News
This portion of the Hydrated With Love™ (HWL) site features HWL Updates, and a
word for the Month (pertaining to the season, the times, or a sample
from an upcoming collection). By using the links below,
you can also connect with the following essentials in
order to know the full Life Garden experience desired by
God for all He created: The First Stepping Stone,
Preparing for the Master Gardener, The Ultimate
Invitation and Awakening Writers.
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NEW BEGINNINGS?
On February 17, 2008, my husband and I lost the last of our parents
when my mother in law passed away after courageously battling the
same disease that took all four parents from this world.
There is a very real void now in my heart,
from each loss, for these special people had so greatly impacted my
life, yet I have mourned at times over what I was not for them, and
what could have been on both sides in all these relationships. Even
so, I am simply not the person now that I was when most of the
parents lived and died, therefore I try to not dwell
upon the regrets.
In truth, most of my regrets center
about my mother, who passed away long before I had fully experienced
motherhood and could therefore appreciate her sacrifices and her
agape love for me. She left when I could have so enjoyed her
presence, yet we were so far apart spiritually in her last years that
I was not listening to her advise for me. How very frustrated
she must have been over my indifference. Did God take her to spare
her heart-pain? Did God leave me without her so I would seek
Him out through His leading, not her pushing? Nevertheless, she left
this earth before I came to know Jesus as my Savior, her key prayer
in her last five years of life. Were her prayers behind my
salvation? I do believe they were. I used to think I so
disappointed her by not being saved before she died, but she knew God
does the saving, not man. And I do believe she now knows I
succumbed to His call and is dancing in heaven for joy...no prayers
are wasted.
I do have regrets regarding my
father, not because of what I was not for him, for I tried much
harder than he to bond and stay connected as adults, but I mourn for
what he was not for me and my family. He was simply a man
heart-wounded and betrayed when young in life, who buried his hurts.
Then, as so often happens, wounded people continue the cycle. Even
so, he died a saved man, so we will re-connect in paradise. He taught
me so much in the area of commitment, patriotism, freedom in
creativity, and a love for all the arts. This time it was my many
prayers that God answered.
Sadly, my understanding of my parents
came after they died, for my capacity to love them, and desire to
accept them as they were increased through my relationship with
Jesus. The emptiness from their absence also stirred me to seek more
of God to fill the heart-void left by their deaths. I had so
taken my mother for granted in life, consumed by my work, family,
friends, and hobbies, not including her enough, yet she said
nothing and appeared to be consumed by her own work, friends, and
church. I was wrong; she yearned for more of family. Daddy told
me after she was gone. Oh God, help people to open up and
better communicate with the living... For then came the end of hope
with her sudden passing. Only when sometimes complacent
attitudes are replaced by reality's sting, do we SEE and HEAR.
And I awoke when she died...Could it be that for many of us, full appreciation and gratitude for our parents
reaches soul depth only when we are no longer able to tell them the words
they longed to hear more often, to their face? Could it also be
possible that God doesn't want us to be our parents or other people's
all in all, for then they will be more likely to turn to Him, not
people for fulfillment?
But, before sinking deeper into words of
self-condemnation which God's Word tells us in Romans 8 not to do, I
will say this: God wants us to be aware of our error, then go
to Him and humbly repent, then move ahead, in Him. He would
want us to have learned by our errors and then use His wisdom to help
others, as His servants still left behind, telling them to not make
our mistakes. The truth of the matter is, most
people have regrets when a loved one dies, not necessarily for the things
they missed doing in those last years, but for errors in judgment, or
things not done or said over many years. For no one is perfect,
not one....Above all, God looks at our hearts and knows our intentions.
So I have repented and in Him only can I move on in peace.
There has been a peace for me in the
midst of each death spoken of here, for God faithfully took me into a
new and good season in my walk with Him during their last days,
during the funerals, and afterward. Each death was like a seed
of transformation planted in me and others about me, igniting deeply
in order for new life to begin. Instead of a sense of ending, I have
consistently been awakened to seriously pursue Him with more passion.
Each death seemed to plant knowledge for His children while deepening my understanding of His grace
and wondrous faithfulness.
I feel led here to share how God used
each loss for good, for He promises to do so in His Word in Romans
8:28, my own mother's favorite scripture.
In 1975, when my 55 year old mother died
of breast cancer moving to her bones then heart, I received the
revelation at her funeral that "the Bible was the Word of God, and
all she had spoken to me was truth." That piercing "good"
thought came rushing into me as I sat at her funeral on my birthday, one month after
delivering her second grandchild. Until that
instant, I had doubted the entire Word could be true. But the timing
of her death was when God chose to get me onto His path of
understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6). I never forgot that life-changing moment and
because it was a revelation, it turned me around and I began a
serious pursuit of God; two years later I was saved, but not
until1996, did I fully surrender to the Lord and experience the
Baptism of the Holy Spirit. I believe my mother in heaven was
praying for the "fullness" to be known by her needy daughter....Oh
God, may everyone pray without ceasing...
In 1985, ten years later, my precious
father in law died at 65 of leukemia after a two month battle, and
the words of my mother "they can hear you when in a coma," suddenly
came to me as he lay dying. I slipped into his Johns Hopkins
ICU room and prayed fervently for him to be saved, and went through
the steps silently, then told him how much I loved him and that I so
wanted to spend eternity with him. Then I begged God to show me if he
had heard me, and one of the 14 machines he was connected to, the one
with the blood pressure information, bleeped and spiked to the top
then down again, drawing my eyes and ears to what I learned ten years
later was God speaking, for He told me so, in 1997...He passed away
the next morning. Again, the death of one of our parents took
me to a place of deeper faith, for each time I share this story with
someone He leads me to share it with, a seed of hope is planted in
them and often they say, "I have chills." The Holy Spirit has
done His work again...
On November 3, 2001, my birthday, my dad
died, but when he was near death, God led me to prepare his legacy to
my sister and I. I knew I was to speak it, no excuses accepted
from my Lord, but fear overwhelmed me, for I had a severe phobia of
public speaking that had crippled me with fear all my life in many
areas. But I knew this had to be done, for reasons I did not fathom
until the moment before I went forward. I was about to take a
plastic bag to the podium in case I "lost it," but the Holy Spirit
said, "put it back," and like a robot I stuck it back in my purse,
only to be rewarded with a manifestation of the peace of God that
swept over me from head to toe. This peace I had learned comes
when we obey Him. I then went forward and a strength and new boldness
and confidence beyond my comprehension came over me, and the words
poured out. Then as I walked to my seat the Spirit spoke to me,
"I break the curse your father spoke over you as a child when he
said, ' you can't speak in front of a group like I can; you are like
your mother and she can't so you can't either.'" Ever since the
day of his funeral speech, I have been able to speak before a
group...Romans 8:28 again proven to be truth....
During the last week of my mother in
law's life, I was led to visit her alone in the hospital to tell her
Jesus loved her, that He knew she believed, and that she would be
with her husband and her mother in heaven. She was so comforted by
that word He had given me to tell her, for she wanted to go to heaven
at that point. Over the years she had told me a number of times
that she believed in Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior, and in her
last year, God had sent a Godly former Sunday School teacher into her
life who told me after she died, "she understood." More of my
prayers answered... I even was able to give him some of my markers
and he came to her funeral. She and I prayed together in her
last week just as she often would ask me to do prior to various
times when fearful. We always connected most when we could talk about
spiritual things, and over time she had supported my writings and
would ask me to read them to her. She would ask me to give her
any Christian devotionals and books and I would save them for her.
She told me she had her sons baptized and confirmed and these things
so comforted me. She had done what she was led to do. When her
last day came, I was led to sing to her and read scriptures and pray
with her, and I know she heard. At her Memorial Service, on
March 1, I was
led to read most of Psalm 16, which clearly and simply put into words
what God had done during her 21 years when left a widow. She
would tell me, "I couldn't have done it without the Lord; He
protected me (or I know He took care of me.) This act was one
of obedience. Again, my faith has grown because of this last
loss of a parent, though it is too soon to know the full outcome of that
final act for the Lord told me a memorial service is to remember the
dead but it is for the living.
I only know that I trusted and obeyed. The rest is up to God
who blesses those who seek after Him and His
righteousness...
I pray now that all who read these words
will have a new hope planted in them regarding the outcome of being a
doer of God's Word, not a hearer only (James 1:22). I pray also
that each who read this writing will truly realize the importance of
sharing their testimonies with others (Rev. 12:11), as He leads, and
know that
we are on this earth mainly to glorify Him. The very best way to do
so is to simply trust Him and then obey...cwp
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The First Stepping Stone
Though my heart, clearly evident through all I write, is to help bring people
into an intimate garden walk with their Savior, and become free of "life"
infirmity, the First Step on the life garden path rests on THE ROCK foundation.
Jesus is that ROCK (1 Cor. 10:4). He is also the Fountain of the Water of Life
(Jer. 2:13) that carries
Living Water to your heart, which is the dwelling place of your spirit garden.
The relationship with Him begins, grows and endures, through FAITH (Hebrews
11:1, 12:2; Romans 10:17). The ultimate life-choice made by you is initiated by
God as He continually draws you toward Him throughout life through nature,
experiences, silent words to your heart (the still small voice), and
revelation (Rom. 1:15-23). Our first step is therefore both our beginning and our ending, for
it involves our final travel destination and eternal home.
Preparing to Welcome the Master Gardener
God's heart plan and how to achieve it is clear and simple. The preparation and
final "work" was done by His Son on The Cross, and cannot be "re-worked" by us
on earth. For it was done by the final sacrificial Lamb required,
since Jesus was the
only One pure enough to meet Father's requirement of "sinless." Our forgiveness
has therefore been purchased by God Himself, through His Son - our spiritual
debt paid. This essential step in our garden preparation shall never again be
required. We need only believe this truth, then trust Him, however, we need
faith only He can give, to move on. He does not expect us to be perfect or all
cleaned up, before we come to Him. All He desires is our heart-sincerity. God
calls all creation unto Him, but does not call the equipped. He equips the
called. Therefore, once we do our part, by saying "YES," to Jesus, The Master
Gardener, (who is patiently waiting at our heart door or our personal Garden
Gate), the Holy Spirit will swiftly enter us then lovingly help bring forth our
awesome potential. Yes, He will refine us to have the essence of a rose, but oh
the fragrance we can then give to others. We are like living wells, reservoirs
for our full purpose on earth. It is spirit power from the Holy Spirit that we
need to realize it.
I pray now that all who visit this site, and are unsure of their heart
condition regarding salvation, will have the "desire" for greater faith planted
in them. Then, in God's perfect timing, I pray each will receive the gift of
faith that is essential to move on, in Jesus. Our heavenly Father, so loves
each of His children, and yearns to be one with them. In fact, He cannot look
upon sin, therefore we have to repent or admit that we have done so, for the
spiritual "turnaround" to occur in us. Then we need to receive the ultimate of
gifts from God, that of His Son (John 3-16-18). Only then can Father accept us,
for we have confessed our past sin and stated our belief in His Son. The final
result is: we become one with God as He adopts us into His
eternal heavenly family (read Romans 8; Acts 17:24-31).
The Ultimate Invitation
All you need to do is speak forth aloud or silently, these words: "Dear
Lord, I confess that I have sinned, and ask for Your forgiveness. I believe
Your Son, Jesus Christ, died for me on the cross, shedding His precious blood,
that my sins would be forgiven. I also believe He was then placed in a tomb,
but rose from the dead to live with His Father in heaven until He returns to
judge us. I now ask Jesus to come into my heart, and be my Savior and Lord over
all my life, that I may live eternally forgiven."
With this sincere profession of your faith, you are saved from spiritual death,
and will never experience hell. The enemy may harass you on earth, through
people and situations, and even through negative and defeating thoughts and
fears, for he has free reign here to do so, but the Word of God, who is Jesus
Christ, clearly tells to resist him and he will flee (James 4:7). We are also
told how to protect ourselves daily (Ephesians 6:10-20; Psalm 91). May the
Living Word, the Holy Bible, become your inseparable companion, and may you
seek out a church to regularly attend, one where you are truly fed and where
you can grow in your faith. There, you will find others to pray, study, reach
out and fellowship with, in safe unity.
A Call to Awaken Writers
I believe God wants me to call forth all people at this point who have always
had a desire to record or write, for it may be that He has planted the writing
gift in you. He has a way of revealing outright, or
simply gives us glimpses of our many abilities, throughout
life, (1Cor. 12; Rom. 12:4-8). I want to personally
encourage all people to not hold back in the area of the spoken and written
word. God clearly tells us in Malachi 3:15 of a Book of Remembrance being
written before Him, for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His
name. Those who will spend eternity with Him are in the Book of Life. He
compares His Word to a two-edged sword in Hebrews 4:12, and clearly states in
Ephesians that the word of God is the sword of the Spirit. There is mighty
power when we wield His Word about, in the written or spoken form. Thus, I am
including it on this site frequently, for I intend to
firmly support what He inspires
through me, with His pure scriptural word.
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