Always be prepared!

Now you might think that this title only applies to the Boy Scouts and their motto, but my recent trip to the Bahama's taught me that the phrase "always be prepared" is a universally applicable statement.

My family arrived last Saturday afternoon in the Bahama's for our annual vacation/business trip. We were totally prepared for a lovely week of fun and sun.

Shortly before leaving to go to the airport we checked the weather report to find that it was officially the "rainy season" in the islands, so we anticipated(prepared for)less than perfect conditions for the week. And, without surprise, weather.com was right on target, it rained and stormed every single day during our stay.

We also prepared for many other possible scenarios like sunburn (had that), stomach aches(foreign food), injuries(mild), fever blisters(huge) and bug bites(minimal), just to name a few. We even prepared to worship on Sunday morning without an organized church to attend. But there was one very unusual event that occurred on Sunday morning that we could not have prepared for and here is that story.......

As the sun came up over the Atlantic Ocean, early Sunday morning, it was a gloriously beautiful day. Upon opening my eyes to the new day, the first glimpse I caught was of my husband reading His Bible in the chair next to my bed. He quietly left the room to take a walk and I sat down to read my Bible and have some much needed quiet time for myself. The girls were still in the bed sleeping for the next hour or so as I read.

That morning, my readings took me back to the Book of Psalms, where I read many of my favorite chapters. Then I turned to the Book of Isaiah to look for a familiar passage that I wanted to use in a Bible study. As the girls began to stir, God gave me the idea to challenge them to find a Psalm that depicted their individual lives and where they were in their relationships with the Lord. My eldest daughter suggested that I begin reading chapter one aloud and continue until the right one came along. I decided to turn on the television and find a church service on television. Dr. Charles Stanley from FBC Atlanta was preaching and his text for the morning was Psalm 37.

How faithful was my Heavenly Father to provide the truth that we all needed for that moment. The highlights of His preparedness were as follows:

Fret not because of evildoers...
Trust in the Lord ...
Delight yourself in the Lord ...
Commit your way to the Lord ...
Be still before the Lord ...
Wait patiently for the Lord ...
Refrain from anger...
The steps of a man are established by the Lord...
The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord, He is their stronghold in the time of trouble.

God spoke to our hearts in a very meaningful way through that message. Then I flipped over to I Peter 3:1-6 and read that passage. The very last line of verse six jumped off of the page like never before. "And you are now her true daughters if you do right and let nothing terrify you (not giving way to hysterical fears or letting anxieties unnerve you)." I immediately prayed and asked God to help me overcome the fears that often paralyze me and continue to use me for His glory.

No sooner than I had prayed that prayer and said "Amen" than we heard a loud banging and woman screaming in the hall right outside the hotel room door. At first, my thought was that the maids were laughing and goofing off, but within seconds I realized that this woman was in distress. Historically, I might have just called the hotel security, but without a thought I went straight out the door. There were two maids in the hall and three other adults coming to her aide. Almost simultaneously we asked her if we could help her. She denied our petitions and then turned and walked straight towards me, crying hysterically.

For the next 15 minutes, I shared scripture and told her that her only hope for the future was to place her faith in Christ alone for her salvation and deliverence from the demon of alcohol that was destroying her life and the life of her family. She began to calm down and try to listen. Between the tears and hysteria, she shared bits and pieces of her life story and the crisis that she was presently involved in.
As we waited for security to come (called by the maids) I asked her if I could pray with her and held her tiny wrist and prayed out loud. Her arm was as lifeless as a baseball bat. The Holy Spirit spoke through me very clearly and plainly as I prayed for this desperate woman. When I said "amen" I felt the presence of someone over my shoulder. It was the security guard standing there beside me. His words to me were, "bless you sister." Not only had God prepared me for that moment in time to share Christ with a desperately sad, hopeless woman, but also He prepared a Christian, Bahamian security guard to stand beside me as I prayed for this woman.

Quickly, I went back to my room expressing my grattitude to God for His provision for me, my safety and for giving me the opportunity to overcome a fear that would have prevented me, before then, of ever going outside of my room to minister to this lady. God answered my prayer almost before I uttered the words about overcoming fear and using me for His glory. I am so thankful that God, in His mercy and love, prepared my heart for the place of obedience where He would call me to walk.

Being prepared is always prudent in life....being prepared by God for a job that He has for you to do is awesome!

God is SO GOOD! You will see me write this statement alot, because it is so true. This morning I witnessed God answer prayer in a mighty way. It amazes me when we see the Truth, hear the Truth, and understand the Truth and are still surprised, thrilled and overjoyed when God answers our prayers.

For months the over whelming burden of responsibility has been wearing on me physically, mentally and emotionally in ways that I had really not even acknowledged. After a really bad two weeks, I spent most of Sunday night and Monday really repenting of my sin and being reconciled to my Holy God through the forgiveness of Christ's blood atonement on Calvary. I so thank God for His mercies that are new each and every morning when we repent and confess our sins. The Word says "that when we confess our sin, His is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness".

My unrighteousness, usually involving my tongue, is a pretty ugly thing. Praise God that the scripture says "by faith, it was reckoned to him (Abraham) as righteousness." What that means for this Jesus girl is --that on my side of the accounting ledger there is a big fat ZERO under the column of debt, and because of Christ and His propitiation for my sins, He alone cancels my debt and HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS is credited to me. This is how I can live the butterfly life that this blog will explore and discuss in the days and weeks to come. It is not my life, but the life of Christ in me.

Praise God that in His grace and mercy He loved me, He choose me, He saved me and He keeps me until the day of Christ's return. God alone is the Author and Finisher of my faith. On the days that this vessel is totally unfit for use, the great God of the universe the Creator of everything can choose to use me.

My gratitude for His love and forgiveness is enormous. My prayer for you is that as you live your life as "a beautiful offering", a living sacrifice that Romans 12:1-2 speaks of, that you will lay down your life and allow Jesus Christ to move in and cover you with His blood and raise you up by the power of the Holy Spirit to walk in obedience to His will, seeking His face and living the transformed life that is available to you each and everyday.

My youth pastor of 30 years always says, "the evidence of a transformed life is .......a TRANSFORMED LIFE!" Go out today and live the life God intends for you to live. A life that is renewed, refreshed and totally yielded to the power of the Holy Spirit at work in you, my beautiful butterfly!

Welcome to the butterfly life!

Thank you for joining me on a journey to see what it means to live a transformed life that is honoring to God and brings peace and true joy to the life of an obedient believer in Christ! May God richly bless you as you study His word, seek His face and listen to His voice. There will be victory and blessings that come from seeking God and presenting yourself as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto the one who loves you with an everlasting love and wants a relationship with you because you are His child.