How can people starve to death when God says HE will meet ALL our needs? PART TWO.

I previously referred to a dream I had in May that stirred my emotions with such intensity that I could NOT fall back asleep. My heart was pounding hard. It was the middle of the night and I knew I needed sleep, but the dream felt so real to me I almost wondered if there was someone I needed to be helping right in that VERY moment! I prayed. I blogged. I cried. I prayed some more. Here was the dream...

There was a child screaming in a room with the door shut. There were sounds of the child being hit and yelled at. I was sitting on a couch in the living room, and I could hear what was going on in the other room. I yelled through the door frantically, asking if the child was okay. The boy was not yelling back to me. I figured he was afraid to say anything. The beating stopped and a big angry man stormed out of the room and was yelling at me. He seemed huge and his anger was fierce and I was afraid of him. Meanwhile, the child yelled from the bedroom, "I'm not okay Alisha! Help me!" Then, I woke up, stunned, and unable to sleep.

Woah. Tears come to my eyes and my heart hurts when I think about that boys voice saying those words...
"I'm not okay Alisha! Help me!"

In the dream I stood ready to face whatever this man was going to throw my way as long as I did not leave the boy alone there, but I was very scared. Then I woke up. I hadn't taken any action in the dream, but I woke up wishing I could. I wanted so much to figure out who that boy was! Was this a specific person around me that God wanted to lay on my heart? Lord, I am willing! Take me to him please!

Intercession.
Check out one of Eric Ludy's other videos on intercession.

How can people starve to death when God says HE will meet ALL our needs? PART ONE.

One of my sweet friends in the faith has been bringing me some of her deeper questions lately and I LOVE it. God wants us to ask questions. When things don't line up in the Bible, it's not just because we are stupid and cannot understand. He wants us to seek Him, to ask questions about why things aren't making sense to us. We will never have all the answers on this side of Heaven, but THAT is NOT an excuse to give up seeking answers when God shows you a problem. There are times in life when we are too immature in our faith to tackle some of the bigger mysteries before us. God's grace will cover the things you do not understand. At what point, though, do you acknowledge God's nudging on your heart to dig deeper and make your life about more than just YOU? Hmmm... (I'm talking to myself, but I am throwing it out there for you to consider for yourself as well) Read the question my friend sent me...

Okay, so I need to talk. In the bible (I've been doing the 30 min. with God thing) and I was reading in Matthew where it talks about worry. It says, "Do the birds worry what they will wear or about food? Don't you know your father in heaven cares more for you?" and in Philippians it talks about God supplying for all our needs. Okay, when I think of basic needs I think of food, shelter, water, and love. So then my mind goes to the people in third world countries like Africa, and I wonder,

"Okay, so if God supplies for all our needs why are their basic needs for food, water, shelter, etc. not met?"

This is a huge question. I don't mean to make it small and act like it is easy to answer, but I want to throw out some thoughts to get you thinking about what YOU can do to answer this question in your own life. I'm going to answer this question with a quote I stole from Eric Ludy's interview with Susie Larson, and a video that he made to drive home his point. I LOVE THIS because it presents this message in a way that makes so much sense to me, and I hope it will help you too.

"God is a father to the fatherless through His body (Christians) so if His body doesn't use their hands, their feet, their eyes, their homes, as the very answer to that orphan prayer and that orphan is crying out, "Is there a God? Please Help me." ....We are His body! 148 millions orphans!! How does this change? It changes one Christian at a time, saying, "I'm willing God, to be the answer to that orphan's prayer."
-Eric Ludy

Watch this heart-stirring video and be moved...


Prayer.
OH DEAR GOD! My house is a mess, but at least I have a house. My children whine for food, but I thank you that they are not starving. Get us out of our house, Lord. There is so much more you want us to be doing than to just manage to keep up our house and yard! There are others DESPERATE for their basic needs to be met. Dying. Hurting. In agony! Stir up the hearts of thousands of Christians. Give us a taste for more than what is in front of us. Make us hunger for more than just food, but for righteousness. Make us die to ourselves and our own desires more that we might find satisfaction in helping others who NEED you, Lord. WE are YOUR body, here to work out YOUR purposes here on earth. Use US, Lord, to establish your will on earth as it is in Heaven! What a bold thing to ask. We don't ask this lightly. You tell us to ask for it, so we do, knowing that it will require us to take action. We ask this in your Holy name, Amen.

Some of the things you might hear in my home these days...

"...and don't forget to wipe your butt!"

"Keely! Get off him!"

"Mayeee...Mayeeee....Mommmma?" (Kipton needing my attention)

"Can we have a snack?" (5 minutes after lunch)

"Can we eat at a place?" (referring to eating out rather than enjoying the meal I just made that they do not want to eat)

"Dabba dabba doh Dowa!" (Kipton singing his version of the Dora song)

"Nummies?" (Kipton asking for a snack)

"Not right now; maybe in a little bit" (me...all day long)

"KEELY!!!"

"Pah yay!" (Kipton saying he wants to go potty)

"Pett-en!" (Kipton saying his brother's name, Preston)

"Choooom! Choom! Ffff..Chooooooooooom" (Preston running around the house pretending to be something he is not)

"This thing is turning off and on" (referring to the lights in our basement, or the reception on our TV depending on what day it is)

and "You're a good girl mommy" (when I do what the children have requested) Oh dear. :)

(more to come)

Hope your home is as fun as mine today! :)

How to be a friend who can be trusted.

Are you someone others can trust?

How can you tell if you are or not?


Here are just a couple of questions to get you thinking...


How do people come to you?

Reluctant, or open? 


How do people leave after talking to you?

Worried or Encouraged?


What is your goal when asking questions?

To help the person you are talking to or to help yourself? 


What is the first thing you do after someone opens up to you?

Blast it out on your social media of choice or take it to the Lord in prayer?

(ahem...careful with this one)


What do you do with the information you are given?

Draw conclusions about that person based on the little knowledge you have or do you trust that there is more to the circumstance than you know anything about and give it over to the Lord?

A handful of habits of a trustworthy person: 

1. Listen with your eyes and your ears.

2. Care about what your friend is trying to communicate to you.

3. Encourage your friend if he/she is seeking it.

4. Build a reputation of being someone who can be trusted to acknowledge the wishes of those you are talking to, while caring enough about them to tell the truth in love, when necessary. Don't gossip.

5. Be a person of integrity in your everyday life. When you set out to do things, do them correctly and with good moral discernment. People will see that they can trust with you with little things and will be more likely to trust you with big things. This principle applies with God as well. Prove yourself faithful and trustworthy with the little things and one day you will be rewarded with the big things. Read the following verse.

"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much."
Luke 16:10

In an effort to be concise, here are a few other verses that shoot straight to the heart of this issue...

"A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth." Ecclesiastes 7:1

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." Exodus 20:16

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant." 1 Corinthians 13:4

"To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved."
- George MacDonald

An amazing song.

I believe in every single word of this song. What a great testimony. You will never regret any time you spent pouring your life out to Christ.

This is my anthem. This is my song. The theme of the stories we've heard for so long. God has been faithful. We will meet again. His loving compassion knows no end. All I have needed His hand will provide. He's always been faithful to me.

I can see clearly now...wait, no I can't...

We can't know all the things that God is up to on this side of Heaven. Someday everything will make perfect sense. We'll see all that he was up to. We'll understand the fights in the spiritual realm that God saved us from and we'll be in awe. We'll see where His hand of protection kept us from destroying ourselves and those around us. There is so much going on that you cannot see! Every single day, every single minute. TRUST that He is up to something. TRUST that He has your best interest in mind. YOU cannot know it all, and there is NO PRESSURE for you to know it all. God will reveal to you the things you need to know to carry out the work He sets before you, as you seek Him. In the meantime, have faith. He is a good God. He is working everything out for the good of those who love Him. FAITH. HOPE. LOVE. The greatest of these is love....but in my opinion, Faith is the hardest to come by. Faith says, "Even though I cannot see what you are up to, Lord, I am going to lean into what you have for me, and go where you want me to go, trusting your plan to be better than any plan I can ever come up with." Love can be easy sometimes. It's a feeling that takes over us. Faith is more than a feeling. Faith is when you act, think, and respond when you feel the nudge of God to do so, in spite of your feelings.

1 Corinthians 13:12
Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

Someday you will see the whole picture with perfect clarity. I would like to think that I will be laughing, crying, and be in awe when my day comes. And then laughing really hard. There I was thinking out of my disbelief, when all along you were up to THIS! OH GREAT GOD! What a silly girl I was. Look at how everything in life pointed us back to you. You are worthy of ALL our praise!!


Rest in His love for you. Cry out to Him when you are grieving. Put love into action when He places it on your heart. Trust Him to direct your paths and straighten out the things that have been made crooked. Have faith. God is a good God, He loves you, and He is up to something even when you can't see it or feel it, and even when you want to do anything but acknowledge it.

Mark 9:24
Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

And if my God is for me, who can be against me?

Romans 8:38-39
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.