Something to share Part II

I have thought a lot about the journey of my life and the one thing I think I have figured out is no matter how bad things may look or seem at the time there are always lessons to learn and things that make you grow.

When we first moved to AR. I really thought we were going for one reason but as it turned out it was for a whole other pot of things. If we had never taken the leap and gone there is so much I would have never learned about myself or about others. I would have missed the learning time of my life. A lot of the things I learned were painful and a lot were amazing but the most amazing of all was how much my Creator really loved me.

When my husband and I first started this journey we really thought we were going to meet up with other believers and start a preparation for the trying days ahead. We also thought we were going to help lead others to the Lord and minister to their needs. We still had a lot of the old church programming in us and even though we were not ‘church’ going anymore we just assumed we would be meeting up with other believers and forming some sort of bible studies and prayer groups. Well nothing of the sort happened as a matter of fact we met no believers who really wanted much to do with us much less pray or fellowship together. We also discovered how bogus a lot of this end time prep stuff really was. It was more like another form of scare tactics to get people to buy books and donate monies as well as support survival stores/ministries. I noticed that even though these people claimed ‘Jesus’ just like main line churches, it was still in the end about the money, money for their videos, money for their books and money to support their survival stores. You were made to feel that if you did not invest in their venues you would get caught unprepared and starve. There was no mention of trusting the Father or no mention of sharing and helping those in need, it was all about saving yourself before the crap hit the fan and to hell with the rest. I saw a lot of fear going out on the airwaves from these people who were supposedly in the know and a sense of panic being promoted.

I can’t even guess how many of these fear promoters saw themselves as ‘prophets’ of God giving us a nice doom day warning. They used titles such as ‘Watchman on the Walls’ and promoted themselves as serious info analyzers who were doing God’s work by surfing the web for info to warn you about how much time we had left. Most quit their jobs because they did not have time for such worthless pursuits, as they were needed to warn us about the impending doomsday. However, they expected donations to support their serious quest for info. After all they were dear ministers of the Lord just doing their jobs. Every year some of them even put out new and improved movies and documentaries about doomsday and since these were so important for everyone’s survival a healthy price tag was attached per DVD, CD or book. I mean it costs a lot of money to make these things…. Gosh!

A few years ago when Mena, AR. was hit by a tornado I saw none of the ‘watchman’ volunteering to help clean up yards and minister to scared and broken people. I am wondering how many cared about Joplin Missouri, or the towns in Alabama when they were hit badly? Did any of them think about using some of their end time provisions to help those people in need? It probably seemed like the end times to the people who had just lost everything. Now I am not getting on to anyone about not volunteering in a disaster or even sending money to disaster victims, but what I am saying is that we are always suppose to be about our Father’s business and that business is about helping and caring for others now. Sure the world is in a bad place and sure this earth age is coming close to an end and yes it is wise to have some preparations in case of emergencies as that is just prudent. But one huge thing I have learned in the past five years is disaster can hit anyone at anytime and if you are not tight with your maker all the preps in the world will not do you any good. He is ultimately in control and what He expects out of us is to care for each other as we would ourselves. He says to not worry about tomorrow, let tomorrow take care of itself. If we are so focused on trying to survive a potential disaster tomorrow we will miss all the opportunities today to be used by HIM. Every time I have tried to put things up for tomorrow I have had to give them away. I can see now that my Father in all His wisdom has been trying to show me that He is in control of my future and as long as I have an open heart for HIM and others He sends my way, He will always provide and He does.

I have had to downsize my life in a big way the past few years and in the process I have learned that having more is just having more to worry about. I can see how He wants us to not take this life so serious as it is not the end of all ends. What we need to take serious is following Him and loving others through Him. There is nothing wrong with having things but beware of those things having you. All can be gone in an instant. Just because we are His children does not mean we are exempt from pain or disaster. He does promise to carry us through and give us His strength to do so and He does.

I have heard people talk about impending concentration camps and how they will blast anyone who tried to force them into one.( these are Christian’s talking) Now I am not one to volunteer for a concentration camp but has anyone ever heard Corrie Tenboom’s testimony? She and her sister hid Jews during the 2^nd WW and were caught and put into a camp. In fact Corrie’s sister died there. However, those sisters ministered to so many broken people and gave so much hope and love. If they had refused to go and were in a shootout to which I am sure they would have died, then think about how many would have lost hope because they were not there? Was it fun? Well NO! It was a nightmare! But, they were faithful and so was GOD!

Sometimes we have to do what we have to do even if it is painful. In the end it will make sense if we trust the Creator in all things. People may call you nuts, people may shun you, and people may even hurt you, but if you are going about the Saviors business He will never leave or forsake you and everything will make perfect sense in end. That is when you get that big AWHAAAAAA moment.

Love one another, forgive one another and never pass up an opportunity to help one another. For when you help the least of them, you have helped Him. We are His hands and hearts on this planet.