HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Don't let the spooks spook you :-)

HEALING ISN'T ALWAYS AN INSTANT MIRACLE

My knee started hurting, then my thigh, then my back and I forgot to just ask for wisdom from the Lord on what it was and what to do to make it go away. I took ibuprophen and was handling it myself. The pain subsided somewhat, but it wasn’t going away. I persevered on my own for about two weeks and it was wearing me down. I finally woke up spiritually, took it to the Lord and asked my roommate to pray for me. I went off to work like every other day. Only this day I got the revelation of what was causing my pain and the revelation of how to get rid of it.

As I sat down on the floor to patch and touch up the baseboard and then crawled along to the next spot, I got the news flash – I was sitting in a scrunched down position with both legs tucked under me to the side and I was bent over. I put my legs on the other side and the same exact pinch happened on the other side and I realized I’d been sitting and crawling in this position for about two weeks, 7 hours a day. No wonder I was having pinches and pain. I made a conscious effort to change how I was positioning myself and the pain dissipated and is nearly gone.

Just because you don’t have an instant miracle of healing, doesn’t mean God’s not healing you. He’s given us many ways to get pain free and to get healed up.

God designed our bodies to heal themselves. If we take care of our bodies, natural healing comes faster.

Also a key I’ve learned is that certain sicknesses and diseases and demons too need specific environments to thrive in, so changing our bodily environment on the inside will cause the disease to die or the destructive evil spirit to leave.

There’s much to learn about healing but whenever we get sick there is always one thing we should do first and that’s take it to the Lord in prayer. Ask Him, “Should I go to the doctor? Ask someone to pray for me? Drink more water and take a couple aspirin? What should I do, Lord?”

We ask for His wisdom on what to do to get healed. God wants us to be healthy, so He’s glad to give us His wisdom.

James 3:17 says, “The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” And James 4:2 says, “Ye have not, because ye ask not.” So we need to ask.

If we’re unsure about really hearing from the Lord, or unsure of what we think He answered, then we can ask a trusted Christian friend to corroborate or at least pray.

God says of himself, “I am the Lord that healeth thee” (Ex 15:27). Whether it be through a doctor, a prescription, a miracle, a dietary plan or just change your position on the floor, a healthy body and a sound mind (2Tim 1:7) are important in God’s good plan for our lives.

Love, Carolyn

Check out Amazon to see what other true life stories I have available. They all deal with applying Biblical principles to our everyday lives. Here’s the link: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Wings+Carolyn+Molica

BE LOUDER THAN THE VOICES IN YOUR HEAD

I was starting to get symptoms of a cold. The symptoms just kept getting worse and the voice in my head said, “I’ve got a cold.” I hadn’t spoken anything out loud yet and instantly I knew I needed to shout: “The Bible says, by Jesus stripes I was healed, so I’m healed!” My cold symptoms were gone overnight.

Sometimes we need to shout louder than the thoughts in our head—drown them out with a shout of God’s word (the truth). For those of you who aren’t shouters, you can speak His truth in your most assertive “outside voice.” Authoritative self-talk or self-speak with God’s truths can have a powerful and positive effect on an apathetic, wandering, or bored mind. It can rescue and release us from being lazy, the victims of “maybe” or “I hope so.”  And it can put a stop to confusion.

There’s a great example of this principle in John 11 where Jesus shouted to Lazarus to come forth from the grave. He had all kinds of negative words and thoughts coming at Him. First of all the religious leaders were trying to shame Him in front of the people. Even Lazarus’ sisters were bothered by the fact that Jesus hadn’t come earlier, and they said so. It had been four days since he died and friends had gathered to grieve. What did they think and speak when Jesus showed up late and told them the dead Lazarus was going to live?

Since the Bible tells us Jesus was tempted in every way that we’re tempted, His mind would have been bombarded by all kinds of negative thoughts (Heb 4:15). The discord of inaudible voices in the air was thick, raucous and confusing. I’ve been in situations where I could almost hear people’s negative thoughts and accusations and I bet you’ve been in situations like that too.

But Jesus put his faith in what God told Him and in the midst of the confusion He stood in front of the tomb and He shouted, “Lazarus, come out!”  “And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, ‘Loose him, and let him go’” (John 11:43-44).

We need to be assertive with the truth we speak to ourselves. We are not victims of our environments. Our faith isn’t insipid or limp, but “strong in the Lord and the power of His might” (Eph 6:10).

Jesus shouted louder and with more authority than the voices of cultural norm; life returned to Lazarus. Against the thoughts in my head, I shouted God’s healing words to my cold symptoms; my good health returned to me. We are so blessed to have great spiritual power available to us. (1 Pet 2:24)

Love, Carolyn

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TAKING TIME TO CELEBRATE

(Photo is “Warrior Carolyn” on the rooftop with Branch and Sword J)

TAKING TIME TO CELEBRATE

I took my saw and clippers up the ladder and onto the roof. My pyracantha bush, which produces lots of red berries for the birds, was starting to send branches out over my roof. For about two months I’ve been looking at the branches grow and knew I had to get up there and cut them before the stems got too thick. I was thinking it would be kind of a hard job and really a hot one too.

Like so many things in life, once I got started I had a great time and when I was done it looked awesome and I was feeling pretty great about my accomplishment.

Ecclesiastes 3:13 says, “Every man should enjoy the good of all his labor, it is the gift of God.”

Even if we have a job where we get a paycheck, we all have other things we work at where our payment is something other than money. We can get paid with so many different things and we need to take a look at those things and appreciate ourselves. God appreciates us.

We aren’t supposed to just work and work and work until we exhaust ourselves. Most of us need to celebrate more. God says we’re supposed to ENJOY THE GOOD OF ALL OUR LABOR, not just the good from the paycheck we get from our day jobs, but the good we get from anything we work at. Do we get a good feeling of accomplishment? The satisfaction of a small victory? Do we get a thank you from someone? A pride in a new skill learned? Do we feel good about doing something we’ve been putting off for a while? There are many good results from our labors and lots of reasons to celebrate because we work at a variety of tasks.

Just think of some things you work at: Do you work at exercising? Eating well? Going to bed on time? Do you work at not gossiping? At paying your bills on time? Do you work at saying something kind every day? Do you work at spending more time with your kids? Do you work at learning new things?

Whatever we labor at, God says we need to take the time to CELEBRATE. It’s His gift to us.

“Hey, (fill in your name), great job! You did it!”

Love, Carolyn

I’m offering free printable PDF files of any of my WINGS Sample books. There’s some great ones including MIRACLES, COMFORT, WORKS OF FAITH, BIBLE STUDIES, and SUPERNATURAL POWERS. Each book has 6 or 7 chapters.  Find the one you want on this link: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Wings+Carolyn+Molica

Then e-mail me your preference at carolynmolica@yahoo.com

GOD'S RAVENS: UNPREDICTABLE AND UNIQUE

Now that the raven had all the cracker pieces neatly organized in his beak he hopped down to the bottom of his large enclosure and placed the neat stack to one side. He dug a shallow hole with his whiskered beak, put two pieces in the hole and raked some dirt over it so there was no sign of cracker at all—only dirt. He took the remaining pieces in his beak. Clippity clop hopping in raven fashion to the other side of his enclosure, he dug another hole and buried the rest of the crackers. I was in awe. Finally I understood the record in 1 Kings 17 about Elijah being fed by the ravens: The ravens had already buried the food; it was just waiting for the time when God wanted it brought out to Elijah.

“And the word of the Lord came unto him [Elijah], saying, Get thee hence, and hide thyself by the brook. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord and the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening” (1 Kgs 17: 3-6).

Now this may not have been an ideal situation and the bread and meat may have been a little crusty, but Elijah was thankful. God’s provision for him had been totally unpredictable and definitely unique.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” We need to trust that the Lord loves us and will provide for us even though our paths may be rocky at times. If we’ll look to the Lord Jesus to guide us through, it will work out better than we could possibly imagine.

When circumstances or decisions are hard, we can remember Isaiah 43:19 “I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.”

We learn to expect the unpredictable and unique when it comes to God watching over us. When we keep our eyes on Jesus like it says in Hebrews 12:2 “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,” He will always have things set up for us to get us to the other side and to the good results He has for us.

When I got ready to write my first book, I had no idea of how to get started. The Lord was way ahead of me. Wendy, one of my closest friends, was publishing on-line for her job so she was able to help me. My other friend Maarit was an excellent editor and that was no coincidence either. God already had my girl ravens set up to bless me and I blessed them too. (Some people are afraid of ravens but I think they’re awesome!) When I decided to start an art career I “happened” to go into a place in Kansas City to buy a drawing pencil. I came out with a job: making molds in the sculpture foundry and gallery.

I moved across country and interviewed for a secretarial job. I ended up telling the woman I really would rather work in the arts. She gave me a client’s number and the first thing my new boss asked is if I knew how to make a mold for a sculptural piece. That started my 25 years of an ongoing career in the arts. Again no coincidence, but God preparing ahead of time just for me and I never saw it coming.

If we continue in our hearts to want to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, He will never, never let us down.

The ravens are already burying your crackers and steak.

Love, Carolyn

PS: The raven picture is from the neighbors across the street J

FREE this weekend, WINGS Sample Book C: WORKS OF FAITH.  Here’s the link: http://www.amazon.com/WINGS-Journey-Faith-Sample-C-ebook/dp/B00DFPWNZM/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1413656497&sr=8-7&keywords=Wings+Carolyn+Molica

I’m also offering a free printable PDF file of any of my WINGS Sample books. Each book has 6 or 7 chapters.  Find the one you want on this link: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Wings+Carolyn+Molica . E-mail me your preference at carolynmolica@yahoo.com

OUR PETS TEACH US ABOUT TRUST

Peanut our little rescue dog, and Snickers our big fluffy 15 year old cat never worry about getting fed. When one of us goes into the kitchen toward the big white box, they both come running in and stand at attention looking up to see what goodies might come out of it for them.

When Peanut gets a special snack like a small piece of cheese or maybe even a small bite of a shortbread cookie (his favorite), he gently opens his mouth and lets us put the snack up to his mouth. He never grabs for it. He knows he doesn’t have to; there’s plenty more where that came from.

Snickers and Peanut like to eat together in front of the fireplace. They each have separate plates or napkins, and know whose is whose, but a lot of times they share. They’ve taught me how our relationship is to be with the Lord.

If we would only trust God like our pets trust us. Trust Him to open His big white box and give us what we need and what makes us happy. “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:19).

Trust Him that He’ll give us extra special snacks like shortbread cookies, “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Eph 3:20).

Trust there will always be more coming from God’s big white box then we’ll always have something to share. “Freely ye have received, freely give” (Mat 10:8).

Peanut and Snickers demonstrated a very valuable lesson on trust. And it’s almost time for another visit to the big white box.

Love, Carolyn

I’m offering free printable PDF files of any of my WINGS Sample books. There’s some great ones including MIRACLES, COMFORT, WORKS OF FAITH, BIBLE STUDIES, and SUPERNATURAL POWERS. Each book has 6 or 7 chapters.  Find the one you want on this link: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Wings+Carolyn+Molica  Then e-mail me your preference at carolynmolica@yahoo.com

A BRIEF PEEK AT GRIEF

We changed our TV service and are getting fewer channels now. My roommate said, “Carolyn, I gotta tell you, I’m really having a problem with getting less channels. I miss not having baseball.” At that moment I realized that the loss of anything is like the death of it and as long as we live on this earth, there’s going to be grief that comes with any loss.

To try to ignore the grief is just as wrong as letting ourselves get trapped in it. It’s better to face the loss head on and admit to it. Different emotional reactions will surface and we have to let them happen. Then when we can, we move on.

Grieving is a universal phenomenon. There’s plenty of studies on sorrow and grief, but there’s still much to be learned about how it works, how long it takes, and the effects it has. The one thing we do know is that it’s a process and it varies with situations and people.

We can see from the Bible different examples of the grieving process. Signs included tearing one’s robe, weeping, having disheveled hair, putting dust and ashes into the hair or shaving the hair or beard. Other indications of sorrow included wearing black or sad-colored clothing, removal of ornaments or neglect of person, fasting or abstinence in meat or drink, and wearing sackcloth. Sackcloth was made of goat or camel hair and was course and uncomfortable. One Bible dictionary said that men were generally more silent in grief and women more vocal and demonstrative.

These were things that exhibited in ancient times, but the grieving process hasn’t really changed much over the years. Just one example I can think of is female friends who’ve done something to change the style or color of their hair after a divorce. I don’t know if it’s even a conscious decision or just part of the inward, inherent grief reaction.

In the Bible, the days of mourning also varied. In the case of Jacob it was 70 days (Gen 50:3). In Saul’s case, only 7 days (1 Sam 31:13). In Moses’ time the official period of grief was 30 days.

When Moses died and the allowable 30 days was over, God told Joshua it was time for him to get up and get going. I think that a lot of times we need someone with insight to help us get going too, to wake us up out of our grief and get us to move on before the sorrow destroys us or makes us morose.

I know I needed a push when my dog Spike passed away. I was so sad I couldn’t see getting a new dog and had convinced myself that I couldn’t get one because of the cat. My friend Miki kept pestering me with pictures of rescue dogs that needed homes and I kept pushing the idea away. Then my roommate Jane rescued a dog from the alley. We made two failed attempts at giving him away and finally got the message: “Keep the dog!” My time of grief was supposed to be over and God was working through insightful people, forcing me to move on.

When God pushed Joshua, it was a new thing for him. Moses was gone and now he had the responsibility to lead God’s people. I’m sure it was a little intimidating. Any time we have to embrace something new, after losing something we loved, it’s hard. But we don’t have to do it alone. God told Joshua, “Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest” (Joshua 1:9).

When we lose our loved ones, or if we lose our homes, our jobs, our 150 channels, it’s right to grieve those things. It’s good to recognize and face loss head on, then realize the loss has opened up an opportunity to seek and trust the Lord for what will be next.

In Isaiah 48:6 God promises He will show us new things, hidden things that we’ve never known before. “I have shown thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.”

We put our hope in God and the Lord Jesus Christ, that when the grieving process has run its course, there will be something wonderful and new to enjoy. And one of the greatest things we have to look forward to is the day when all grief will be gone.

When Heaven comes, “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain” (Rev 21:4). What an amazing and awesome promise to all who have chosen to believe and accept Jesus Christ as Lord.

Love, Carolyn

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