Something To Think About This Season

..."Do not be afraid Miriam, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Yeshua. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, his kingdom will never end......."

The Bible doesn't say exactly when Yeshua was born, but we can safely say it wasn't on Dec. 25th. The tradition to celebrate his birth on that day was not incorporatd into the church until hundreds of years later. Yeshua's (Jesus) birth was a normal, human birth - his conception however was SUPERNATURAL EVENT !!!

When Gabriel spoke to Miriam telling her what was to happen - the backgroud festivities were going on to honor Caesar Augustus. With the help of scripture, astronomy and modern computers it is fairly safe to say that Yeshua was born on the "Feast of Trumpets" (Sept. 11, in 3 BCE)...since Yeshua's second coming will take place on "The Feasts of Trumpets", it's pretty logical that the Messiah's first advent would take place on the same day. According to Jewish tradtition, the first Adam, "who was a pattern of the one to come" was created and came into being. (Romans 5:14) ...... if Mary gave birth to Yeshua on th Feast of Trumpets, that means he was conceived 38 weeks earlier during the of Chanukah or Hanukkah. This is when the great miracle took place ....."the word became flesh and made his dwelling (tabernacle) amoung us"...(John 1:14) The ultimate temple (Yeshua's physical body) was dedicated for the glory of the Eternal.

Hanukkah usually falls in December every year and since Christmas is celebrated on Dec. 25th - there are chronological similarities between the two celebrations. Spiritually, however, they represent two completely different worlds. One comes from the Bible and the other has it's origin in paganism and idolatry.

Around the time of Yeshua's birth - there were huge festivals all over the Roman empire. Every year, on Dec. 25th - the festival was celebrated in honor of the birth of "The Lord and Savior" of the world, the "Prince of Peace" - the Emperor, Caesar Augustus - a man who was also worshiped as divine!

The poor were given gifts and food from the rich - so that at least one time a year they were able to enjoy all the festivities. The festivities usually included all of the public space, with all kinds of entertainment and song and dance, etc. Th local political & religious leaders would hold various rituals and ceremonies. It was (just like today), a prolonged festival in which the sale of goods and services flourished as at no other time of the year, and brought a sense of unity to the community while at the same time honoring the Savior - the Great Emperor! No telling what would happen if they had had WalMarts!

Remember the Christmas story being read to you when you were a child?..... it always began with Caesar Augustus issuing a decree (the same year that Yeshua was born) that the census should be taken of the entire Roman world - which meant that he had assumed control over every citizen in his empire - also that same year he had the officials bestow upon him the title of "Pater Patriae" - or FATHER OF THE COUNTY! The following year Herod had a temple built in Caesarea Phillipi to worship Caesar as god! Caesar probably wasn't born on Dec. 25th - but he was worshiped as divine - his birth, just like all of the other Caesars was celebrated on Dec. 25th - THE DAY CORRESPONDING TO THE BIRTH OF THE SUN GOD SOLUS INVICTUS!

This year Hanukkah falls on Dec. 21 thru Dec. 29th - the Festival of Lights .....I'm praying that as you and your families go thru this holiday season .... you will think about what really happened during this time .... no santas ...reindeer ..... no lighted christmas trees ...but, the light of the world ....it is the Festival of Lights and Miracles, and the celebration of the victory of God over all pagan and anti-messiah forces......celebrate the coming of Messiah in a biblical way and not according to pagan tradtitions. Glory to God!

...and I will exalt you !

Psm. 118:28 You are my God, & I will give you thanks; you are my God & I will exalt you !

These are but a few of the reasons Lord, I give you thanks .....

At The Feet Of Jesus

My dear, sweet friend, Mertie went to be with her Lord today. I know that she was very happy. She was always happy and full of joy and sunshine...she was sunshine to all of us. Lord, You are awesome and I love you so ..... thank you for the precious gift of Mertie in my life - you know our hearts desires and you blessed me with her friendship.

You Are My Sunshine

I would like to ask all of you to please raise up my dear friend Mertie (sunshine) to the Lord. She was diagnosed a few months back with a malignancy and has been home and then the hospital on a couple of occasions since the diagnosis. Today, she was moved to the "hospice floor". I went to see her last weekend while she was still in the hospital - I'm glad I did because I have missed her so. She is one of the most amazing woman God has created (she may be his favorite) :) We have laughed until we cried in her kitchen, legs crossed trying not to have an accident! She taught me to use half and half in my coffee......to cherish those small moments that most people never even pay attention to and to LISTEN to people!
She NEVER meets a stranger ....... and makes people she meets feel like they have known her forever. All the kids love her and she loves them! Her eyes are the color of the ocean.....so blue and clear ..you can see her heart thru her eyes.
She makes me laugh so hard!...she wild and crazy for the Lord .....so funny and talented. Pictures of bunnies all over her home (I think she painted most of them). One of my favorite things is the "Intensive Care Window Sill" she has above the kitchen sink....just like the rest of her life...everything is welcome there..lets see, on one given day she had a piece of ivy she was rooting (it was getting IV therapy she said) a a small rubber (yes) chicken...laying on it's side with it's head hanging over the window sill looking down at the sink..you had to be there..but it was so funny...when you picked it up - it's legs would wobble....so funny! she said it got dirty by driving around in the car! I don't want to know =) !! Don't ask about the potato sprouting in the jar there also (inside joke - literally)!!!!! a few weeks later I noticed it had been planted in her flower bed GROWING beautifully!~
Mertie...I love you - and I have to say that in the short 4 years I have known you, you have been such a blessing in my life and I have learned so much from you. Your love for your Lord shines thru you and radiates all around you ..... you are a wonderful, shining, glowing ray of sonshine ... beautiful sonshine ....my sunshine and I love you!
So, I'm asking that You hold her Lord, (I know you are)I pray for peace in her heart, to be pain free - and Father God, be with the rest of her family, husband, kids, grand-kids, son and daughter in-laws - they are all amazing people. Bless them Lord. But most of all Lord - I thank you for Mertie and how you have used her during her life - an amazing creation from your hands ... to all of us .... thank you for my friend. - I am blessed to have shared even a moment!

We Survived Alaska - but I'm still wondering what was going on with Nita and Ray? - too much fish butts ! ha!

Glacier Bay and The Throne Room

It was September of this year...our trip to Alaska near ...I was nervous, not really excited about going ..... wringing my hands and stating to my precious husband (he deserves a medal for being married to me) ... but you know how WELL I fly and I don't like cold and I don't like heights and..and...and... he kept encouraging me that "it will be so much fun - just wait" ...we were going with our friends from Big Spring - I could go and be anywhere with Nita Faye ( even in a cardboard box) and have the most fun ever! .. so I was excited about being with her and her husband. I could survive!! :0 ..... Ray, please forgive me for not trusting you and GOD!
I don't do boats, because I don't like water...OMGoodness...I was going to be surrounded by WATER ON A BOAT ! Everyone we knew was excited about us going..ALL OF THEM SAID YOU WILL LOVE IT!!! WELL .... I survived and I was glad that I had the experience...God is soo good, even in my constant fretting and what sounded like complaining, HE showed up! He always does, why should I have not expected it this time. Lord, I know I'm difficult - but I love you so..... Abilene, (treetop plane) to Dallas (bigger plane - how do they stay in the air?) to VanCouver, Canada and then to the port to board the ship - (see Karen, there is land on both sides of us..you will be OK) sure, it's at night when you're on the open sea that you don't see that YOUR NOT SURROUNDED BY LAND! I don't know what my problem was...why was I so obsessed by land - like I could swim to shore if I wanted to HA! anyway..the cruise was an experience (you have to wash your hands at these little "purel" stands every 6 feet or so .... to prevent you from getting SOME DEADLY VIRUS THAT HAS HELD AN ENTIRE SHIP HOSTAGE AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHHHHH HELP)....OK I'm gonna get to the experience I want to share ..... ( Henry Robinson you were right ... thanks for sharing God's word HE gave you for me ..... I Won't Ever Be The Same...It WAS a life changing trip) I think it was about on the 3rd day of the trip - we were going to Glacier Bay .... I have posted some of the pictures on the blog ..... they do not do them justice... Did you know glaciers store more water than lakes? ....rivers....ground water and the atmosphere combined?
anyway, It was amazing...so quiet...SILENT!!!!!! NO SOUND!!!! except for the loud sound of crackling and popping and the sounds of THUNDER AND LIGHTENING! IT WAS BEYOND WORDS!....and here I was dressed for a blizzard, covered from head to toe (I won't share the picture it's scarey..Ray said I looked like a jewel thief) peering over the side of the ship's rail and sobbing uncontrollably. I saw and felt the Throne Room of God! This place was so amazing, our earthly words cannot express what I saw and felt. The water was thick and slushy, moving slowly when a piece of the berg would break off and tumble into the water. They say that the stress & strain of melting causes the water to drip, the air bubbles to pop and cracks making a heavenly sound.
I don't mean to be so lengthy, but I feel God wants me to share this .... the bergs are different colors, I don't know if you can tell from the pictures...some are blue - they are dense ..some greenish-black, have broken off or "calved" off glacier bottoms .. some dark-striped from carrying rubble (junk) from the joining of tributary glaciers or other sources. Bergs may be weighed down, submerged even by rocks and rubble. Sounds like times in my life .... how high a berg floats depends on it's size. it's density and the water's density. Sound familiar to you?
A modest looking berg may SUDDENLY LOOM ENORMOUS and danger smaller things around it when it just "ROLLS OVER! (I want to be like that in the Lord!) Dangerous!...right girls? Keep in mind what you see is "just the tip of the iceberg" ...how many times in my life have I heard this ..... now I get it Lord! OK, back to the Throne room - the air in the bay was thick and heavy ...moisture fell very lightly like velvet rubbing against you...it was unbelievable! .... when you looked out from the deck it looked like God's Annointing ...wonderful and heavy. You know, I think practicing the presence of God requires that WE draw near to HIM - because when we do, HE draws near to us ...... (James 4:8) "Draw near to God and HE will draw near to you."
I feel a little frieghtened to think about entering the Throne Room and stand before God .... but, I suppose drawing near in this way is the safest thing we can do. God, you are so good! I love that feeling of HIS presence, .... the thickness of HIS Annointing ...... the inability to stand without holding on to something and the feeling of HIS MAJESTY! This is what I felt at Glacier Bay. (2 Cor. 3:18) "...beholding the Glory of The Lord...." You know, being in the throne room probably isn't something WE can make happen with our mind - but, only the Holy Spirit can do that. I have a very vivid imagination (God giving, I pray) so I am learning to not put my faith in MY imagination...but my faith in God .....simply and BOLDLY
AND TRUSTING THAT i have ACCESS TO GOD IN all HIS GLORY IN Where ever We May Go ... even Alaska...on a boat....in the water...where it is cold...and all there is to eat is fish ..... (flash backs from Israel and the pointed "fish butts"). Thank you sweet Lord! Thank you Ray, you are one of the greatest gifts God has chosen to give me. I will never be the same ..... I have been greenish-black from being at the bottom of may glaciers in life and dark-striped from carrying around rubble and dirt and rocks and from joining of other tributary glaciers. Praise you Lord, YOU are so worthy to be PRAISED! thank you for your grace and mercy and for delivering me up from the depths of the slushy, merky cold waters. I Love you!
"And it will come about in the last days that the Mountain of the House of The Lord will be established as the Chief of the mountains ...and the people will stream to it> Many nations will come & say, "come and let us go uo to the mountain of the Lord & to the House ...that HE may teach us about HIS ways & that we may walk in HIS paths." (Micah 4:1,2) ...... and be "covered in HIS dust".

Glacier Bay

Listening to the CD Patricia gave me on Kim DanielS..I should have known that I couldn't clean house while listening to it....Furniture will be everywhere :) Oh my goodness...things are flying (this could be a good thing) In Yeshua's name ..DUST GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!...God is good...HE gives us DOMINION OVER DUST (don't know where that came from - but if you get a word - please share!) Ya know what is so awesome about today?.....WE WERE CHOSEN AS THE REMNANT TO STAND! WHEW!!!!! I accept that in Yeshua's name!!!!!

OK Heather....here is your mother blogging :).....I have so much to say that I don't know what to say..except that I am blessed and God is so good and that I am so glad to be here "....for such a time as this..." my prayer is that God will be glorified on this blog and all that visit will be covered in HIS dust!