Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Only


    The question today is not, do you have a servant heart, kind heart, forgiving heart, worshipful heart or a loving heart etc. etc. etc. The question is, do you have His heart. Don't get me wrong, His heart can be manifest in some or all of the ways named above. So let me answer the question for you. Yes, if you are His child then you have His heart. The problem we have is that we desire and pursue many of the hearts that I named rather than trusting the heart we have. If we quit pursuing our own kindness, servant-hood, being a worshiper or being a loving person and simply rest in His heart that we already posses, then it will be sufficient for all those things when we need them. It will not be a matter of hunting them down or making them happen, they just will be. Only His heart can serve unselfishly. Only His has kindness that can heal. Only His can truly forgive. Only His can offer up worship worthy of the Father and only His can Agape love others. Next time the thought comes to mind “only if I was” or “only if I had” stop and replace it with, “Only His”. We are here to seek only His heart and not the fake ones we want for our own.

Love the way this verse reads. “that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

2Co 12:9 And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

In Colorado: Cottonwood Lake

Coffee and Conversations

        This picture does do justice to the amount of Cottonwood in the city of Buena Vista, CO.   This is at the famous K's Restaurant as seen on T.V.'s Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.  K's is famous for their old fashioned burgers, Shakes, and Fries and oh I forgot to mention the cottonwood.
        It literally looked like it was snowing as the cotton wood slowly fell to the earth.  The third bite into my burger, I ate a piece of cottonwood and suffered as a result.  The term dive does not do this place justice, there is a park just on the back side of the building were everyone ate their meal.  
        I tried to take a picture of the cottonwood floating in the air from above, so as you can see there is no solid proof.  I did not take a picture of the phlegm I was yacking  up last night as a result and by the way, YOUR WELCOME!
        So, I am not a fan of cottonwood, I am allergic to it.  One of the main stops on our trip yesterday was going to be at Cottonwood Lake, you can just imagine that I was not terribly excited about the prospects of visiting anything with cottonwood involved until we saw this to your right.  We are at 10,000+ ft, and it is in the middle of the mountains and it appears out of the middle of nowhere.  One of the most peaceful places I have ever been.  Yesterday, I wrote about being noisy on the inside, that my soul was in quite a fit; however, today was much different.  Today, I saw the glory of God pass by me, it was a cool 71 degrees and the wind was mild.  The mountains surrounding this lake were the epitome of peace.  Shalom was the word that came to mind, a simple principal of a gift of God, not just a greeting, put a gift of the Spirit.  You can see why this was one of my Dad's favorite places to visit.  My sister, April, says that Dad last year just sat in his truck and stared at this view all day long.
        I am not a fan of Cottonwood, but I am a huge fan of Cottonwood Lake, one of the main reasons why Cottonwood Lake is my favorite spot is because NO COTTONWOOD WAS FLYING AROUND!  And it was a place my Dad love to visit.  God showed up and again reminded me of His peace and His grace.  I have been extremely quiet the last few days while being out.  I believe it is because I want to hear the voice of God, See the face of God, and enjoy His presence while on vacation in the midst of the noise of my family, children, and activities.
       The Shalom of God be on you today!


Wednesday, June 13, 2012

In Colorado: Sitting in the River

        Greetings Friends and Family:  I thought this picture was appropriate for our current circumstances.  This week we are on vacation in Howard, CO, right off the Arkansas River in the valley between two separate swaths of mountains.  As I said in my previous post, my father died on March 1st.  He found this place last year and visited twice between the months of June and August.
        As far as vacations go, this place was his favorite.  Dad loved the mountains and He loved his family.  His intention was to be here with us this summer, he wanted one last trip with his family to Colorado.  We grew up coming to Colorado, but rarely did we appreciate the grandeur of the state until we were able to grow older and see the significance of the glory of God in His creation.  Last Fall, Dad booked a home for us to stay in, which leads us to our current circumstances.  We are here in Colorado without Dad physically, but in our hearts he is ever present.
       I really feel like this trip as been well worth the time to just come to the house and have a family retreat.

Coffee and Conversations:

        The coffee mug is the mug I've been drinking from for the past few days.  I love coffee and I love conversations.  I am not a fan of drama.  If you know me, you know that is true.  I live with 5 women, and each of them are the most significant women in my life.  I have a son, he is a gift from God, and constant reminder of the legacy my father left on this earth.  Tripp is his name, really named after my father, Lee Roy Goodson III.
         I've been waiting for God to just speak to me on this trip, but it has been a quiet few days.  I used to think that God was upset at me during days of silence; however, I have grown up to know that it is simply not true.  So in my questioning of the presence of God in this trip, I realized yesterday that I am the one that was noisy.  I walked to down to the river's edge yesterday afternoon after a somewhat disappointing day, because selfishly it did not work out the way I expected.  My expectations are usually blown out of the water anyway!  Nonetheless, I needed to get away.  I sat down on the rivers edge and shut up.  I shut up not on the outside but on the inside, my soul was noisy, fighting the calming call of the spirit.  So I shut up.  God proceeded to tell me to get into the river.  The Arkansas river this year is down.  I walked into the river with my crocs and my cloths and just sat down in the river.   The significance of that moment was huge, the grandeur of listening to the voice of God speak over me caused me to be quiet and rest.  Why was this such a huge moment?  It was a huge moment because I simply did what God told me to do.  He told me to get into the river, so I did.  It is the most relaxed I have been yet on this trip in the midst of the noise in my soul.
         I was just as calmed and satisfied in my soul at this point as I would have been in the most crowded worship experience ever.  I worshiped God.  He spoke over me the joy of Zephaniah 3:14-17, He gave me in that moment the most important thing, Himself.  A Hearer became a doer, and the joy of the Lord was present.  In that moment my niece and oldest daughter came walking down the steps, my nephew walked out of the cattails and rocks in the river, my nephew by marriage and brother in law had been fishing and saw a calmed, satisfied, enriched, and wealthy soul.  The Gospel was made known and I did not speak a word.  I acted on the voice of God which spoke from the beginning and sat in the river.
     

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