" I Have Conquered Death! "

I woke one morning after a acute illness that my wife, daughter, and I had experienced on the last day of a week's beautiful vacation. We were able to find refuge in a hotel an hour into our trip home. We slept from 2 pm to 8 am the next morning, without eating anything but a few crackers.

Honestly- my first thought or impression when i awakened was

 "I have conquered Death".

I then thought how do people with terminal illness press on in life when they feel so bad.

Dying may be easier since Christ has conquered death.

Today i was reading the  August 31st devotional in Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon.

August 31st Morning

I realize that year after year  we "Wait  in Hope for His Arm".

"My righteousness draws near,
my salvation has gone out,
and my arms will judge the peoples;
the coast-lands hope for me, and for my arm they wait.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
and look at the earth beneath;
for the heavens vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment,
and they who dwell in it will die in like manner;
but my salvation will be forever,
and my righteousness will never be dismayed." (Is 51: 5-6)

That year after year we will have times in our lives that " drive us to the Father." And that God alone and His care is the only hope we have to breakthrough.

So how do we show the world that our God is " worth 10,000 worlds to us when we feel hopeless or feel bad?

 How do i get the strength for  "feats of faith and valiant exploits? "

We..... "cast ourselves on God alone" who supports the sky and arch of the heavens without anything visible to our eye!

Some other help on how to process and go forward:

Revelation 21:4

4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

1 Corinthians 15:55
55 “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?

John 3:16
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

As i look over the notes on this page of 7 yrs--
 many things have happened, great things as well as trials, and each year I realize that I
" simply must entirely entrust myself on the providence and care of God my Father,

Breakthrough - Michele Tumes

Love, love will make the distance
It's song riding through the moors
Of all that's lost

Hope, the flag that leads the mission
Flying over rain and foe
To rescue me from harm

I see my love, see my love
With might to save
Scale the walls of yesterday
Break through
Be my joy, be my joy
Charge this path and
Storm the tower of my heart
For only You can break through
To me

Love, the banquet for the famished
It's song rising through these halls
To fill my heart

Hope the banner in my anguish
Writing words of faith
Erasing thoughts of a darkened soul

I see my love, see my love
With might to save
Scale the walls of yesterday
Break through
See my joy, see my joy
Charge this path and
Storm the tower of my heart
For only You can break through

Let the choir sing
Listen to the angels

Fill the chapel
Singing adulation
Let the bells ring

John 11:25
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,

Old and New alike...

Very busy week, few trials in between. Missing all the family time we had the few weeks prior. Trying to set mind to see fresh hope in all areas.

Took some time to walk. Surely i could stir my mind and sight to see things from a new perspective.

Ephesians 3:14-21 (ESV)

Prayer for Spiritual Strength

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth is named,16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

I saw vines growing together on a tree. One mature and one new- growing the same upward fashion. Not random or without direction but by created internal means.

Saw two sized grape-like looking vines- same detail but one large and one small in diameter.

Ferns or different sizes

Seedling pine (close look) and large pine

Spiders of all sizes weave similar webs- not random

fawns learn naturally and by similar means as the older deer

Thistles and flowers together (little random but real life)

1. 2 size climbing vines 

2. 2 sizes of grape vines 

3. 2 sizes of ferns

4. Large pine and in front - (look close sapling pine )

5. Flowers with thistles

God has created a cycle of life And it is certainly not random.

Climbing vines obey nature's laws and climb toward the sun both young and old .

The new plants ferns vines and trees grow like those before.

Very young spiders spin a similar web as the old

Spotted fawns learn from older deer

Each generation learns from those that come before and those that follow.

Ecclesiastes 1:8-10 (NIV)

8 All things are wearisome,
    more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,
    nor the ear its fill of hearing.
9 What has been will be again,
    what has been done will be done again;
    there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there anything of which one can say,
    “Look! This is something new”?
It was here already, long ago;
    it was here before our time.

Unfailing God

Though my eyes may fail meI will follow after YouThough You promise seems forsakenI'll remember the world's in Your handsYou'll find me singing

You are unfailing GodYour love's unendingAnd Your word is eternalFirm in the heavens its stands

Though sorrow's my conditionAnd pain holds back no blowThough this be my darkest hourYour lamp is leading me homeYou'll find me singing

Eyes can't see but I feel You nearI know You're working through my tearsI trust You Lord I trust You for You never walk away

Psalm 52:8-9 (NIV)

8 But I am like an olive tree
    flourishing in the house of God;
I trust in God’s unfailing love
    for ever and ever.
9 For what you have done I will always praise you
    in the presence of your faithful people.
And I will hope in your name,
    for your name is good.