You speak

You speak.
silently,
sometimes softly
sometimes ever so loud
but not with words
spoken.

sometimes written
sometimes in art
the snapshot
the painting

sometimes
the way we walk
how our arms hang
how we stand

tells, says all.

sometimes
our view, our vision
of our life
and of another
is seen
through eyes
downcast
flashing anger
wincing with pain
bloodshot with tears

sometimes.

You speak.
Does no one hear
your pain
your cry
your need
Will no one listen

What am I to do
you think

I too was there.

Many have come and gone
Some have stayed
in place,
lost still
and alone.
Others,
maybe you
have gone on,
found the missing piece
of this puzzle of life.

For God
can be your shield
your protector
your guardian

He will hear your cry of distress
and He will care
He will direct your every move.

He will listen
to your pleas
He will put gladness
in your heart
and lightness to your step.

He will give reason
to trust
He is merciful
and loving
and worthy of praise
and thanksgiving.

He is kind,
yet judges righteously
He is Truth
He is honorable

He instructs
provides insight
leads us to
and through
places we are fearful of

He will save you
He will bring you
a gift ...
a singular gift whose value is priceless ...
The gift of eternal life.
One you cannot repay
Cannot earn.

A gift to accept
and live.

Cathy Orrick Luders

10.23.2010

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Our Choice

"... But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, ... you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days ... I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, ... that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days;" (Deuteronomy 30:17-20a NKJ)

God created us - Adam and Eve were His first - and we created more. We are not on equal footing with God. No one is of His stature. He is Above all, greater than our greatest. Each of us is created to be like Him, but it is our choice to Be like Him, to listen to Him, to obey Him, to follow in His footsteps.

Likewise, it is our choice to listen to our feelings, to give in to self-doubt, to settle on self, and not on Him, to chase our sorrow in drink (or food), to never open the pages of His book, to never get started on a new road. It is always our choice.

We choose every day. We feel pain and agony, whether physical or emotional, and we can settle there and constantly complain of how we "feel" today ... or, we can move on. Get busy. Open His word. Get into His word. Pursue study. Listen to what He says to us. Find a Bible-believing and teaching church if you don't already attend or belong to one. Get involved. Become attuned to where you need to be. You may discover that where you need to be is where you want to be, and nothing in your life will prevent you from following Him.

It is your choice.

What have you decided?
Will you follow Jesus?




To know more about accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior: http://windowtochristianministriesiniowa.com/ReflectionsOnJesus.html

To Know

To Know
To Live
To Be About
yet aware
of the future outcome
when Jesus returns.

To not fall
down in a heap
To not remain
desolate and filled with despair.

To know
... more than head knowledge
... more than thoughts
... more than responses from other people.

To know
the true meaning of life
To find
our way, the way
to Jesus

To not be afraid
To reach out
To grasp hold

To reflect
on where and what we are
where and what we have been
where we will go
what we will be.

To see
beyond our eyes
into our heart.

To review
and remember
Bible prophecies of old

To believe
the promise of the Holy One
To accept
His love for you
His gift of salvation

To live
renewed
re-nourished
reborn
... a new life
... a new beginning
... a new you

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." (John 3:16-17 NKJ)

To search
To find
To believe
To accept
To know
To live

Do you search?
Have you found?
Do you believe?
Have you accepted?
Do you know?
Have you been reborn?

To know more about accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior: http://windowtochristianministriesiniowa.com/ReflectionsOnJesus.html

Oct. 12 photo collage

On Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 12, my husband and I escaped from the woes of the world and drove north to Backbone State Park near Strawberry Point and into Elkader before returning home. Here are some photos from that excursion. Some show beautiful foliage, some just rocks and trees, some farmland, and some others, the sky in all its splendor and beauty.  Enjoy!

See the rainbow!

The Catholic Church in Elkader. It had just started raining, but I was sheltered underneath the trees to get this  picture.

That's me in the corner. This is the Keystone Arch Bridge over the Turkey River in Elkader, Iowa. 

Have your eyes been opened?

"We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy." (Daniel 9:18, New Century version)

Not because of our deeds,
Not for our accomplishments,
but for our needs, our burdens, our sin.

All that God has to give and does give is not a result of anything we have earned. It could/would never be enough. He gives because He loves us. He offers because of His love. What we do determines/shows where our allegiance, our thankfulness, lies.

Are we a child of God, the one true God, or are we snug within ourselves, refusing to accept His open hand of grace, believing all there is is only because of what we can do?

"With men (people) this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26, New King James version)

Jesus asks of the blind men (and blindness can be physical and spiritual; what we cannot see is not only visual) in Matthew 20:32, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  Their answer? "Lord, that our eyes may be opened." (v. 33)

"So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him." (v. 34)

Have your eyes been opened? Do you see what God offers you? Have you accepted His gift? Are you full of thanksgiving, of praise to Him?

"Lord lift my eyes,

Open my heart,

Touch others through me
In You, always, only." 

He lives ... He's here

"A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. But others fell on good ground, sprang up and yielded a crop a hundredfold."  (Luke 8:5-8)

"Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved, But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. And the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience." (Luke 8:11-15)

The seed in the field ... the word of God in our hearts.

God does not want His word to simply lie on the path of our life, whereby you walk over it, concerning yourselves only with personal cares and riches and pleasures to obtain. He wants His word to take root, gain a foothold, continue to grow, hungering more and more for Him and His word.

As the word or the memory of a beloved person lives in your heart, that is how God wants His word to live within you. God does not replace your beloved's heart love, but builds upon it.

The pain of losing a loved one.
God understands your loss.
He knows what you feel, what you can't always put into words.
He was there.
He brought His Son into the world
to save us from our sin.
He allowed His Son to be sentenced to death
to save us from our sin.
He watched
He waited
He looked away
He forgave us
of our sin ...
Because of His Son.

God was there.
God is still there. Always.

When a loved one dies
When a relationship fails
When we cry out in pain
over our losses
our dreams
our hopes
our mistakes

To take so long
to find Him
To hear
To really hear
God calling

Do you answer Him?

How long do you take
May be years
decades
forever it seems.

So much time -
many years perhaps
you spend holed up
in your own personal world
of glum and gloom.

Questions bombard you from every corner -
why,
when,
how,
who,
where,
what

Questions you struggle to answer.
Questions
like
What on earth am I here for

Questions that only grow,
consuming more of your day,
so you feel you are
not living.
not doing.
not being.
Absent.

I was there.

Your life - filled with remorse,
misgivings,
questions with no answers,
only your own seemingly worthless thoughts.

Maybe not so worthless,
but they were getting you nowhere.

You didn't know where to turn.
You wanted to hide,
yet not.
You wanted answers.
You wanted love.

I found my way to Jesus.

Not quite that simply.
An individual comes into my life. Someone who asks about me, who is interested in me, who becomes my friend, who teaches me about Jesus, who becomes my mentor, who guides me, but doesn't judge me, doesn't tell me what I should do, who prays for me.

The seed is planted. My choice what to do.
Your choice too.

I sought a Bible-believing and teaching church. I found. I learned. I felt God's tug at my heart strings. I believed. I accepted. I allowed God's seed, His word, to penetrate my being. I grew. My faith grew and grows - up and down, in and out. Sometimes my growing seems stagnant. Sometimes it bursts wide open and I am awestruck - filled with wonder and excitement.

Every day is a new beginning, a chance to build upon past experiences, to see where God will lead you, what missions He has for you and you alone.

The road is winding and still rough. But I'm not on it alone. God is beside me, behind me, in front of me.

I still have pity parties, I still cry with pain and sadness, I still have moments of feeling alone.

But the seed was planted. And the seed has grown. And has remained and does not fall away.

He is patient. I not so much. But I learn and I strive to be obedient to the Master - my Lord Jesus Christ.

The one who saved me from eternal damnation
The one who loved me and loves me still
The one who was and is and is to come

The one who brings hope and love and peace and joy ... to me and to you ... JESUS!

Information on how you too can be a child of the King: http://windowtochristianministriesiniowa.com/ReflectionsOnJesus.html
or for an interactive presentation of the gospel: http://www.thekristo.com/

To Live, To Die

"For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:21)

To live
to remain
on earth
to do the Lord's bidding

Always wonder why
when we think
usefulness is gone
we remain
and when
we are in the midst
of going to and fro
or just barely
beyond the opening gate,
our life is over.

Our physical life is over. But if we are with Christ, if we have professed Him as our personal Lord and Savior, our spiritual life continues and grows and lives forever and ever in the heavenly realms. Without Jesus - if God had not come to earth at all, where would we be? There would be nothing to hope for. Our eternal life begins the moment we realize and accept Jesus' birth, death and resurrection is for us, our very souls. This is our rebirth. With Him, our tomorrows have promise and hope. And when we reminisce of days past and those soon to come, the remorse and sadness that envelopes us will give way to joy. Joy in the Lord. And what a day of rejoicing that will be.

Wapsipinicon Photo Collage

Wapsipinicon State Park

Anamosa, Iowa ~ October 5, 2010

It was a Tuesday afternoon, but seemed like a Sunday. A few people about - fishing, camping, or sight-seeing like us. We hoped for colorful arrays of oranges, reds, gold, but had to settle for mostly green.

I grew up on a farm in Cedar Rapids and we had many pine trees. I saw this and it reminded me so much of home, I took a picture. I remember the sharp pine needles when out walking barefoot, the fragrance of the trees as I walked through them.

Pampas grass grew in many places along the roadway. I think it is so pretty.

This is of the church entering Stone City.

God's dream

Max Lucado says "God's highest dream is not to make us rich, not to make us successful or popular or famous. God's dream is to make us right with him."

"Love is of God" (1 John 4:7)

"... The love of God was manifested toward us ... He sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. ... He loved us and sent His Son to be the propituation (atoning sacrifice) for our sins." (1 John 4:9-10)

God's dream
God's desire
God's wish

Not God's need
Not what we think
But what He knows

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts
Nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord." (Isaiah 55:8)

God's ways are higher
Higher still
than we ... such lowly creatures

God's dream
God's desire
God's wish

Is not the same as ours.

What we give to Him
is of little value
if we have not found
what it is He desires

Do you know?

God is love.
Love is of God.
God sent His Son,
His only begotten Son,
into the world
for us.
to live.
Through Him.

Not through ourselves
not through anything we accomplish

God's dream.
His desire.
His wish
is
for you
for me
to have
a very personal
and up close
relationship
with the Living Lord.

Cathy Orrick Luders

10.4.2010