Memories and praises etched from Kehie, Maui

Day 3 in Kehie, Maui, and I am awed by His amazing gift to me, for this once in a life time opportunity to come to Maui, Hawaii! God, Thank you, Thank you!! I love You. I don't even understand or get Your love for me, Your gifts and Your blessings are too many! Your love and mercies are over-welming.

I have experienced so many blessings from YOU..in my 56 years of life. I want to treasue them in my heart and remember them always, especially during these days in Kehie. The swaying palm trees in the tropical storm..the swims in the warm Pacific of Kamole Beach..The fragrance of the flowers. Your creation I am so thankful for! God I don't deserve any of this, yet You have chosen to bless me beyond words, sitting here viewing the white caps of the ocean, the walks on the beach. Feeling the smooth, soft, warm sand between my toes, the magnificent surf that splashes onto the lava rocks. The sound of the winds the russle in the palm trees. God for this time, I just want to marvel in Your creation. To soak it up, to remember it, to store it up in my heart as gifts, as nuggets, to put in the bank of my heart. The sunsets that are so different each evening. God You are the artist of the skies, painted with the pinks, purples, oranges...So awesome!!

I love You Lord my God!I am so grateful that You speak to me through Your creation. That You restore my soul. I will always treasure this time inside my soul as I return home, to the realities of life. I will be thankful for this time. The days swimming in the warm Pacific, the song of the birds in the mornings and evenings, the fragrance of the many flowers, the geikos running across the path of my feet. The birds on our Lanai that visted in our condo each morning to say hi, (well to get whatever crumbs they could find).

God, Thank you for just a tiny fraction of what heaven will be like, and that You have prepared such a place for me. Why? I really don't know, I don't deserve it, but I am awed by Your love, Your grace, Your mercies, Your salvation..and that for whatever reason You chose me, You choose to love me, and I guess I am sensing that it has nothing to do with me, but All to do with YOU!

God may I never take that for granted, as I go back home in a few days, I am filled with Your love. God thank you for reviving my heart, when I return home my desire is to live out the rest of my days with purpose, with vision. To be used by You and for You. I don't want my days to be wasted. God, I started off well with You, my desire is to finish well.

The world is in chaos, as You well know. It gets darker by the moment. Oh Lord God, I desire for Your Light inside of me to blaze bright again, in this darkness. To represent You well. No matter what my circumstances. Lord my flesh is weak, but my spirit is willing. I want to shake off the sin that I struggle with. Your Word is Light. I want Your Light to shine. I love You oh Lord my God, my strength, my Rock, my Redeemer. I praise You.

As it is storming right now in Maui, I praise You, and the times when my life may not make sense, or the circmstances that surround me try to rock me, I will continue to praise You. Like the Palm trees outside my Lanai, that are swaying in the winds, still it stands tall. For obviously it's roots are planted deep in the soil God let my roots be firmly planted in Your Word, in You, and You spirit in praise always. Psalms 1:1..(paraphrased from my memory)..And like a tree, she is firmly planted, for she delights in th law of the Lord, and she meditates on it day and night, and her leaves will not wither.

My Prayer in the Wilderness

*I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you. (Joshua 1:5)
Dear God,
Today I want to praise You for this season in the wilderness. For in this season, You removed so much of what I became dependent on to fill those empty places of my heart, that I put before You. Several times You knocked me to my knees as You needed to show me those places in my heart that once again needed some heart surgery, (Ouch). In this time in the wilderness it has caused me to cry out to You, even when I have not felt Your presence. In the wilderness it has shown me my desparate need for you, and you alone to fill the empty places, to deal with some issues that I allowed to entangle and choke out some of the fruit of Your Spirit that You desire for me to walk in. But I am thankful that no matter what You never left me, and Your love and Your grace never leave me.

I am thankful God that You have slowed me down enough, asking me to be still so that You can again deal & heal this heart of mine that needed some healing and dealing. The process has been painful and long as I have had to slow down, and You have revealed some idols in my life that needed to be removed, some of them being busyness, even family, church, things that are good, but if those things come before You, and that first love intimate relationship that somewhere I lost in some life issues, and running to this and that fill those places, but in that missing You. I thank you God that in this, You have shown me Your grace and Your love, so much, that You don't want me to stay stuck.

I am thankful God that I am not alone, that I have characters in the bible who I can relate too, because they too struggled, lost faith, cried out to You, fell down and by Your mercies were able to get back up. I think of Elijah who struggled with depression. I have during the wilderness. Job who at times questioned you why..I have in the wilderness. Thomas who doubted, I have. David who cried out to You, with such honesty and transparancy..thank goodness for David and his heart-felt honesty to You in all things such as loss, temptation, sin, and yet You call him a man after God's own heart.

In my wilderness experience my faith blanket got torn as I have felt discontent and despair, I felt my faith being tested, and I was feeling very afraid and insecure...sometimes when life hits hard and we are put to the test, it reveals our faith or lack of...but thank goodness God, you didn't beat me up in the wilderness or leave me, actually I think You led me there...You have brought me in the wilderness to show my deep need for You. That I can trust You, even when my feelings contradict. In the wilderness I have felt broken, but it's been in the brokeness, that I see my weaknesses, my frailities, my lack of faith, my lack of You and my desparate need for You and Your strength, because this flesh wars against You at times, but thank goodness for Jesus and the cross and that because of my lack of, shows me my need of Your salvation and grace!!!..and in all this I am thankful that I could cry out to You and be honest..that there was no one else to run too but You...and You understand. The longer I am a Christian, the more I see my need for You. Thankyou God, because in the wilderness season I have drawn closer to You. Your love never changed...and I am learning what Your grace and mercies really mean and that I am nothing without You and Your grace..because in me I fail, but in You there I can find hope, strength, mercy, love...Thank you God that in the wilderness... You never left me, in fact it is where I needed to be.

*The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. the righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the recue each time. (Psalms 34:18-19)