer and a smile of gratitude for giving us "a long and meaningful second"

Touch the Untouchable!!

As we sat watching the kids ride the rides at Wet 'n' Wild water park, I was day dreaming about my childhood, and was thinking intently about how fast my life has gone. I remember vividly saying to myself.."Wow the year 2000 will never come, it is so far away!!" Now I am ready, in a few years, to send my last off to college.Where has your life gone? Have you accomplished what you set out to do?

Are you satisfied with the things you have mastered?I am sorry to say I have not accomplished near what I believe God has left for me to do. Unfortunately, for people like me..most of my life has been a huge learning experience..just to get me here and I still feel half baked.."Hurry God turn the oven up" Some people just " get it"

I still don't even know what the "it" is.Even when we don't understand why we are here, God does have a plan and uses us, if we are usable.Do we get up each morning saying.."Okay God ..here I am" or "Okay God here I go" If it is the latter, I ask you to pull out your spiritual heart and examine it..Check it out.. Is it pliable? Is it workable? Does it listen to God when He speaks?? Do we walk by our own plan for the day? Or plan made the night before? Do we stop when we hear a whisper from Him saying.."Hey. I need you to do this for me"

We are the eyes, ear, hands, feet, and voice of Jesus who has physically left this world. He left His Spirit in us, and we are HIM. We are His BODY on this earth. We do what He would have done if He were still here!!So when the whisper comes..don't ignore it..move like Jesus would have.Love the beggar, hug the un-huggable, touch the untouchable...Jesus did..He touched the leper and healed Him..We must do that too!!

We must do the unthinkable..the gross, the "out of our comfort zone" things.Did you know that the leper had such wonderful faith to even seek out Jesus!! Lepers had to yell "UNCLEAN" when approaching a crowd of people..imagine the guts it took to even get to Jesus for perhaps a healing or not.The leper didn't even know if Jesus would touch him, let alone heal him.

If God puts a leper in your life...take the time to heal him. Touch him and do what Jesus would have done.We only have so much of this stuff called TIME. I am running out..so I am going to listen more intently for His whisper and touch the untouchable..What about you?

"What Must I Do?"

I find myself asking "What must I do to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?" Oh I have kept all the "rules" from childhood..I can hear the "rich young ruler"say. I have done all the right things...and yet something tells me Jesus is saying, "fill in the blank"For the rich young ruler, it was sell everything you have and give it to the poor.

What is Jesus saying to you and me?This story says..We all have something that could keep us from entering..Only Jesus and I know..Thank goodness!! "What must I do?" The Bible says 2 Tim 2:15 Be diligent (Do everything possible) to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth. Ashamed!! Could I actually be ashamed of myself before God..What happens then?

I must approve of what I do and He must approve as well. I don't know about you, but that puts a new light on things..What do I approve of everyday that God would not? Do I study to find out? Am I really being honest with my life or am I just ridin' the fence.We are not to be of this world brothers and sisters. We have to be in it, but not of it!! What does that mean? Can you see a difference in your life compared to someone who does not know Jesus?

Are there things in your life that you are glad only Jesus and you know about? Are you ashamed of them??Only you can judge yourself now..You HAVE THE MIND OF CHRIST. You must judge now so on that day you will not be ashamed.Romans 6:1-2 says...What shall we say then? Shall we continue to sin that grace may abound? Certainly Not!!Let us dig deep and gouge out that eye..lest we "do not enter" Grace is imparted to us through Christ, but let me ask you a challenging question....

Would you tell any of your children " I accept anything you do..even things that are wrong and you can do them all the time" I think not!!Let us remember He is our Father and He wants A SPOTLESS church to marry His son. Let's be that church for Him!! He DIED for it!!"What must you do?"