United States of America
“My heart is heavy and overwhelmed, Lord. Will you reveal what is going on within so this turmoil and heaviness will lift?”
As I spoke this out to the Lord one day, while hiking in a forest alone, Jesus showed up and walked alongside me. The next thing I knew, I was having a vision where the Lord brought an enormous amount of healing, truth, and hope. You see, I was worried about one of my prodigal children spending eternity apart from God, but I didn’t know I was afraid because I was too busy physically, emotionally, and mentally. The vision consisted of hundreds of prodigal children still attached to Jesus. I saw what looked like umbilical cords from each child connected to Jesus. The Lord said, “Your prodigal is still attached to me! She may hate, resist, sin, and turn away from me, but she is still connected to me. I will never turn away from her or cut myself off from her. I will never stop pursuing her. Many people believe their prodigal is going to hell, but I tell you the truth, they are still tethered to me!”
What hope and peace filled my soul. The worry left. Trust fueled me.
Pam Bacani
United States of America
I am from the sunny South. It is a picturesque place with moss draped oak trees. It is a coastal community that is hopping with fun beaches and lots of history. Our beautiful springs, lovely late falls and mild winters make it the perfect tourist spot. There is really only one negative thing. Our summers are HOT & Humid. Our Spas don’t need Saunas. Despite your best efforts to straighten your natural curly hair, 43 seconds after stepping outside it’ll curl and stick flat to your head. I don’t mean to make anybody blush but my Grandmother put it best. One day we were running errands and got into the hot car…the AC hadn’t caught up yet …and she said to me. “Good Grief! It is hotter than a June Bride in a feather bed in here! Imagine my shock …well grandmother! But frankly that was the best description ever!
I had some friends visiting on one of those balmy days and they wanted a tour of our historic district.
So off I went to play tour guide. I took them to the high spots which included some of our cemeteries …not the lively part of the tour but interesting none-the-less. Button Gwinnett, one of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, is buried in our colonial cemetery. The composer of the Christmas classic Jingle Bells is also interred in our town. He served as a music director at a church in one of our churches in the 1800s. I was amused as I looked at his tombstone on that hot, blistery Savannah day.
Dashing through the snow? How did he come up with that? Dashing through the pollen maybe?
Through the steam? Through the Humidity? But the Snow? The only dashing I’d seen were folks in the dashing from place to place, from commitment to commitment, from appointment to appointment. observed that dashing takes its toll. Dashing is designed for a short sprint. Dashing is not for an endurance race. And I found myself in the middle of life in the fast lane, wanting to add another verse to that song… Dashing through the day I’ve got those bills to pay! One morning I woke up, looked in the mirror and I saw a frantic, tired, overwhelmed church girl. Oh, I had all the boxes on my to-do list checked off, my packed schedule and polished presentation might have fooled some people but I knew that inside my soul was starving. Out of desperation I turned to the scriptures that I had learned as a kid in Sunday school. God was gracious again that morning and reminded me of the words written in red in Matthew 11:28. Come unto me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.
That was it! I needed rest for my soul that was falling apart and being squeezed by a grueling schedule.
That day my time management plan changed dramatically. I had trusted Christ for grace to cover my soul as a child and that day I trusted him with the grace to cover my schedule.
A few months later I signed up for a course at the local synagogue. They were offering a class on Jewish traditions and customs and I thought that would be interesting. Little did I know that it would be a reminder to me on the time management issue. The rabbi opened the second session with the Institution of the Jewish calendar. We are in Year 5775. 126 The Rabbi explained that the Hebrew calendar was first established when the people of God were freed from Egyptian bondage. This first tool of time keeping signified their freedom from slavery. You see, Slaves have no mastery of their own time. Time really began for God’s chosen when they were redeemed from that Egyptian Bondage. For centuries they had been bound by a task master. Likewise, the Cross of Christ cancels the curse of sin and redeems us from its bondage. The chains of time and this fleeting life no longer bind us. The Cross of Christ offers us eternal life and sets us on course to the promise land.
My sweet friends, the promise land is a place where time will be no more! Only God can redeem our lives and OUR TIME!
~Thankful~
Kathy Walters Burnsed, Excerpt from Beating The Clock, Managing Time God’s Way Chapter 13- The Cross Cancels the Curse of the Clock
