05.06.2023

57⁰ F sunny W@14mph SR@0615 SS@1944

Morning Offering given

Sierra Blanca is peaceful but busy

We slept in (630 here)

Coffee will have to find some

The air is dry here…my body loves that.

Today I ponder “How do we get to know Jesus?”

He doesn’t come with an instruction manual. There are no shortcuts to him. One has to make the journey themselves. The journey can be hard and painful. You will need honesty. There is no prayer that will …POOF…make you intimate friends with Christ. You must do the work, of cleaning out your soul to make room for him. Put away all the toys, and focus with your heart. Listen for the still small voice…ask him to speak to you…tell his you are listening, and do just that. Those nudges telling you to or not to are Christ. That booming voice you hear in your mind…the one you haven’t been listening to because it is telling you to do something you believe is too hard or will take too long or you just don’t want to do…listen to it.

It was back in the ’90s, we’d been foster parenting for a few years. I was a Deputy Sheriff for the Dubuque Co Iowa Sheriff’s Department, I was standing in my kitchen, back to the room, stirring something on the stove. I heard a voice behind me, it said “Quit your job.” I laughed and responded “Oh yea right. You’re quite funny today.” (I thought it was my husband speaking to me) I turned to look at him…seeing no one and realizing at the same time he had gone to work ages ago. The .voice went on to say “I will take care of you, remember the sparrows.” I’d been off work due to a work-related injury for weeks and was just now going back to light duty. I pondered that voice all day. I recognized it as the voice that had spoken to me on another occasion when our second daughter (T ) had decided to run off with some older guy towards the end of her senior year in high school. That time he told me to just let her go, there was nothing she was ready to hear. I would hear him again as the years rolled by, generally at some crisis or turn-point. From experience, I can tell you He can be hard to ignore, and He can be very persistent, to those of us who have a stubborn streak or are afraid to take the next step.

You cannot learn about him or connect with him by following a manual. The only way is to spend time with him, listening.

Know you are prayed for.