Update

I've been posting on Instagram  @Jesusdeevah. Please check me out there to get daily devotionals! You can also follow me on Instagram @ugobun to follow my art. This blog Jesusdeevah.blogspot.com
has so much rich content so please dive into The Archives for some incredible insights from God!

He's Listening

"Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my sighing. Listen to My Cry for Help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. In the morning, oh Lord, you hear my voice; and in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation." Psalm 5:1-3

Having faith is about two things, trust and patience. When we are suffering, those seem to be the two hardest things to muster up. I found that it is in my daily time with the Lord where I have grown a heart of trust within me. You can't ignore God everyday and run at your own pace and then expect him to appear like a genie and solve your big personal dilemmas. He's an intimate God who wants to be a part of every small detail of your life. Until you still yourself before him by reading your Bible I assure you that you will live in more confusion than peace. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, "God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and love and a sound mind." Wouldn't it be nice to not feel confused, overwhelmed or out-of-control? Growing in a relationship with Jesus builds a fortress of trust in our heart and mind.

Patience on the other hand is a muscle that must be worked every day. Every time you drop that pencil and it rolls way back underneath your desk, you have to say praise the Lord with a smile on your face instead of swearing. When someone cuts you off while you're driving you have to say a prayer for them instead of cursing them. When you're having one of those days and everything seems to be going wrong you must remember that they're just small inconveniences and not disasters. Not exaggerating our circumstances is one way to start to have patience. It's a moment by moment exercise that works incredibly by making you into a person of faith one tiny step at a time.

So, today why don't you purpose it in your heart to begin your day by seeking God. Crying out to him and letting him know what you need for the day. THINK ABOUT IT, the God of the Universe who created everything including you, wants to hear from you. He wants to know what you're up against, what victories you need. He wants to comfort you, guide you, heal you, and simply just be with you.  Getting to know him is how you will get to trust him and he will work everything out. Find comfort in the fact that the God of the universe truly listens to you and cares about you.

I've had some circumstances that didn't change but they changed me and that's what God intended. I've also seen clear cut miracles where someone who was blind received their vision and another where a situation that was believed to be impossible worked out perfectly! Each true child of God has stories of great miracles and victories. When your relationship with God grows, you will begin to have your own stories and miracles. That is how it is intended to be. God blesses us and then we go and bless others. The Great Commission is exactly that! Go and tell of the greatness of God! Take your heart to him and tell him what's going on in your life. He's listening.

Psalm 18:6, "In my distress I cried out to the Lord; yes, I prayed to my God for help. He heard me from his sanctuary; my cry to him reached his ears." 

Psalm 34:4, "I sought the Lord and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears..."

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Stop

There are certain things in life that just cause you to stop dead in your tracks. It could be visual or audio or something such as a delicious food with the essence of all of the herbs, spices and flavors wafting through the air. I'm an avid lover of beautiful visions such as art and nature and the sounds of of good music and don't even get me started about how I stop to pet a puppy or kitten.You must admit that there are just certain things that make you stop and experience the wholeness of the moment. I'm sitting here in my car waiting for my grandson and as I am scrolling through my Tumblr account I thought it was funny that you can look at ten, twenty, thirty pictures but all of a sudden one particular picture will make you stop. It catches your eye and something inside of you says, "That is something I want to look at a lot." It makes my senses heighten or reminds me of some memory, but one thing I know is that it just makes me feel something.

During my bible study this week, Priscilla Shirer talked about how the sheep know the voice of their shepherd. His voice, his sounds and his inflections are set apart from all the other shepherds. He even has a special language for each individual sheep and when they hear that tone or call they stop, their ears perk up and they run to him. In biblical times there would be several shepherds that would all put their flocks in one huge pen. When morning came each shepherd would stand at the entrance and call out to his own and they would push past the others to follow him. When they heard his voice they immediately stopped what they were doing and payed attention only to him.

Do you know what comprises your soul? It is your talents, inflections, temperament, likes, dislikes, character, personality.... Each of us is so uniquely designed and crafted by God that not only do we all have a unique look but the things that make us stop are unique in their own right. Do you know why the sheep recognize their shepherds voice? Because he spends countless hours with them. He abides with them during their grazing, walks in the pastures with them, tends to their wounds, protects them from predators... He will take one small lamb aside at a time and teach it its own special language that just the two of them share. Each sheep is unique and special to him. Their shepherd is their father.

Some of us have our ears perk up when we hear the calling of God for us to come and repent, asking him to be our Savior. However, others may not due to defiance, stubbornness, rebellion or apathy. Those who choose to spend time with the Holy Shepherd learn from him. They commune with him in the pastures and allow him to set the pace for their lives. They grow in the grace and knowledge of him as they draw to his side and follow him. They allow him to feed them, heal them, guide them and protect them. Matthew 18:12 tells the story of the shepherd who left his flock to go after just one lamb that wandered. It continues by saying that Jesus will come for you if you are lost because you are of such worth to him. He doesn't desire for even one of his sheep to perish.

Do you know your Shepherds voice? Do you sidle up to him or do you wander? Do you trust him to set the pace for your journey? Do you believe he is the Savior or are you exhausting yourself trying to lead the flock yourself? Do you STOP and turn your attention to him when he calls? Oh, how we love to wander and seek out our own desires. Beware though my little lambs because Satan is out there and it is the one who is separated from the herd that he will go after. Draw near to your Shepherd, for all you need, he provides. He will never leave you or forsake you so stop looking over the fence. Follow where he leads and keep pace with him.

Read Psalm 139

Attentions Averted

Ever since the warm weather has arrived all the little critters have been busy around our yard. Prior to that I could walk our dog and he would be fully engaged in our experience. However, now that the deer, squirrels, bunnies and especially chipmunks are around it's impossible to keep him focused. His eyes and senses are keenly aware of the actions stirring around him and he no longer is engaged in our walk. I am constantly guiding him with the leash to redirect him and using my voice to get his focus on my commands. As I was walking him this morning I couldn't help but call to mind the lesson I studied this week in my bible study about keeping our focus on Jesus so as to not let the devil get a hold on us.

There are so many distractions in this world! I recently felt like I was in a hole and dirt just kept falling in on me slowly. I was so focused on the distractions that it took me longer than usual to cry out to God for help. (Read Psalm 4). My body was weary, my emotions tinged with anxiety and my spirit struggled with hopelessness. There wasn't any big crisis going on but it was a feeling like death by a thousand cuts. I had let my emotions trump my faith. That is how sneaky Satan is when he wants to take us down into a stronghold position! After reaching out to some dear Christian friends who re-focused me, I put my sights squarely back on Jesus. I got back into my bible to restore hope, gave my body rest, nourishment and hydration to get strong again and made a list of my problems to review with new eyes. In a matter of one day I had a new perspective and plan.

Satan's main goal is to get our eyes averted from our Savior. Like chipmunks to a dog we stray after earthly diversions. In this latest lesson from God I learned that we are no more than humans who are driven by self serving desires. I was trying to be everything to everybody and not let anyone down. My selfish desire to make all of life's wrongs right and play god backfired on me and broke me. I am not the Queen of Everything, I am a daughter of the King. It wasn't until I surrendered on my knees and told God that I want what He wants for me and to set the rhythm for my life. I want to march to His drum beat because mine was too fast and too furious! Guilt was my engine and it was revving!

Psalm 138:6, "Though the Lord is great, He cares for the humble, but He keeps His distance from the proud."

God will let us wear ourselves out. He waits for us to come to Him in our weariness so that hopefully we will let Him restore us and teach us His ways. His desire is not that we continue on a road of self destruction but that we would surrender in obedience to His good and perfect plan for us. He wants to give us an abundant life!

Matthew 7:24-27, "Anyone who listens to my teaching and obeys me is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won't collapse, because it is built on the rock. But, anyone who hears my teaching and ignores it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come, and the winds beat against the house, it will fall with a mighty crash."

Keep your attention on Jesus.

God Goes Before Us

I wrote on my Instagram blog @Jesusdeevah today about how God's righteous right hand is on us. I explained that when a physical hand is needed to comfort us that God uses his children to do his work. We are his hands to serve others and we need to be attuned to his leading as we go through the day. There are people who need our compassion extended to them to show the love of God. I wasn't aware this morning that I would be that person who needed kindness.

My day started earlier than I wanted with someone who had an urgent request. As I tried to get this request accomplished I began to feel very overwhelmed. Multiple things were happening and my emotions got the best of me. However, God went before me and already had the blessings waiting! There was a lovey woman who saw the stress on my face and said, "It  looks like you need a hug." She gave me a tight, loving hug and her smile comforted me. Then, a clerk at the next stop saw that I had tears falling from my eyes and proceeded to empathize with me and gave me some tissues. I realized that God was saying to me that he had everything under control so I just started breathing steadily. The task still needed to be completed, after three attempts at other places that could not help I could have just gave up but God brought me a blessing. A young man came out from the back of the store and took an interest in the tech issue I was trying to accomplish. He quietly and patiently worked on the issue for longer than he should have but accomplished the task!

I gave God the time to work it all out for good rather than impatiently overreacting and quitting in discouragement. God goes before us and has our needs met if we just slow down and look for Him in our trouble. Learning and maturing in our faith is a beautiful thing. Practicing patience and trusting God with our issues brings us peace as it all works out. God does not bring us to it to not get us through it! The mind-set that we discipline ourselves to have as we trust in His promises is the key element. Think of some of the areas of your life where you're not experiencing God's peace and then search His Word for scriptures that counteract those doubts. Let His promises rule your mind rather than your emotions and you will come to find a new joy! It's a process but it's worth it!

Exodus 14:14, "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still."

Proverbs 16:9, "A mans heart makes his plans but the Lord directs his steps."

Colossians 1:11, "...Being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience..."

Colossians 3:12, "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience..."

Proverbs 16:18, "Pride comes before the fall.

Deuteronomy 31:8, "The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you, He will never leave you or forsake you..."

Invite God to go before you and prepare the way. In His timing He will work all things together for your good. (Romans 8:28)

When He Speaks

When God speaks a deep message to my heart I write on this blog where I can expand on the teaching. However, if you want to read a daily post check it out @jesusdeevah on Instagram.

Luke 11:3, "Give us this day our daily bread..."

Asphalt Fall

I posted my daily blog on Instagram @Jesusdeevah this morning and it read, "Because He bends down to listen I will pray as long as I have breath." Psalm 116:2. After posting it I began to get busy and then I recalled the scripture and went and sat down to talk to God. There's a saying regarding working out that states, "You're never sorry you worked out." Well, that saying is true about prayer! "You are never sorry you stopped to pray." I know one of the prerequisites of prayer is to confess and repent before entering into praise, thanksgiving and petition so I began telling Jesus the sins that were weighing me down. I confessed the actions and words that I knew were not pleasing to him and the resentments I was harboring.... Soon, I was recalling some of the hard times that I've had in my life and he began to minister to me. The Holy Spirit filled my mind with a vision of me flying down a hill on my bike with my hands up in the air and my head swung back as the breeze blew through my hair. Next thing I knew I was rocketing over the handle bars and landed on the hot asphalt as I skid to a stop. My hands and knees were pitted with bits of black asphalt mixed with blood. Next, a memory of my father came to mind. He was picking the pieces of rock and tar out of my flesh with tweezers after I literally had a similar accident in my youth. The procedure was tedious, laborious and painful but it had to be done. I soon realized that God was telling me that those painful times in my life were not Him punishing me but healing me.

Certainly many of the hard times in life are self imposed by bad decisions and rebellious acts. However, we find ourselves victims to a sinful and evil world on occasions. I blamed God for years for my health problems, emotional immaturity and distraught spirit. I thought he was the cause of all my suffering and because I blamed him rather than submitted to him, the wounds became infected. Of course I blamed him for that too. It took YEARS for him to methodically pick all those pieces of asphalt out of my heart and mind after I surrendered to him and allowed him access.

Most of my suffering was caused by bad habits and decisions that I made but I never took personal responsibility. It was much more convenient to blame God. My stubbornness kept me wounded and angry and it wasn't until I began to read my bible, pray, go to church and have fellowship that I finally surrendered to him and let him begin to clean my wounds. The process has been long and hard but as he does his work on me I see a woman emerging that I love. I'm not the emotional, immature girl that I used to be. I have the scars from all the hard work that he had to do on me but those scars are my badges. No more open wounds that harbor infection, hyper-sensitivity or anger.

My dog had surgery yesterday and the doctor told me how stubborn and reactive he was. All I could think about was how I was the same way toward God. As I was sitting with my dog today I was gently petting the side of his face where he was sore and after a minute or so he just leaned his face into the cup of my hand and surrendered his pain to my comfort. That is what God is waiting for us to do. His desire is that we would stop reacting to our pain and just yield to his comfort, love and healing.

I want to encourage you today to give yourself up to the Great Healer. We all have bits of asphalt embedded in us from life's falls. Shards of unforgiveness, anger, self-pity, rage, pain from loss, victimization ..... and those infections must be healed before we can see clearly and love purely. It will take time for the cleaning and healing process but it is so worth it! God does not want to leave you wounded but he wants and needs your cooperation to do the procedure properly. The only way we can have a successful outcome is to surrender to him and trust him that he knows what is best. I've learned that his love for us is so great that even though he can't make us surrender because of our free will, he will find ways to get us to slow down. Humans have a way of avoiding stillness so God will let us wear ourselves out emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually until we collapse at his feet. I will tell you from experience that you will save yourself a lot of pain if you just trust him and place your pain in the cup of his hand so he can comfort and heal you.



Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10

Who stood up for me against the wicked? Who took my side against evil doers? If the Lord hadn't been there for me I never would have made it. The minute I said, "I'm slipping, I'm falling!" Your love oh Lord, took hold and held me fast. When I was upset and beside myself, you calmed me down and cheered me up. Psalm 94:16-19

And the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, forgiveness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23

How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults. Keep me from deliberate sins and don't let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin. May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing to you. Oh Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:12-14

Bubble Wrap

Spring is approaching and along with that event comes the ritual of spring cleaning. Over the long and cold winter we tend to acquire piles of things that get thrown into the basement or garage. I'm not a pack-rat but I do have a lot of materials that I save to do projects and I'm still in the process of organizing my home after a cross country move. There are pieces of memorabilia from my past along with items of value and gifts from loved ones. There just is not enough room to have everything displayed so some of it must be stowed away. I can't help but notice my process as I secure my belongings. The items that are replaceable get rolled up in paper and stacked quickly in a regular box yet the belongings that are more unique and priceless to me are carefully bubble wrapped and gently placed into a sturdier box. What we treasure is handled with much more care.

Often as I go through this process I am reminded that my heart also needs an inventory. As we go through our busy lives we tend to let many unnecessary and unhealthy things accumulate in our hearts. Maybe we have replaced some of our precious time with God with too much mindless t.v. or our diets have allowed food to replace health, honesty and repair of our body and souls. I know that the winter catapults me into hibernation rather than going out and serving others. Bad habits and mindlessness become my companions as I sloth through my days.

Spring is a time of hope, repair, openness and change! There is nothing like that first warm day when the birds are singing, the air is fresh and all of nature seems alive to get us out of our funk. I was telling my grand-daughter and sister-in-law the other day (using the Internet and the storage cloud as examples), that we need to organize all that stuff in our lives that is floating aimlessly around in our minds. All of it seems so fragmented just hovering in our thoughts and confusing us everyday, causing us to feel overwhelmed as to where to start. Just pull one thing at a time down onto your desktop and deal with just that. One thing at a time. My saying is, "It's better to do something small than nothing at all." One task that is dealt with each week is 52 things addressed and taken care of each year.

Some of the things up in our "cloud" can be resolved, some thrown out and some can be swaddled in bubble wrap and stored for another day. Take those things which are precious and valuable to your heart and protect them. All the other things are just tasks and garbage that either need to be addressed or deleted. Our hearts, souls and bodies are valuable to God so they need to be treated with respect. Take some time this Spring to not only busy yourself with cleaning your home... but to pull away in some quiet moments to let God clean out your spiritual house. Nothing feels better than freedom! Freedom from all the unnecessary "things" that clutter our lives.

Matthew 6:19-21, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasure in Heaven where moth and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

2 Corinthians 4:18, "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

Philippians 4:7, "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

God bubble wraps our hearts and minds with His peace because they are precious to Him.

The Donut Hole

Picture yourself being a beautiful cake with luxurious frosting and colored sprinkles all over the top! You feel whole and fantastic! The cake represents your soul with its warm, soft and pillowy texture. It's the safe place in the center of your life. The place from where "Who you are" grows! The frosting is what holds you together, similar to our control habits that we exercise in keeping our life from falling apart. The sprinkles are our relationships, activities, and rituals. The steady constants that our daily life revolves around. A pretty little cake that is all put together nicely and suits our lifestyle just fine.

Then, some circumstance comes along and blows a hole right through your center and turns you into a donut in a blink of an eye.  A gaping hole that empties your soul, leaves you out of control and scatters all that you knew to be normal spread out before you in collateral damage!

Have you watched the news lately? The world is falling apart bit by bit and it leaves us feeling shocked and fearful. However, when those blasts hit us close to our own lives it is quite different. It's then personal and the pain is inescapable. I often watch on television these interviews with students or parents...who have just lost a precious friend or child and I immediately say, "I cannot imagine." I secretly thank God that my prayers right then are for someone else and not for me and my family. How do they bear it? How are they even standing? The empathy I feel for them is even too much for my mind and heart to comprehend.

In this day and age we are so exhausted from trying to hold everything together. We whisper prayers like "Oh God, please keep calamity from our door!", weakening our spiritual life with worry as we live defensively and offensively. Our physical beings are drained from trying to protect our children from harm. If they leave our sight for a second we panic and scurry to find them. Mentally we are frazzled due to the demanding pressures of surviving and emotionally we are barraged with other peoples grief not to mention our own. All the while we are trying to present our selves as perfect little cupcakes.

The donut hole exists in all of us and no one can escape the trials of life. It's what we fill that hole with that counts. Jesus says, "In this world you will have tribulation. But, take heart! I have overcome the world."  For every sorrow, claim a joy! For every complaint, counteract it with gratitude!... Don't let the world fill your soul but let the hope and love of Christ dwell there. Be honest and humble with others as you let them see you without all the frosting. Your vulnerability can be a healing force for someone else. Take your shattered dreams and brokenness to the ONE who redeems! We don't have to live with a damaged soul. Jesus gives us a choice, whether we choose our own way or His, we always have a choice of how we will react to pain and loss.

My granddaughter and I made a cake for a party but we were running late and didn't let it cool all the way. When we went to turn it out of the pan it fell apart! We had a choice right then of how to react. We rolled handfuls into little balls and put frosting on them. We made donut holes. It's a simple metaphor but it can serve us in all our calamities. Jesus can make a message out of any mess if we let Him.

Matthew 11:28, "Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest..."

Job 8:21, "He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy!"