There was Jesus

This will be my last post for 2019 as I am taking any extra time and energy I have to focus on my relationship with God, my husband and our three children.

 I strongly encourage you to do the same! I really do believe the Lord is coming back much sooner than we could imagine.

For the past month I've listened to a song over and over.

 My kids probably know all the words at this point.

You know how sometimes there is a song that hits home?

In that moment you wander if the writer somehow knew about
your life and your inner thoughts.

That has happened just a few times for me.

When I first became a Christian, a song came out that was called Mountain of God.

I wrote every single lyric down on my wall in my bedroom at my parents house and it's still there, in metallic silver marker.
Here's the chorus.

Even though the journey's long
And I know the road is hard
Well, the One who's gone before me
He will help me carry on
After all that I've been through
Now I realize the truth
That I must go through the valley
To stand upon the mountain of God

As a 17 year old I walked away from many things that were tugging for my attention.
I gave up my senior year of high school, leader of several things,
my friends said I gave up my chance to be homecoming queen,
(which to popularity driven-17 year old-me, that was very drawing)
our musical group was chosen again to go on a cruise and to perform at Disney World,
I had a scholarship lined out for college,
I was going to finally get to walk across the stage and receive the diploma and feel that excitement of graduating high school.

But God said no.


There is no telling where I'd be today if I would have disobeyed God
and did what I wanted to do and just finished out high school at that tiny little school.
Instead, I took harder classes at a local college to receive credits to graduate high school that summer. I realized that I would go through a valley of feeling left out, being called a "Jesus
Freak" and "missionary," just months after I got saved all because I decided to give God my senior year, and all the glitz and memories that would have went with it.

I learned that I had to go through that little valley of loneliness to learn what it was to depend on God and be able to stand upon the mountain of joy and peace because I obeyed a simple nudge
He gave me.
I grew thick skin during that year as I had so many "friends" walk away from
me and make fun of me.
No, I wasn't burned at the stake or had a gun held to my head, but I got a little taste of what it is to be persecuted just because I was now a Christ follower.
Not a society follower.

After we miscarried our precious little August Shalom six Decembers ago, 

I clung to the lyrics of Through it All.

I've had many tears and sorrows,
I've had questions for tomorrow,
there's been times I didn't know right from wrong.
But in every situation,
God gave me blessed consolation,
that my trials come to only make me strong

December 15th, 2013 we miscarried a sweet little baby who I had carried just shy of seven weeks. 

I only knew about the pregnancy for about 5 or 6 days.
I had taken countless tests leading up to that pregnancy. 

Thirteen months worth to be exact. 

Once I miscarried the baby and it was confirmed by the doctor,
I listened to this song over and over and over. I could sing it backwards probably. 

During that time I had cried a lot. 

I had four friends all pregnant at that time and we all went to the same church together. 

I did have questions for tomorrow. 

Would Raylea ever be a big sis and have a buddy to play with?

Why did an innocent baby need to go to Heaven so soon?

But, through that trial I became stronger and I have had a burden for anyone walking a similar path of losing a baby, regardless how far along they were.

About a month ago I heard this song, There was Jesus for the first time. 

Maybe you've heard it, too.

But this song is it for me right now.

There's been a lot of waiting, searching, healing and hurting the past several years.

There's been days I wasn't sure what God was doing.

Why was He saying "go"? Why was He saying "no"? Why was He saying "not right now."?

The Bible speaks of how there is a time and a season for every thing.

God has done much purging and pruning in those years for my little family.

On the mountains, there was Jesus.
Life can feel so comfortable at times.
There was Jesus.
You have enough money to pay the bills, buy groceries and put some gas in the car.
There was Jesus.
Your health is doing good. Your family is getting along.
There was Jesus.
You feel loved and appreciated. You get a thoughtful present on your birthday.
There was Jesus.
Your kids honor and respect you.
There was Jesus.
You have a godly spouse who is faithful and treats you with much kindness.
There was Jesus.

In the valleys, there was Jesus.
You've been betrayed by those closest to you.
There was Jesus.
A trial hit you out of nowhere and you're struggling to keep your head up each day.
There was Jesus.
Your health isn't doing so great. The doctor is your second home.
There was Jesus.
You feel unloved and unappreciated by those you thought loved you the most.
There was Jesus.
Your child is walking through a dark time.
There was Jesus.
Your marriage is rocky. You put on a great front though, so others stay clueless.
There was Jesus.
You can't lose weight.
There was Jesus.
You can't gain weight.
There was Jesus.
Your child went to Heaven.
There was Jesus.
You're insecure and feel no self worth. You're always secretly hoping someone will show you attention.
There was Jesus.
Feeling discouraged and hopeless after the divorce is finalized.
There was Jesus.
Fighting cancer. Questioning tomorrow.
There was Jesus.

In the fire!
Like the three Hebrew boys, who had NO hurt as the Bible says.
Praise God.
Oh, where are those who can be in the fire and be so close to God that they feel no hurt??
When friends let you down. You can walk through that and NOT feel hurt because you don't get your joy from them, no matter how wonderful they are, you get your joy from the LORD.

When you get laid off your job. You can feel NO hurt because God has a better job for you already prepared!
God prepares for those He loves!
He prepared for you a mansion in Heaven if you're a Christian!
 He will prepare shelter and be your shield when the fire comes!
He prepared a whale to swallow up and save Jonah, he prepared a donkey to die so Samson could use it's jawbone to kill all those men.
God prepares for His children.

In the flood!
When your enemies come in like a flood, God will be there to grab you up out of the fierce waters that fill your mouth and nose.
He will prepare a table for you in the presence of those enemies who attacked you!
Thank the LORD for enemies because He gets to rescue you from them and
prepare that table for you!
THERE WAS JESUS. In the fire and the flood!
There He was and there He is still!

I feel the Lord empowering my spirit as I write these words.

Whatever you're facing today,
remember we all face things and most of them we never share with a soul. 

But, Jesus is there for you when nobody else is there to be found. 

We have all felt forgotten or not important to our friends or family at some point.

As I say often, we all put our pants on the same way. I'm no different than you.

Life hits me just as it'll hit you. 

But, no matter where you are, how you feel, what you've done, what you didn't do, what you said or what you should have said differently... THERE IS JESUS.

Let Him hold you today. Let Him be your best friend. He won't let you down, hurt you,
or treat you less than. He has been waiting with open arms your entire life.
Stop running. Just let go and let God.

There was Jesus

Every time I try to make it on my own
Every time I try to stand, I start to fall
And all those lonely roads that I have traveled on
There was Jesus

When the life I built came crashing to the ground
When the friends I had were nowhere to be found
I couldn't see it then but I can see it now
There was Jesus

In the waiting, in the searching
In the healing, in the hurting
Like a blessing buried in the broken pieces
Every minute, every moment
Where I've been or where I'm going
Even when I didn't know it
Or couldn't see it
There was Jesus

For this man who needs amazing kind of grace
For forgiveness and a price I couldn't pay
I'm not perfect so I thank God every day
There was Jesus
There was Jesus

In the waiting, in the searching
In the healing, in the hurting
Like a blessing buried in the broken pieces
Every minute, every moment
Where I've been or where I'm going
Even when I didn't know it
Or couldn't see it

There was Jesus

On the mountains
In the valleys
There was Jesus
In the shadows
Of the alleys

There was Jesus

In the fire, in the flood
There was Jesus
Always is and always was

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DFxbGbIDrY

My dangerous prayer

For the past year I have prayed a prayer that I never knew how dangerous it may be. Dangerous to my flesh and dangerous to my comfort, that is. Which is something I want and need.

"God, purge anything out of me that isn't of You."

God revealed to me a lot. And He is still doing so.

I know that is what being sanctified is all about, it's a process which will never end until we reach Heaven.

But, never once in my nearly 14 years of being a Christian, have I prayed that earnestly and continually, until this past year.

I challenge you to pray that tonight before you go to bed. Pray it seriously.

What might He PURGE from your life?

It may be a relationship.
I had a friend who I was going to be one of her bridesmaids, Raylea was not even a year old yet and was going to be her flower girl, and around a month before the
wedding, she realized she was about to marry the wrong guy. Oh, it makes my stomach sick just thinking about what her life would be like today if she would have
walked down that aisle. Remember: the devil is awful good at making things that you should be RUNNING from, look like God's plan for your life. He is the master
of trickery.

It may be a friendship.
Or several friendships.

Your social media account.
We all want to be loved, liked, accepted, I believe that is why social media can be so addicting to many, because it satisfies that longing to a certain degree.

Your obsession with being known as the person who has it all together.
Don't kid yourself any longer. We all put our pants on the same way. It says in the Bible that all have fallen short of the glory of God. Even as a Christian,
I believe we give people a false sense of God's mercy and grace when we try to put on a show of perfectionism. I'm far, far from perfect. Please, when you read
my piddly blog posts, don't ever hold me up on some pedestal and think that I got it all together because I'm a Christian, because I'm married to a
preacher or whatever other reason. We all fall short. I pray when you read any words I have written, that you'll know that I try to be very transparent as a fellow
human being and that I want others (you!) to see the change that God makes in one's life. I don't write as good as over half of the writers out there, but, like
Jonah, God has asked me to tell others about Him, but in this fashion. (I'll be honest, some days I wander why God wants me to write when there are those out there
with much smarter, smoother things to say than myself. But, I will write, because it isn't about how I feel, it's about what God wants me to do.)

Perhaps it's your lack of kindness.
Man, there are some crabby people out there. We can all recall a time in the recent past where we were a little less than Mr. Rogers friendly. Yeah, people definitely
weren't wanting to be your neighbor. But, I'm not talking about a time or two here and there each month, I'm talking about being so crabby, so cantankerous, that
people literally avoid being in your presence. That isn't even Christ-like. Check your friendliness scale and see where your average is.

Money.
The love of it is the root of all evil the Bible says. You don't hear that preached much in this prosperity driven Christian realm these days.

Pride.
You can't say you're sorry. You can't own up to a wrong doing. You think too highly of yourself. You always play the victim card. You don't think about others well
being and happiness over your own. You want to be in the spotlight. You want the title at the job or the church. You want the recognition instead of just doing
something "unto the Lord." You want the nice car, house and all the things that go inside it. Notice how all of the sentences began with "You." That is because pride
makes things about YOU. HUMILITY makes things about GOD and OTHERS.

Snippy attitude.
I think we all have dealt with this at some point or another. Remember that gentleness is a fruit of the Spirit. Not snippiness.

Gossip.
I could give ya a list of verses in the Bible that explain how damaging gossip is to not only the person you're speaking about, but also to your relationship with
them and your own personal self. Death and life are in the tongue it says and you'll reap the consequences of what you speak! Buddy. We better take that so serious.
We aren't given a license to gossip just because someone wronged us or was gossiping about us. No. We pray for them in private. Easier said than done, but God will defend you, I've learned over and over.

A critical spirit.
Do you always point out the wrong in others? Have you already disagreed with five things I've written in the past few minutes? Do you always complain about how
someone looks, how they sing, how they preach, how they teach? Are you always thinking someone has done you wrong, owes you something and needs to be more sensitive
to you? Do you look over the fifty good things your spouse did this week and complain and gripe about the trash not being taken out?
You have a critical spirit if so. Ask God to purge this out of you.

Anger.
I heard an interesting message today on the radio about anger actually. He was making a simple point saying that often times anger and depression are linked to an
intimate betrayal. In other words, he believes if you are an angry person or depressed, there is a good chance that someone very close to you has betrayed you in
some way. Maybe they talked about you or told secrets you told them in complete confidence. I do agree with that to some extent, because life situations can bring us
to places we never wanted to be or never thought we'd be, such as angry or depressed. But, I believe a big part of why people are constantly angry, is because they
are not staying in close communion to God. I really do think it's that simple.
 Just like any junk in our life that isn't pleasing to God, it's presence is a sign of
God's absence.

Unforgiveness.
I have been forgiven much, therefore I will forgive much. I do mean that. Please look at all the Lord has forgiven you of. When you see how sick, how dirty, how wrong
and how sinful you were, and how God so quickly forgave you, I do believe you'll have a much easier time forgiving others. There are some pretty straight forward verses
regarding forgiveness in the Bible. Take time and study them if this is what needs purged out of you.

Guilt and shame.
 There is great freedom that comes when you can accept God's forgiveness and see that He became that sin that you are feeling so guilty about when He died for you, and by you continually feeling guilty over past sin is like telling God that what He did isn't sufficient to set you free!
There is so much joy and peace that comes when you can give God all your guilt and shame that the devil (and sometimes people, including yourself) try to place upon you.



I could go on for another hour, but I imagine if you pray that, that God will show you exactly what it is that needs purged from your life. And if you're like me,
it won't be just one thing.

God, I ask that You'd reveal to me anything that needs to be purged out of my life.

Revival

My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭63:8‬

Revival.

It means, “an improvement in the condition or strength of something.”

Biblically speaking it means an awakening.

When something is revived, it lives again!

Are you asleep spiritually right now?

I wonder, how did you fall asleep? 

Well, we all fall asleep physically the same way. Most of us have to be relatively comfortable with our surroundings and most of the time we want to fall asleep in the dark. (I prefer to have socks on and if I do not have my pillow, the same one I have had for probably 10 years, I will toss and turn for a long time. I also have to have a fan on and it completely dark.) I know some people who can fall asleep much easier than others. For instance, my son Jack, has always been an extremely hard sleeper. He can fall asleep sitting straight up in the car. He’ll be five on Sunday and he still takes around 2-3 hour naps every afternoon. The kid loves sleeping. Who can blame him?? Physically, we all require rest. Our bodies would eventually get sick and just break down if we did not ever stop and rest. 

But, I am not talking about that kind of sleeping. Just as we fall asleep physically though, I believe we also fall asleep spiritually because we are comfortable and in the dark. 

I want to ask a few personal questions to you. Remember, God knows your heart, whether you want to answer this truthfully or not, He already knows the truth so you might as well quit fighting Him and just be honest.

When is the last time you wept over sin in your life?

When is the last time you wept over the sin in others’ lives?

When is the last time you got completely alone with God and prayed for more than 10 minutes?

You cannot grow spiritually if you are not praying.

And likewise, I do not believe a person can grow spiritually if they are not reading the Bible and applying what they are reading to their life.

July 28, 2019 I had something life-changing happen. 

Grant was out of town that night so I had the three kids locked in the master bedroom with me as we slept. Somewhere in the middle of the night, I heard a loud knocking coming from my closet. I shot wide awake. I sat up and oddly enough I was not scared, just startled.

I suddenly heard in my spirit these words, “I stand at the door and knock.” My whole body froze perfectly still. And then, I heard it again, “I stand at the door and knock.”

I immediately opened my closet door and fell on my knees and I began to pray. I prayed like I had not been able to in so long. 

After I had prayed for some time, I opened up the Bible and I searched for that scripture that I had heard. I knew it was in Revelation. I soon found it.

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

‭‭Revelation‬ ‭3:19-22‬ 

Repent. Open the door to God. Overcome. 

This is what I read when I studied these verses for a few minutes that night, sitting in my closet by myself. 

Whether you have been saved for 7 days or 70 years, there is a good chance you might have some form of a sin that you need to repent of right now. Talk to Jesus about it. You don’t have to confess to a person. 

Ever since July 28, I have prayed every single night. I still pray throughout the day for multiple things, but I have found that once all the kids are in bed, I can go into my closet and I know for certain I will not be interrupted. I can stay there as long as I want to read and pray.

We find time to do as we please. Eat. Sleep. Shop. Chatting on the phone. Scrolling through social media for half an hour before and after you get in bed... Yeah, you know what I’m saying. We make time for what’s important to us. We all have 24 hours in a day. 

We named our son Jack, after a man who was known to be a man of prayer. I’ve heard countless stories about this man, Jack Ledbetter, but I never had the honor of meeting him. He was my husband’s grandfather. He came up from Arkansas to begin a church in Wichita, Kansas 60-some years ago. I have thought many times how my son is named after someone I have never met, yet I hope and pray my son has the mantle of powerful prayer passed down to him from his Great Grandpa. I try hard to teach Jack now to pray always. Pray for his friends. Pray for his siblings. Pray for his cousins. Pray for his church. Pray for his Daddy before he preaches. To thank God for healing him.

Raylea turned 8 today and Jack turns 5 on Sunday as I said. I am so thankful the Lord spoke to me on July 28 and reminded me that I must make prayer the top priority in my life. I know I have not been a perfect wife, mother and a Christian, but I truly want nothing more than to please God at the end of the day. He has done so much for me that I am unworthy of. The least I can do is get alone and talk to Him. My kids will only mimic what they see mom and dad doing. Same with yours. You can't count on the children's church pastor or the day care lady or the teacher at their school to teach them to pray.

No, you must make this a top priority or you'll soon regret it. 

Can you imagine what would happen in your life, your marriage, your family, your church, your town, if you removed your television from the living room and replaced it with an altar. What if every time you had the urge to watch the morning news, to watch that game show mid-day, to check on the weather and catch up on sports at night... what if instead you were on your knees in prayer for the same amount of time you would have been watching TV. Or, remove your phone. Try deleting Instagram and Facebook and Twitter for a month and every time you feel the urge to catch up on everyone's lives, you got on your knees and prayed for them. Few would do this. Few want revival. But, a few do. As my father in law said Wednesday night, there is a remnant of people who want God. 

The devil tries with everything in him to keep you so busy, so tired, even doing "good" things, that you won't get alone with God. You'll allow life to control you to the point that you no longer can carve out the time to sit alone with Him.

Are you ready for revival? If so, do your part by removing people, things, hobbies and desires that have led you away from God, and just start praying. It doesn't need to be "fancy." I don't pray in KJV, although that is my translation preference. God understands all languages and He is waiting, knocking.

Answer the door, before it is ever too late!

Revival will soon be goin' on in your life.

It is in mine.

A Hearts Attitude: Guest Writer

Today I am featuring a guest writer whom I have been friends with for several years. She recently started her own blog and I asked her to be a guest writer on mine. Please take time to visit her website and read some of her posts. She loves God and her writings will bless you! -Hannah

———————————————

A HEARTS ATTITUDE

Hi, My name is Misty McBride and I’m honored for the invitation to be a guest writer on my friend, Hannah’s blog. My hearts desire is for sharing what the Lord spoke to my own heart in hopes that it blesses others.      

http://Mistymcbride.com

I’ve heard people say... and actually I’ve been guilty of saying it myself “they have a good heart”

The Bible tells us that the heart is deceitful and wicked. Do we even realize it? The Lord is the only One who knows the true intentions of each heart.

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (KJV)

Sin entered our world by temptation and the devil still works the same today. We are born with a sinful nature and that's why we need a Savior.

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (KJV)

When the heart is not right with God then it automatically turns to sin.

Its tempted to tell lies to keep itself out of trouble. Its tempted to steal because it covets material possessions. Its tempted to lust and make us appear like the grass is greener on the other side.

When we truly turn to Jesus and seek His ways and ask Him to take over our lives then all those sinful scales fall from our eyes and sin is exposed. When we trust Jesus to be not only our Savior but our Lord too then He promises to give us a new heart.

Ezekiel 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

Ezekiel 36:27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. (KJV)

When we are a child of God then He gives us a new way to walk.

Matthew 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

He gives us the ability to discern and recognize when we are being led astray. (But we have to stay close to Him daily in order to not be deceived)

Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. (KJV)

Staying on the straight and narrow with God is not easy...it takes constant self discipline. We must stay grounded in prayer and in Gods Word.

Lord, I thank You for your divine protection. You've heard and honored so many of my prayers. With faith I continue to pray and seek You to answer those prayers I pray so many times each day. I know Your ways and timing are perfect. I never doubt that, but I also know there comes a time when you will no longer send your spirit to those that you've called for so long. I firmly stand in that gap interceding with a pure heart for those that I love. Lord, you are the one that's chosen to reveal things to me. You are the one that chose to give me visions and dreams and reminding me to never give up. You are the one that told us in your word that the fields are white and ready for harvest. Now I ask that you would pour out a mighty portion of Your spirit and break those chains of bondage that's held loved ones bound. Remove the scales from their eyes so that they might see before it's too late. Our families and our nation are in trouble and we need you Lord. Raise up mighty prayer warriors and Lord if you see fit then I pray that You would start with me. Burn out the impurities within me and make me shine for you... that I can be that lighthouse that stands on a hill for others to see. Lord, that my light would be so bright that others will ask what it is about me that shines and I can boldly walk through that door of opportunity to share You with them. Let me not be caught in a trap of using my tongue when it does not glorify You and I ask sincere forgiveness for using it to tear someone else down as this dishonors You. Lord, I ask that you would bless each of my children and grandchildren and all other family members and loved ones. Go to each one today and move in a mighty way upon them. You are the one that knows the intentions of our heart and I fully trust You to work all things out well. Lord, be with our churches and shake us up in our faith so that we can have the power of God moving in every single service. Let us see the lost saved on a continuous basis. Let us not just build in number but let us build in souls that truly seek You. Let us have supernatural wisdom and discernment for each decision made.

Lord you tell us that YOU will increase our numbers and I pray we stand out of Your way so that you can move in mighty ways.

I thank you Lord for your mercy and grace and for saving my soul. I thank you for never giving up on me. I thank you for the storms I've walked through in my life as it's made me see just how much I absolutely need you. I thank you for choosing to perform mighty miracles in my life...for had we not walked through the nightmare of our oldest sons cancer then we would never have gotten to see You miraculously heal him and give us a testimony that we can share every single day and glorify You with it.

Lord, I thank you for dealing with my heart so many years ago and I thank you for giving me a new heart with such a strong love for You and I ask that you would keep it always tender towards You and not allowing it to ever be deceitful and I ask You to never allow it to be deceived. I need Your divine wisdom and favor as I take each step in life.

Be with me and each person reading this today. I ask that You would move in great ways in each life.

Let each person see You clearly in their own daily lives.

In Jesus name....amen

Times and Seasons

Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter.

Daniel 2:20-23

I've always loved autumn. I love the spring too, but there is something about cool, quiet fall mornings. Leaves of all shades, slowly falling onto the earth below. Farmers have finished their harvests. The sun gives us all a break. We get firewood prepared for a long winter. I usually start calling my dad and brother asking when they think will be the best time for me to sit on a stand and if they've seen any deer on camera.

Our two oldest are October babies. Our youngest was born in November on Veterans Day. I'll be 31 just days after Arrow turns 3. She is our last baby, so all of her first tend to make me happier than normal, but all of her first are also my 'last first' and they tend to make me a little sad. Even though I'm thrilled she is potty trained and putting all sorts of her thoughts together into sentences, it's the last time for me to teach a child to wash their hands, how to identify colors and allow them to figure out how to dress themself.

This is the first fall we've lived out of Kansas. At our old home we were surrounded by trees that often turned the most beautiful shades of red, orange and gold. I'm anxious to see what colors the trees outside our new home turn. Soon, Grant and I will put Christmas lights up for the first time on this home.

The other day I was driving from Kansas back to Missouri
and I said to Raylea something along the lines of,

"we will be home in this much time..."

She said, "hey, you just said "home.""

I said, "yes?"

She said, "you always have called only Kansas home and you've always just called the Missouri place "the house."

I replied, "well, I suppose I'm starting to feel at home there."

I told my father in law today about that conversation between her and I on our way home from
the store. I told him although I am feeling more at home in Missouri, I am also working on trying to not get so attached to a "place." I'm learning that if I will see that life is too short for me to refer to one place as home. When in reality... I've not yet made it home.

I always thought we'd remain in Kansas, stay in my comfortable bubble with our churches, our home, our friends and our routines. But, I am reminded over and over again how God changes the times and the seasons as it says in Daniel. Who am I to say "this is where I'm going to live for the next 70 years of my life." (Boy, can you imagine me as a 100 year old??) But seriously, I wander sometimes do we as Christians put God in a bubble much more than we care to admit. I know I have.

So few people want to marry someone out of their one town, afriad they'll have to start over again. We Americans can be close to a zombie if you think about it.

We fall into this routine of

wake up

do our job

go home hungry

eat

watch TV

go to sleep

wake up and do it again.

For many Christians that order is no different.

Maybe they squeeze in 15 minutes to pray and read. Maybe they are really extra awesome and they attend a bible study and go to church a few times a week. We get into this routine of "this is comfortable and this is good."

I beleive for a revival to start in your life,

it will only start with prayer.

No man can make a decision that is God led without it being first covered in prayer. No woman will ever understand what it is to be a helper to their husband rather than a hinderance without much prayer. No person will ever know what it is to have true communion with God, unless they make prayer the top priority in their life, rather than a box to check at the end of the day.

We make time to eat, to fellowship with others, to clean our homes, to bathe, to make several meals a day and clean up the messes, to work 40-60 hours a week.

We make time. We make time for what is important.

You want to see your child saved, yet you can't remember the last time you've prayed or prayed/fasted for them.

You want to be free from gossip, yet you don't lay your tongue down on the altar and let God be your friend.

We make time to watch things on television, sometimes for several hours.

We will stay up until midnight surfing the internet, all while dust is forming on our bibles.

You say, "I go to church, I teach a class, I sing a special occasionally, I even tithe. God knows my heart. He knows I'm just so busy."

Well, I don't beleive God knows your heart. Not when this routine has went on for weeks and months and now years.

I beleive He is all gracious, and oh, how I am so thankful for His beautiful grace upon my life. I need His grace every day! But, the more I recognize and understand what grace really is, the more I want to stay at His feet. The more I want Him to get junk out of me.

This is only made possible during prayer.

Yes, you need to read your Bible, you need to attend church, you need to be obedient to God and follow his commands.

But, you won't do any of this in the right heart or attitude and dare I say, you'll simply be a religious person, if you don't season your soul with mounds of prayer.

If Jesus himself needed to get alone to pray, why on earth would we be any different. We live in a sin sick society and at every turn there is something that could be used to draw you away from God. Perverseness, girls who don't know how to dress modestly (they are in the church, too, sadly) gambling, drugs, alcohol, gossip, times you could tell a white lie. Sin doesn't play nice or fair! The devil is a lion who is wanting to finish what he has started in your marriage. To kill that daughter of yours. To temp you with one little sin that will lead you to being backslid. He wants to cause division amongs Christians. Please! Hear my cry today. Don't let him have any more control over your life. Over your thoughts. Over your relationships. We are all imperfect people and we do make mistakes. I have had to appologize just as much as I've had to accept appologies in life! Be quick to forgive. It may be you soon asking someone for forgiveness. It says so clearly in the bible if you don't, God can't forgive you.

I'm working on an entry that I soon will publish which is about godly friendships. Oh, how they are so important. Even if you have just one friend, if they are a God fearing individual, you are very blessed. Don't take this person, or those few people for granted. A big reason why I deleted my social media account over five years ago was because I wanted real, raw, honest, godly friendships! Not a bunch of people who will push like or leave a little comment on a photo of my cute kid. No, I want something deeper.

I believe for every David out there, there is a Jonathan.

For ever Naomi, there is a Ruth.

For every Moses, there is an Aaron.

For every Elijah there is an Elisha.

Sometimes, there is no friend for some, and to you I say this, you have the Best Friend of all, Christ.

So, as you see those leaves fall, I want you to be reminded over the next month that God is in control of it all. The times and the seasons are in His hand. You don't have time to waste to not pray anymore. You don't have time to waste to remain in this bubble any longer. I love this home, as I now refer to it, but if the Lord wills, and we are to move one day, I will gladly go because He is in control of the times and the seasons. Not Hannah. I hope that one day when I'm gone, at my little funeral, I sure hope every person there can walk past my casket and say, "She lived her life to please God." I don't care what else I'm known for. I don't want to even be known as a talented writer, I know millions are more intelligient than I. I don't want to be known for having well educated kids or being a "good friend" to others. I understand some of those are okay to be said, but I hope you understand, whoever you are reading this, that a Christian must have one purpose in life and one purpose only. To live every day for God as though it may be their last and to have a strong desire to win souls. Someone you know or someone even reading this may not still be alive for Christmas this year. Maybe one of you won't reach your fourtieth birthday. Call your siblings and tell them you love them and you're praying for them. Buy someones meal in the McDonalds line.

Forgive the unforgivable.

And remember this.. God knows how to restore what appears to be wasted years.

Start new today. He is waiting for you.