Shadow

His apprentices did not have faith... 

When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him.  “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said.  “He has seizures and is suffering greatly.  He often falls into the fire or into the water.  I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”

“You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.”  Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment.

Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

He replied, “Because you have so little faith.  Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.  Nothing will be impossible for you.”  (Matthew 17:14-20 NIV)

The woman with an infirmity had faith...

Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak.  She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”

Jesus turned and saw her.  “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.”  And the woman was healed at that moment.  (Matthew 9:20-22 NIV)

Peter eventually had faith, and so did the people who saw what he did...

The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade.  No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people.  Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.  As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by.  Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.  (Acts 5:12-16 NIV) 

When our shadow is changing lives, we can be confident we have faith.  Until then, we must ask for more.

The Pharisees knew the Scriptures, but they did not have faith.

Jesus came to show us how to do our jobs.  His Father will put us through tests to build our faith.

 

All glory to God.

 

  

Emcee Squared

Me

(hint)

All glory to God, of course, the one who made it.

 

Tee hee  😉

 

 

Stallion

Andromeda

UPDATE, June 15, 2025...

Spiritual shackles.

 

Self Will

Many of us quote Jesus and say to our Father, "Your will be done."  But do we really mean it?  Do we, instead, end up doing our own will anyway?

I needed to go to the grocery store yesterday, and had been putting it off for several days.

My wife and I went to Kroger a lot before she died, but she also went to Family Fare occasionally.  She liked how FF was quiet and relaxed, ... and not busy.  Apparently their prices are higher so fewer people shop there.

My wife died during the "plandemic" hysteria and Kroger (incorporated) played the hoax to the hilt.  They shut off the bottled water station, pushed face-coverings and continually made announcements about the "virus" propaganda.  I got tired of it and started going to Family Fare myself, just to get some peace.  Kroger was also the place where my wife collapsed and where I had to go to retrieve our car.

It's been over four years since my wife departed, and I have shopped at both Family Fare and Kroger.  Both were providing me with personalized coupons based on my previous purchases, which is pretty creepy if you think about it, but in the past few months FF stopped sending them.

I ran out of a certain type of sriracha sauce I had found at FF and have not been able to find it elsewhere, so yesterday I decided to go to FF to get my bottled water and groceries.  I knew I had the Kroger coupons, but I left them at home.  As I was getting ready to back the car out of the driveway, I struggled to remember I would be going to FF.  I knew if I had proceeded without thinking my constantly-running intuition would have taken me to Kroger.  I had to think about driving and making navigation decisions.

When I got to FF, I loaded up a shopping cart (trolley) with my nine empty gallon bottles and went into the store.  When I got to the bottling station there was a notice taped to it saying it was out of order and apologizing for the inconvenience.  I chuckled and realized I had been waived off of going to FF for a reason.

So, I wheeled my cart back to the car, reloaded the bottles and drove to Kroger.  Once I was at Kroger, I obtained a cart, loaded it with my bottles and ... realized I did not have my Kroger coupons.  Ugh.

I put the bottles back into the car, returned the cart to the parking lot livery and drove the half-mile back to my house, retrieved the coupons, and then proceeded to return to the store and go through the ritual with the bottles again.

Once inside the store, I started shopping for vegetables because they are just inside the door, and realized my bottles were still empty.  My usual practice is to fill them first, but I had not done it at Kroger in quite some time so I was disorganized.  My intuition and thinking processes were not meshing.

I should have gone to Kroger in the first place.  My will was to go to FF, but The Spirit wanted me to go to Kroger.  Why, I did not know, but I presumed He knew what He was doing.

I filled my jugs, got my groceries, went home, put things away, and then went to the coffee shop to say goodbye to a friend who is moving out of state.  When I got home again, I took a nap.

Upon waking from the nap, I knew I was supposed to walk to my daughter's house and offer her my wife's patio furniture.  I knew they would be there (both of them), and it was something I was supposed to do.  (My girls are still not talking to me after four years, as I discussed in other posts.)  It was clear to me it was the Father's will that I do that, and the interaction took place.  I believe He prepared me to hear Him through my self-will experience regarding Family Fare and Kroger.

I did what I was led to do with my daughters and it is in God's hands now.  I can move on.

 

This morning, I realized why I was supposed to go to Kroger and not Family Fare.  This song was playing in Kroger as I shopped...

https://vinyldialogues.com/VinylDialoguesBlog/the-backstory-behind-the-hit-sara-smile-by-hall-oates/ 

 ... Another "wink".

 

All glory to God, as usual.

 

 

Root Beer

These irises were in the gardens around our house when we moved in during the Spring of 2006.  At some point, I transplanted them to their current location.

Early on, my wife bent down and smelled one of them.  She said they smelled like root beer.

She was right.

Some people call them "flags," which is probably because they are up around Flag Day, a week from tomorrow.

Spring is especially melancholy for me.  Flowers.  She loved them and the senses they invoked.

 

I miss her.

 

All glory to God.