here's a little update on the house for you

Last week I was sitting in the house in one of the wicker chairs that had been given to me, that me and the boys spray painted a fun color a few months ago.  My plan is to have these bright pieces of furniture on the back porch.  For now they are just sitting in the middle of what will be the kitchen.

I've been going several times a week and opening the front door and the back door, sitting right in between them in this chair, and praying.  I listen to the birds that sing in the backyard, and the "thump, thump, thump" bass drop of the cars that come down the street.  In the midst of both of these sounds, Jesus is so sweet to talk so clear to me.

Sitting still, listening to my Father, He said to me, "tell me what you want."  That's a loaded question.  When Jesus asks me what I want, my first response is a feeling of selfishness, then pride, then greed.  When Jesus says to tell HIM what I want?  That's hard for me to do.  The enemy does not want me to talk to Jesus, or think that I can trust Him what what I desire.  Such stupid lies. 

So, I told him.  I sat there in that yellow chair and cried out to Him, told him what I wanted.

New windows.

I thought I would ask him for something like, well.....maybe a husband?  That would be amazing, but in that moment, "new windows" was all that came out from inside me.  And then I cried, like I haven't cried in a long time.  I am not a crier.  It takes a lot for me to get teary-eyed.  But He made me cry that day, over windows.

I got two new windows on the front of the house a few months ago, and the rest of the windows in the house are OK, but they are old and I would love to have new windows that match and are a little nicer.

"It's just windows", I say to myself, but it's so much more than that.  It's having courage to tell Jesus that I would like to have new ones.  To know that He cares about me so much that He wants me to tell him what I want, and that He loves me so much that He can give them to me, to us.  Just as much as He loves those birds I hear in the back yard, and just as much as He loves the men driving down my street droppin the beat - He loves me the same.

I will keep sitting in that chair until it gets moved to the new screened in back porch, that is about to get started - PRAISE JESUS.

Plumbing and electrical are about to get kicked off - PRAISE JESUS.

Here's what is left:

• Sheetrock
• Cabinets
• Floors
• Appliances
• Showers, toilets, sinks
• Trim work
• Painting inside

And prayerfully, new windows - PRAISE JESUS.

I went feet first in that River Jordan 1 year ago, with no money, no help, no idea what I was doing or how it was going to happen.  But I stood firm, just like the Lord told me to do, and He has provided for every single thing up to today.  He's not going to leave me in the middle of that dry river bed and let the waters come crashing down over me.  He's not that kind of Father.  He just wants me to keep standing there, holding up that chest, telling Him how I feel, what I need, and trusting He will provide.

So, for all of you that keep asking, "how is the house coming?"  there you go......

"And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan."

Joshua 3:17

samson comes into the world, oh, and learning to trust

Judges 13

"And then the People of Israel were back at it again, doing what was evil in God’s sight. God put them under the domination of the Philistines for forty years.  At that time there was a man named Manoah from Zorah from the tribe of Dan. His wife was barren and childless. The angel of God appeared to her and told her, “I know that you are barren and childless, but you’re going to become pregnant and bear a son. But take much care: Drink no wine or beer; eat nothing ritually unclean. You are, in fact, pregnant right now, carrying a son. No razor will touch his head—the boy will be God’s Nazirite from the moment of his birth. He will launch the deliverance from Philistine oppression.”  The woman went to her husband and said, “A man of God came to me. He looked like the angel of God—terror laced with glory! I didn’t ask him where he was from and he didn’t tell me his name, but he told me, ‘You’re pregnant. You’re going to give birth to a son. Don’t drink any wine or beer and eat nothing ritually unclean. The boy will be God’s Nazirite from the moment of birth to the day of his death.’”

Imagine this  In the midst of being under the siege, suffering, and oppression of the Philistines; descendants of the small and weak tribe of Dan; and struggling with infertility; imagine how hard dealing with life must have been for this married couple.  Then all of a sudden and angel of GOD is standing before them.  Here's the run down of events:

She is going about her daily routine (maybe she is gathering water, preparing a meal for her husband, sitting under a tree crying from the pain of longing to be a mother) and in the blink of her eye, there is an ANGEL of GOD.  And he says, "I know you are sad, I know you long to be a mother, I know the hurt you endure every single day, but God has a plan for you and it is about to come to life, literally."  

She runs as fast as she can to tell her husband what just happened. Maybe he was thinking, "Ok, she has really lost it this time."  But, even if he thinks she might be a little crazy, he goes to the Lord and says:

Manoah prayed to God: “Master, let the man of God you sent come to us again and teach us how to raise this boy who is to be born.”  

And........"God listened to Manoah."

God’s angel came again to the woman. She was sitting in the field; her husband Manoah wasn’t there with her. She jumped to her feet and ran and told her husband: “He’s back! The man who came to me that day!”  Manoah got up and, following his wife, came to the man. He said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?  He said, “I am.”  Manoah said, “So. When what you say comes true, what do you have to tell us about this boy and his work?”  The angel of God said to Manoah, “Keep in mind everything I told the woman. Eat nothing that comes from the vine: Drink no wine or beer; eat no ritually unclean foods. She’s to observe everything I commanded her.”  Manoah said to the angel of God, “Please, stay with us a little longer; we’ll prepare a meal for you—a young goat.”  God’s angel said to Manoah, “Even if I stay, I won’t eat your food. But if you want to prepare a Whole-Burnt-Offering for God, go ahead—offer it!” Manoah had no idea that he was talking to the angel of God.

Trust is a funny thing.  We either do, or we do not.  Manoah was learning how to trust here.  Is my wife crazy?  Ok, Lord, if she is not crazy, then send that angel back so I can know this is real.  Ok, Lord, the angel is here, but tell me again what you told her so I make sure I understand it.  Ok, Lord, are you sure?  

God's word doesn't change.  The first time He tells us something, that will be the same thing He tells us over and over and over and over.  God doesn't change his mind.   


Then Manoah asked the angel of God, “What’s your name? When your words come true, we’d like to honor you.”  The angel of God said, “What’s this? You ask for my name? You wouldn’t understand—it’s sheer wonder.”  So Manoah took the kid and the Grain-Offering and sacrificed them on a rock altar to God who works wonders. As the flames leapt up from the altar to heaven, God’s angel also ascended in the altar flames. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown to the ground. Manoah and his wife never saw the angel of God again.  Only then did Manoah realize that this was God’s angel. He said to his wife, “We’re as good as dead! We’ve looked on God!”  But his wife said, “If God were planning to kill us, he wouldn’t have accepted our Whole-Burnt-Offering and Grain-Offering, or revealed all these things to us—given us this birth announcement.”

The angel didn't tell his name because it was a mystery to wonderful to understand by man.  God sent this angel from heaven, that in itself is hard to comprehend.  Sometimes we ask God questions that He doesn't answer for us.  It's not because He doesn't want us to know, it is because we don't have the ability to understand or accept it.  

The woman gave birth to a son. They named him Samson. The boy grew and God blessed him. The Spirit of God began working in him while he was staying at a Danite camp between Zorah and Eshtaol."

Samson means "bright sun."  Manoah and his wife fully trusted what the Lord said, they saw the miracle come to life, and Samson was annointed at birth, just as the Angel said he would be. 

Friday morning I picked up one of my boys and was taking him to school.  He got in the car and said, "I had prayed to God for something and he heard me."  He told me that he asked God for a bike for his friend.  The next day some man gave his friend a bike.  I love this. 

Later that day I had about 45 minutes of time that I could just sit by myself.  I wanted to get a cup of coffee and a sweet treat in Fondren.  Parking in Fondren is terrible.  I rode around the block 3 times and couldn't find a place to park anywhere.  I was going to give it 1 more shot, and prayed and said, "Lord, I really just want to sit by myself for a few minutes and drink a cup of coffee, will you please give me a place to park?"  When I rounded the corner in front of Fondren Corner, a car was backing out right in front of the coffee shop.  I love this. 

Whether it is trusting God when He sends and Angel to tell you that one of the deepest desires of your heart is coming to life, or that He will give your friend a bike, or yourself a parking spot - the heart of the matter is just that - TRUST - when it doesn't make sense, when other people might think you are crazy, and when nothing else you can comprehend or understand works.   

"Trust God from the bottom of your heart don’t try to figure out everything on your own.  Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track."

Proverbs 3:5-6

I love this, too.