When you stop to think about it, God’s creation of man is
pretty amazing don’t you think? Every
person had a “floor plan” so to speak, that is God has a designers special
imprinted on each individual as one of a kind.
With all this uniqueness walking about it makes everyone’s life super
interesting.
I am intrigued by all the people that God allows to be
part of my journey and can’t wait to tap into the communication lines to hear
how God’s blessings have presented themselves into their lives. It doesn’t
matter how it happens, whether in person or the internet, in one way or another
I find a way to connect to people out of sheer curiosity.
Over the years many have asked me where I get my
material to write. It’s not really that
difficult, all I have to do is watch people or animals and there’s pretty much
a story in all I observe. Then there are
those “special blessings” that I encounter along the way which in part make my
work so much easier.
For the record, most of my stories usually come from
something that has happened in my life.
It doesn’t really matter where I am, hilarious or weird stuff just seems
to find me and most of the time it’s in a grocery store!
With all the billions of people on this planet, why do
these things happen to me?
Welcome new friends this week from:
See if your city/state/country made the list.
New on DFB – Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Tiruchirappalli,
Tamil Nadu, India; Trbovlje, Central Sava Statistical Region, Slovenia;
Tanzania; Uzbekistan; Haiti; Salé, Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaer, Morocco; Waitara,
Taranaki, New Zealand; Willemstad, Curaçao; Bekasi, West Java, Indonesia; Aurora,
Mississauga, & Montreal, QC, Canada; Pathum Thani, Thailand; Dnipropetrovsk,
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Uganda; Ukraine.
USA
– Kalkaska, MI; Baird, Galveston & Schertz, TX; Ruston,
LA; Mandan, ND; Morehead, KY; Edina, MN; Vacaville, CA; Adena, OH; Honey Brook,
PA; Parkdale & Carl Junction, MO; St. Martin, MS; Albuquerque, NM; Cramer
Hill, Minotola, Elmer, Salem, Avalon & Belle Mead, NJ; Alexandria &
Russell, VA; Kingston, OK; Woodburn, OR; Clanton, AL; Dubuque, IA; Bismarck,
Mandan & Linton, ND; Pascagoula, MS.
I am so thankful for your visit and hope that you come
back each week to participate in the weekly challenges. Join us in our new series as we spend time in
the study of Daily Favor Relationships.
You are welcome to leave comments or prayer requests below. All are private. I would love to hear from
you and how Daily Favor has worked in your life. Contact me by leaving a message in the box at
the bottom of this week’s post.
Don't miss out on this week's challenge
(below).
Three Things We Need
We had just finished work but before going home needed to
stop at the grocery store for three items – bottled water, almond milk and dish
soap. Not long after we entered the
parking lot we were favored with a great place to park.
As we entered the store I suggested that even though it
wasn’t on the shopping list, we should pick up a few more cans of cat food for the
eighteen year old senior feline who doesn’t have teeth. Although he eats with the others, twice a day
he is individually fed his soft food diet.
Grabbing two carts (one so hubby could lean on it for
walking) we headed for different aisles to shorten our trip. “I’ll
get the dish soap and you get the cat food.” I said and we separated to
complete our tasks.
The cleaning products were located in the next aisle past
the cat food. Hubby turned down his lane and I made the next left. Taking only a second to grab my item I
circled back and joined him in the pet food section.
Get Your Motor Running
When I met up with my husband he had already selected a
few delights for kitty. It wasn’t long
before my cart was forced to come to a stop due to a traffic jam. Two ladies,
both in electric “Mart Carts,” were facing one another and holding quite a
conversation unaware that they had an audience.
No need to eves drop here; mega phones held no candle to
their voices. Patiently I waited as they talked. It was pretty funny and frankly I wanted to
see how they would conclude their little visit.
With a smile on my face I propped my foot up on the wrung
at the bottom of my cart and settled in wondering just how long this was going
to take. By now hubby was in line behind
me and who knows how many others.
The interaction of these senior ladies was worth the
wait. Suddenly the lady that was facing my direction looked at me and said to
her friend in the other motorized cart. Back
and forth they squabbled.
“You have to move someone’s behind you.”
“There’s no one behind you.”
“No, you ... someone’s behind you!”
“There’s isn’t anyone behind you.”
“No, YOU have to move … we’re blocking the aisle.”
“Oh.”
Enough said, she bid her farewells and motored out of the
aisle.
No Clean Escape
The woman facing me in her electric rider was parked in
front of the cat litter. Without moving
she looked up and called out, “Something
is smelling clean.”
Strange I thought … Lady, you’re right in front of the
smelly cat litter! Maybe that’s what
you’re smelling? You think?
Pushing the pedal to the metal she slowly moved maneuvering
her vehicle toward me. Stretching her right
arm out full length declaring for all to hear as she pointed directly at me, “Is it you?”
Immediately I was stage struck and didn’t know what to
do. Even though embarrassment was
written all over my face I couldn’t help burst into laughter. Was this a scene
from Princess Diaries when Mia first meets her grandmother Queen Clarisse?
“Amelia, I’m so glad you could come … Well, let me look
at you. You look so … [pausing] young.”
Not knowing how to respond the young girl looks at her
grandmother and responds,
“Thank you … and you look so … [pausing] clean.”
A few other things popped into my thinking but I didn’t
have time to act or escape. “Clean … clean?
Something, not someone lady. You said something!”
Turning to look at my husband the next thing I knew she
stopped her cart blocking me then grabbed my left arm whipping me around toward
her. By now the entire aisle was glaring in my direction seeking out the sight
of the commotion.
I was laughing so hard and in a panic all at the same
time. How bold of her! She was sniffing out whatever wafted through
her God created senses. What if she
sniffed and said it wasn’t me? How
awkward would that be?
Then I thought, with her statement she clearly didn’t
think it was her! Someone on that aisle
smelled clean and she was destined to sniff her way through it to find out who
it was.
With my arm pressed up to this stranger’s nose, she took
a big sniff, paused and openly shared her finding, “Yep, it’s you!” That was it
and she drove away feeling confident that she solved the fragrance case.
Being on center stage I have to tell you,
for the first time in my life I was relieved that I was the “good” littler stinker. Thank you Lord for the blessing of clean
water for bathing!
The Sweet Aroma
What again, really Lord? What is this about people and their
unauthorized sniffage? She’s the second
lady to do that in a store this year, besides hubby back in June when we first
talked about relationships? This could
easily turn into a complex issue.
The mystery lady continued down the aisle driving toward
hubby. Still laughing about what
happened he lifted his armpit and said to the woman, “You wanna sniff?”
I’m so glad I wasn’t standing next to him at that time!
Not because he smelled or anything, but because I would have had to popped him one
for making the ordeal even more humiliating.
What’s a wife to do, right?
Without stopping she smiled and emphatically replied, “No thanks.” Rolling past him leaving
all of us sort of in a stupor, we watched her turn onto the main aisle to
continue shopping.
That was probably a wise choice on her part. I don’t know
how much of a sweet aroma she would have received about then. Now I’m not sure
which embarrassed me more, getting sniffed or hubby offering to be sniffed!
Garden
Ties
Relationships
are funny aren’t they? We never know how
they may form, how long some will last or what the circumstance will be that
creates interactions among living creatures. One thing we do know is that in all
of them something about God’s creation can be identified.
When
I was working through my notes I asked the Lord to give me something I could
share, He just happened to choose a humorous incident as a “garden tie”.
Ten Blessings of Eden
Moving along the garden gate, this week we’ll look at two
more of the blessings of Eden. If you haven’t
read the first blessings discussed you can here.
Seventh
Blessing – One of the best blessings that shows the favor of
God toward His creation is the gift of fresh water.
Besides having water to bathe in, no one would ever go
thirsty physically, because God provided clean water for every living thing in
the form of flowing rivers.
“Now a river went out of Eden to water the
garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads.” (Genesis 2:10
NKJV)
However, the flowing waters also have a
different meaning spiritually. If we
glance back a few verses the Lord tells us that the earth received nourishment
from the dew that came from the ground, because there was no need for rain at
that time.
“… before any plant of the
field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on
the earth.” (Genesis 2:5 NKJV)
The
blessing of water in the Garden was to serve the physical body, soul
(emotion/thinking) and eternal spirit.
The dew took care of the plant life, while the rivers of Eden washed
over the body, soul and spirit.
Often
times when scripture talks about water it is referring to the work of the Holy
Spirit in the lives of a believer. In
Hebrew, rain and teaching are the same word, so when our spirit is watered or bathed
in the Word, it is the Holy Spirit “raining” down on us in His teaching and
Wisdom for a situation. The ancient
prophets spoke of the wisdom of God as “rivers in a dry or desert place.” For believers to operate in wisdom we need
the watering of the Spirit of God daily.
Ezekiel
described the river (wisdom) that flowed from the temple transforms the desert
which is our unlearned spirit. (See Ezekiel 37)
Wisdom was the eye opener to the mysteries, blessings and favor
beginning in Eden enabling us to see Jesus as the Anointed One.
Without
the Holy Spirit we could not comprehend or draw near to God. We would be blinded from the truth.
As
believers and Children of God, we have the access to the wisdom of the Holy
Spirit flowing through our desert souls bringing refreshment as we fellowship
in relationships with the Lord and one another.
Jesus
often taught about Living Waters and those who drank of it would thirst no
more. Through the Messiah fountains of
wisdom would flow around the throne of God being poured out like water in the
Holy place. It was a symbol of the
Garden of Eden being restored to “Adam” – all the living in the Heavenly City.
(See Revelation 22)
Moving on to the next blessing, were you able
to connect the gift of Jesus’ birth to the Garden of Eden from last week’s think challenge?
Eighth Blessing – God provided a source of
wealth for the future economy. Gold,
bdellium and onyx stone (precious minerals and gems) filled the earth in the
surrounding bodies of water (the Pishon, Gihon, Hiddekel [Tigris] and the
Euphrates rivers.)
“The name of the first is Pishon; it is
the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there.
The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. The name of
the third river is Hiddekel; it
is the one which goes toward
the east of Assyria. The fourth river is
the Euphrates.” (Genesis 2:11-14 NKJV)
The things that were found in the Garden of
Eden are symbolic of what was to come in this world and how the LORD would
restore His relationship with man. They
are sometimes referred to as “double references” as in parables or other
meanings to what has been said.
It would take a long time to explain the
rivers significance here, but let me share this.
Everything that would be eternally needed for
man, animal and the universe was provided in the beginning. Even the gifts that would be presented to
Jesus when He was born to a virgin, and the new Eden for when we one day are
reunited in Heaven had been factored into measure at the time of creation.
When Jesus spoke on the cross "It Is Finished" it wasn't only concerning His dying, but about day seven of creation where
restoration of the relationship of God and man would be made complete.
“Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the
host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work
which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He
had done.
Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in
it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” (Genesis 2:1-3
NKJV)
In order for the relationship between God and
His creation to live on throughout eternity, the tools that were needed had to
be established before anything was created.
The treasures of Eden provided more than blessings
of physical and spiritual wealth. The
grace, unmerited favor of God gave us Living water of salvation poured out through
the baptism of the Holy Spirit by faith in Jesus.
“He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has
said, out of his heart will
flow rivers of Living water." (John 7:38 NKJV)
The river of life is available to all who
will believe in Jesus as the Son of God.
One day those who trust in Him as Savior will be reunited in His Garden –
which is … the NEW JERUSALEM.
“And he showed me a pure river of water of
life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of
the river, was the tree of life
…
And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And
let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires,
let him take the water of life freely.” (Revelation 22:1-2a & 17 NKJV)
Is your soul thirsting for something this
world cannot quench? That sniffer lady
in the supermarket recognized a scent on me represented by soap and water for
the body; she had no idea of the cleanliness of my spirit.
Do you want that inside and outside feeling
of being truly clean of all unrighteousness that separates a person from having
a relationship with God? Then let the
Living Water Garden blessing flow through your soul, and the mercy (favor) of
God will fill you right where you are. Pray.
Together let us rejoice as we await that
glorious reunion where we will resume Life in God’s Garden by saying, “Come Lord Jesus!”
The grace (favor) of our Lord Jesus Christ be
with all the Saints until that day.
Think on This Challenge:
Water, the True Gold of This World
Water is the true wealth in this world, without it there
would be no life at all. Without life
there isn’t a need for gold and it would be deemed worthless.
The Bible tells us that Heaven uses gold to pave its
streets, so why are we decorating ourselves and “things” with pavement?
“The twelve gates were
twelve pearls: each individual gate was of
one pearl. And the street of the
city was pure gold, like transparent glass.”
(Revelation 21:21 NKJV)
Our think on this challenge begs this question: If there was no need for gold as a measure of wealth, what would you do with it?
Come Living Water (Fill Me) by Bob Carlisle
Honoring a servant of God – Happy Birthday Bob Carlisle!
(His birthday September 29th - the day this published)
More beautiful Living Waters songs to fill your heart with
blessings.
Rivers of Living Waters by Canaan’s Crossing
Living Waters by Keith & Kristyn Getty
Living Water by Gateway Worship
P.S. If you see me on the street, please don't sniff me :)
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post.
Until next time, water is God’s favor on
life!
“Drink the Living Water and live favored.”
Jesus Christ
*Unless
noted, the names in articles are changed to protect the individual(s) privacy.
Note: Emphasis
is given in some scriptures to show clarity or understanding and is not to take
away from the inspirited Word of God.
Disclaimer:
Article information is not meant to be used as treatment for mental or physical
issues, but geared toward spiritual awareness.
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