A Place of Refuge!!
I guess I really never can express how much my front porch means to me now. Most of my life has been spent on the inside in an office or study. There were not many times that I spent outside on the porch, anywhere.
What a haven it has become. A place where the Lord and I get together. A place where I can focus on Him. It has become a place of prayer. A place where friends can gather and have a sense of the presence of God. It has been set aside as a place of fellowship, of sharing, a place where a friend can come and share a cup of coffee and just talk and feel at ease. It has become a place of refuge, a place of safety and I know it is a God thing, that He has made it such.
As I have shared before, when all the clutter was removed and everything cleaned and put into order, the house was anointed and prayed over by my Pastor Scott Bradford and my friend Rev. J.Paul Bruhn. Every area of the house was prayed over, especially the porch.
Since then a peace has settled over my home and in my heart and it thrills my spirit when someone comes by to fellowship, to have a cup of coffee, to sit on the porch and talk and share and especially to pray and to sense that the Lord is in our midst also, fellowshipping with us, making His presence known by His spirit. That to me is awesome.
That our Father gives us the opportunity to pray one for another, to encourage, exhort and lift up others to Him. What a privilege and honor that the Lord has given us and do you know what I have discovered each day, when I come into His presence, that He is there, waiting, anticipating that time of fellowship, a time of heart talks, times of silence, to listen and hear the still small voice of the Lord.
That these times of prayers, of worship are times that our Father is fine tuning us, disciplining us when needed, giving us ears to hear so that we minister to others and in giving out of what He has given to us, we receive so much more in return.
To know that we are learning what it means to walk with our Father and with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ day by day. That as we spend more time with the Lord, then we begin to conform to Him as He writes His word, His thoughts upon our hearts and then tells us go and give out that which I have given you.
That we are to share the reality of our Lord and Saviour and then it truly becomes a time of Thanksgiving as we look to Him, to the creator of Heaven and Earth and to realize, truly realize, that He, with a smile on His face, that He see’s the Christ within shining forth and drawing others to Him!!
May Hill Country Thoughts become a place of Refuge, a place that you feel at home. May the Lord bless you all my friends and may this Thanksgiving be a time of looking up and giving thanks to our Heavenly Father!!
Till later,
Paul