Is Your Hut Burning?

I'm not a fan of email forwards...no offense to those who are.  However, many years ago (in those early days of email), I printed out a forward I received because it really spoke to my need to trust God with everything.  While digging through boxes this morning to try to find yet another document which we need for our move, I found this small little print out.  Every now and then, God puts this little piece of paper in my path to remind me of His sovereignty.  Maybe it will speak to you as well.

Is Your Hut Burning?

The only survivor of a ship wreck was washed up on a small uninhabited island.  He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him, and everyday he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming.  Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements and to store his few possessions.

But then one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky.  The worst had happened - everything was lost.  He was stunned with grief and anger.  "OH GOD, HELP ME!" he cried.

Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island.  It had come to rescue him.  "How did you know that I was here?" he asked the weary rescuers.  "We saw your smoke signals," they replied.  

It is easy to get discouraged when things are not going your way, but we shouldn't lose heart because God is at work in our lives even in the midst of pain and suffering.  Remember, next time your little hut is burning to the ground...it just may be God answering your prayers!


Proverbs 3:5  "Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding."

Have You Been Hugged Today?

"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:17-19

Last night I ran in the Dollar Tree to get some lollipops for the kids' Valentine cards.  I felt like I was walking into Walmart on Black Friday!  There were people everywhere grabbing up anything pink or red in the store.  I even saw one guys with about 5 Valentine cards in his hand (I can only hope they were for sisters, friends, and a mother and not all his girlfriends)!!  Needless to say, I walked out with no lollipops.  Have no fear though.  I wondered next door to Party City and found what I needed 15 for $1!  As I looked around at all those people buying gifts for the ones they loved from the Dollar Tree (I'm not knocking the Dollar Tree, trust me), it made me think about the kind of "love" we have come to know in this day and age.  To me, it seems like love has become a "dollar store" kind of love.  It is very different than the perfect Love that comes from our Heavenly Father.  If we do know that kind of love, we should be overwhelmed with the desire to share it and to give people the chance to grasp the depth of His love for us.  If someone offered you the choice between a dollar plastic ring or a diamond one from Tiffany's, which would you choose? 

A couple of nights ago, I was putting Kieran to bed.  He was giving me one of his many bedtime hugs and he said, "Mommy, don't you just love when God hugs you?  I can feel when He hugs me.  Actually, He's hugging me right now."  Wow!  What a blessing to feel the arms of God wrapped around us.  Isn't it time to put aside the cheap, Dollar Tree love and reach for the One who can give us something so much better?

"How Deep the Father's Love For Us"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vmY2ztb5xc