Many Crosses to Bear . . .

If you've been following my blog you know that a couple of weeks ago God gave me the words for a blog post. I later learned they were also given to a number of others, but Phillip Nation, was one who also posted a very similar essay on a web site. When i questioned God about this I was told that it is common for God to do this sort of thing in order to get the Message out there. Then I saw this CBS Sunday Morning video about the Three Crosses Ministry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAKHgTWA9Bk&noredirect=1

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/many-crosses-to-bear/

A man named Bernard Coffindaffer received a commission from God after surviving open heart surgery to put up crosses. He used his own money, three million dollars, spent his last dime, put up his last cross, then died, but that wasn't the end of the story or of his ministry!

 
Sometime after Bernard passed, a Mississippi mom, Sara Abraham, had clipped a newspaper article about Bernard's crosses ministry out of the paper and slipped it into her Bible. During a devotional the article fell out of the Bible and onto her table and when she reached down to pick it up the Lord inspired her to continue Bernard's ministry, which she did.

Hearing this story bolstered my faith that God indeed works through many people simultaneously all around the world!

 

http://www.crossesacrossamerica.org/Crosses_Across_America_Vicksburg_MS_About_Us.html

Getting the "Message" Out

Apparently, God is the original "Social Media Guru" . . . and was engaged in connecting believers with a spiritual network long before Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook made today's modern Internet scene.

Why have I come to this conclusion, just the other day, and it's happened before, I was overwhelmed with the impulse to write down some specific words I was being give from God. I learned a day later that pretty much those same words were given to at least one other person, Philip Nation, who also wrote them down and posted them online.

I had to know what was going on so I prayed to ask if indeed He sends the same messages to more than one person. The clear answer I got back was, "Absolutely!" And, I was told God sends important messages to thousands of people simultaneously. To souls in different cities, from different countries, practicing different religions, speaking different languages, all to make sure His teachings for our generation get out.

In the "old" days, it was one person speaking to another, but God isn't above making use of our modern technology and social media platforms to greatly amplify His audience. God is picking believers for this task knowing they have the passion and courage to speak to others, to show their Christianity in today's secular world. Knowing some will listen and some won't, the more people who hear the message the better. When Jesus walked the earth there were only a few million human beings. Today there are billions and yet one person with a Facebook account or a Twitter feed or a popular blog can reach millions!

God went on to say how distress He is about the Christians being killed for being believers and He knows it makes people frightened to show their faith in some countries. God wants to saturate the world with His messages of hope in order to be victorious in the global battle for faith, so that Christianity can prevail, so that Good can overwhelm Evil.

I was upset at first when I learned that what I'd written had already been posted online. God's answer gave me comfort and helped me understand my small role in achieving God's Greater Purpose. I was told that it shouldn't matter who gets credit for the words as long as the message gets out to the world. That made sense to me. Hopefully, more Christians will join the fight, the battle, the war to win the world over for our wonderful Great God!

Earning God's Confidence

After the miracle of being given the words for the Eight Keys to Spiritual Growth post, I kept mulling over the significance of what happened.  Of course I felt honored that God had the confidence in me to pass on important messages of hope that are being given not only to me, but to many other believers.God knows the deepest desire of my heart is to help people and I love to see the smiles on their faces when that help arrives in the form of a Words from God meant just for them.

 

I have a little prayer I say everyday that goes like this, "Lord I will praise and honor you all the days of my life and in Jesus' name I pray, amen." I say this prayer several times a day. Why, I'm very thankful for so many blessings, in my life and the lives of my family members, from the smallest Godwinks (read my book) to the ultimate super miracles that have been overwhelming at times.

God has blessed me and in doing so has taught me so much about myself. Having come out of my difficult childhood brainwashed with the opposite message, just knowing that I am an intelligent human being with the capacity to amount to something, means the world to me. My book and my blog are constant reminders that using my gifts and skills I am capable of making a meaningful contribution to the greater good. But my gratitude doesn't just extend only to the good things in my life.

I also thank God for the trials and tribulations I have each day. I now realize that when you have problems, and everything seems to go wrong or not the way you'd expected, it's not God trying to punish you, rather you're being pushed forward, new doors are opening to give you new opportunities. The question is, are you willing to face such a challenge and walk through a portal for change when offered as a gift from your God?

Most people are afraid of change, but God wants you to grow and so there's always a good lesson that comes out of turmoil and in time usually abundant blessings will follow. Many make the mistake of blaming God for the things that go wrong when in reality they should thank God for teaching them to be patient and wait for the rewards that will be coming. 

I also feel very honored to be able to follow in my Grandma Carmella's footsteps. She had a gift to be able to pray for the answers to people's problems. I believe she planted the spiritual seed in me to carry on the Generational Blessing that was given to her. I plan on following every instruction the Lord gives me along with being thankful for both the good times and the challenges that come my way.