Thursday, October 31, 2013

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Walk in the Light

by Pam Manners copyright 2013
"But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have communion with Him in the midst of us, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin."  ~ 1 John 1:7

Today I'd like to share some photo artwork from my dear friend and fellow blogger, Pam Manners.  She has created this beautiful Scripture photo, and with her kind permission/blessing, I now present it to all of you!.  

Pam's blog is http://pam-intheshadowofhiswings.blogspot.com/.  

The Lord has gifted her with many talents, and photography is certainly one of them!!  Thanks Pam!

As you take yourself into this photo, I encourage you to imagine yourself walking along this path.  Feel the sun streaming warm on your face and body.  Take in the scent of the leaves, grass and moist earth.  Hear the songbirds as they sing praises to our God and Creator.  Close your eyes and be in communion with the Lord.  Take a moment to whisper a prayer of worship and thanks to Him for all His gifts... first and foremost the love and salvation given to us through Christ Jesus when we accept Him as our Lord and Savior.  

Breathe deep... and be blessed today.


Thursday, October 17, 2013

Friday, October 4, 2013

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

John 15:1-9

John 15:1-9 Poetry by Linda Bush

Cemetery Mist by Linda Bush 

Wait Training

I am an instructor of Pilates, Pilates Reformer, and a personal trainer where I utilize various apparatus such as kettlebells, the TRX suspension training system, free and body weights, resistance bands and other implements of mass construction for strengthening, flexibility and endurance.  My goal is holistic optimal health and wellness for my clients that will impact and improve their journey day by day.

Weight training develops the strength and size of skeletal muscles, which are under control of the somatic nervous system, voluntarily controlled.  The produce almost all body movement, maintain posture, stabilize joints and generate heat to maintain your normal body temperature.  They cover your skeleton, giving your body its shape.

Personally, I am in a very specialized training program called “wait training.”  It is also designed for creating optimal strengthening, flexibility, endurance and growth… of my spiritual life.  Daily I am thrust into the gym of life and given workouts and practices that carry on for hours, sometimes days and weeks.  Often my Coach will set up an obstacle course where I can’t even see the goal line… there are times it is so dark that my Coach has to shine His light on the narrow path before me.  And if that isn’t difficult enough, I am frequently required to do it blindfolded, trusting only in His voice as He whispers His instructions to me along the way.  The course can be very rocky and leads uphill, steep and frightening.  But just when I think I can’t take one more step, He will lead me beside quiet waters along the paths of righteousness and give me His Bread of Life and Living Water from which I eat and drink deeply until I am nourished, refreshed and renewed.

There is no timetable for my wait training, although the most profitable of sessions have come either early in the morning at the break of dawn or late into the darkness of the midnight hours of my soul.  Sometimes I have a training partner, Percy Verance, and regularly Goodness and Mercy follow behind me, but usually it’s just Coach and me.

It is a most arduous of exercise, demanding everything of me.  There are times Coach has me sit on my hands for hours on end, doing nothing – most confusing and frustrating.  Other times He pushes and pushes until I think my heart will burst.  I complain.  I cry. I bleed.  I have scars – but they are from the times I have wandered impatiently off His course in search of my own training program.  Ahh… always I have wound up hurting myself.  He is demanding, asking my completely loyalty – He will allow no other coaches to take His place.  Yet there has never been a time when I have stumbled and fallen that Coach hasn’t lifted me up and carried me back to His path of training, wiped the sweat from my face and given me all His support, love and guidance. 

My spiritual muscles, like skeletal muscles, are voluntary.  It is always my choice to exercise them.  I can ignore them and let them get flabby, and if I don’t use them they could atrophy and become paralyzed.  When strong I am able to stand tall for my Coach, although the times of best conversations with Him have been when I am on my knees.  My spiritual muscles stabilize my spiritual walk, and maintain the fire in my spiritual core so I am never lukewarm.  Without toned and buff spiritual muscles, my soul would look like a massive puddle of nothingness – a pile of brokenness, which is how Coach found me.
My Coach has made something beautiful of me, and my wait training will continue until I take my last breath.  Only then will the glory of all this training be revealed, and I long for that day when He will say, “Well done!” 

I have to go now… it’s time to run with Percy Verance the race set before me – I see my Coach and must keep my eyes on Him.