God..... I Don't Think I Can Stand The Wind.....

Outside my front window is a type of Cat Tail Bush. Today is a particularly windy day in the High Desert. As I am watching the wind blow, there is debris from other bushes, plants and trees blowing about in the yard, but the cat tail bush is standing fully intact. Oh, sure it is bending every which way, and being whipped around like crazy, but it is unharmed by the wind.....

How can that be, the plant is so delicate, it is so soft to the touch, it is easily broken by the hand, yet the wind is not harming it.... at all! It is so graceful yet strong...

Do you ever feel like you are that cat tail bush, and life is that wind, that the circumstances in your life are so strong and powerful, that it might uproot you, and carry you off from your purpose? Sometimes I do.

As I am watching this particular bush, the wind is blowing it almost completely flat to the ground only to change directions and blow it back the other way.... I started noticing... Wait! I've got it all wrong.... The bush is me, The wind is God, and he is showing me...I may blow you every which way, bending you as far as you can go, pulling on you, taking you all the way down, and back up again, but I control the wind, I will never let you become that debris you see flying past you......

Thats just like our God to allow the winds to come into our lives, blow us all around but then remind us, "Hey, I control that wind, your roots are firmly planted in me. Those other plants that you see flying in the air, and tumbling past you in destruction, did not have firm roots, they were planted in shallow dirt, with no nutrients, not planted deep enough, and they are not being fed. When strong winds come, they can not hold their ground, they can not sway gracefully in adversity, God's word says,

"In the day of prosperity be joyful,
      But in the day of adversity consider:
      Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other,
      So that man can find out nothing that will come after him".Eccl 7:14

Adversity will come to all of our lives because, God has ordered both prosperity and adversity. Both notice, he promises both... just like the bush, he may push it all the way down, but he raises it back up again.

"How do I become strongly rooted, so I can hold my ground when the strong winds of a trial come along ?" You get grounded in sound doctrine. The bible is full of scripture about being wise in learning Gods doctrine.

He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
      He is a shield to those who walk uprightly;Proverbs 2:7

Sound wisdom in this scripture also means, sound doctrine...
      
"till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting," Eph 4:13


Don't allow yourself to believe just any doctrine that is floating around, believe a sound doctrine... this is how you will become firmly rooted, be fed, and be able to sway gracefully in adversity. If you remain firmly planted in God's doctrine, you might find him blowing you around, bending you in all directions, but remember, God controls the wind and the waves, and there is always peace after the storm. Hold on to God's wisdom, don't become debris of destruction that comes with little, or no nutrients in weak doctrine.....




God Bless you,
Joy

Because of God's Love For Us......

     

   October is National Clergy Month, and I don’t have to tell you, they don’t get any better than our Pastor, Pastor & Sis Pounds.

    I could probably go on for days and days about their goodness, kindness, selflessness, continual giving, their work that is endless, but we all know this right? What I want to help you understand, is why God has sent us to the Pounds’. Gods word says “And he gave some; apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of  Christ.”  Eph 4:11-12

                                                                                                              Sure we could belong to a church, and go faithfully, and be a “saint“, but God has placed in our lives a Sheppard, a Pastor, and for a reason, for our perfecting. God doesn’t want us to just belong, he wants us to grow, work, minister one to another, and be perfected! God loves us so much that he has allowed us an opportunity to be subject to the authority of a Pastor, and all the blessings that come with that.

    I can certainly think of times in my life, where I needed the direction of a Pastor, and I am sure you can recall being urged back into the fold as well.
    God loves me so much he gave me a Pastor? Yes!!! Listen to what God wrote to you. “ And I will give you Pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding” Jer 3:15 

It’s because of God’s love for us, that he saw fit to place a Man of God and a Godly example of a Lady in our lives.
I am forever grateful for the direction, leadership, knowledge, understanding, and yes, correction if need be, that God has sent to Connecting Point and Connecting Point HD. We love you Pastor & Sis Pounds, you are indeed, heaven sent.