Category Archives: Spiritual Encouragement

True Confession

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True Confession~😔

If the Father can find an ear cuff for me on a parking lot, why can’t HE totally heal my Valley Fever? I wrote about it a wonderful “God Wink” yesterday.

Yes, I asked him that question today. My Abba Father can handle my honest questions, He knows my heart anyway. I had another CT scan on my lungs. My left lung still has lesions, nodules and a cavity. No change. My blood work still shows an “active” case.

So after a bit of crying and wondering, I was reminded of the Apostle Paul and the thorn in his side that he really did not want either. My thorn is a fungus. And everyone has something!

I choose to be thankful, that in this fallen world…my Father understands my frustration and weeps with me. I choose to trust Him.

Why? Because I am feeling so much better, can do things I wondered if I would ever be able to do again. I have never been as sick as I was those eleven days in the hospital and months at home. And I am stable. Even after Covid in August, no additional damage. I am so grateful.

God will never leave nor forsake me. He will never leave nor forsake you. When we don’t “feel” like He is listening, He is listening. My faith is not in my ability to believe I can be healed here on earth, but HIS ability to sustain me no matter what comes my way.

God proves to me over and over that HE is with me. It isn’t always the circumstances that I want, but this world is not what He wanted it to be either… and yet, HE provided Jesus for us…for our eternal life. For our HOPE in our todays.

Jesus is with you in your todays, in your disappointments, in your pain, in your sorrow. He was with you yesterday, and He will be with you in your tomorrows.

The trust has nothing to do with our ability, but with His grace.

Psalm 46:1-3 “God is our shelter and strength,

always ready to help in times of trouble.

So we will not be afraid, even if the earth is shaken

and mountains fall into the ocean depths;

even if the seas roar and rage,

and the hills are shaken by the violence.”

Be Encouraged Today

Tammy

An Ear Cuff and my Big Head

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I have an enormous head. No, not “that” kind of large head…literally, the circumference of my head is so large that if I wear a ball cap, it must have that adjustable part in the back. I am pretty sure it is genetic, but I won’t share which other family members have one too.

But, my ears are relatively small in comparison. Since I am a cool, 61-year-old grandma with a short, sassy haircut that is my natural color and curl, my ears show. And they need adornment in my humble opinion. Haha.

I have a couple of piercings, but instead of a third… I opted for “ear cuffs.” I figure my ears can draw all the attention away from my big head.

All that introduction to tell this story. While running errands today, I came out of a store and took off my mask. I got into my car and flipped down the visor…and low and behold…the left ear cuff was missing. I had lost it somewhere in the store or walking out of it.

I talk to the Father all the time and so I mentioned, “the only way I can find this is if you put that little cuff right in front of me, Lord.” I kept my head down looking as I walked in the store.

I went back to the counter. Nothing.

I retraced my steps. Nothing.

I retraced them again. Nothing.

I headed out the door, figuring that ear cuffs just weren’t meant to be part of my adornment.

I looked down as I went out the very door I had just went in…and there it was. A small ear cuff…waving at me to pick it up.

Many of you are scoffing right now at the fact that my heavenly Father would take the time to help me find this little piece of jewelry. A sheer coincidence, you might be saying. After all, He is dealing with wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, lawlessness, and other things a little more important than my ear cuff.

The best part is that I would not have been upset if I had not found it. I was careless and did not secure it enough on my little ear. A consequence of my own behavior.

But, I learned a long time ago that you cannot put God in a box. Neither can you put Him above it, over it or under that box. You cannot put Him in finite terms, after all…He is infinite. You cannot assume that He is too busy for you and the little things in your life.

He had time for me today. It was a small gesture, allowing my eyes to see the very thing that I had looked for five minutes earlier.

He loves me. He loves you. He is a personal God, and He has time for you today. Even amid your chaos in this fallen world… and even if you don’t find your ear cuff.

Someone needs this today.

Winter Gum Balls

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What do you see when you look at this tree?

Some see an almost barren, winter gum ball tree.  A representation of the season that is not a favorite of mine.  All I have to do is mention “gum balls” and everyone knows it has no value other than its ability to produce a seed ball that can get in lawn mowers and shoot out at ankles causing a deep gash, depending on the distance and speed of its trajectory! And forget walking barefoot.

Yet others see a chance to recharge, a chance to rest in a way that will bring the beauty of spring and renewal. All the while still seeing the irritating gum balls.

Now look closely.

I saw something in this lonely looking tree that I have never seen before.  

Ever.  

And I have looked at that tree for over 35 years.

Yellow Birds.

Dozens of yellow birds, picking out the seeds from those dreaded gum balls!  I always wondered where my precious yellow birds went in the winter, and would wait patiently each spring to see my first one. Were they always in my front yard and I was too busy to see them?(That’s another post for another time!)

My “yellow bird” or American Goldfinch has come to mean a lot to me through the years.  To make a long story very short, this bird has become my own personal rainbow. https://yelobrd777.com/2015/03/10/whats-your-personal-rainbow/

I know that God is very personal, and “yellow bird” has shown up over and over when I have needed him too.  This day I described was no exception.

Except I wasn’t looking.  The most I have ever seen together.  My heart has been emotionally broken for several reasons of late and I have been praying for so many serious issues…on the very day they showed up!

Is your heart broken too?

What’s the big deal? It is just a coincidence.

I feel differently. It was if God reached down and gave me His love in a way in which I was not expecting on a cold, blustery day in January.  He reminded me that He was here with me and had not left nor forsaken me.  

And in an irritating gum ball tree that I thought had no purpose at all.  Looks like the birds thought differently.  

And the Father did too.  He uses all situations, no matter how uncomfortable, how frustrating, how misunderstood… for His glory and He builds my faith.

What is your yellow bird?

~Be Encouraged Today~

Tammy