Almost Six Months!

Almost six months since I started this job in a remote camp in Northern Alberta.  I have survived and even flourished in many ways.

I have learned to appreciate space more as I live in a 8x11 ft room.  I have learned to value the people that God puts in my path.  They all have something to offer that I can learn about.

I have started learning a new craft called Antique Rug Hooking that is very interesting and I started taking a course to upgrade my skills and open up  new career paths.

I moved my daughter out to Edmonton in July, my son out in August and I moved most of my things out in early October.  We got a 3 bedroom townhouse  in Edmonton in August that we really like. I brought two of my Boston Terriers out with me in October too, so they add a lot of personalty and laughter to the home.

Also, I have been feasting at the Lord's table and stepping into Heaven many times a day.  I have even been able to lead others into encounters in Heaven, which has been a great blessing to me.

All in all,,,,, life is good!  Not what I expected -- but good none the less.

When God says He'll make a way,,, He really means it!  We can trust Him!  We really can!

Have a great day with Him... knowing he has your best interests at heart.

Big hugs,
Brenda Gale Thompson

Hospitality

Hospitality is a big part of my life.  I really enjoy having friends over and I regularly help at church functions.  You can usually find me in the kitchen or serving food.

As our churches grow I am finding that volunteering is one of the ways to better get to know people.  It's hard to build relationships when we meet,  have church then take off right away.  I am finding that to build trust I have to build relationships first.  I can't expect trust where there is no relationship happening.  As I know a person better, I feel I can trust them more and more.

I had a couple of nice chats with a few ladies in the kitchen yesterday and it just confirmed that I am in the right place.  I bring my ministry gifts wherever I go.  I can give an encouraging word wherever I am.

I remember a time when the wife of our guest speaker came into the kitchen and helped us do the dishes after pot luck.  We tried to tell her that we would do it, but she wanted to stay and help.  She was such a blessing and we got to ask her questions about ministry and the adventures she had been on.

She really encouraged my daughter to go to bible college.  She made quite an impact on us.  So many people want to be served, and yet this great lady was helping us clean up.

I never forgot it.  I try to lead by example too.

My pastors are great servants.  Many times I have seen them working behind the scenes or helping with the food while others are blissfully unaware of what's going on.  Somehow we get it all worked out and people get to eat and everybody is happy.   It's a joy that stretches us at times!

Anyhow,  that's my thought for the day.  Blessed are the volunteers, because God is rewarding them!  We can never out give God and as we are faithful in the little things He will add to us the bigger things.

"Thank You Lord that we are growing in favor with you and with people.  Thank You Lord that Your light is shining brightly through us!  Thank You Lord for using us today.  May we always be available to give an encouraging word or a empathetic ear to those around us.  Thank You Lord for anointing all the work of our hands. I decree more creativity and blessings flowing through our hands from now on. Amen!"

Bless you more than before, in Jesus' name!
Big hugs,
Brenda Gale Thompson

P.S. "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all." (Mark 9:35)

God's Not Answering, Part 2

Hi there.  I was reading the post I wrote today about "God's Not Answering" and I thought I better add to it.

Sometimes when you feel that God is not answering  it's because He wants you to ask detailed questions.  As you ask Holy Spirit what's going on and follow His direction you will get more details about what is troubling  you and He will lead you to victory.  Then you will be better equipped  to help other people in their time of need.

Also, sometimes it can be that the symptoms you are fighting are an illusion and God will tell you to rest and let Him work.  That has happened to me when I felt the Lord telling me to declare that the cause of the symptom was healed.

There are times when it can be a word of knowledge for another person and they are having a hard time receiving the anointing because of doubt-filled words, a bad confession, frustration or unforgiveness.  Then I will still have the symptoms as I pray God's mercy and grace to cancel out all their wrong words and frustration.  As soon as they start to receive my symptoms leave. That is one of the ways that I know I have broken through for them.

Finally,  there are times when you feel that God is not answering and it can be that you are going into a winter season of the soul.  Things appear dead on the surface, but God is wanting to do a deep work in your heart to prepare you for the next season.   I have learned to rejoice in the winter's of the soul because I know I am going to learn more and come out with some huge personal victories, as I cooperate with what the Lord wants to do in my life.

Be encouraged. He is watching over us better than we will ever realize.

Lord I ask that You would give the person reading this a revelation of Your constant care for them. May they sense Your presence afresh right now and may they delight in You.  I ask for grace and trust to take You at Your word Lord, and for joy in their journey with You. Amen!

Beating Bitterness

I have experienced the impact of bitterness in my life and to tell you the truth -- I hate it. Bitterness is the result of a deep seated anger towards someone over something done in the past that has not been forgiven.
It is very dangerous.

The Bible warns us to be careful so that a root of bitterness doesn't spring up defiling many (ref: Hebrews 12:15) You see, bitterness doesn't just affect you, it affects everyone you come into contact with and taints all your conversation and actions. That should be warning enough to forgive yet so many people struggle to forgive.

You know what I mean. How many times has someone wronged you, or taken advantage of you and you think, I've forgiven them so many times! Lord how much do I have to take???

Then I remember an old song about 70 x 7. It is all about how many times Jesus said we should forgive someone in one day. (Matthew 18:22) The hard part for me is trying to tell if they have repented. We must give them the benefit of the doubt and forgive.

Hard to do, I know. You know how the world says, do it to me once, shame on you. Do it to me twice, shame on me -- for letting you do it to me. So what do you do when the person has done it to you five times? Even 20 times? Forgive so you might be sons/daughters of the Most High God.

I remember telling the Lord once, "I can't trust this person," as if that would be excuse enough to not forgive.

You know what Holy Spirit told me? He said, "You can trust me." That shut down that line of defense.

So we must trust Holy Spirit to look after us and believe the promise that all things will work together for our good, to those who love and serve the Lord." (Rom. 8:28)

I think that a lack of forgiveness, which leads to bitterness, is because we don't really trust that God can and will turn the situation around for us. If we really trusted that God could and would turn it around for us, so that we would eventually win, it would make forgiving a lot easier.

Well God's turned around other situations for me so that I come out smelling like roses, so since God can't lie and He doesn't change, I know He will do what His word says. (Titus 1:2, Malachi 3:6)

Time to go bless some people that have hurt me. Let's say this out loud, "Lord, forgive them, they don't know what they are doing. Bless them, help them come to the light of Your love. I release anyone that I might have anything against, in Jesus name. Now I'm going to watch you work Lord and You show me how you are going to turn this into a blessing for me. Amen!"

Gift After Gift

I was reading the Gospel of John a couple of weeks ago and it keeps coming back to my remembrance. It goes, "We all live off his generous bounty, gift after gift after gift. We got the basics from Moses, and then this exuberant giving and receiving, This endless knowing and understanding-- all this came through Jesus, the Messiah." John 1:16-17

I want to write a song about this. Imagine, we live off of His generous bounty! I never thought of life like that. I took so much for granted when it was all a gift. Oh the love of God, that we should be called the Sons of God! Such amazing love -- the Message translation brings it out in a whole, new way.

I love the next verse where it talks about endless knowing and understanding. I was a child who got told to be quiet because I asked too many questions. In Heaven we will never be told to shut up and we can keep learning forever. That really appeals to me.

I remember the time I just cried out to the Lord, "I want to sit and watch you run the whole show!" Oh, that blessed me so much! He wants to show us how to do the stuff. Amazing! I wouldn't be bothered with the likes of me some days!

I remember a time when I messed up really big and I thought, "Oh no, there's no way I'll ever fulfill my destiny after this screw up." After wallowing around in self pity for a while, I started to worship and I felt Holy Spirit drop into my heart, "My love and plans go on forever."

I was so thrilled! It doesn't matter how badly we mess up, God always has a back up plan.

I don't understand why my Dad was taken away from me suddenly, without warning and I don't understand why I missed a great full-time job because of the funeral; but I know that He who called me is faithful and He will complete that which He has started in me.

I know He's trustworthy... I know He's worthy of all my trust-- even when I don't understand it with my limited perspective. He'll give me beauty for ashes and somehow He'll turn it to good.

I do know I had a great dad for 48 years and many people I didn't know told me what a gift he was to their lives too.

Ultimately, "I Thank You Lord for so many gifts in my life. Open my eyes to see the gifts you have given me and help me to appreciate them every day, in new ways.
Amen."

Negative to Positive

I was ready to smack her I thought. I haven't had the urge to smack someone in public ever. Yes, this lady really got under my skin, but my reaction was "out of character." I recognized that I was offended, so I quickly excused myself and started praying.

So where were all these negative emotions coming from, you ask? Her digging into my husband's employment status and especially her cliches. When she said, "And God will look after him, if he's trusting in Him." really got me revved up. This is a lady who is well looked after, with no financial struggles and she has the nerve to say something that insensitive! At least preface that kind of statement with, "God looked after me when.... so I know He'll look after you now."

You have got to shake your head at some people. "Lord I forgive her. Help her to be more considerate of people's feelings. Lord help me to be more considerate of people's feelings and not "come across" as insensitive. Amen." I recognize that "spirit of offense" that operates around her now.

What got me upset was the "works mentality" she confessed. God will look after my husband because God loves him, not because my husband is doing good works, so he deserves looking after. All any of us deserve is Hell, but because the Father loved us so much, He sent His Son to take our sin upon himself and redeem us. (see Titus 2:12) "We were bought with a price." ( 1Cor 6:20) We are not our own.

We are not saved by grace and kept by law or works. No, No, No. The whole letter to the Galatians was written to address this problem. The whole deal, from start to finish is grace. "I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness [come] by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. " (Gal 2:21)

My husband is looking to Jesus, not to himself for help and direction. All, I repeat "all our righteousness (self effort) is as filthy rags", to God.(Isa 64:6) We do not do to get, we do because we have been touched by so much love, in Jesus, that we want to share it. Our motivation has been changed by the lover of our souls -- Jesus. Does that mean we just sit around and wait for pie in the sky? No, it means we ask Him every day, "What would you have me do and say today Lord?" That is submitting your will and desires to the Lord.

Even the world has the belief system, "do good, get good" and "do bad, get bad." There is no miracle in believing that. But when we get good for all our bad --that's a miracle. That is grace. We exchange all our efforts for Jesus' finished work on the cross and God declares us, "NOT GUILTY!" That is a miracle.

If for some reason we don't get looked after I would not blame God. He is love and He can't change. Sometimes when the pressure is on, people will jump and make hasty decisions. I know I have missed God's voice plenty of times and got the resulting mess. That is not God's fault. He has given us all free will. He can turn all our bad mistakes to good if we will allow Him to, it just might take a bit of time. Like someone once told me, we all have a destiny and God can get us back on track whenever we turn to Him, so that we get to the important junctions in our lives at the right time. It's our choice whether we arrive at these junctions smelling like roses or barnyard stuff.

Blessing and provision have got a lot to do with what we believe. If we believe we are blessed and highly favored, we will be. If we believe that God's deserted us and bad things are coming, then bad things will come. (See Prov 23:7) Look at Joseph. It didn't matter where he ended up he brought God's blessing with him because he believed he was Abraham's seed and thus blessed. A real good question to ask is, "What do I believe?" We can determine what we believe by what we say, especially when we are under pressure. Truly, by our words we are justified and by our words we are condemned. (Matt 12:37)

Someone told me once that demons are attracted to voiced negative emotions the way sharks are attracted to blood in the water. The louder the negative emotions we give voice to, the more demons we attract spiritually. Guess what? I have been a lot more careful about what I give vent to lately. LOL

Finally, in these troubled times, God gave me some verses to meditate on and claim that I will share with you, to encourage you. The first one is, "I have been young, and [now] am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." (Psalm 37:25)
The second is Psalm 112...
"1Praise ye the LORD. Blessed [is] the man [that] feareth the LORD, [that] delighteth greatly in his commandments. 2His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed. 3Wealth and riches [shall be] in his house: and his righteousness endureth for ever. 4Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: [he is] gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous 5A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion. 6Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. 7He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD. 8His heart [is] established, he shall not be afraid, until he see [his desire] upon his enemies. 9He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor; his righteousness endureth for ever; his horn shall be exalted with honour. 10The wicked shall see [it], and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish."

Thanks for reading. I feel much better now.
Big hugs and blessings,
Brenda Gale