Too much of a good thing can be deadly.  When we are not prepared for an overflow it can be dangerous.  Abundance is not always a good thing.  I think you have gotten my point by now.  Our friends and perhaps even some of your family members have experienced this first hand.  Many probably had gardens and even maybe prayed for rain but what they received over a few hours and even days was more than they ever dreamed of.  Bottom line is we need to prepare for the abundance that is coming.  We are all praying for our southern friends, taking needed items, going down to physically help and sending money. But what are we doing personally for the abundance of souls that are going to be saved in the last days?

See the churches and the Christians are not prepared for the abundance that is coming. In most churches we would probably run out of toilet paper before we ran out of chairs.  Many would be upset they lost their parking places and still more would be upset someone was sitting in their chair.  It can get real messy when their is an abundance that we are not prepared for.  In most churches across America there is a shortage of volunteers for the nursery and children's church. With the abundance of souls to be saved in the last days there will come many children and right now we can't take care of the ones we have.

2 Corinthians 9:8 (NIV) "And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work."

God is able to bless us but are we prepared for the blessing? Do you know what to do with more than you bargained for?  Our state is dealing with a lot of cleanup due to the abundance of rain.  Likewise I believe we will have a lot of clean up to do when the latter rain occurs.

Joel 2:23 (NIV) "Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given you the autumn rains because he is faithful. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before."

James 5:7-8 (KJV): Be patient therefore, brethern, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rains.

I have heard that the storm that passed over southern West Virginia circled back and passed over West Virginia again and when it did, it stayed.  We know that the Lord has visited the United States before. He has passed over and many revivals and great awakenings and salvation's have occurred. Many have been praying for another great visitation.  May we all begin to prepare our hearts and churches for the latter rain and while we are praying for what we want to see, let's all pray for those who are and have experienced great loss and devastation to property and possessions as well as loved ones.  

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Matthew 19:21 (NIV) "Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

There are so many times in life where I have found myself in trouble because I lacked just one thing?  How about you?  Everything was great except I didn't have enough money for college.  Not enough money for college changed everything to the point it seemed nothing was great.  Other times I had what appeared to be everything a girl could want but, a car.  Yes, that was it a car would solve all my problems.  Right.  Then there were times I had everything but a husband, everything but a child, everything but a house.  How many "buts" can you come up with today.  Everything would be perfect if I only had _____________.  

Matthew 16:26 (NIV) "What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?"

As I sat down to write this I realized I had everything but my mouse. I could do the Blog but it was going to be a lot harder, take more time and perhaps even cost me not making my deadline.  I thought I had everything I needed until I went to get it, to count on it.

What about you today.  Do you appear to have everything?  There is coming a day when we will see what we have.  We will find out what we need.  On that day it will be too late to go get what we are missing.

2 Corinthians 6:2 (NIV) "For he says, "In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation."

Today I made an assessment of my situation and came up short. I could improvise.  On the Day of the Lord we will either have what we need or we won't.  There will be no improvising.  So, right now I pray you and the Lord have made things right so things....don't go wrong.

Romans 10:9 (NIV) " If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

Fellowship is something we all need. Sure it may burn us out, tire us but it can also refuel us.  God Himself desired fellowship with His creations.  That in and of itself should let us know its normal for parents to want to spend time with their children.  It is the same in the Kingdom of God as it is in the natural family. It’s kind of funny to me God didn’t live in the Garden with Adam and Eve, He visited.  We all need our own space, but we still need fellowship.

1 John 1:7 (KJV) “…but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

It is much easier to fellowship with people when we have the same belief system and we desire the same things for our life.  When desire to be free from sin and take time to be with others who desire the same thing out of life then it is easier to stand up for what we believe.  It strengthens our faith to be with those who have the same desires and beliefs.

1 John 1:3 (KJV) “what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”
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It’s Summer. Why not take the opportunity to invite someone to dinner.  Spend some time just listening to one another with the Love of the Lord. Who knows what might happen.

1 Peter 4:9 (KJV) “Be hospitable to one another without complaint.”

Babies are born when they are ready, not when we are ready. They chose the time of day and what that day will be.  Babies are on schedule but they determine the schedule. Even those that "schedule" a c-section and think they are in control must admit even the date of the c-section is pretty much determined by the baby. I have had the privilege of being present at several births including three of my own deliveries. Each baby enters into the world in their own special way. Even in the Bible one little guy stuck his hand out and his brother decided to push him aside and come out first. 

Genesis 38:28 (NIV) "As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said, "This one came out first."

Just like a baby we decide when we will be born again.  The preacher may preach a fiery message, the praise team may be beat on but the decision to be born is up to you.  What will you decide?

Joshua 24:15 (NIV) "But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

​Hebrews 3:15 (NIV) As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion."

It did not matter what I had planned the other day when I received a phone message asking me to come to the hospital the baby was coming.  I cleared my schedule. I wanted to be with this couple and do whatever was needed to assure a healthy baby and a healthy momma.  I prayed.  I cried.  I beseeched God. I held a hand and God did the rest.  It was a VICTORY! A baby was born.  It was perfect timing.

It's no secret I am a believer.  I would guess because you follow my Blog you are a Christian as well.  I have learned however, there are different kind of Christians.  There are sold out, lukewarm, convenient, traditional, moderate, Christmas and Easter, born, and even undecided to name a few.

What kind of Christian age you?  What determines the kind of Christian you are? Your decisions.  What you do with what you know determines how deep in Christianity you will go.  Some of us are swimming in the Word of God we are totally over our heads.  Others are only knee deep in the waters of the Word and it is much easier for them to get in and out.  Getting in and out for some Christians is the level of Christianity they have chosen.  They are in on Sunday and out on Monday.  While I was out of the country it revealed what kind of Christian I was.

When you don't know what to do it reveals who you are anchored in.  Most would think my life was tossed to and fro in the ocean while the winds blew and the waves crashed. For me the focus was on the anchor. What was God going to do now? Allow me to give you some examples.

We needed some Euros so we went to find a Banking machine. That part was easy. Operating the Banking machine was not so easy.  The prompts were all in Italian and the machines were very different.  As my husband and I were fumbling through the prompts and waiting for the machine to respond a man approached us and said, "May I help?  I speak fluent Italian and English." He approached at just the right time.  We had no idea you have 5 seconds to grab your card and if you don't the machine retracts the card and you need to go to the bank to retrieve your card.  Did I mention it was Friday after 5 PM?  I would have had to wait till Monday to get my card back. Now that's a storm. The Anchor held and the storm passed. 

Another time we were both tired. We had driven from Croatia through Slovenia and on into Venice, then Verona, and finally reached Brescia.  That being said, "drivers fatigue" had set in and now the one way narrow streets were taxing our physical and mental capabilities.  Our feet were tired and parking spaces were non-existent.    Just when I was about to give up to keep the peace and spare our bodies and minds, a Nun about 85-90 years old walks out of a stone building from nowhere. I literally chased her down "that was the easiest part of the day thus far).  I asks her for help and she held on to my arm and lead me around the to the city offices I needed to find in order to trace my family roots.  The Anchor held.  The storm had passed and it was sunny again.

Why am I sharing this?  Because when you are sold-out, in over your head into this thing we call Christianity it tells God, "I am doing my best here but when I run out of rope it is your job to keep me from sinking." That unwavering faith in the Savior of my Soul is what sets us apart from others.  We will all run out of rope in life. We will all have days we are weaker than the wind that blows, but when you are soldnout,  the Anchor will hold.  The person you need will show up at just the right time.  An angel will appear out of no where. There will be a ram caught in the thicket.  The waters will part.  

Today I encourage you to determine to get in over your head.  Go as far with God as His Son went with you and you will always have Resurrection power available to you.   Join me and an unnumbered amount of believers who have gone on before us who have determined that they too are sold out and hence experienced the Anchor holds, He never leaves us alone, He is an ever present help in trouble. He is all we need.                                                                      

While I was traveling I had a friend water my plants. I knew for certain that at this time of year the plants would never survive without water.  Most if not all the plants were gifts. Each plant though they vary in color and purpose are beautiful and serve a different purpose. Several provide shade and privacy on my porch so I can enjoy my morning coffee without being noticed by neighbors and feathered friends.  Other plants provide beautiful and fragrant blooms to captivate me and my feathered friends to drawl closer and stop and smell the flowers.  Still others provide decoration and accent.  

When I returned home my porch looked like a lush tropical garden.  My friends loving care and attention to detail had paid off.  She had watered them continuously and you could tell.  To the observant eye you could see no brown leaves from drought and heat, no withered leaves from lack of water, no erratic growth from water and then no water.  These plants had been well attended to and given what they needed for proper growth and maturity. Regardless of their color, purpose or origin they all had been sustained and maintained by the life giving water.

Lesson for today.  We must be in the Word of the Lord daily on a consistent basis in order to grow properly. If we are to serve the purpose for which the Master purchased us then we must take heed to get the necessary essentials to life.

Ephesians 5:26 (NIV) "to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,"

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV) "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Isaiah 40:8 (NIV) "The  grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever."

Today be sure you get into the Word and get the Word in to you, way down into your root system and you will grown.

One Way.  We have all seen the signs and I would be willing to bet that if you have lived long enough you have gone the Wrong Way at least once?  I thought so.  It's easy to do. It is not something we usually plan to do.  Yet we do it anyway, sometimes knowingly and other times in ignorance. So what do we do? Well usually we turn around and go the other way. However at times there is no place to turn around and we find ourselves having broken the law and yes--at times we have to pay the consequences if we are 
"lucky enough" to have survived the ordeal.

This trip to Italy was filled with "One Ways".  Europe is notorious for Round-a-Bouts. Italy is notorious for one way (very narrow...very very narrow) streets.  Thank God their cars are also little (very very little).  Did I mention so are the people? Not short, but very skinny.  But that's for another Blog. Needless to say I am full of new blog material--so pass the news and hang with me as we journey this life together. 

John 14:6 (NIV)  "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

There was one way in and out of the airport. One way in and out of restaurants, one way to order and pay for your food, one way to speak to people, one way to eat (slowly, in courses, and you do not order cappuccino before desert or with it, only after it. Did I agree with all these "One Ways"? No, but neither did it change the way things were to be done. I had to adapt.

So today if you are trying to do things "Your Way" remember even Jesus said, there is only one way and no one gets to come another way.  Oh and did I mention the word "repent" actually means to turn around and go another way.  So hey if you've been breaking the law lately, traveling in the wrong directions or simply doing things in the wrong order?  Get right or get left!

Arrivederci!  

Here are a few pictures to enjoy from the last day of the trip for those that don't have Facebook.   Traveling home today, thank you for prayers for a safe trip!  I'm excited to be headed home. Great ministry time and learned much about foreign travel.   

Did you ever notice when someone gives you directions it seems so simply to get to a specific location? However when you begin to follow those directions you begin to realize how difficult it truly is to arrive at that destination?  Everywhere we have traveled here in Italy people have told us, "Just go on foot it is only straight and 5 minutes."  Needless to say there are no roads that go straight and even though the maps even give you a 5 mile radius everyone must walk as fast as we drive....seriously.  I have completely worn out 2 pair of shoes and both of my feet.  Lesson learned--next time you go to Italy take one pair of really, really good shoes and only as many clothes that will fit in a carry on.  No make-up needed. Oh and a good deodorant for how nervous you get when your not positive you are headed in the right direction on the numerous train rides you will take.

So what I want to share with you is precisely why Jesus said, "Come follow me".  It is so much easier to follow someone, than it is to try to do what they tell you to do.  Somehow directions become fuzzy and unclear, but if you can just follow that person in front of you it is much easier.  My joy returned when I found someone who spoke my language and said, "I will just take you there--follow me."  The greatest trip of all was when a lady told us to hop in her car and she would drive us....talk about favor.

In life pick someone to follow.  May I suggest Jesus Christ.  Read His book and do your best at following His directions but when all else fails....just follow Him.  

My feet are hurting everywhere.  First day in Venice we had no idea how far we would walk.  We probably walked for 6 hours without sitting down except to get a cup of cappuccino and find a Wi-Fi connection.  I had already gotten 2 blisters in Croatia.  Now around my entire heel was a solid blister.  There is not a place now on my feet that aren't experiencing some sort of injury.  However here in Europe there are far too many cars for parking spaces.  We are foreigners so we do not know the laws and certainly do not want to have our rental car towed--so we walk. We walk everywhere.  It is a beautiful thing to walk in the breeze and sunshine and to see all the sights and people but the feet are not use to this lifestyle.

Romans 10:15 (NIV) "And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. The disciples had to walk everywhere and while I am sure they desired to see the lost saved there was a price to pay for walking everywhere they went.  The feet of the disciples were probably not beautiful to look at.  To the people that once were blind but now could see they probably thought everything about the disciples and Jesus were beautiful.  If you opened my blind eyes, healed my body, set me free I would think you were the most beautiful person I had ever seen.

There is a price to pay for everything we do and everywhere we go.  We make the decision as to whether or not we will pay the price.  If I had to do Croatia and Venice all over again I would gladly do it.  I would choose different shoes--but I would do it none the less.  Sometimes we do not know what we do not know until we feel the pain of our decisions.  I had no one to tell me what to prepare for.  Thank God we have men and women of God and the Bible (the word of God) to help us navigate the life we live.  If we had to learn everything the hard way life would be too painful to live.  I am grateful for those of the faith that have lead the way.  

​Takeaway-if you are going to Europe plan on walking...a lot.  Pack little and wear a really good pair of shoes. In your life learn all you can from the men and women of faith who have gone ahead of you.