Visions and Dreams from God.

 

I give permission for any one to copy and distribute my blog posts.

Members of my family have had visions and dreams from God over the last two years. I am going to share all this with you because I now feel God wants me to do that.

My sister, who lives in the United States, heard God tell her that something big and terrible was going to happen soon. He told her to buy camping and survival gear.

She didn’t have much money, but every month she bought those items from Amazon. She had finished buying everything by last January. Because of her, my husband and I also bought camping stuff. We just finished buying our last item.

My sister got impatient waiting for God to tell her to leave her home and go. The Lord told her, “There is more for me to do. Your family is ready and in place.” She is content now to wait.

Meanwhile, I had a dream Jesus was returning, he was on his way here. There was a large sphere coming through the stars. I could see smoke, fire and lightening in the sphere.

My husband has had dreams of our family fleeing to the mountains. In one of the dreams there was a mob chasing us and as they almost reached us a wall of fire separated them from us and we ran. He has had three or four of these dreams this year.

We don’t know what is coming. But we believe God’s warnings and have prepared. I hope you will pray about this and ask God if it is true and what to do. May God bless you all.

 

Waiting on God and an Update on My Husband’s Stroke.

 

Andrew Murray

I allow anyone to copy and publish what I write on by blog, "Who is God?"

“Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him. Those who wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the land.”   Psalm 37:7,9

Thank you for your prayers for my husband. He is slowly recuperating from his stroke. This morning he said he noticed his brain isn’t as foggy as it used to be. He is walking and doing hand and arm exercises. His blood pressure is normal and his head doesn’t hurt as much when on the computer or watching TV.

It has been hard for him to wait patiently for healing. It is hard for all of us to wait on good things to come. Feeling impatient is just the way human beings are.

I recently bought a book called, “Waiting on God,” by Andrew Murray. I bought it because I was finding it hard waiting for Jesus to return. I long for the sin and pain of this world to be over and to see him face to face. The book has been a great help to me and I highly recommend it. I thought I would share part of it with you.

From Waiting on God: “Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire.”    James 1:4

“Such words of the Holy Spirit show us what an important element in the Christian life and character patience is. And nowhere is there a better place for cultivating or displaying it than in waiting on God. There we discover how impatient we are, and what our impatience means.

We confess at times that we are impatient with men, and circumstances that hinder us, or with ourselves and our slow progress in the Christian life. If we truly set ourselves to wait upon God, we shall find that it is with Him we are impatient, because he does not at once, or as soon as we could wish, do our bidding. It is in waiting upon God that our eyes are opened to believe in his wise and sovereign will, and to see that the sooner and more completely we yield absolutely to it, the more surely his blessing can come to us.

“It is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy.” Romans 9:16

We have as little power to increase or strengthen our spiritual life, as we had to originate it. We ‘were born not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of the will of God.’ Even so, our willing and running, our desire and effort, avail nothing; all is ‘of God that shows mercy.’

All the exercises of the spiritual life, our reading and praying, our willing and doing, have their very great value. But they can go no farther than this, that they point the way and prepare us in humility to look to and to depend alone upon God Himself, and in patience to wait his good time and mercy.

The waiting is to teach us our absolute dependence upon God’s mighty working, and to make us in perfect patience place ourselves at his disposal. They that wait on the Lord shall inherit the land; the promised land and its blessing. The heirs must wait; they can afford to wait…”

“Give God his glory by resting in him, by trusting him fully, by waiting patiently for him. This patience honors him greatly; it leaves him as God on the throne, to do his work; it yields self wholly into his hands. It lets God be God.

From the book, “Waiting on God,” -  Day 11: Waiting on God: Patiently

 

Aftereffects of A Stroke: A Sense of Great Loss.

 (All of my posts are free to be copied and used in any way.)

My husband said to me last night, “I’ve lost myself.” I said, “No, you’ve lost some of yourself, but not all. You are just the same as you always were, you just have to do things and think things slower. Your character and who you are as a person is the same.”

“Really?” he said. I don’t feel the same.” I asked him in what way. He said, “When I went to the hospital today for my cancer treatment, (he has carcinoid tumors) I felt different around the nurses who know me. I couldn’t talk as much and joke with them as I always have in the past.”

I told him I was sorry he felt that way. I told him I believed he would get stronger physically and mentally. The doctors just said it would take a long time. I hope that helped him a bit. I told him I was glad he was sharing about his feelings, something he rarely did before.

His head has been hurting more, but I think it is because of the cancer treatment and the time it took to get him ready to go there. I also think he was embarrassed to be seen in a wheelchair being pushed by my granddaughter.

My husband has always thought of himself as a strong man, which indeed is how all the family sees him. He was not only physically strong; he was strong mentally. He stuck with me through my mental breakdowns. He tried to lift my spirits and never seemed discouraged by my disabilities. He many times said the wrong thing in trying to make me feel better, because he isn’t a psychologist, but I understood that.

Now he sees himself as weak. He worries if I leave the door unlocked, he can’t protect me. He worries I might fall and get hurt (I have a balance problem. One time I fell into the Christmas tree. Lol). He didn’t used to worry so much, but I guess he sees how fragile life is and how quickly things can go wrong.

I’ve always known that. In fact, I’m surprised and thrilled when things go right. I tend to look at the dark side of life because of my childhood abuse. My husband was abused too, in a different way, but he took that experience and told himself he would be strong and then he would be okay. He told himself that if someone didn’t like him, “It’s their loss and my gain.” Lol.

He was really surprised about having a stroke. I wasn’t because we are both old, 69 and 70. I’m surprised I don’t have diabetes, high blood pressure and a bad heart! But my husband was incredibly optimistic about everything. Overly optimistic, I thought.

He woke up this morning and seemed more cheerful. I told him we need to do some mind games, so we started a puzzle. He didn’t last long until his head started hurting and he wanted to stop. I am going to phone his Occupational Therapist on Monday and ask how hard I should push him. They used to push hard at the hospital, so I have to understand this part of his recovery.

The low-salt diet is going very well. It turned out at first it was going too well. His blood pressure started to drop down to the 90s. Apparently, 120 is ideal. So, I started letting him have a bit more salt in his diet and it is now between 100 to 123. I found a recipe for tomato sauce that is low-salt and he loved the taste. I didn’t like it at first, but after sitting a night in the fridge, it was pretty good.

No more fast-food. Pretty well all of it has tons of salt. One meal is more than enough salt for a day. I found out the salad I usually ordered had more salt than a hamburger! I usually hate cooking and we used to order in a lot, but I have found, with God’s assistance, I don’t mind the cooking and it is going very well.

This is just an update of my husband’s stroke. I thought it might help those who live with and take care of someone who has had a stroke. Thanks again for your concern and prayers. God is here with us helping, comforting and strengthening us. May God be beside all of you doing the same.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(I do not use my husband’s name in my posts at his request.)

On September 30 I wrote a post about my husband having a stroke. We brought him home Thursday, October 13. He made tremendous progress while at the hospital rehabilitation unit. He can now walk on his own, dress himself, and even check things out on the computer.

He has a bit of trouble with his short-term memory and his whole body feels numb and tingly, which is very uncomfortable. He is taking pain medication for that and it really helps. He is also extremely tired and lays down for most of the day. They said his cognitive abilities are at 85%.

I am supposed to help him by playing word games with him and giving him tasks to do, such as tying knots, picking up buttons, putting screws into nuts etc. Fine motor skills are what he needs to learn to do again. I noticed the longer we played the word game the harder it became for him to think up answers. His head starts to hurt too, so we will be more careful next time.

I want to thank all the doctors and nurses who cared for my husband. They were super kind and thoughtful and of course they were instrumental in saving his life. Many of them told me how much they adored my hubby.

And I want to thank everyone for their prayers. So many strangers told me they were praying for him; I’m talking about the people on the phone who I had to call about finances etc. The people I used to see and say hi to as I walk out to the parking lot knew Dan had had a stroke and told me they were praying for him. It was just lovely to know that.

We are so grateful to God for letting Dan live. As I’ve said before, I know that isn’t always the result of prayers for the sick. But I also believe it is God who chooses when each person will die and I guess my husband has more work to do for God.

My two daughters came and stayed with me the whole time he was in the hospital. I didn’t realize how much that would help me until they came. My granddaughters were running errands for me and giving me support. My grandson came over to see his Grandpa the day he came home and started quietly crying when he saw how good Grandpa looked. I guess he had googled “stroke” and was afraid for him.

There were two other men in the hospital room with my husband who had had strokes. They were both doing very well, even the man who was 47 and had gotten an infection in his brain after his stroke. He was healing very well; could walk and talk and looked perfectly normal. The other man was 89 and the hardest thing for him was missing his wife who lived in a far-away city and couldn’t come because of Covid-19. But he did talk with her 3 times a day. He was improving too.

So sometimes a stroke isn’t as bad as it may start out to be. My husband is on a low-salt diet and blood pressure pills. We have a cuff to monitor his blood pressure and we do that about 4 times a day. It has been perfect numbers since he came home.

Thanks again for your good wishes and prayers.

(Everyone has permission to copy or use my posts for any reason.)

 

 

 

 

My Husband's Stroke.

 

The moon surrounded by clouds, My own photo.

Two weeks ago, my husband had a “massive stroke.” The doctor called us and told us to prepare for the worst. They told my daughters, who live 6 hours away to, “Leave now.” So, they did. We called all our family and all his family. Everyone started praying.

Because I have been a Christian for 50 years and there have been other deaths in our family, I believed God knew what he was doing, (which wasn’t always the case.). I told God I knew my husband was in his hands and I trusted him to do what was best for all of us.

My husband lived for a day, and then another day and began rapidly improving. The doctors were stunned. His speech was slurring slightly and his face drooped a bit, but he could move his left arm and leg, which had been paralyzed.

He seemed to have all his past memories intact, but his short-term memories would come and go. He wasn’t sure why he was in the hospital each morning and he had forgotten about the pandemic. He asked me on the phone why I hadn’t come to visit, so my daughter made a sign to hang by his bed which explained about Covid-19 and that we weren’t allowed to visit.

At the beginning, when the doctors thought he was dying, they allowed me into the ICU to see him. In order to get past the front desk of the hospital, I had to say, “My husband is dying.” Those words felt strange to me, as if I was lying to them, as if it couldn’t possibly be true.

I held my husband’s hand and we spoke awhile until he fell asleep. I was glad he knew who I was and could respond. He was shocked he had a stroke. He thought it was carcinoid tumors, which he has had for over 20 years, that had caused this illness.

The next day, he seemed worse, more tired than before and barely spoke. I didn’t expect him to live much longer. But lo and behold, the next day he was joking with the nurses! He was weak, but alert. It was wonderful to see. They moved him out of ICU a few days later and put him in a regular ward.

Well, there was a lot of rejoicing in the family, as you can imagine. We thank God for healing him. I know God does not heal everyone from an illness. If he did, then no one would die and we would be pretty crowded here on earth. Death is a part of life and I accept that. I want to thank him here on this blog, for giving me his comfort, strength and love during this hard time. This is his greatest gift to the world. He gave these things to me when my grandson died and I knew he would do it again.

God’s peace inside me is something I want the world to know, because those who don’t believe in God don’t realize what they are missing. I wish everyone would give God a chance to show them what he can do. He is light, love, mercy, forgiveness, peace, and joy.

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”   Isaiah 26:3

Have I always had perfect peace? No. It took me many years to learn to trust God. I had been abused as a child by my father, so learning to trust God was very hard for me. But the longer my mind was, “stayed on God,” the more I began to trust. I used to rage and wail against the dark things in my life, but no more. I’ve found that in the deepest dark I am actually learning and growing as a person. And God is there standing beside me, giving me strength and hope.

God says:

“I have upheld you and carried you since the day you were born. Even to your old age and grey hairs, I am he.

I have made you; I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”     Isaiah 46:3,4

Anyone can used my blog writings for any reason. 

Who Told You that You Were Naked?

 

The vast majority of people in the world do not want to walk around naked. For one thing, unless you are a movie star, your body isn’t flawless. How would we behave if someone came up to us and stripped off our clothes while we were at the mall or walking down the sidewalk? Embarrassed and ashamed are the first words that pop into my mind.

 I was listening to Hunter Beless’s podcast, “Journeywoman,” last week. (My absolute favorite podcast.) She had Nancy Guthrie on as a guest. They were talking about Ms. Guthrie’s book, “Even Better than Eden: Nine Ways the Bible’s Story Changes Everything About Your Story.” During the conversation, they talked about Adam and Eve’s nakedness after they sinned. That got me thinking.

I have seen many paintings of Adam and Eve done by long gone famous artists. In every one, Adam and Eve are walking around the Garden of Eden stark naked. This has always felt weird to me, because Adam and Eve themselves thought they had clothes on!

Here is an excerpt from the Bible:

“And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 

 But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”  And he said, ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.’ 

God said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?’

(Now begins the blame game.) The man said, ‘The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.’  Then the LORD God said to the woman, ‘What is this that you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’”    Genesis 3:8-13

Apparently, Adam and Eve were covered with something. You can see from the story that they hid from God’s sight because they were ashamed of their nakedness. I would guess they had been clothed with garments like the angels wear: white, bright and beautiful.

Why did these garments disappear? Because they had chosen to betray God and listen to a snake rather than him. They had turned against him by desiring to also be gods. When they did this, the covering from God left them.

This event is actually an allegory of what happens to us when we spurn God and go our own way through life. We are like soldiers going out to battle naked and alone. We have no defense against our enemies, human or spiritual.

But God can be our defense. As he made clothing for Adam and Eve out of animal skins, so he will clothe us with the blood of Jesus. Those animals had to die so Adam and Eve could be covered. Jesus had to die so we could be covered with his sacrifice. The penalty for turning from God is eternal death, because if you choose to live without God, there is no life after death here. God is the creator of all life and without him we cannot live.

 But Jesus took that doom for us on the cross. He said to his father, “I will take their place and give them a way of escape. I will be nailed, naked on a cross, and anyone who comes to me for covering will one day come to heaven and live with us forever.” (My own words.)

 Jesus did die naked on a cross. He was naked and bleeding, hung between heaven and earth, taking the fate of the human race upon himself.

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”  Hebrews 12:2-3

There is a scene of heaven with God on his throne that Zechariah, the prophet saw. This scene shows the transfer of death to life for Joshua, the high priest at that time.

Zechariah 3:1-5

Then the angel showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, with Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.

And the LORD said to Satan: “The LORD rebukes you, Satan! Indeed, the LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you! Is not this man a firebrand snatched from the fire?”

Now Joshua was dressed in filthy garments as he stood before the angel. So, the angel said to those standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes!”

Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have removed your iniquity, and I will clothe you with splendid robes.”

Then I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So, a clean turban was placed on his head, and they clothed him, as the angel of the LORD stood by.

I pray we will all accept this offer of forgiveness and acceptance from God. He is longing for you to accept him. Please give him a chance to show you what he is like.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why Does Jesus call himself, "The Son of Man?"

 

Jesus spoke of himself by the title, “The Son of Man,” more often than anything else. He sometimes called himself The Son of God, The Good Shepherd, The Door, The Bread of Life, and The Light of the World. He has many titles, but The Son of Man was his favorite.

I think it is my favorite too because he knows what it is like to be a human being on this planet. He understands our weaknesses. He is our brother during this great war between good and evil.

Jesus said, “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...” He said to the paralytic, “I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home.”

And immediately the man got up, picked up his mat, and walked out in front of them all. As a result, they were all astounded and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”   Mark 2:10-12

Jesus said, “For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’  The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at this glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”   Luke 7:33-35

“You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”   Matthew 26:2

"Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.   Matthew 24:30

“So, if they tell you, ‘There He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.  For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”   Matthew 24:26,27

“For the Son of Man will come in His Father’s glory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to what he has done.”   Matthew 16:27

“Truly, truly, I tell you, the hour is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.  For as the Father has life in Himself, so also, He has granted the Son to have life in Himself. And He has given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.”  John 5:25-27

Jesus says God the Father has life in himself and has given that to him also. And he has given authority to Jesus to be the judge of all humankind. The reason? Because along with being the Son of God, he is the Son of Man, and it is this that gives him the insight to judge us. He was a human being like us and felt what it is like to be us. Therefore, he can judge correctly.

The Pulpit Commentary says this:

“Verse 27. - And he gave him (i.e. the Son, the God-Man) authority to execute judgment, because he is Son of man. He has vindicated his power to confer life upon the dead by asserting the possession by "the Son" of the Divine Sonship. He now adds, so far as the relation to man is concerned, his fitness and authority to administer justice, to preside over the entire juridical process, to lift the scales, to determine the destiny of the human race. The fitness is seen in this, that he, "the Son," is "the Son of man." The one term, "THE SON," entirely covers the twofold Sonship. The proof of his humanity is assumed to be complete. The fact of it is the ground that he who knows what is in man should be the Judge of men.

By personal experience of man's temptations and frailties; by knowing every palliation of our sins, every extenuation of our failures, every aggravation of our weakness; by gazing through human eyes with human consciousness upon our mysterious destiny, he is competent to judge; whereas by being Son of God as well as Son of man, he is entrusted with power to execute the judgment of the Eternal.

The principle involved is based upon perfect justice. The honour thus conferred on the God-Man is infinite, the consolation thus held out to man unspeakable. We are being judged by Christ, not by impersonal law. The entire incidence upon every individual of the Law is in the hands of the Redeemer. The Saviour, the Life-giver, the Voice which quickens the dead, assigns the judgment. We must be careful, in any inference we draw from this grand utterance, to avoid all suspicion of schism or rivalry between the Father and the Son. 

The Son is not more merciful than the Father. For the Father of the Old Testament pities his children, and knows their frame (Psalm 103:13, 14), and the Father of Jesus Christ loves the world, and counts the very hairs of our heads. The Son will not exercise this judgment with less regard to the claims of eternal justice than the Father; but his knowledge of humanity is, by the nature of the case, a guarantee of such application of the justice of God to the case of every individual, that man's knowledge of himself will be able personally to justify and verify it. The Divine judgment will go forth from the heart of man himself.”