Boojoyful

Women gathered at Shiloh for prayer and praise with the harp. A precious woman in my church connect group has just been diagnosed with colon cancer.  She came to the house for a time of praise and prayer and walked up to me with enthusiasm and said, "I have a verse!"  A verse God had given her to cling to!  " Again Jesus spoke to them, saying,  ' I am the light of the world. Whoever   follows me will not   walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'” John 8:12 Cancer is certainly a darkness, but God's Word tells us in John 1:5 that the Jesus, the light of the world has overcome the dark and continues to do so. The light keeps shining in the dark, and darkness had never put it out. In the beginning God said,   “Let there be light.” Genesis 1:3 He tells his people... And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places ...

  My husband came home from work and found me on the bedroom floor. He quickly said, "Are you stuck?"  Laughingly, I said, "No, I'm doing stretches for the sciatica I'm dealing with, but that phrase has me stopping to pray for people today who are feeling spiritually stuck." Have you ever said, "Hello, God, are you there?" How do you clear the clutter that keeps you from hearing God? We can lose our focus when we put our faith in caring for material things...either taking care of them or caring that we might have more. Get alone, put on praise music, open your Bible and be still and quiet.  Can you speak in agreement with these verses which help us become unstuck spiritually. But I have calmed and quieted my soul , like a weaned child with its mother.  Psalm 131:2 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you , because he trusts in you.    Isaiah 26:3 For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation . Psalm 62:1 For ...

  You can never convince me that God's Word is not true, nor that there is a spiritual battle taking place around us.  While reading in the chapter on Warfare Prayer in Moving Mountains , our group has seen the devil darts flying in a barrage of different ways. So we have on our armor and are hitting our knees. The victory belongs to the Lord. Eldredge says this section of his book turns to "the form of prayer that often brings the most dramatic and immediate results- prayer that banishes the enemy...notice God doesn't always take away the attack: rather, he gives us the authority we need to overcome it....The demons know your authority in Jesus; they know that if you banish them, they have to obey." God rescued us from the dark power of Satan and brought us into the kingdom of his dear Son,   who forgives our sins and sets us free.  Colossians 1:13-14 There is power in the name of Jesus.  Let's pray like we believe this. Scripture is the greatest teaching ...

One of our grandsons carved a Lego Pumpkin. This may be what my brain looks like to God.   My husband performed a funeral last week and we have another one tomorrow, so I guess I had caskets on my mind this morning. One of the widowers was talking about how expensive funeral costs are.   While brushing my teeth, my mind had drifted to the advance plans you can purchase from funeral homes to lock in costs, but I found myself saying to the Lord...   "But what if the rapture occurs, then that would have been wasted money?  Spitting out the toothpaste, I looked in the mirror in thought, "Lord, how to you handle all of our crazy thoughts?" What is the last "But what if...?" statement you posed to the Lord? We are always trying to figure things out when we should be remembering who God is and how if he can keep the earth turning and the sun, moons, stars and planets in the sky, he can be working all things together in a way that sees us safely home to heaven, whe...

Sometimes it's the simplest verse that captures my heart and takes me to a much needed reality about God. My morning had started early and I checked my phone to see if the Andrews clan had sent any texts during the night.  Just holding that phone sent me down the rabbit hole. I clicked on a word game to get the daily bonus points I needed to get some clues.  Checked the weather and Instagram to see if there were any pictures of the grandchildren and then opened my email.  That is where God grabbed me and got me back on track to take every thought captive and start my day with him. Looking out our bedroom window on a 40 degree morning, the lake was covered in a thick mist blowing across the water. I thought...the Presence of the Lord is in this place.  I read on the "365 Promises" I am happy to treat you as My child, and I hope you will call Me Father.  Jeremiah 3:19 This made me think about my earthly father whom I adored.  He died before my texting or game...

The birthday son on a scout campout with his 12 year old son in Minnesota. It was the birthday of one of our sons. As I was writing a prayer for him related to his character, I googled traits of a godly man. I sent him the one below. Next my mind wandered to so many godly men who are a blessing to my life and particularly an encouragement to my husband who is a full time pastor. I decided to take the time to send the article to them and pray for them. I prayed: I'm stopping to pray right now for the Lord to fill you with wisdom, grace, a faith that strengthens everyday, and Holy Spirit directed prayers that reveal the authority we have in Christ our Lord, in whose name I pray. When Googling scripture verses for godly men, these came up.  May the Lord stir your hearts today to encourage some men of faith. Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 1 Corinthians 16:13 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-contr...

Friends, I am telling you our phones breed discontent. Realtor.com pops up everyday tempting me to think is there somewhere else I'd rather live.  A good friend moved to a new state and sent me the link to her home and now I get listings in that area.  Briefly, my mind thought...it would be so much fun to grow old in the same town with her.  Then the Spirit says, the key word there is "old." You do not know how many days either of you have on earth. Do not go chasing contentment by following people. Other ads pop up from products/clothing that I've ordered for friends or family.  My mind thinks..."I want that."  Then I quickly remember years ago a friend I admired who had lovely things. She purchased a fancy new gold colored station wagon with woodgrain panels. It was elegant like her.  It took a couple years before we purchased a similar wagon. White with the panelling.  Then what do you know, her physician husband surprised her with a sporty little M...

I don't want to be critiqued. Friends over the years have said, "Boo, you should write a book."  Over ten years ago the Lord gave me a specific topic to write about, but I have zero desire, besides the obedience factor.  Why? I don't want to be critiqued. A young woman near and dear to my heart is a beautiful artist. Her portraits capture the spirit of a person. She minored in art in college, but when I asked why she didn't go on and get her masters in art, she said that emotionally she couldn't handle the pressure of the critiquing process from the professors.  I totally get it! But in all honesty, I am guilty of critiquing others and the worse part is my beloved husband is my dumping ground for these emotions. My greatest personal offenses are triggered from my protective defenses on Sunday morning, due to the judgements of those coming through the doors critiquing everything from the music, preaching, children's program, friendliness of the people, to t...

From the top of our mountain at Shiloh The mountains are CHANGING color, but God never changes.  Session 5  Chapter 12 Listening Prayer https://wildatheart.org/rhplay/video/moving-mountains-session-5-listening-prayer Learn to recognize the voice of God for he wants to speak to you. "Big Ideas" from the  Moving Mountains Study Guide by John Eldredge "Listening Prayer involves asking Jesus what we should pray, so we can be in alignment with God’s will. Prayer is not making speeches to God; it is entering into conversational intimacy with him. When seeking clarity, we will almost always ask for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. Most people approach prayer as a one sided conversation. We come in, we make our request, we leave.   Ask God what we should pray."  This is the confidence we have in approaching God:that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us-whatever we ask-we know that we have what we asked of him.  ...

Pictured here are our grandson and his best friend on the football team. They are the only sophomores on the varsity. We couldn't make last Thursday night's game and we missed a doozy.  Our son texted the play by play. After watching the highlight film the next day I titled this game:   Snap, Tackle, Pop (Touchdown) .   His starting positions are long snapper (snap) and outside linebacker (tackle).  On offense he is the backup tailback and he had a chance to see how well his tail  could run in the last minutes of the game and scored a touchdown (pop)! I texted our grandson...."Ha! When the previous game is a downer, Mama Boo says, "Shake it off and move forward," but when it’s a personal best like last week I say play those highlight films over and over and file them away to show your children!" Immediately, I thought about sin.  When we repent and seek forgiveness God is quick  to forgive. It's in the past and he makes all things new and we move ...