Tag: God’s love

Jesus Changes Things

On By LindaIn short storiesLeave a comment

She had always been nervous around people. From as far back as she could remember, her fear of people had kept her from enjoying family gatherings, public places, and even school. Sure, she could act like everything was OK. And sometimes she actually did find herself enjoying something that involved people. But even so, her nerves would cause her sweat glands to work overtime. Not just the simple underarm wetness that most people have to deal with. For her, it meant sweat dripping off her hands and running down her arms and sides. Enough sweat to actually form a puddle on the floor or on her chair. And she hated herself for it.

So she asked for prayer.

Her boyfriend prayed for her. Her friends prayed for her. Even the whole prayer group, including the inner healing team, prayed for her.

And things got worse.

She wondered, “Why? Could Satan have anything to do with this? Is it my will I’m fighting for against God’s will – does He want my total submission and this is bringing me to it? Is it premenstrual strain building up for the last couple of weeks? Am I not getting some kind of nutrient I need?”

She said, “God, I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t want to be with people anymore. I just want to be alone. And I’m sorry for hiding out in the bathroom last night instead of joining the group in prayer. They were going to hold hands and I just couldn’t deal with the nerves and the sweat.  Nevertheless, I love You and I’m going to trust that you know what’s going on.”

Many times when she was feeling bad about herself, she would receive an unexpected gift – a rose, a picture drawn by a child, or a card in the mail – that she attributed to God. The time was no different. Actually, it was. She didn’t receive a gift – she received several gifts!  Some chicken from one friend, and some rolls and a desert from another friend. But best of all was a t-shirt that arrived weeks earlier than she expected. Across the front of the t-shirt were the words, “Jesus changes things.” Amazing coincidence? Absolutely not!

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“Thank You, Lord! I love it!” she responded as she clutched the shirt to her heart. He had heard her, and His reassurance that He would change her was exactly what she needed.

It would be years before she would see the evidence of the changes He was doing inside her. But while waiting, every time she started to give up, she’d see the message on the shirt and her faith would be renewed. Once again, God showed His amazing love for her by providing her with the perfect gift at just the right time.

Little Red Throne Chair

On By LindaIn short stories2 Comments

Everything was quiet. Everyone’s eyes were closed. It was time to be with God.

She sat very still, eyes closed like everyone else, and waited for what God would tell her. While waiting, she sometimes imagined herself standing in His throne room. She would picture herself kneeling at His feet, standing before Him with her head bowed, or even curled up on His lap. But this night, it was different. As she stood there, before she could decide what she wanted to do, He pointed to a small red throne-type chair and said, “Sit here, My daughter.”

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She opened her eyes and thought surely that was just her imagination. A throne chair? For her? Was that even biblical?

“What did you see?” Patti asked her.

“How do you know I saw something?” she responded cautiously, not wanting to share something as questionable as the chair.

“I just know. Something in my spirit. You saw something. What was it?”

So she told Patti along with the others who were listening. Their excitement for her got her to thinking…  what if it’s not just my imagination? What if I really am in His throne room and that I can actually go into it whenever I want? Wouldn’t that be amazing!

Just to be sure, she looked in the Bible and found…

“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence…” Hebrews 4:16 

Yes, she thought, it is biblical that we can go in the throne room, even now, while we are still alive.

“… so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones…” Luke 22:30

Well, He was actually talking to His disciples. But if all His followers are invited to eat at His table, maybe all of His followers will also get to sit on thrones! So maybe her vision of the little red throne chair wasn’t so crazy after all!

Even When You Complain

On By LindaIn short stories1 Comment

She ran away. Like she always tried to do when confronted with too much stress. This time it was a decision she was having a hard time making. Go to the church service Ruth wanted her to go to? Or go to the prayer meeting at Louis’s house that she had been invited to, again. She didn’t want to do either but didn’t know how to say no. So she ran away to her favorite place – the beach.

Once on the beach, she sat down and began complaining and answering herself, not waiting for God to speak. Almost immediately, like a cool breeze and just as quick, she got the impression that Jesus sat down next to her. Even so, she continued to complain. “Why is hearing from God so hard? Why doesn’t He ever speak audibly to me? It’s not like it would make a difference in my faith or love for Him.  Why do I have to stay here in this small town? There’s nothing here for me. What would I do if I knew I was going to be here for a couple more years? Probably nothing more than what I’m already doing. Why do I have to go to Louis’s prayer meetings? That makes three meetings a week. That’s too much! How can I get out of it?  Maybe I could tell him that, although I won’t be attending the meetings, I would still like to be invited to any other gatherings they have. Like maybe if they have a picnic.”

That gave her a great idea – a beach party! She could invite all the believers she had come to know in this town – which weren’t that many actually. They could roast marshmallows and sing worship songs around the campfire!  That would be awesome! She got so excited, she forgot about complaining.

She looked up into the darkening sky and saw the moon. It looked to her like the eye of God was looking directly at her. She smiled up at it and asked God to help her with her new plans. Then as she left, still smiling, she thanked Jesus for the quiet time on the beach. And she was once again amazed at the unconditional love He had for her even when she was upset and full of complaints!

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The Attack… and Some Brown Leaves

On By LindaIn short stories4 Comments

Already feeling low from struggling with a decision she was finding hard to make, she was not prepared for her dad’s attack.

“Christians are all ignorant fools,” he told her. “Too stupid to use their own minds, they just follow whatever the church says. Blind faith. Stupid faith.”

“It’s not like that,” she tried to explain. But he wouldn’t listen.

“You’re no better than them. You have been brainwashed into believing God can actually love you. That He’s actually interested in your life. He is God! Creator of the universe! He doesn’t care about each tiny individual. He made the world and now it’s up to us.”

“But that’s not what Jesus said…”

“Jesus!” he interrupted her. “He may have been a good man, but he was not God. He didn’t know any more than anyone else. People just made him into something he wasn’t because they needed something to hold on to when life got tough. Jesus is nothing more than a crutch.”

“He’s more than that, dad. He is God and He is with us. I know! I met Him!”

“If you believe that, you’re no better than any of those other delusional people. If you were smart, you’d drop this fantasy and look at life as it really is.”

“What about the Bible? The Bible says that Jesus is God and..” She was cut off again.

“It was written by ignorant people trying to explain a world they didn’t understand. We know better now. Science has proven most of the bible inaccurate. It’s just a book of fairy tales…”

And on and on he went, his voice rising as his anger against Christianity grew. Eventually, he got tired of ranting and left the room. She sat there, feeling as sore and bruised as if he had actually beat her. She slowly got up and got ready for bed. She started to pray but stopped. How could she? She didn’t deserve to be with Jesus. She had not been able to defend Him, to speak up for Him, to make her dad understand. She had let Jesus down. She felt like she couldn’t have Jesus anymore – not because He didn’t want her, but because they just couldn’t be together anymore. And she wanted Him. Not just because she needed Him and without Him, she wouldn’t have life, but because she loved Him. And so she wept.

The next day was spent in misery. She felt like God was on her side concerning her belief VS her dad’s belief, but that didn’t help much. She still felt like she had let Jesus down.

That night, before entering the church hall for the weekly prayer meeting she attended, she decided to take a walk down the church yard. It was dark, and the ground was covered with brown leaves from the many trees in the yard. As she walked with her eyes down, she began talking to God, telling Him how she felt. She really didn’t feel like attending the meeting. She was in no mood to go in there and greet everyone with hugs and smiles and pretend everything was OK. So she asked God what she needed to do.

“Rejoice, and praise Me in song and with your words.”

She sighed. “OK. Fine. But it won’t be emotional.” Then she added, “Please keep me from being a wet blanket on everyone else.”

As she walked, she pictured Jesus walking next to her. As often was the case, her image seemed to take on a life of its own, and she saw Jesus act like He was feeling as down as she was and kick at the leaves.

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This made her smile. Jesus feeling down? And kicking at the leaves? She looked up at Him as she joined Him in kicking leaves, and she saw that He was smiling.

“Jesus, You are amazing! You always know just the right thing to do for me!”

And she went into the hall to greet everyone with hugs and smiles and act like everything was OK. Because it was.

A Dime for Your Thoughts

On By LindaIn short stories4 Comments

She loved finding stray coins on the ground. Usually pennies, she always picked them up as a reminder to trust in God. The words engraved on them actually told her to do that. But sometimes she thought of them as a hug from Him, or a pat on the back for making a particularly hard decision or finishing a hard job.

Finding coins of higher value were rarer, but they too got picked up with a quick, “Thank You, God” or “I love You, God.”  Sometimes she would get a sense of His love in return, but not any more than that.

On this day, however, it was different.

She had stopped at a gas station to fill her car and to get a cup of ice before heading to her brother’s house almost two hours away. She had been to his house numerous times over the last several months. Although seeing him was always nice, that was not the purpose of these visits. Her dad was the purpose. He had moved in with her brother and was no longer able to take care of himself. In fact, his decline was accelerating and she never knew what she would find when she arrived. Would he be his nice self and they would have an enjoyable visit? Or would he be his angry self, yelling at her because she couldn’t do anything exactly as he wanted? Or would he be sleeping her whole visit making her feel the four hour round trip was for nothing?  Calling ahead did no good because his mood often changed by the minute.

So on this day, as she entered the gas station, she was feeling a tug of war. She wanted to be there for her dad, but she didn’t want to go just to sit there while he slept. And she didn’t want to be yelled at. Looking down, she spotted a dime.

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“Thank You, God,” she said as she usually did. However, this time she was startled to clearly hear in her spirit,  “And thank you for going to your dad.”

Hearing from God was always amazing to her, But for God of the Universe to actually thank her for something? That was truly amazing!

Psalm 139 The Chase

On By LindaIn short stories2 Comments

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She ran. He chased.

Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
 even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

And she was glad.

 

Trust Me

On By LindaIn short stories1 Comment

After her walk in the rain, she got in her car to head home. Home was about an hour away, through mostly uninhabited areas. There was the one small town between where she was and where she was going, but it was too small for even a traffic light. So she thought it would be an easy drive, especially in the early pre-dawn hours. She prayed like she usually did before making the drive, only this time her prayer was not about getting her safely home without delays or problems. It was that He would get her home according to His will. Why did she change her prayer, she wondered. That was strange.  But she just shrugged and drove out of the parking lot.

Thirty minutes later, as she entered that very small town, her car began to overheat. She watched with growing panic as the needle on the temperature gauge climbed steadily towards the HOT section.

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She was still almost 30 minutes from home. No way would she be able to make it. As she slowed down and studied the few buildings she was passing, all closed up and dark, she began complaining.

“Why can’t this have happened after I got home?  There are people there who can help me. I don’t know anyone in this town. Besides, they’re all sleeping anyway. So what am I going to do?  I don’t even know where to get water.  This is just my luck! If something is going to go wrong, it sure will. Look at that gauge! I can’t keep driving, or the radiator might explode or something. Where should I stop? Man, I’m so tired! Why did I have to go walking in the rain? If I had come straight home, the gas station would have still been open…”  On and on she went, getting more worried by the minute.

Finally she turned to God.

“Why are you letting this happen, Lord?” she demanded. “Aren’t You supposed to be taking care of me?”

In her spirit she heard Him clearly. “What did you ask me before you started driving?”

She thought for a moment, then remembered.  ‘Get me home according to Your will.’

“Yeah, but I didn’t mean this!”

“Trust Me.”

Trust Him? He wasn’t the one in a overheating car in the middle of the night, without even a flashlight. Or was He?

“OK. Where do I stop?”

Just then she saw lights ahead of her. As she got nearer, she saw that it was a small restaurant. Could it actually be open? As she looked through the large glass windows, she could see a waitress serving a man. So she pulled into the parking lot and went inside. Despite, or maybe because of, her appearance – a young girl, soaking wet and all alone – the waitress and man were happy to help her. After a small mishap with the radiator cap, the man managed to refill the radiator with the water the waitress brought him. And the car was ready to make the last leg of the trip home.

Back on the road, she thought about what had just happened. And was thankful that that man just happened to be in that restaurant just as she was passing it. The restaurant could have been empty, considering time of day it was.  Coincidence? She shook her head. Jesus had told her to trust Him. And He was right. She learned that even if things go wrong, He can be trusted to take care of her.

Hmmm… maybe He was behind her changing her prayer in order to provide her with this experience in trusting Him. That would explain a lot. He was sneaky that way sometimes.

“You are amazing,” she told Him. ‘But next time, can we just wait until I get home?”

Can I Get a Cat?

On By LindaIn short stories4 Comments

“Can I get a cat?” Rachel asked her parents yet again.

And yet again her parents  tried to explain to her that it was impossible. They already had a cat-hating dog. If they adopted a cat, it wouldn’t be able to live safely with them in their tiny trailer. It would most likely become dog food.

But she couldn’t understand that. Dogs and cats can live together. She had seen and read enough to know that was true. But then, that was probably in someone else’s world, not her’s.

“God, someday, can I get a cat?”

Things changed when they moved to their new house.  A two-story house! Surely there was lots of room to add a cat!

“Can I get a cat now?” she asked.

“No, we told you. We can’t have a cat while Spike is around. He doesn’t like cats.”

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Not the answer she wanted, so she went over their heads once again.

“God, will You give me a cat?”

 

So it was with great delight that she found a kitten while on a bike ride with her family.  It was so tiny and so alone and so scared. This had to be her cat!

“It looks sick,” her dad said.

“We can’t leave it here. She needs to go to the vet,” her mom said.

Rachel added her voice to her mother’s, and secretly thanked God for her kitten.

They made a bed for it in the garage, and Rachel spent as much time with it as she could.

“Can we keep her?” she asked her parents.

“No, we’ve already explained. We can’t have a cat with Spike. He will end up killing her. We need to find this kitten a home.”

As her parents tried to find a home for this kitten, Rachel intensified her prayers to God.

“Don’t let them find a home. Don’t let them find a home. Don’t let them find a home.”

As the days became weeks, Rachel’s mom couldn’t understand why she couldn’t find anyone who wanted a kitten. But Rachel knew why.

And so did God. He knew that Rachel was going to need Cassi  to help her through some very rough teen years. So He protected Cassi as she went from living in the garage to living upstairs in Rachel’s room. And over next 15 years, Cassi became a symbol to the whole family of His love and compassion and how He sets things in motion, often years in advance, to take care of needs that only He can see. What an amazing God!

What If Statues Came Alive?

On By LindaIn short stories4 Comments

“Really?” She raised her eyebrows at him with disbelief. “You mean, for real?”

“Yeah, for real. Want to?” He smiled at her playfully.

“It’s storming outside!”

“No, it’s just raining now. The lightning is gone. It’ll be safe.”

“But it’s…” she looked at her watch, “two in the morning!”

“So?”

She didn’t answer.

“You afraid of the rain?”

“No. I love the rain.”

“So, let’s go!”

” But what if there’s someone else out there? Someone who might hurt us or rob us or something?”

“No one is going to be out there. It’s raining!”

“We’re going to be out there.”

“Yeah, but we’re crazy.”

Reluctantly she agreed. This was probably going to be one of the stupider ideas he’s had. Walking  down a street, in the middle of the night, in the rain?

But as they walked, hand in hand, hair and clothes plastered to their bodies, she had to admit it was fun. Way more fun than saying good bye to him and driving that long drive home.

Laughing with delight in the experience, they made their way to the end of the road, where they came to his church.

“Hey, let’s go inside,” he suggested.

“Won’t it be locked?”

“Nope. They never lock the door.”

“What if someone sees us? We’re a mess!”

“Who’s going to be there in the middle of the night? Besides us, that is.” He laughed again.

So she agree and they went inside.

“We should leave,” she said, looking at the floor. “We’re getting the floor all wet.”

“Don’t worry. It’ll evaporate.”

They walked down the center aisle and looked around at the stained glass and the large statues all around them.

“Just imagine if these statues came alive,” he said.

“That would be spooky.”

“But what if they did? What would they say?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know.” She wasn’t so sure she liked this game.

As they turned around to head back out, a large statue of Jesus caught their eyes.

“I have an idea,” he said. “Let’s imagine that statue of Jesus coming alive and coming down the aisle to stand right in front of us. And let’s listen to what He would say.”

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“He’d probably say we’re being stupid for being here instead of at home, considering tomorrow is a work day, and…”

He cut her off. “Let’s just see, OK? Close your eyes and listen.”

She sighed, but did as he asked.

Within seconds, an image filled her mind. An image of Jesus standing in front of her, looking at her with so much love all she could do was gaze at Him. Then He put His arms around her encouragingly, and walked her out of the church saying, “Let’s do it together.”

“Well, anything?” he interrupted her imaginings.

She shared what she had seen, and he smiled. “That’s pretty much what I got too.. Jesus loving me and holding me in His arms.”

As they left the church,  awed at His response to their silly game., she was filled with thankfulness to the amazing God who loved her and promised to do life with her.  Even in the rain.

A Rose of Affirmation

On By LindaIn short stories2 Comments

She was feeling down. Again. Seems she was always feeling down these days.

Her first year walking with Jesus had been amazing. Full of surprises  and discoveries. This second year so far has not been like that. She seemed to be frequently plagued with self-doubts and confusion.

This latest doubt centered on the baptism experience everyone seemed to be talking about. The Holy Spirit baptism. One of incredible joy and power. Or so she had been told. She had yet to experience that for herself. She knew the drill. Ask for the baptism. Get someone to lay hands on her and pray along with her. Yield to the Holy Spirit. Then He comes in with all His glory. Or at least as much of it as humans can take.

She had done all that. Several times. She never felt any of the joy people spoke of. In fact, she never felt anything, and she didn’t feel any different now than before all those prayers. So, what was the problem? Certainly it couldn’t be with the Holy Spirit. It had to be with her. She must be defective somehow. So how could she be an effective witness for God if she was not even capable of receiving this baptism? And how could she pray or worship God if she was this defective? How could He even be even a little pleased with her when she was so broken?

She was desperate to talk to someone about this. To open up and share her doubts and feelings. But she was alone. She asked the Lord to bring someone into her life who she could discuss this with her, help her make sense of it all, but no one came.

So on this night, she went to bed with her thoughts and doubts and feelings swirling around in her head.  As she thought about everything that had happened to her since her encounter with Jesus the year before, she fell asleep. When she awoke, she was surprised to find a pleasant feeling of relief had replaced the confused desperation of the night before. It was as if she had talked out her doubts and fears with someone while she slept.

“You did. With Me.” But she didn’t hear the quiet whisper as she prepared for the day.

A little while later, her eyes grew wide as she saw the rose one of her students was carrying. The rose was the biggest and prettiest she had ever seen. And it had just been handed to her! She was speechless!

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In the past, in that first year of exciting experiences, many times  after she had struggled between God and her doubts and had chosen to believe God, she would receive a gift from someone the next day. She had come to see those gifts as a pat on the back from God for making the right decision.

So she knew this amazing rose came from her amazing God! The student may have handed it to her, but she knew it was really God Himself handing her the rose. And in her spirit, she could hear Him say, “How can you say I am not pleased with you? You are my daughter! I am well pleased with you. You are OK just the way you are!”

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