I hope your day got off to a great start! Mine has, so here I am to write about it. I must confess, I was going to go shopping before writing, but my heart said, “This comes first”.

So I am here to tell of my day thus far.

Our family is again, going through some very challenging storms of life. My time with the Lord sustains me and I thank Him. He always meets my needs abundantly. Instead of reciting all my needs, I invite the Holy Spirit to guide me to what He has for me at this moment, my daily bread.

I begin with a song or sometimes several that just effortlessly come to my thoughts. Yesterday the words to the song “Trust In God” were playing in my head. The words “I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered, I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered, He will never fail, He will never fail, That’s why I trust Him, That’s why I trust Him” were drawing me right where the Lord wanted me.

Immediately after playing the song on YouTube a teaching by Johnathan Cahn popped up next. This teaching was exactly what I needed to fill, not only my needs but the needs of my loved ones in the “storm”! I sent the song and Johnathan’s teaching to several, and my sister, Karen, came back with this… “For to You I entrust my life…my life is not my own”. Based on Jeremiah 10:23.

As in the song, “That’s why I trust Him!” The Lord is consistently speaking to me about trusting Him, and more importantly, learning to trust Him more. This is part of the reason I have been in a long season of remembering Who God is, Who I am in Him, and what He has done for me. NKJV Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You”.

There is no need to wonder why I penned these words in “Blue Skies, Butterflies, & Battlegrounds”…

“But my thanks are most of all when storms prevail…For when I’m weak and battle-worn is where I draw from you…You grip my hand, guide me through, the very one I’m desperate for… Thankful through life’s battlegrounds, I’m homeward bound, beyond the sky so blue!” The full poem is on pages 56-57.

Since the Lord has consistently brought “trust “to my thoughts, I recently decided to bring a study to the ladies in our church titled “Trustworthy” by Lysa Terkeurst. I have always relied upon Him to direct me to what He has for us and He always comes through. And I learn to trust Him more as I learn more of His trustworthiness.

Each and every day is packed with “golden nuggets” as I “tarry with Him”.

So for today’s nuggets to share. Who’s reading your mail?

Blessed Assurance was how this day began. A few verses from the old beloved hymn “Blessed Assurance”…

“Blessed assurance Jesus is mine, Oh what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of His Spirit, washed in His blood, This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long.”

Oh, how I love the assurance in Jesus this song declares!

From there my thoughts went to a question that our pastor, Mark Laster, made in his message on January 6^th (I’m glad I took notes and even dated it). The message was titled “God Is In My Story”. He had a self-examination question for us that I was directed to reexamine this morning. The question is, “What if my story was written not by my actions that everybody sees, but what if my story was written in a book of what I thought?” I’m sure if he had asked us to respond, many, like me, would have been on our knees thanking God for not exposing our thoughts in our life story! Blessed assurance was given throughout Mark’s message that as believers in Jesus, our story is covered in His righteousness. No condemnation in Christ! I am glad I got to reexamine what I gained from that question. I was deeply humbled and so full of gratitude for the words, “Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of His Spirit, washed in His blood, This is my story, This is my song!”

Just moments later my poem “Sea of Forgetfulness” came to mind.

“One day I was walking along a dreary beach.

Love for living had spiraled out of my reach,

There in the sand exposed for all to see

My sins were written, all the evil about me.

Guilt and shame came crashing in

Thought I’d drown, didn’t care enough to swim.”

Friends, can you imagine all of your sins and all of your evil thoughts being written across the beach and exposed for all to see? Read on to the place where Salvation stepped in…

“The Gift He offered, I humbly received”. Pages 12-13 in “Inspire Me”.

What transpired through that poem still brings tears to my eyes…

“Washed clean by His righteousness, that’s where I stand.

Neither shame nor guilt, just pure white sand!”

There has been so much more revealed to me in this process I couldn’t possibly write about it all. But I must mention one more thing and then I will try to wrap it up.

In January 2017, I wrote a poem about the intimacy God wants with us. Its title is “Intimacy (Into Me See)”. It is in my first book also. Page 26.  It goes like this:

“We will make it short and sweet

As we lay it at His feet,

We rip off our masks

Never a painless task.

He tears down our walls

With His loving voice, He calls,

For in our hearts He sees

Our hurts and many needs.

“He beckons us draw nearer

Helps us see our Father clearer.

As into Him we see

THE INTIMACY

He has for you and me!”

This is our God’s desire for us! To have such an intimate relationship with Him that we can trust Him with everything! Even those things about us we would never want to be exposed to others. NKJV Hebrews 9:14-15 “how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? V15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”  

“Heir of salvation, purchase of God, Born of His Spirit washed in His blood, This is my story this is my song!” Notice that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. Eternal inheritance! My heart rejoices! Consider all that He has done for us! It is out of His great love for us that He deeply desires that intimate relationship with us. Have you known anyone else who has ever loved you like that? I know I haven’t! It is honestly hard for me to wrap my mind around it. But I believe His Word.

Blessed assurance in the storms of life, my thoughts not being revealed in a book for all to see in my life story, my sins not being exposed on the dreary beach, and the intimacy He so desires with me. All through time in His Presence through praising Him in song, scripture, lessons from trusted teachers, poetry, messages at church, and the Holy Spirit putting it all together for us in this blog, step by step.

This has been so much more fun, fulfilling, and valuable than shopping! I hope you agree!

Oh yes, mentioning shopping, as I was getting ready to go shopping (I thought), I opened my phone to listen to my favorite Christian radio station, KLRC. But I decided to check my emails instead as we have others in our church family going through their own set of storms.

My daily devotional from Andrew Wommack popped up first in the emails. Typically pop-ups are not desirable, but when the Holy Spirit is involved, the pop-ups are perfect. This one couldn’t be more perfect and I am grateful and in awe.

Here is today’s devotional that wraps up our theme of “Who’s reading your mail?” Honestly, I could hardly believe my eyes as I read this!

February 11^th John 4:4-26

GOD LOOKS INSIDE

The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.’ John 4:19

“This didn’t take any great discernment on the woman’s part. Jesus had just ‘read her mail’. He told her the most intimate details of her life. Anyone could have perceived Jesus was a prophet after something like that.   This woman suddenly realized that she was dealing with more than just a man. God was speaking to her. What was her reaction? She changed the subject. She brought up a doctrinal issue concerning the proper place to worship–anything to get Jesus’ attention off of her.   We all have a tendency to build walls of privacy around the intimate details of our lives. We are afraid to let anyone, especially God, look inside. But God already knows and He wants all of our heart.   Jesus brought this woman right back to the subject of her personal relationship with God. The place of worship or the forms of worship weren’t important. God was looking for people who would open their hearts–even the hidden parts–for Him to inhabit.   Likewise today, Satan tries to get us occupied with everything except the one thing that counts. God wants us to worship Him in spirit and truth. Anything less than that is not enough.” Reba’s note: I have indicated what I want to be emphasized in bold italics. Andrew’s emphasis is in bold only.

Would you like to go deeper in your understanding of this topic?   Check out Andrew’s free teaching, Are You Satisfied With Jesus?

The bookmark is one I designed for my new book “Blue Skies, Butterflies,& Battlegrounds. Finally the perfect wrap-up!

This leaves me to also wonder who’s reading my blogs? God bless you for taking your time with me. I pray you are looking forward to our next time together and please share your comment.

God bless and keep you,

Reba