Here I am, Lord

Do you ever feel like the Lord is talking specifically to you? Have you ever heard a "calling" from the God? Has that "still small voice" ever whispered in your ear? Well if you have, you know that it is God Almighty talking to you and if you smart, you'll tune into his voice and listen to what he has to say. 

When my involvement in another Christian MS prayer group didn't work out because of conflicts with me freely posting about the benefits of CCSVI, I clearly felt the Lord telling me to start my own group, where we could talk about anything related to dealing with the symptoms of living with this nasty disease. If it can help others live a better life, keep the conversation flowing was the words He put on my heart.This verse kept popping up in my head from Isaiah 6:8 "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" I kept hearing that song Here I am Lord in my head the entire week!

Here I am Lord song

I prayed about it that night, and the next day, and just knew the Lord was wanting me to move ahead and step out in faith and so I did.

I started The Master's Servants- Christian women living with MS facebook page and off we went. I made it a secret group, so we could pray openly without retribution from others. We have a few women who asked to make a closed group to keep prying eyes away because social media is so open now. 

God talked,and I thankfully, I obeyed. The response has been amazing, and so far in just a week, we have almost 200 women that have joined and are unashamedly praying for each other. They are praying about their own daily challenges of living with MS, and the needs of their family members. It is a wonderful site to behold and I feel blessed by these strong women of the Lord.

Since I spend much time on the computer, God has been prompting me to take the group farther, so you'll probably see us on other social media sites and maybe even a website when I can get it up and running, Lord willing. He is putting all of these ideas into my head on how to help and pray for women with MS. Thank you Jesus for opening my eyes and calling me to do this. I just know that there are so many women suffering with this disease, and prayer helps so much when you are hurting. 

When you listen to the Lord's call, and obey Him, He will bless you and open the doors of Heaven for you! I truly believe this and I know that He will continue to bless what we are doing through this prayerful group of women. Thank you Jesus!

If you hear that still small voice calling to you in the night, will you listen?

                                                             Here I am Lord, use me for your Good will!

My verse for today is above in red.

My prayer for today:

Thank you Lord Jesus for opening my eyes to the needs of these women, including myself, who are suffering with MS. Use this new group to uplift and encourage the ladies who are dealing with the daily challenges of MS along with living life. Help them to feel comfortable in laying their burdens down to you Lord. Encourage all of the ladies to make new friends and share their lives and their challenges each day.

Amen and Amen - Thank you Lord!

Rejoicing through your suffering~

As many of you know I spend a lot of time on the internet and on Facebook. This is primarily because most of the time, I am home bound. My years of a crazy fast life, working and traveling, raising two boys and spend time at every baseball, basketball and football game known to man, are sadly behind me. Oh, and a little thing called Multiple Sclerosis knocked me in the face about 15 years ago too.

One of the things I am aware of as I cruise from page to page on Facebook, and catch up on the many devotional and blogging sites I often visit, are how much people are hurting and suffering in this world. I know that am not the only one by any stretch of the imagination, and I have come to the realization that I am so much better off than so many other people.

I can say that because although I do suffer greatly, everyday; for me, the difference is my attitude towards my suffering and disappointment. I do not and have never had the "why me?" attitude? How can that be, you ask? How can I deal with feeling lousy most days that I wake up? Romans 5:35 tells us that we should be rejoicing in our suffering! Rejoice?? "More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."

                                                 You want us to rejoice in our suffering...not easy but necessary~

In many ways suffering with multiple sclerosis has strengthened me and given me endurance and it has definitely brought me much closer to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Closer, you say? Yes, CLOSER. I don't blame God for me getting sick and for not healing me "Right NOW, which is, of course what any of us would prefer. Who in their right mind, would welcome being sick most of their adult life? Romans 5:35 tells us to rejoice, and I do rejoice in that my suffering has brought me closer to the Lord. That is a true blessing and one that I will be eternally grateful for!

Of course, in the 15 years since my diagnosis, there have been new drugs (The ABC Drugs, Tysabri, Amprya, Aubaugio, Lemtrada, and others) and new treatments (CCSVI) with the hope to improve some of the more debilitating symptoms of this devastating disease and improve our quality of life. But, and that's a big BUT, they aren't a cure, and for many of us, MS is an unwelcome yet lifelong companion.

One of the blogs I follow, had a devotional today about God using our suffering to "chisel" us into the people he wants us to be. I thought that was very appropriate, because many times I feel like I've been chiseled into the person I am now. A little bit here, a little bit there, and slowly but surely I become more of the person that Jesus wants me to be.

                         The Lord is chiseling away at me, and making me into the person He wants me to be!

It also made me think of the one of the verses about the Lord pruning us in John 15:1-2 "I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn’t bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more." 

                          Like grapes that need pruning, God prunes our life to enable us to bear more fruit!

I do feel that the Lord has used me more in the last few years. The fact that I am writing this blog for His Glory is one example. He has pruned me as I have gotten closer to him through my illness. In doing so, He has helped me show more compassion and empathy with others who are in the same situation or worse. Just like the Bible says, I am bearing more fruit because He has pruned me in the process to do just that and I am thankful.

My verses for today are above in red.

My prayer for today:

My dear Lord Jesus:

It's so hard to rejoice when you are suffering, but that is exactly what you want us to do. You know that through our suffering we will turn to you for refuge, and that is exactly what has happened with me. I have suffered much through this illness I have been living with for the past 15 years, but in many ways, it has brought be closer to you and for that I am forever thankful. Take me Lord, prune me and chisel me in the person you want me to be so that I may bring you and your Kingdom Glory! 

Amen and Amen!

The path to righteousness is never easy~~

In this age of political correctness and increasing tolerance for all kinds of un-Godly behavior in the world in which we live, I feel compelled to set the record straight, as its said, at least from my point of view.

Living a righteous life has never been easy, but it is increasingly hard now a days. Yet, the Bible extols the virtues of the righteous life: 1 Peter 3:12 tells us "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

                                      "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:!5


But, how can we lead a righteous life, when everything and everyone around us is "going with the flow" of society? It seems that you're not hip or are labeled prejudice if you don't accept everyone else's ideas of what is right these days. I believe it has nothing to do with prejudice, but it has everything to do with standing firm in your beliefs as a Christian and having the guts to say, "No, you are not right, because what you believe and the way you are acting is against the Word of God, and therefore I am not going along with it." Period.

Society is moving fast towards acceptance of gay marriage as part of the normal fabric of our lives. There are many gay actors and others in the entertainment field who have "come out". TV shows showing gay parents raising children are accepted as normal and are even the among some of the post popular shows on television. The Boy Scouts, the American Institution built on good moral standards, is considering letting openly gay men be part of the organization. I pray that doesn't happen, because homosexuality is not moral. The President of the United States has openly endorsed gay marriage and made it part of his political platform for these next four years. He wants to legalize gay marriage. Most of society has accepted gay partnerships as being perfectly normal. Well, if everyone else says it's ok, it must be ok, right? WRONG!

If you align yourself and your beliefs with God's Word you will soon discover that gay marriage is not normal at all. The Bible doesn't have anything nice to say about homosexuality, between men or women. The following Bible verses are pretty clear about God's standing on it.

"If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination." Leviticus 20:13.

"Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men" 
1 Corinthians 6:9

"For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature" Romans 1:26


Homosexuality and sexual perversion has been going on for thousands of years, just as every sin against God has been going on for thousands of years. There truly is nothing new under the sun. We are born sinners and we will die sinners apart from the saving Grace of our Lord Jesus. It is a constant and daily struggle for all of us to strive to live a righteous life. 

The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the downfall of the Roman Empire, clearly were because of perverted behavior, homosexuality being a part of that. Is the United States of America next in line? Is our destruction coming soon? Have we all become de-sensitized to immorality? Is the Lord going to allow us to self destruct because of our immoral behavior?

Many believe that 911 was a warning sign from God that we better get our act together. Well, have we? Remember, after the horrific attacks when everyone was going to church and the Congress stood on the Capitol steps and sang God Bless America? Well, that didn't last long, did it? Pretty soon it was back to life as usual. 

There are other ways to live in righteousness that are also very important to God. Following the Word of God, and not honoring false idols or prophets is imperative, as well. Knowing and acknowledging that the true path to God is through Jesus Christ his Son and no other way. There is one way to get to heaven and have eternal life. That's it. John 14:6 tells us clearly "Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

                                                            Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life!

The Bible warns us about false prophets."Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves." Matthew 7:15.  

You can't get to Heaven through enlightenment, you can't do it by chanting, it's not through living a good, clean life and being kind to others. It's not done by following any other religions or their rules to a tee. The only way to get to heaven, is through acceptance of God's Son, Jesus Christ. You must be born again. You must give your life over to Jesus and start afresh with a new heart. Pretty simple, really. Why does everyone get so confused about it?

But it's also so important not to judge others. Many in our world are lost souls and haven't found their way, and it is our job as Christians to reach out in God's love to all of them. Jesus didn't judge and we shouldn't either. Matthew 7:1 tells us "Do not judge, or you too will be judged." Romans 4:10 says "You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat." We are all sinners, none of us is better than the other. Romans 3:23 says "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." So, get off your high horse, and realize that without Jesus, none of us have any hope.

Striving to live a more righteous life may seem out of reach to you, but it's really not. But you have to start somewhere. I implore you to surrender your life to Jesus. If you start there, everything else will follow. The Lord wants to guide you into a righteous life. He wants you to live each and every day for Him. It is something you can strive for and achieve with the Lord's help. Matthew 6:33 admonishes us "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." The simple of that is this ----make God your first priority and everything else will fall into place. 

That's a good start and a great way to begin your new life striving to live in righteousness. The Lord is waiting for you with open arms! What's holding you back?

My verses for today are above in red.

My prayer for today:

Dear Lord:

It's not always easy to stand up for our beliefs. It doesn't win us any popularity contests, but it is important if we want to live a more Godly life and to live life to it's fullest. You only want the best for us Lord, help us to strive to live each day for you. Help us to turn from sin and run to you, for your love and your son's love are the only way we can truly have Life to it's fullest.

I pray,
Amen and Amen