Hosea Chapter 1:2

Do you think that the problems in our society are because the people do not take responsibility for themselves or because the government is not taking responsibility for the people? Hosea's answer would be yes. He saw both as being at fault.  Hosea attacks theology, morals, economy and politics during a time when there was social injustice, religious prostution, sexual immorality and sales of idols and souls. God is passionately concerned for both the responsibility of the individual as well as the society to care for and to give justice to the poor. I am particularly inyerested in chapter 1verse 2.

Hosea 1

 ¹ The word of the LORD that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash ^[a] king of Israel:

Hosea's Wife and Children

 ² When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, "Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD." ³ So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.  ⁴ Then the LORD said to Hosea, "Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. ⁵ In that day I will break Israel's bow in the Valley of Jezreel."
 ⁶ Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the LORD said to Hosea, "Call her Lo-Ruhamah, ^[b] for I will no longer show love to the house of Israel, that I should at all forgive them. ⁷ Yet I will show love to the house of Judah; and I will save them—not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but by the LORD their God."
 ⁸ After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. ⁹ Then the LORD said, "Call him Lo-Ammi, ^[c] for you are not my people, and I am not your God.
 ¹⁰ "Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.' ¹¹ The people of Judah and the people of Israel will be reunited, and they will appoint one leader and will come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel.

IT'S TIME

Well Lord today I go back into the nonsense. We will see if I have a better attitude or if I am just full of it. I know that I dealt with the family much better and that I will deal with the children much better too. Its all in how you look at a situation. Thank you Lord for allowing me to listen to last Sunday's sermon again and I heard something different from when I listened the first time. Maybe my state of mind was very different and unstable then. It sounds like I read more into it personally than was really there and I think I am mistaken about some things. Or maybe they were always there I just didn't notice them before. Well Lord I am here to serve you, to do your will and to make what ever sacrifices you want from me. I am yours to do what you need. Thank you Lord for loving me and continuing to give me direction and guidance. I pray that I hear your words and follow your call.

Home Finally

I made it. Through no fault of my own, mind you.

I was at that airport waiting and waiting and decided to have some hot wings. I had not had fried food for two weeks and now I decide to try some.

Along with two long island teas. Oh My God. I didnt know how horribly  acute acholol affects you in in the air.

 I was throwing up from almost the time we got in the air until we landed. It was horrible.

Then changing planes, trying to get comfortable, still nauseated but nothing left to come up or out, trying not to get any sicker.

 In cramped seats. What a day. Now I have to get ready for tomorrow. I am renewed.

 I can handle this I am ready to move forward where ever God wants to take me.

I am ready for a new thing to happen in my life and I look forward to that relationship with God.

 A new season of growth.

Home

Okay, so I am sitting at the Stingers Ray's lounge in Maui listening to 70's music, drinking long island iced teas (I am on my second one and that is more than enough considering I spent the better part of the day with my new friends from Canada drinking margaritas and mai Tai for the day.
Surprisingly enough I am not drunk. I think I am nervous about the 11 hours of travel time. I think I kinda of want to confess my undying love just in case anything happens, which I know it won't, because
God is not finished with me yet, but just in case, know that you ar the only,only true love f my life and in that it has probably been since 1995, that was when I quit Northwestern Hospital and I know I was devoted to that institution that you hold dear to your heart. I love you and can not wait to see you again. I wonder will it be the same or will it be different. I feel different, but I don't know what the reality will be like. I know that I love you and come what may, I am ready to stand the storms of good and evil with the man I love.

Thank You Lord

The Faith Community of Saint Sabina, October 10, 2010,  11:15am service, the Reverend Father Dr. Michael Louis Pfleger sermon

When you are going through stuff, you can praise God even in the midst of your struggles.

You can praise God. God I will give you some glory.

I will praise him all by myself. The praise is automatic. It will burst out of you. Thank you Lord Jesus I give you glory.

When you get to that place, when you have that kind of praise, you don’t need anyone to validate you.

You give God praise just because you want to praise him. You will break protocol, rubrics and everything else.

You will get to a point in your life where if nobody else will praise him you will praise him.

If it had not been for God…I’m one of them. What’s so interesting is that there are still people who look upon praise with that cynical eye.

You ought to have some control, some self respect, some dignity.

Is there anybody who has had a but for God experience. You will start to open your mouth and praise him.

When you have a but for God experience that picked you up when life was trying to wipe you out, you will know that God is good and his goodness eclipses the badness of what I’m going through.

I will bless the Lord at all times. I will give him glory. Psalm 107 begins with two words…give thanks…we give thanks when someone has done something for you.

When someone has brought you a gift. It warrants a response.

Now unfortunately we live in a day where there are a whole lot of ungrateful folks. They just take things for granted.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, enter his courts with praise. He’s done some stuff for me.

God told Joshua and the Israelites when they came out of the river, build an altar right here.

When you come through some stuff, God wants you to remember that you did not do this on your own.

By the blood of Jesus I am still here. Thank you God.

Children aren’t real grateful. They just expect. You are suppose to do this for me.

Adolescents start to become a little more grateful, just a little. Then they become demonic. They just throw the clothes around that you bought. You sacrificed so they can have something.

When they pay for it they take better care of it and guard it.

Jesus came to me when I couldn’t get to him. If you knew the cost, you would understand why I am so grateful and why I am so thankful.

 It was the goodness of God for me to get here this morning. The goodness of God makes me say thank you.

When you are lying in the bed just say thank you. Somebody didn’t get up this morning. You ought to be grateful.

Give thanks to the Lord for he is good (and his mercy endures forever). It is not about a circumstance or situation, its his character. Its not about something he’s done, it’s his character.

God is good. When you get to that point, He is good. All things work together for the good of those that love the Lord. He is good. That’s his nature.

He woke me up. That’s his nature. Job is blessed in the end. When Job is going through, Job could still declare that he knows his redeemer.

We can see the goodness of God because it’s personal. My praise is personal. We take getting up in the morning personal.

We thank God for whatever we have. We thank God for things that we take for granted and complain about.

His mercy, his love endures forever. God loves me and gives me mercy with all my stuff.

Some of us have a little bit of truth and can confess to some stuff going on in my life.

God still loves me. How can God still love us with all the junk still in us. God recognizes the potential in us when others don’t see it.

 God sees stuff in me. He sees my potential, my possibility.

 Imagine if we begin to look at each other with the same love that God has for us.

God loves me so much. God loves me in the pit and in the good places.

 God doesn’t have mood swings. We humans have mood swings. We try to figure out what changed from yesterday to make us feel this way now.

I am so glad God doesn’t have mood swings. God loves us unconditionally. He gives me mercy, everlasting to everlasting, because he sees the potential.

 God’s got enough love to love me until I get it right. Give thanks because he has done stuff for me.

His mercy has done stuff for me. Let the redeemed of the Lord, say so. He has redeemed them from the hand of the foe.

I was in the devil’s hand. I was born into sin in this world. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.

 When someone is lost at sea, it is a rescue, and then it becomes a recovery. I am so glad that God didn’t stop rescuing me.

If you have been redeemed by him then there is a responsibility to say so. We can fool people,but neighbor, I don’t look like what I have been through, nor am I where I want to be, but thank God I am not where I was.

Behind this perfume and behind this smile is a person with a story that most people don’t know about. Don’t be fooled. Everybody has a story.

 But God redeemed me. My past was trying to kill my future but God redeemed me. He redeemed me.

 That’s why I have to open my mouth. The text says, let the redeemed of the Lord say so.

Let the devil know that you are not intimidated.

 No more shackles, no more chains, no more bondage, I am free. Freedom. I love you, I love you , I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you I love you, I love you I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you...there is no end to it.


Psalm 107

BOOK V : Psalms 107-150

1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;

his love endures forever.

2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say this—

those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,

3 those he gathered from the lands,

from east and west, from north and south. [a]

4 Some wandered in desert wastelands,

finding no way to a city where they could settle.

5 They were hungry and thirsty,

and their lives ebbed away.

6 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,

and he delivered them from their distress.

7 He led them by a straight way

to a city where they could settle.

8 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love

and his wonderful deeds for men,

9 for he satisfies the thirsty

and fills the hungry with good things.

10 Some sat in darkness and the de

God Has Blessed Me

Thank You Lord for EVERYTHING!

Lord you are my everything and I am blessed just to be able to say that and recognize the truth of that statement.

 Lord my prayers are for everyone.

I pray that we are able to realize that the sun does in fact come up tomorrow.

We are never in the valley forever. It is how we look at the situation.

My life has many challenges and triumphs. I am an overcomer and I have come out of this situation wiser, stronger and more resilient.

When you think you can't make it anymore, you can't take it anymore, you have reached the very limits of what you can handle, God steps in and says, not yet my love.

I have more for you to do. Rest, rejuvenate, restore, but come back to me. Come back and see how I love you.

You are the apple of my ey. I am with you always. I am with you in the fire, in the storm, and in the desert places of your life.

I am with you always. I love you unconditionally.

Now I need you to love yourself just a little bit more than you have been.

Take the time you need and I know that you will come back to me in the end.

True to his word, God has been with me, encouraging me, each and every day to see his love for me.

 Thank you God for allowing me to wallow a bit in self pity.

Thank you Lord. I love you. My Love, I miss you.

Productive

Well I am starting to get my head together. I feel much better than I did a week ago when I arrived.

 I have spent a lot of time in prayer and quiet reflection. My God, My God. It is so good to spend time with you.

I was able to complete one lesson plan for next week. That was an accomplishment in it self.

Now I just have to get the other three done. I think it will happen. I am more focused and relaxed.

I can even start to talk to people with getting upset. That is another accomplishment. I was taking any and everybodies head of the minute the said something that didnt agree with me.

 It was my way or the highway.

One thing I do not like here are the flying insects. When I am walking or moving they are no problem but when I am just sitting, I become their feast.

There is always the balance of good and bad in any place. I keep forgetting to get the OFF or something to keep them off of me.

Today, I will get it and watch out insects, I will no longer be your meal.

What to say....I miss you, I love you and can't wait until I see you again. Be blessed and be a blessing to someone. I love you.