God your my...

So the other day I was praying, and I was trying to think something really awesome to tell God he was, that was also REALLY accurate in my life. Liiiiiiiiiike, you know you can say stuff like, your the lily of the valley, or my bright and morning star, buuuuuuuuut how often, if ever, have we even seen a lily in the valley or a bright and morning star???

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I was thinking about how David would pray, the things he would say, his rock, his shelter, his mighty strong tower, his hiding place, his deliverer, his shelter, I'm like Hmmmm...Of course God IS all those things to me, buuuuuuuuuuuut I wanted to think of something he was to me that wasn't just something David said, so I'm thinking, and I'm thinking...OKAAAAAAY what really is just something that I just need and am sooooooo thankful for that God can be to me???

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Then it hit, me I'm like, "God your my, my, my, my"...AM I REALLY GONNA SAY THIS??? Yes, I will...

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"God your my, my, my...

MY AC!!!

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!

Yes, I REALLY said that, and I meant it too!!!And God knows just how high of a compliment that is coming from an AZ girl!!! 

"As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God..." 

(Psalm 42:1-2)

♥Mary Frances :)
P.S. Sooooooooo what is God to YOU??? maryfranceswriting@gmail.com

The voice of God...

How do we recognize God's voice???

In conversation with someone once about the will of God and they said, "I mean really, who knows the will of God anyways, besides GOD himself?" 

I was like HUH??? 

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We have to be able to know God's will for ourselves in order to do His will.  But this got me to thinking, HOW can we know the voice of God for ourselves? HOW do we recognize the voice of God from all the other voices that are speaking to us?

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I came to the realization, that we can recognize God's voice the SAME WAY we are able to recognize the voice of a close friend or loved one, by SPENDING TIME with them. WHEN YOU KNOW SOMEONE, YOU KNOW THEIR VOICE!!! You can get a phone call from someone that you are with all the time, they can call from an unrecognized number and once they start talking to you, you will know who they are!!! Even if you haven't spent time with them in a while, if you'll just listen for a moment or two as they talk, you will KNOW who they are. IF you're NOT recognizing God's voice, maybe it's because it's been too long since you've really spent time with him. Or perhaps it's because you NEVERRR really took the time to get to know him in the first place. 

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ARE YOU REALLY LISTENING???

There have been a few times that my close friends have ACTUALLY been able to trick me into believing it was someone else I was talking to instead of them. However, you know what I realized? It was ONLY because I WAS DOING ALL THE TALKING and they were just listening. In my excitement of what I was telling, I wasn't REALLY listening to their little uh, Huh's and Yeah's, HAD I STOPPED TALKING and ACTUALLY allowed them to talk, I would have KNOWN in a moment who it REALLY WAS!!! Sometimes we NEED to just STOP and LISTEN so we can RECONIZE God's voice when he is talking! 

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How did God talk to Elijah???

"...but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.  And it was so, when Elijah heard it..." (1 Kings 19:11-13) 
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I think sometimes that we are sooooo busy looking for the big signs and wonders, that we can't even hear or recognize his voice when He DOES speak to us. We ask God to show us something. We ask God to reveal His will to us and we're expecting a big booming, thundering voice from heaven and we end up ignoring God's DIRECT whisper right into our ear. If you really stop and think about it, the really BIG SIGNS God did for people in the Bible, was because those people, Balaam and the donkey, Jonah and the whale, Gideon's fleece, all those people had to get really BIG SIGNS from God to do His will, because they didn't really hear Him when He originally told them what to do. 

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You know, when your close to someone, when you're standing by them, sitting with them, you don't have to SHOUT to get their attention. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO is WHISPER!!! If God has to take drastic measures and there are times that he will, it's ALMOST ALWAYS simply because we weren't listening to him all the other times that he was talking to us!!! You SHOUT at people to get their attention. IF you're paying attention to God, He won't need to SHOUT out to you with lightning bolts. When your close to God, all He has to do is WHISPER and you'll hear Him.  I want to be close enough to God that I can recognize his whisper.

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Write it down...

When God tells you something, date it and write it down. It's not always right to tell everyone what God told you. Yet, you want to remember it. When God tells you something, it can seem so bold and clear in the moment, but as time goes by, in our humanity we will begin to wonder, was that really God, or was that just ME??? 

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One time for me this happened, I went to a conference, and I honestly don't even remember what the preacher preached about, it was Bro. Ham and it was a good message and I was clearly touched. I went to the altar, and I was praying and praying, and I told God, I would do ANYTHING for you! I would give up anything for you! And God quietly whispered a certain guy's name to me, even him? I was soooooo shocked. Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh...It's time for you to let him go. That was the message God so clearly, yet quietly whispered to my heart. I said I would, but I could not fathom in my mind WHY God would want this.

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He was my best friend. Our personalities seemed perfect together. We went to the same church, he was practically family, and well to me, this guy was just PERFECT. It never once crossed my mind that there was something going on with him spiritually, I assumed I just wasn't good enough for someone like him. As time went by, nothing changed, we were still best friends, my feelings stayed the same. Obedience to God is not based our feelings. There were times I would think, maybe I heard you wrong God, maybe that was just me, and then I'd look back to that moment in my journal and reread how clear God's voice had been to me in that moment at the altar. As time continued to go by, I finally saw what God had seen all along.  

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That's just one example, I have many other words from God written down. If you're not a writer, record it for yourself on your phone, or just mark it with a word on your calendar for when doubt starts creeping in. 

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Recognizing the voice of God is not complicated and analytical. It's so simple, just like you know the voice of any loved one, that's HOW you will know the voice of God. There isn't some secret strategy or formula or connection. To know the voice of God, you must FIRST know Him.  If you want to recognize the voice of God, all you need to do is spend time with Him. 

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, 

and they follow me."

 (John 10:27)

♥Mary Frances :)

Get a drink!!!

What's wrong???

So back in the beginning of May, I told you all in my humor story, "When Your Best Friends with a Nurse" about how my wild imagination caused me to think I could possibly have a brain tumor because I kept feeling dizzy every time I stood up, when I told my lovely nurse friend my symptoms, she informed that most likely I was just DEHYDRATED and that I needed to just...GET A DRINK!!!

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 I had thought up all kinds of wild and crazy schemes and YET, nothing was really wrong with me, I just NEEDED TO GET A DRINK!!! It was the simplest thing, I had forgotten to get enough to drink. I had gotten out of my water routine and my body was letting me know that I needed to hydrate myself. Here in Arizona, one must not forget to hydrate and even more so during the desert. When drinking water, you have to take into consideration also where you are and the climate. I have to remember that I LIVE IN A DRY DESERT and that it's VERY HOT OUT!

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This happened to me AGAIN the day we had the picnic with our church. I was out all day, playing kick ball, throwing water around at each other in the water fight, I was continually pouring water over my head to cool off, buuuuuuut when I got home that night, I realized I was SO THIRSTY, I just guzzled down water. I remember thinking, it's kinda odd that I'm this thirsty, i'm sure I was drinking, I've been playing with the water ALL DAY long.

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BUUUUUT NO

Then it clicked, I had drank some YES, buuuuut most of the time I had just been around water! I had probably been emerged through out the day in at least 5 gallons of water, and yet, none of that really mattered to my body because I had only taken into my body about 1 bottle waters worth. I could be in my swimming pool ALL DAY LONG and STILL get dehydrated while fully emerged in water. BECAUSE,  It doesn't matter HOW much your in or around water if you don't consume it inside of you!

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SOMETIMES

Sometimes in life, in our spiritual lives we think that there is something wrong with us, we feel all weird and off and we begin to think of all the things that could possibly be wrong in our lives. Is there sin in my life? Is God punishing me for something? Has God abandoned me? Has God forgotten me? Is the devil attacking me? WHY IN THE WORLD AM A FEELING THIS WAY???

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What you need

What if it's something SO SIMPLE??? What if you just need to GET A DRINK??? Think about it, when was the last time you got a really good drink from that spiritual well? When was the last time you prayed through til you broke in your spirit? If your feeling like something is wrong with you, MAYBE YOU JUST NEED TO GET A DRINK!!!! 

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Are you spiritually dehydrated???

Oh but I could NEVER be spiritually dehydrated! I'm in church 3 days a week, twice on Sundays, I just got back from a conference 2 weeks ago and our church is in the middle of revival, HOW COULD I POSSIBLY BE SPIRITUALLY DEHYDRATED??? Allow me to tell you from personal experience, it doesn't matter HOW MUCH your around spiritual things, how many church services your in, how much preaching you hear, if it's NOT BEING CONSUMED INTO YOU!!! You can't just be around the spiritual water, you've got to consume it inside of you. You've got to pray until  you BREAK in the spirit.

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Consider your surroundings

Perhaps your thinking, well I don't understand, I AM PRAYING, yet I still feel this way. Sometimes we need to take into consideration where we are in life. Just like living in AZ or it being summer time is a cause for me to need to DRINK MORE WATER, Sometimes the environment we are in is a cause for us to spiritually need MORE WATER! If your living in an ungodly environment, that's like living in a spiritual desert, YES YOU CAN MAKE IT, buuuuuuuuuut your going to need to be drinking MORE WATER!!!

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There are have been seasons in my life that were like a long, hot DRY SUMMER and the only thing I could do to survive was to drink and drink and drink. It seemed like I just couldn't be in church enough, I was SOOOOOO thirsty I would look for opportunities to get more water. I just couldn't get enough, I would drink at church and then home and find preaching CD's to listen to and DRINK SOME MORE. There are seasons in our lives that we will need to remember to drink more. 

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Long Term Effects

Not having enough to drink won't kill you right away, BUT if you don't take care of it, DEHYDRATION WILL KILL YOU!!! Although being spiritually dry is not particularly a sin, spiritually dehydration can lead you into sin.  If not taken care of and repentance is not made, sin will ultimately lead you into a spiritual death.

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Have you gotten a drink yet today???

If NOT, go get one, right now!!! Then another one, and another and another. There's plenty, get some for yourself and pass some to a friend, there's plenty of water to go around. Let's stay hydrated my friends...

GO GET A DRINK!!!!  

"He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." (John 7:38)

♥Mary Frances :)

Doors!!!

Have you ever noticed HOW MANY different kinds of doors there are???

There's doors that have to be PUSHED to be opened, there's doors that you have to PULL to open. There's sliding doors, there's car doors, there's revolving doors, there's glass doors, there's screen doors and there's automatic doors, there's locked doors and I'm SURE, many more!!!

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WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A DOOR???

A door is a moving structure used to block off, and yet still allow access to something, an entrance to a place, yet a closure to a place within an enclosed space, such as a building, room, closet or vehicle.

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In life, there are MANY doors that we will walk through and some that we will SEE, but NEVER walk through. The question IS, HOW do we know if a door is meant for us to walk through or NOT???

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So often you will hear and probably even say at some point, "I'm JUST waiting for GOD to open the door before making a decision." AND while this is good to a certain extent, SOMETIMES, we're waiting for God to open a door that says PUSH or PULL on it!!!

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Sometimes, the door has a LOCK and only God can unlock it but there are other times that the door has a lock and GOD has given us THE KEY and now it us up to us to take that key and unlock the door. Sometimes we have to KNOCK and WAIT for God to open the door, And YET there are other times, when God locks a door and it will NEVER BE UNLOCKED!!!

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Sometimes, there's a revolving door, and God wants us to go through something before we can get to what is on the other side. Sometimes you just gotta shut the door for a little bit, while your riding to your destination and THEN its time to open that door again! Sometimes there's sliding doors and you gotta figure out if you should SLIDE that door all the way open, or if you should just partially slide it open to not let anything IN or OUT with you.

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Sometimes there's a glass door and you can see very clearly what is on the other side and weather or not you should open that door! Sometimes there's a screen door, and you can only kind of see what is on the other side, but you'll never really know, TILL YOU OPEN THE DOOR!!!

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Sometimes in life, there are automatic doors. There are things in our life that are just automatic. They just happen without us trying or doing anything for them to open. Church, school, family, those were automatic doors for me that just happened without trying. Waking up and going to sleep are just automatic doors. And you'll find blessings that come to you in life, that were just automatic without you doing or saying anything to have ever gotten them!!!

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There are automatic things that God expects us to do. I remember hearing someone once say that they kept bumping into someone, they didn't know what God wanted to do, but they just wanted to pray about if they should witness to them or not. Bishop Abbott spoke up, WELL, I can tell you what God wants to do for that person, HE WANTS TO SAVE THEM!!! Sometimes we over-spiritualize the OBVIOUS or THE AUTOMATIC!!! Should you witness??? YES!!! The Bible says that God is NOT willing that ANY should perish, BUT that ALL should come to repentance! Should you repent??? Should you obey God's word??? It's an AUTOMATIC DOOR!!! YES, you should!!!

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As a female, sometimes, its good for us to be a lady, WAIT and let a man OPEN THE DOOR FOR US, but sometimes, you can't always wait around for someone to be opening the doors for you.

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I've seen AZ females, usually in the dating or newlywed stage of life, SIT IN THE CAR after reaching a destination, in 120 degree weather and NO AC, WAITING FOR THE GUY to get out of the car and open the door for her. Now, I believe in chivalry, I like it, its nice, I appreciate it, BUT, in 120 degree weather, I'm OPENING MY DOOR AS QUICLEY AS POSSIBLE AND HIGHTAILING IT TO THE CLOSEST PLACE WITH AC!!! Why??? BECAUSE ITS HOT OUT!!!! Sometimes you just need to be PRACTICAL!!! The original intent of chivalry was NOT the romanticized version that we know about now. The original intent of chivalry was for a man to do something for a female, elderly person, or child, that they could NOT do for themselves.

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There are times, when you need to wait, trust in God and LET HIM OPEN THE DOOR! There are times in life, when there is NO WAY you can open the door yourself and the only thing you can do is WAIT for God to open it. However, while YES, God IS indeed a gentleman, SOMETIMES, there are things that YOU CAN DO FOR YOURSELF!!! Sometimes, you just gotta OPEN YOUR OWN DOOR!!!

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HOW DO YOU KNOW IN LIFE, WHAT TO DO AT EACH DOOR YOU COME TOO???

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The KEY to knowing how you should proceed at each door in life, is THROUGH PRAYER!!! Jesus says in John 10:9 "I am the door..." THE KEY to knowing, IS SEEKING GOD or THE DOOR!!! We have to continually seek God in prayer for His will and direction in our lives. "The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God." (Psalm 14:2)

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Should I wait? Should I PUSH? Should I PULL? Should I knock? Should I get a key? It can seem so complicated knowing what to do in life, and yet, its SO SIMPLE, PRAY!!! God wants us to PRAY!!! We will know what God wants us to do at each door in life, when we seek Him for His will and direction in our next step.

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“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.” (Psalm 32:8)

♥Mary Frances :)