Thursday SHINE....

Today's reading: 1 Samuel 29

Good morning, sweet SHINE girls!

 I hope your week has been good. Our SHINE prayer intercessors have been praying daily over you and your precious families.

In fact, each night as I go to bed, I hear your prayer requests in my heart, and I envision your beautiful faces.  Nothing gives me greater joy than to lift your needs up to the Father and lay them at His throne.

He hears each and every one of your prayers sweet friends. Even the unspoken ones. He even knows your thoughts. How incredible is that?

Trust Him. He is working on your behalf.

Be still and wait on Him. Praise Him in the waiting, friends.

Today's guest blogger wishes to remain anonymous. Her story is very timely with so many of us.

Be blessed today, SHINE sisters.

Everything I Hoped You'd Be 
by Bebo Norman


Take me to the desert
You will be the water
I will drink forever to fill my soul


Lead me through the fire of darkness and desire
You will be my shelter, You will be my shelter
I'll find you there, I'll find you there


It's here that I call out It's here that I fall down
It's here that I find out
That you are everything I hoped you'd be


Take me to the river
Lead me to the healer
Let it wash me over, oh my soul


Take me to the mountain
Lead me to the alter
We will build together And I will remember


I found you there, I found you there...


It's here that I call out It's here that I fall down
It's here that I find out
That you are everything


I hoped You'd be the sun that always shines
I hoped You'd be the everlasting life


It's here that I call out It's here that I fall down
It's here that I find out
That you are everything


I hoped You'd be.


This song brings me to tears as in my late teens and 20's I had some very dark days.  And in my immaturity, I hoped that Jesus would come through for me and be...all that I hoped He'd be.


In the words I used above, “would come through for me” are a result of being abandoned by both my parents.  Once at the airport, at the gate where my Mother told me she was not returning with me to where we'd been living and where I was attending boarding school.  I flew 5,000 miles. Alone.  I do not remember how I got from the airport to my High School.  God's angels worked hard that day looking after me.  I was 16.


The above situation resulted in my parents divorcing.  I got stuck in the middle.  Back and forth, back and forth.  Returned home, was told I needed to find my own place.  I had just turned 18.


The next few years I had numerous living situations, some with my dad, they were extremely unpleasant and scary at times.  Another with 2 lesbians (I did not know, so young and naive).  A family member came and got me the next morning because I had been approached by one of the women, (those angels at work again, I was protected). I was very scared and very alone.


Would HE come through for me?
About 18 mos later I was finally in a good, stable living situation, in the basement apartment of this sweet older couple who looked out for me.  But I was still broken on the inside.  Very lonely and even considered suicide on numerous occasions.


Is HE really all that I've been taught that HE is?


Does HE remember me?


One day I sat on my bed and cried out to Him (I was 22).  He was there, of course.  I started to look for Him, get to know Him.  I wanted to see Him through my gaping holes of abandonment.  This process, this long process, took years and years.


A few years into my marriage I (we) experienced great loss and disappointment in the area of having children.  I was broken, once again.  HE was waiting on me.


I would drive to work and put my hand on the passenger seat because I knew He was there with me.  And I would Let. It. Out. To. Him.  He could handle it.  I would crawl up in His lap and beat on His chest crying out.  He could handle it, and would stroke my hair and say to me, “Oh sweet daughter, how I love you and it's all going to be okay.  I promise.”  He was right.


Are you lonely?


Are you broken?


Are you able to see outside of the dark cloud you live in?


He is all you are hoping He is.


Go to Him.  He is there.


Talk to Him.  He is listening.


Crawl up in His lap.  It is big enough.


Cry on His shoulders as our children do.  He is the Great Comforter.


People in your life have abandoned you?  He won't.  He will never leave.


Deuteronomy 31:6  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid because of them, because the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.


Matthew 11:28  Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.


Jeremiah 31:25  I will refresh the weary, and satisfy the faint.


I have to give my Heavenly Father all the glory for what He has done in my life.  If it was not for Him, I do not know what would have happened to me.


Dear Lord this story is about You, loving me.  I give you all the praise. 


 Love,


 Your SHINE girl.