The Front Porch!!
You know if you had ask me several years ago about my front porch, I would have looked at you strangely and would have shook my head. After all it had become a gathering place for junk, for things not in use, a place to store things. That it got so bad you could hardly open the screen door to get into the house.
Now I can look back as I write this, here on the front porch in the cool of the evening, with an almost full moon. I can look back and see how it represented our lives. How we allowed things to gather. Things that had no purpose but I held onto them anyways. There was a lot of clutter taking up space, not allowing us to use the porch for what it was intended to be, a place to rest, to relax, to talk, to share, to meditate and to think.
The porch represented my old life, my old ways. All the clutter that was blocking my communication with my family, with my wife, with my children and it was blocking my communication with my Lord. There was so much clutter that I could not see the beauty of what I had. I neglected to maintain a walk, a relationship with my Father like I should have. Oh, I was a Christian, I was born again, spirit-filled but I was a neutralized Christian.
I sat back and allowed myself over the years to become lazy in my walk, in my love for the Lord. I allowed myself to become lukewarm, I became of non-effect, I was not a threat to the enemy. I ceased to be the covering that I should have been.
It took nearly two years of my life, of cancer, of surgeries, of radiation, chemotherapy and a divorce to see what I had lost. Oh, I am not down on myself, and yes it takes two people. I am not having a pity party but as a dear friend ask me yesterday, would I go through this again if I knew that it would bring me to where I am now in my walk and relationship with the Lord, in the things that are happening in my life now, would I go through it again? And when I thought about it, I had to be honest, and say yes, because if brought me to the place where the Lord wanted me in my relationship with Him.
I don’t know if there could have been an easier way, maybe, but all I know is that I am where the Lord wants me. That I am in the center of His will and that I am a pen in His Hand and I have never been as happy as I am now, knowing that I am doing what my Father wants, that I know that I please my Father and I know that the enemy of my soul hates this with a passion.
His objective was to destroy me and bring me down so that my Father’s plans for me would never happen. What appears to be utter disaster my Heavenly Father is turning around and in the end all Glory and Honor will go to Him!!
Well restoration come to my former wife and myself? I hope so, but if not I will still go on, I will serve the Lord with all my heart, with my whole being, with all that is within me because He has called me for a time such as this to stand and to declare that He is Lord of Lords, King of Kings and His purpose in my life will be accomplish as they will be accomplished in you as you walk day by day with Him.
As we remove the clutter, clear away the garbage and remove the blockage, then we will be able to function fully in the Lord.
As I sit on my porch each night or each morning, it reminds me that I can see the sky, enjoy the stars, sense His presence and enjoy the lamp that is lit not only on my desk but also the lamp that is lit in my heart, a flame that is breathe upon by my Father and consumes all that is not of Him, that I can, that we can come forth as pure gold, as instruments that can be used of Him to exhort, lift up, and encourage others in their walk with the Lord.
My hearts desire is that Hill Country Thoughts will become a place on the net, where people can come and draw forth hopefully from wells of living water of the presence of the Lord. That the Lord is allowing me to share that which has been made real in my life. That which I have experienced, to give out of what He has given me. To be able to sit here on the Front Porch of Hill Country Thoughts and to be able to say here I am Lord, use me this day.
May that be the cry of your heart also as you come to that place where the Father reveals Himself to you and teaches you to give out of what He has given you, no matter how small, it may seem to you, to use if for Him, for when you use it, He will expand it. We can never out give our Father. He will keep filling our vessels as we pour out what He has given us to others.
We are to be His hands extended, sharing out of that which He has given us. We are to share the reality of the Lord Jesus Christ and the hope that is in Him!
Till later,
Paul