|
______________________________________
{HeartTouchers.com} *Spiritual Soaking* ______________________________________ If you enjoy this email service, I encourage you to spread the word to family and friends that we may bring inspiration the lives of many! If you are not on the list and this has been passed along to you, join us by visiting: http://www.HeartTouchers.com Be sure to check out our inspirational list just for teenagers! http://www.Heart4Teens.com ____________________________________________ Michael's updated book Heart Touchers "Life-Changing Stories of Faith, Love, and Laughter," is finally here! ($13.95) Visit the link below to preview the book! Personalized autographed copies are available at no extra charge and we pay the shipping for you! An E-book version is also available for just $3.25! http://www.hearttouchers.com/books Be sure to let us know who you would like it autographed for and then allow about two weeks for us to sign it and send it on its way to you.Credit card, PayPal, Checks, and Money orders accepted! The book is also available through Amazon.com, Borders.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and Booklocker.com _________________________________________ Spiritual Soaking by Terri McPherson I'd been crazy busy for awhile, too busy to plant my garden and too busy, even to talk to God. Enough! Life's hectic pace was threatening to knock the last marble of sanity out of my head. I called a time-out. With my garden trowel and flower seeds in hand, I headed outside to plant my garden and talk with my Father in heaven. The sky was clear except for one lone cloud. I was well into my planting and deep in conversation with God by the time that cloud was overhead. An extra large drop of rain splashed down in front of me. "Not now," I whined. Of all the places to release its rain, I couldn't believe that cloud chose the one spot on the ground where I was kneeling in the dirt. One after the other, big splats of rain hit the ground around me, but none of them landed on me. They were spaced so far apart I never got wet. How odd! I leaned back and looked up. The cloud was stationary and I was sitting in one of the spaces between the raindrops. My spirit - which is conscious of things above - was connected. My soul - which is conscious of things around me - was connected. God had gone into the show-and-tell portion of His conversation. I realized that I'd allowed my busy-ness to disconnect me from my Creator. The raindrops wet the earth where they landed, but not enough to give it the good soaking it needed. There was too much space between them. Talks with God nourish the soil of my soul and my spirit, but they weren't getting the God-soaking they needed. I was leaving too much space between our conversations. I'm intelligent enough to feed my stomach when it's hungry. Why was I so willing to starve my spirit and my soul? I need the sacred sustenance I receive from fellowship with God. No one knows me better. No one sees my pain and my joy, my worries and my fears, my efforts, my goals and my dreams as clearly or as intimately as God sees them. No one loves me more. In times of crisis, I can't run to God quick enough. I rely on the direct line Jesus provides for me, to take the words straight from my lips to God's ears. If I'm so troubled that I can't form the words to convey the weight of my problem, I depend on the Holy Spirit to communicate my need to heaven. God offers a standing invitation to talk, any time, any place. He won't force Himself into my life. Acceptance of His offer is always up to me. God never changes His mind. When I want to talk, He's there. When I don't want to talk, He's there. I'm the one with fluctuating priorities - what gets tended to, and what is left untended. I had allowed my busy-ness to interrupt my walk with God. Oh, I still prayed, but it was a busy prayer, usually tacked on to the end of the day. ("Oops! Can't forget to pray!") I still spoke to God, but an occasional word of complaint each day hardly qualified as conversation. ("Lord, if there is one more bend in the road this day, I'm going to poke my own eyes out!") Instead of getting quiet, getting in prayer and getting with God when stress built up, I was letting my drama queen come out and play. This isn't new territory for me. I've backslid down this hill in the past. The warning signs were all there, touchiness, uneasiness, less joy and more pressure. I was just too busy to take the time to see them. It took one lone cloud, with enough space for me to sit between its raindrops, to remind me that I need to maintain a deep walk with God. My soul becomes parched, my spirit dehydrated, when I walk on my own. All the pieces and parts of my life start bumping into each other. I am living the small story of my life on earth instead of the big story of my life eternal. Once again, I re-arrange my list of priorities - putting God first. Once again, I am no longer satisfied with a lone burst of fellowship with my Father in heaven. I want to stand in the midst of a downpour, soaked in His love and His guidance. Now, I pray for no spaces between the raindrops. © 2005 Terri McPherson terri@wisehearts.com Write Terri and let her know your thoughts on her story! Terri is a devoted follower of Jesus Christ and uses Psalm 19:14 as her guiding Scripture verse when writing. Many of her pieces are written for, and speak to, hurting Christians around the world as well as those believers who need support and encouragement and even a little silliness at times. Terri lives in Windsor, Ontario, Canada with her husband Ray. She is the mother of two adult children and three precious grandchildren. You can read more of Terri's writing on her web site at: www.wisehearts.com _________________________________________ Thought For The Day: "In this world it is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us rich." --Henry Ward Beecher Verse for the Day: "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap." --Luke 6:38 Kid's Thought For The Day: "You have to eat a lot of cereal before you find the free toy." Parent's Thought For The Day People often ask me, "What's the difference between couplehood and babyhood?" In a word? Moisture. Everything in my life is now more moist. Between your spittle, your diapers, your spit-up and drool, you got your baby food, your wipes, your formula, your leaky bottles, sweaty baby backs, and numerous other untraceable sources--all creating an ever-present moistness in my life, which heretofore was mainly dry." -- Paul Reiser, Babyhood Coach's Thought For The Day "Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan. --Tom Landry Writer's Thought For the Day: "The best advice on writing I've ever received is: Don't answer the phone." --Patsy Garlan Deep Thought For The Day: "To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography and the dancers hit each other." __________________________________________ Video Imagery --Michael's Video Production Business Dear Michael, I just wanted to take a minute to thank you for the beautiful video you made for me! It was so special to see both of my parents in tears as they watched their children grow up in pictures before their eyes! I loved the way you made Estania's part set aside from the rest--that was the part that really got them! The music was beautiful. My mom kept blubbering, "What song is that?" I don't know how you did such a beautiful job with the video in such a short time. I really appreciate your doing it so quickly. You have a wonderful gift, and I thank God that you are using it to create such sentimental memories. I hope that I can find my niche like that in an area that I love. Your video gave us one of our most lasting Christmas memories! I hope yours was filled with moments to be treasured forever! Love, Trisha Silverhill, AL Let me make you a video from your photos! Check out my video production business by visiting: http://www.hearttouchers.com/video_imagery __________________________________________ Do you feel as if life has no meaning for you? http://www.greatcom.org/english/four.htm |
 |
|
Touching Lives - One E-mail at a Time! Author Michael T. Powers - HeartTouchers @ aol.com
|