Last summer, after the political conventions were over, the Lord showed me that the two choices being offered to the American people were, on one hand, a judgement on our nation or, on the other, an opportunity to obtain mercy.

For those of you interested in the Prophetic Movement and are seeking to understand what God is doing these days with what seems like a bizarre and aberrant ministry, here are some thoughts you might be interested in.

Well, our stray kitty keeps teaching me lessons. Our primary goal with this cat is simply to show it some kindness and make its life easier. We've been quite successful at that. He's put on weight, his fur is sleek and shiny and he is much calmer. Clearly he feels secure living in our yard. (I still haven't discovered where he sleeps!) The first lesson Cat taught me was that when we are dealing with "stray" people we are foolish indeed if we set our goals any higher than our goals with this cat.

If you look at the bigger picture, the trials Joseph experienced because his brothers victimized him were incidental . God had a plan for the nation of Israel and feeding Jacob's family was secondary to His greater purposes.

This is a repost of a piece my mother wrote about a very special dog.  Enjoy!

In the late 1980's circumstances forced us to move from our country home to the city.  Since we couldn't take our much-loved dog, Gretchen, with us, we left her with my parents in Fairfield, Idaho on the family farm.  Gretchen thrived there and she became my parent's dog.  She would go with them on their walks and follow dad everywhere on the farm.  Then she was accidentally killed.  Here is a short piece my mother wrote shortly after that happened.

[caption]Pi Day Pies by Ruth[/caption]

Joseph had been victimized, sold into slavery...and God did phenomenal things in and with his life. He learned that it’s wasn't about him, that God wasn’t surprised by what happened and that He had a plan. Part 1 will get you started on understanding the message of Joseph's life, but there is more that rarely gets preached about. Be sure to come back for Part 2.

A few days ago I read a newspaper article that claimed ISIS – the terrorist group that has been murdering people in the Middle East – has a full complement of terrorists in place in the United States, all ready to kill, murder and destroy in the name of Islam. That certainly is an alarming statement! It is also an easy one to believe when you consider how our government has failed to protect our borders from these monstrous people. Yet, immediately on reading that statement, my mind went to the story of when King David decided to take a census of the fighting men in Israel.

I've been reading all the headlines about the terrorism in France and the protests and funerals and massive reactions to these hateful events. It is easy to hate the people who did these things. It is easy to thirst for revenge on them and all others like them. Yet, if we hate, if we seek revenge, we are turning away from our Lord Jesus. "Vengence is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord (Romans 12:19)." We cannot let ourselves hate these men. Instead we should show Christ's heart by making Micah 6:8 real in our lives: