FLINTY FACE...PROTECTION BY JESUS!!

       While reading Luke 9 in times past, I was drawn to the verses that talk about Jesus "setting his face" towards Jerusalem. Isaiah 50:7 refers to setting a face like flint. It reminded me of the times when I actually have that same sense and I know the Lord has called me to do something outside my normal pattern, my comfort zone.
     When the "flinty face" happens, my understanding has grown that it is God's way of telling me I'm headed into a tough situation or onto an unfamiliar path and I must not let fear, or other interfering emotions, deter me from "following my face."

     Two examples, both in Uganda and U.S.:

     Twelve years ago He laid it on me big time to go to Soroti, Uganda, to help in the rebel/IDP situation . I felt very insecure at first. Not the "going", because I'm nearly always ready and willing to do that, but having no idea how I could help in a war zone; I'm definitely not a medical person, which was the obvious need. From the beginning of the "call" -- so intense and specific -- I could, at certain times, feel my face becoming "flinty". Occasionally, during the stretch between the "call" in early September, until my arrival in Uganda in mid-November, if someone told me they disapproved of what I was planning and they didn't believe I'd heard correctly, I felt my face tighten and harden ... and it wasn't because I was torked at the person who was challenging me. It was simply because the Lord was making sure I didn't let anything, or anyone, interfere with His instructions.
     When I reached Uganda, while resting and prepping and hanging out with my many Ugandan family and friends at a ministry location, a hundred miles or so from Soroti, one of the organization's leaders told me I seemed "too determined" and he couldn't guarantee they would help me or allow me to help them. While he was talking to me, I felt my face tighten, and I, basically, told him whether they approved or not, I was going because that was what God had called me to do. Period. He said I was being too inflexible, but I knew "flint" doesn't "flex". Within a few days he had "caved" to my desires and for part of my time, I did work with and for them. My time in Soroti was one of the hardest -- if not THE hardest -- ministry stretches I've ever faced, even though I met many wonderful pastors, international aide workers, and locals. I returned home in mid-February and was in emotional and physical recovery for several months. However, not once did I question whether I was in the right place at the right time.

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     The most recent "flint" occurred in July, '09. The Lord called me to drive a truck from Omaha to New Hampshire, and I'd be visiting a friend and his wife in Middle Island, NY, and then flying home. Going out, I had never driven anything diesel. I had never driven anything that long/large. I had never driven through much of that part of the country. I had several scary driving situations due to weather, my inexperience, other folks' popping their cars around the truck and startling me. "Help me, Jesus" was hollered hundreds of times, I'm sure. And, if He hadn't responded, not only would the household belongings in the truck have been damaged, but quite possibly my body. Also, while driving, I could sense that not only was I crossing "state" lines, but crossing spiritual lines. The spiritual discernment gift of mine, that's a little on the weak side much of the time, was greatly sensitized. Knowing these things really kept me on constant alert. After 3 very long 12-to-15- hour driving days, I reached there in good condition, other than exhausted, and, miraculously, nothing in the truck was damaged.

     Quite often I "feel" the Lord wants me to go somewhere and I prepare for the trip. During the prep time, I usually move cautiously to make sure I'm not just in a mood to "run away from home" -- away from the frustrations and everydayness of life.
     -- And then there are those other times... those amazing times .... when my face turns from "flint" to "faith". 

 

Getting on the plane in Middle Island.

GOD'S LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP! HALLELUJAH!!

TRUTHFULISM HITS AGAIN!!! 

HEAVEN AND EARTH PRAISE..

OVERWHELMING VICTORY...

YES!

WHAT WE CAN ONLY TRULY EVER RELY UPON.

GRATEFULNESS IS OVERWHELMING IN MY HEART

MOMENT BY MOMENT.

DAY BY DAY.

SIMPLY DOING DUTY!

AMEN!

SERVING IS WHAT COUNTS -- FOREVER!

 THE SEED OF GOD CAN BE PLANTED

AROUND AND ABOUT 

AS WE SERVE.

YES!  THAT IS WHAT COUNTS!

WHEN I READ THIS VERSE TWO WEEKS AGO, IT HIT ME VERY HARD, REMINDING ME THAT THE ONLY FOCUS ON MY TIME IN THE WORLD IS TO SERVE, OBEY, DO!  TO NOT FREAK OUT WHEN I DON'T FEEL BLESSED ENOUGH BY THE PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD.
 I SHOULD FOCUS ONLY ON BEING ENCOURAGED,
GIVEN GOD-JOBS, AND SHOWN HIS APPRECIATION.
THAT'S WHAT COUNTS THROUGH ETERNITY, NOT JUST THROUGH THE DECADES AND DECADES OF LIFE ON EARTH.

[AND, BTW, THAT, IN JULY, '09, WAS A TOUGH, TOUGH SCARY TRIP...
BUT ALSO A BLESSING.
AND, NOT BEING A REAL OR REGULAR TRUCKER, 
THIS TRULY WAS A ONE-TIME GOD-JOB!
NEEDED TO BE DONE EXACTLY THAT TIME, AND OTHERS WORKING OR HAVING OTHER DAY-TIME SITUATIONS, COULDN'T DO IT.  
INCLUDING MY HUSBAND AND OTHER MEN,
EVEN THOUGH THEY HAD WANTED TO. 
 AND, WHILE TRAVELING, GOD-SEED WAS PLANTED
AROUND AND ABOUT!]

AND, VISITED DEAR FRIENDS IN THE EAST FOR A WEEK AFTER THE TRUCK WAS DROPPED OFF, SEEING A WHOLE NEW PART OF THE STATES, 
AND THEN FLOWN HOME, BEGINNING AT LONG ISLAND AND 2 MORE STOPS, BUT MORE AND MORE GOD-SEEDS TO PLANT. 

EVERYTHING-- EVERYONE-- EVERYWHERE --PRAISE HIM

 YES!

 HEAVEN AND EARTH DO PRAISE HIM.

ALL FISH, BIRDS, ANIMALS, 

 UNDER AND OVER THE SEA,

 MUST PRAISE HIM.

AND EAST OR WEST, AROUND THE WORLD, WE MUST, TOO!

DUSTY CLOUDS

THIS IS A "MAKE ME GRIN" WORD TODAY.

I WANT TO SEE HIS FEET...

REALLY, REALLY DO WANT TO!

OH, AND, BTW, IN 2009, DURING MY RETURN FROM LONG ISLAND, NY, SPENDING A SPIRITUALLY AMAZING WEEK WITH MY DEAR

GARY BLESSING ME AS I LEFT

FRIEND/"BROTHER", GARY. I MET HIS WIFE AND SON, WHICH WAS A REAL BLESSING. AND, WHILE THERE IN THE WHOLE NEW YORK CITY/STATE AREA, I WAS LAID WITH A SPIRITUAL HISTORY GOD-JOB AROUND AND ABOUT THAT PART OF OUR NATION.  FOR NEARLY 15 YEARS IT HAS BEEN ONE OF MY MAIN PERSONAL MINISTRIES.

WHEN LEAVING FOR HOME, LOVING MY FRIENDS

 OUT-AND-ABOUT THERE,

 MY REJOICING HEART FOR THE TIME WITH THEM,

REMAINED THEN, REMAINS NOW.

 

MY HEART... JOHN 21

Omaha, Seattle-Tacoma, Portland-Vancouver area, Minnesota,

 New York area, Uganda, England, Morocco, and many other places in our nation or around the world 

are truly in my heart.  

I want to be where the Lord wants me to be and FILL my heart more and more, because He KNOWS my heart. 

 And that He will use me as needed,

forever and ever while I live in this world.  

AMEN!

PS. 145: 21 ... BLESS HIS HOLY NAME...

YES, EVERYWHERE, EVERY TIME, EVERYONE!!

MY "AMEN" OF LIFE TODAY FOR CERTAIN SURE.