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Ever
since I was a child I have had a desire to write, but have never been
able to think of anything to write about. Looking back now, I can see
that the Lord began to answer this desire when I started to keep a journal
of all the marvelous things God was doing in my life.
After writing "TWO GOLDFISH" and sharing it with others, God sent me
several encouragers that suggested that I get it published. Then I remembered
that I had written some thoughts down prior to this dating back to 1988
that I had sent to some people, and I have stored them on my computer,
but it took until January 1994 to realize God had begun to answer my desire
to write.
Some folks have told me these writings are good, but I must give God
the credit. He has given me a direct phone line to call on the Holy Spirit
at any time, but I must also remember when He is calling to me that I
must be ready to listen as the Lord speaks His inspired words to me through
His Holy Spirit. He is allowing me to be one of His many vessels, and
I am more than willing to put these messages in print. I am most grateful
to God for sending me fellow Christians that were willing to listen to
and read the enclosed writings/stories/insights. It is because of their
encouragement that these writings are now in booklet form. It is my prayer
that this booklet will continue to grow in thickness as I continue working
towards my Ph.D in HUGGING.
So I give all the credit, praise, glory and thanks to the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit (the three in one) for His messages, and truly answering
a desire of my heart!!!
Author & Editor:......The Holy Spirit
Publisher:..................Peg Harris
First Edition:.............March 21, 1994
NOTE: Please know that you have permission to copy any of the enclosed
writings to pass on to whomever you feel can be blessed by them.
God's children are blessed to be a blessing. Genesis 12: 1-3
Table of Contents
OUR CHOICE,
BELIEVE OR NOT TO BELIEVE
1988
As children we once believed in
Santa Claus. We believed, with all our hearts, that he would give us the
gifts we desired most. This was an easy thing to believe because when
we are so young we want to believe everything our parents tell us. Our
parents, being Santa Claus and loving us with all their hearts, gave us
some of those gifts. Some parents have been known to beg, borrow and steal
the money necessary to but gifts for their children.
So it is with God, our father in heaven, who told us to
come unto him as little children. If we are told we are children of God,
then we should know He is our heavenly Father who is also trying to give
us all the gifts we desire. God loves us even more than we love our earthly
children.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
son, so that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but shall have
life everlasting." John 3:16
This is God's free gift to us – Christmas, the birthday
of Jesus. Just like any other gifts that we get on Christmas or birthdays,
they are not ours until we receive them personally and claim them as ours.
God allowed His son Jesus to be crucified for our sins. All we have to
do is ask God's forgiveness for our sins and accept Jesus into our hearts
and claim Him as our Lord and Savior, and we are given the free gift of
eternal life. We can and should do this with that same childlike faith
that we had when we believed in Santa Claus. But unlike the fantasy world
of Santa Claus, that comes to an end in our early childhood, Jesus is
very real and is the same yesterday, today and forever. His gift of eternal
life, which never comes to an end, is given with no fancy wrapping – but
given with total, unconditional love, from our Father God.
Most of us go to sleep with the confidence that we will
wake up the next day. We go to work believing we will receive a pay check.
These things are based on faith. Why not believe in God's gift of His
son Jesus that he has offered to anyone who will receive Him into their
hearts as their own personal savior, you have nothing to lose, but everything
to gain.
Table of Contents
SEASONS
September 15, 1989
Spring, Summer, and Fall,
I enjoy them most of all.
To Winter, no reason I saw.
But since that altar call,
Jesus gave purpose to all.
Table of Contents
MONEY - FORGIVENESS - GIVING
January 13, 1990
How many of us have lent money to people and so often
it has not been returned? What have we done about it? I, for one, used
to get very angry at people if they did not return it, even if it was
as little as 50 cents. I have been learning over the years, only with
God's help, how to deal with this problem. If I lend money on the condition
that the person said they would pay me back the next day, week or whatever,
and they don't - I know that for my own sake, I must forgive them and
forget about it, but I do not lend them money again, but I have been known
to give it away. This process can also be called, give it to God. However,
I have found I am different with my own family. Our son used to borrow
money and sometimes still does, always on the basis that he is going to
pay it back, which sometimes he does and sometimes he doesn't.
Consider for a moment where all of our money comes
from. If we are Christians, most of us recognize that God has been our
lending source from the beginning, not only with money, but everything
we have and seem to think we own, including our children. What have we
as God's children returned to Him during our lifetime? I know I go to
work every day on faith, believing that every two weeks I will receive
a pay check. If I don't get paid, my bills don't get paid and then those
people can't pay their bills and so on down the line. And yet, God continues
to lend to us fully knowing the percentage of return is not good, but
He continues to love and forgive us anyway. God has supplied me and my
family with a home while here on earth, but there are certain bills that
must be paid in order to stay in this home. Since I am a member of MPC,
it also is my home and here too are bills to be paid so we can maintain
this place where we worship God and support its programs which help us
grow together as a church family. It helps me to consider my tithe to
my church as God's paycheck from me.
Our payback comes from God and is better than all the money
in the world, for He has given us a free gift of His son, Jesus,
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John
3:16)
Table of Contents
MORE THAN I ASK
May 14, 1990
I t all began when I called home from work to ask my
husband a question. Before hanging up he told me he couldn't pick me up
at the train station because he was in an accident with our one and only
car. Our other car died a few months prior to this event. We were to leave
for a two week vacation the very next morning. My husband was looking
for employment and funds were scarce.
I have believed and had faith in God since I was a little
girl, but until 1984 I had not really fully accepted Jesus into my life.
Since then, He has shown me how much more He is always with me and doing
what is best for me, and in His time, which is not always mine.
Our mechanic kept telling me I should get another car
instead of putting money into my present one, but I kept saying we owed
too much money on maintenance bills and had to pay them off first. God
has been trying to break me of the habit of saying, "I can't afford it."
Well, as some of you know, or like me, have learned, God has a terrific
sense of humor which never ceases to amaze me. My husband said he knew
this person was going to hit him, but he could not get out of the way,
and all he could think of was - This is our only car. The good
out of the bad is this was the only car we ever carried car rental coverage
on, and it was Friday afternoon which meant our insurance agent could
be called. By 4:00 p.m. that afternoon a car rental agency delivered a
car to our door, so my husband was able to pick me up at the train station,
and we left the next day and had a beautiful two week vacation, leaving
our troubles behind us for the time being. No one was injured in the accident;
it was the other person's fault and the cost of damages came to the exact
amount we needed to pay off our maintenance bills. God supplies in mysterious
ways at times!
Now God knew how concerned I was about buying a used
car and inheriting someone else's problems, so he blessed us in several
ways. First of all we were able to get a new car with payments that were
less than the monthly maintenance bills we had been paying. In the meantime,
I had put in a call to my one and only brother to ask him a question about
cars. Three days later he called me back to say that an elderly lady from
his church was giving up driving and decided to donate her car to her
church to be auctioned off. My heart skipped a beat, and in my mind I
heard, "That's our second car". I was so excited I could hardly contain
myself from wanting to jump up and dance around the room. Now, where to
get the money to pay for it and how much would I need.
My father-in-law had given us his violin for our son
to use when he took music lessons in grammar school. Our son was now driving
also, and the violin had not been touched for many years, and my in-laws
passed away in 1979. When they gave us the violin my mother-in-law told
me it was worth at least $1,000. I had taken it to a maker of violins
to get an appraisal and find out how to go about selling it; then Summer
came and I had stopped trying. The violin maker told me if I was offered
$500 for it to take it and run. My heart kept saying it was worth more.
Knowing also how God talks to me through other people, some of my co-workers
suggested I take it to another dealer for another appraisal. So, the day
after my brother's call about the car, I decided now was the time to take
the violin to another dealer. Praying about it, and putting my trust and
faith in God, I left this dealer with a check in my hand for $1,250. I
all but ran back to my office to show my co-workers the check, and I told
them that this money was a gift from God to purchase my next car, and
that it would probably cost exactly $1,250. It was after this that my
brother called and informed me that it would be a silent auction.
I knew then why it was going to cost me $1,250; this money was on loan
to me long enough to get a car, and it would be going directly back to
my brother's church for God's use; so because of this, I had my brother
enter a bid for me in the amount of $1,250. I believed with all my heart
that God would give me this car, and I shared my belief with church friends,
co-workers and anyone else God would have me share it with, so that He
would be glorified. God has spoken to me many times in groups of three,
and it was the third week after finding out about this car that I received
a call from my brother telling me it was mine. I told him I knew it was,
and he asked how I knew, and I told him that God told me. The car, a 1975
model, was a beautiful blue, so I named it My Blue Heaven, and
I thank God for it as it continues to serve my family today. There is
no doubt in my heart that this car was a gift from God; my brother's church
is in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
A man from church found out about our need for a car and
said if we still wanted a car for our son we could have one that his family
no longer needed. I prayed only for a replacement car, and God gave one
to each of us, one in September, one in October and a third in November.
God is still meeting my needs and many of my wants and He continues to
give me much more than I ask!
Table of Contents
CHOICES
1992
I t is our choice to:
- find out why God created us, and then do something
about it
- have complete faith and trust in God or self
- accept Jesus as Lord and savior of our lives
- take back control from God just because things do
not seem
to be going the way we think they should be going
- let go and let God; He knows His job description
- look for some one else to blame or take a good look
at ourselves
- acknowledge that most of the time it is ourselves
that allow our lives
to get messed up
- pray for whatever or whomever we want
- believe satan or God
- thank God for everything in our lives, good as well
as bad
- remain bitter or get better
- thank God for His unconditional love for us;
we tend to put conditions on our love for God and others
- pray for wisdom, discernment and God's will for
our lives, not ours (which usually leads to self destruction)
Philippians
4:13
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MITTENS vs. GLOVES
January 26, 1993
D uring my walk home from the train station on Friday,
January 26, 1993, it seemed to be the coldest day we have had this entire
winter, probably because of the wind. I was thanking God for the $4.00
mittens I purchased for this winter.
Years ago it was mentioned that mittens keep your hands
much warmer than gloves because your fingers are all together and gather
warmth from each other. No matter how thick a glove I would wear my fingers
always got cold. I have not owned mittens since I was a child, but I began
to realize that it is only when I walk to and from the train that I really
need to keep my hands warm, and I don't need to be using my hands for
anything during that time, so mittens made sense. As children many of
us wore mittens, but as we got older we began wearing gloves because they
seemed to be connected to a sign of maturity and also gave us more control
over what we could do with our hands. Then I began to think about our
fingers and hands. We can use one finger to do certain things, but there
is little we can do without at least two fingers (i.e., hold a utensil
to eat, write, etc.). Like God's people, we can accomplish some things
as individuals, but sometimes it takes two or more hands to do a complete
job (1 Corinthians 12:7-25). We need one another for strength,
encouragement, to help with things we cannot do on our own (i.e., drive
us somewhere if we do not drive or have a car; take care of us during
an illness, move heavy furniture).
God did not need humans, but He created them because He
desired companionship. In order to reproduce, and for humans to have companionship,
God created man and woman. There is little we can accomplish on our own.
I recall a song entitled "Everybody Needs Somebody". Our first
need is to accept Jesus, who in turn, through His Holy Spirit, shows us
that we need God to talk to and help us to live on this earth, for alone
we are helpless. We humans need to depend on God to give us knowledge
and wisdom on how to take care of ourselves.
As I see it, if we have all hands working together
for the purpose for which we were created (to glorify God and spread the
Good News) we will make it through our life on earth much easier. So instead
of acting like a bunch of separate fingers in a glove, as we sometimes
do, we can get our warmth during the "cold" seasons of life by
working together as fingers in a mitten for the Lord.
Table of Contents
TWO GOLDFISH
December, 1993
T here is a small pond in our back yard in which
we put goldfish each summer for mosquito control (they eat the larva).
Sometimes these fish survive the winter, even extreme cold winters, but
when springtime comes the water begins to get too polluted for them to
breathe, so we clean it out and put in some fresh water. Then the tree
above the pond drops its flowers into it and pollutes the water again.
It has always saddened my heart to see the fish live through such tough
winters only to die in the spring. The two goldfish that were in there
this summer were survivors of last winter because our son cleaned the
water out twice during the spring season. Since our son has moved out,
and no one has time to clean the pond out soon enough this spring to save
the goldfish, I prepared a home for them, a 30 gallon fish tank with a
filter and aerator, a place where they would be hand fed and cared for
always with love and concern for their lives.
This home had been prepared for them for several weeks, but I was not
able to catch them in the fish net, so I asked a friend to pray for me
that I would be able to catch the fish, after all it was for their own
good. I only wanted to save their lives. My friend commented that is what
God wants to do for us, but we don't want to be caught, we want to survive
on our own. This opened up a whole new thought process to me as I proceeded
on my venture of catching these goldfish.
Each time I tried to get them, they saw the net and swam into a rock covered
fish tank that we had put into the pond for them to hide from hungry wild
animals. This was not a time for them to go into hiding, however, so the
protected area had to be removed in order to now catch them and save their
lives. After removal of the protection area, I caught one right away,
the other was almost in the net and escaped, so it took a little more
perseverance, but I got him.
Now I had to wait to put them into their new home because of the drastic
temperature change in water from outside to inside. After I put them into
their new home I had to feed them. Living on their own they had to find
their own food, but now they were being taken care of and being hand fed.
They did not know what their new food looked like and that there was no
food but what I gave them each day. I stayed and watched as they finally
realized the strange things floating in the water were food, and then
it looked as if they couldn't get enough fast enough. I have been feeding
them and watching them eat each evening now for a week to be sure they
were getting enough food for survival. They were also caught just in time
too, since the next day the pond was frozen over.
To some the message is loud and clear and we get saved quickly such as
the first fish that was caught easily. Others may be getting a muddled
message and take longer to get caught. When we are caught we are ready
to receive God's gift of Jesus. We must ask him to forgive us for our
sins (to clear the water) and invite him to live within our heart as our
Lord and savior so that we may have eternal life in heaven. This can only
be done by you. If the other fish did not get caught he would have died.
Like the fish had to learn about the food, when we get saved we must read
the Bible daily, for it is our food for survival on earth. Our water will
continue to get polluted by sin so we must remember to confess our sins
to God in the name of Jesus to keep the water clear for healthy and fruitful
lives. The message of this as revealed to me by the Holy Spirit is that
God too has prepared a home for us in heaven so that we will not die.
However, we keep finding places to hide from him because we don't want
to be caught and have to give our heart to Jesus. So God keeps trying
to remove all our hiding places so he can catch us in order that our lives
may be saved. We too live in pollution, only for us it is called sin,
and only the blood of Jesus can cleanse us.
If we care for our friends then we too must help to clear away obstacles
that are preventing them form being saved and then be willing to sit with
them and feed them daily until they are strong in the word and can pass
it on to others. Satan will try to blind us after being saved, just like
the fish fighting over their food, God has more than enough for everyone.
Our hiding place as Christians should be in the arms of Jesus Christ and
our protection is found in His word, the Bible.
P.S. I thought since the fish were so big they would be easy to catch,
but this is not true, the bigger a person is (i.e., job or position they
hold, too intellectual) sometimes makes them harder to catch.
Table of Contents
POEM
January, 1994
W e trim our tree with many a light,
Adding ornaments shiny and bright.
Exchanging gifts of love so we might,
Feel the joy of Christmas Eve night.
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