Vonnie, a pianist and one of my clients, shared with me an incredible true story that happened to her the week before Christmas. I thought it was a perfect reminder that God is a God of miracles, any time of the year.

For years I have almost been crippled with this stabbing sensation of fear just before going on stage to perform. Even though the concerts with my group usually went well, I was a complete wreck inside before and all during the performances. No one ever had a clue how much I was suffering & would often tell me I appeared completely professional on stage.

A couple of weeks ago, I had been working on the custom Healing Code Diane gave me for the fear of making mistakes in a performance. I had not had a lot of time for practicing for this particular performance and was quite stressed about it, but the night of, by some miracle (thank you God through the Healing Codes), I actually felt calm and prepared.

However, I was not prepared for what happened at the end of the concert.

As I usually do, I had brought a light from home to attach to the piano so that I could read the music. A couple of measures into the last number, there was a loud boom and the building went completely pitch black—except for my tiny light over the piano. Believe me I was thanking God sooo much, as it would have been impossible for me to continue playing with the chorus as they kept singing. I did not know this piece by memory.

Eventually, after the number was over, the lights came back on. I later learned that a transformer had blown.  The stage manager came over to my side of the stage to check out all the wiring. I told him I was so thankful that my light stayed on when the building went dark. He asked what I meant. I told him again. He said that was impossible. I asked why and his response was that my light was on the same circuit as all the other lights in the building.  He also showed me that the outlet my light was plugged into was not a battery operated outlet.

I cried out with JOY—it was GOD!!!!  It was the power of GOD that kept my light on as I played that last piece!!!  I’ve never had anything quite like that occur in my entire life. It was like God was showing me He was and is my ultimate power source, even in the midst of something that might seem so insignificant to others—a school concert performance!  I cried happy tears all the way home that night!

Thanks, Vonnie! What a reminder that the Light that broke into the world 2000 years ago still shines today for each of us. What might happen when that Light breaks through into your life? Look for a miracle!

A good friend of mine, Cathy, had a near brush with death a few months ago. Here is her story.

On October 25, 2011 I had a heart attack.

The problem was, I didn’t know it was a heart attack.  Women, pay attention!  It’s true that our symptoms can be VERY different.  I woke up somewhere around 2:00 AM with ‘discomfort’ in the middle of my chest.  It was so minor that I told myself to go back to sleep.  I couldn’t.  So I got up and went to the living room wondering what it could be.  It was not pain, pressure, indigestion – just an uncomfortable ‘sensation’.

Here is the Angel part.  I decided to call a good friend who lives close to me.  I dialed her number and it rang twice and I got a fast busy signal.  Hmmm – I tried again, paying particular attention to the digits I was dialing.  I got a busy signal.  I thought about it a bit more and decided to dial 911.  I didn’t even know what I was going to say but when the dispatcher answered I told him I THOUGHT I MIGHT be having a heart attack.  Where did those words come from?  They were not in my consciousness before I said them.  When I got to the hospital I asked them to call my friend and they got right through.  She looked later and I didn’t even show up on her caller id!

IF I had gotten her on the phone, we would have talked about it some, then she would have gotten up, put on some clothes and came here.  By the time that would have taken, I was in the ambulance (they took 5 minutes to get here from the time I was talking to the dispatcher) and I already had an EKG, nitro, aspirin and an IV and we were flying, lights and sirens, to the hospital.  I was furious that I could not get her but later realized that it might have saved my life that I could NOT get her on the phone.  Thank you God!

Be encouraged; the heavenly Father and his angels are not only watching over Cathy, but you as well.

If you have a story of God’s care or a miracle, feel free to share it below or send it to diane at abundant-gifts.com.

Stories of nearly unspeakable cruelty, doled out by people who themselves are damaged.

You and I walk among wounded people. Some people hide their scars pretty well. Some do not.

One man told of being at a church gathering. Because of health issues and a son with major difficulties, the man has been on disability, unable to work. At the gathering, the usual, “So, what do you do for a living?” question was asked. The man had no ready answer. As he stumbled through the truth, he noted how the other men looked away, not sure how to handle such honesty.

The man never wanted to go back to that group again. Acceptance? No. He felt judged and dismissed. Yet another incident to add to his pile of “I’m unworthy” belief.

I heard a story told about a young woman who ended her life by jumping off a bridge. When police went through her pockets, looking for a clue as to why she did it, they found a note.

“If only one person had smiled at me today,  I would not have jumped.”

A simple smile would have saved her life.

A simple smile and a “That must be a hard place to be right now” could have turned my client’s uncomfortable situation into an experience of acceptance.

Take the time to look into someone’s eyes today and smile. Take a moment to really listen to what a person says, and let your heart form words of acceptance, of life.

Realize that nobody has their act together. We are all walking wounded, to some extent. We all long for the same things: acceptance, significance, peace, love. Hope.

Just a smile can give a small measure of these things to someone else. Energy is exchanged. I believe that positive always wins. Light always drives away darkness, never the other way around.

Give the “abundant gift” of a simple smile. A few words of affirmation and acceptance. Turn the light on.

It just may save a life.

God’s reaction took me by surprise. Very distinctly in my spirit, I sensed him say, nonplussed, “Of course you failed.”

He added, “I don’t expect anything else. That’s why I died. And remember, I rose, and it’s all okay, because I’M the one who makes it okay.

“You are forgiven….”

So I know we’ll survive, and it’s my own perfectionism (and pride) that thinks I can be anything but a failure. It’s not that I’m beating myself up about it; quite the opposite.

I’m free to fail, as a parent or in any other way, because I am a sinner and Jesus is the one who took care of sin, once and for all. So now I’m forgiven and can stand in the truth that he can redeem anything.

If only I believe … but even then, if I don’t believe “enough,” that’s okay, because I can’t do that either, and Jesus believes for me.

Isn’t Jesus wonderful?

That was my personal Good Friday sermon.

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Our latest car was not only free, but has an amazing story with it that shows something of God’s mercy and ability to make much out of little.

Perhaps one of the reasons we have been so fortunate with cars is, we’re not picky. We take what God gives and we drive the cars almost until they give up the ghost. Such was the case with the car my young adult son was driving. We knew we had to replace it so started praying about it, several months ago. We “put out the word” and looked at ads. At the time, we didn’t have much money to put toward a vehicle.

One evening, when the car was parked in the Target parking lot where my son worked, someone smashed into it. The person was honest enough to go into the store and find the owner (my son). (First miracles? The owner didn’t just take off, and she found my son.)

In the end, we got $2000 from their insurance company. “Do you realize what God just did?” I said to my son. “He just dropped $2000 in our lap toward a new car. Nobody was hurt, you didn’t get into an accident. You were doing what you were supposed to be doing, and God provided this. Isn’t that cool?” I reminded him I’d been praying.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. It was the end of spring break, the door handle to the car had broken off. It was time to replace that car! David had come up with no leads. I heard a report on the news that Japanese car parts were going to be difficult to find. I suggested David call our mechanics, who had advised us to look for a used Japanese car, to see if the report was true.

It just so happened that the day before, Lance, our mechanic, had gotten the car from his sister-in-law, who had recently died, and was about to sell it. It was a Toyota Avalon, high mileage, but in good shape. He was asking $1500 for it. We looked it over, asked him to fix a few things, and for less than $2000, we had a replacement vehicle.

“You realize,” David said, “that it cost us less than $2000.” Yes, indeed. Our free car.

But here’s the real God part. That car had belonged to a woman with 3 children. Brenda had struggled with complications from treatment for Hodgkins disease for a couple of decades. The father of these children, ages 13,9, and 7, had died last August.   Brenda was on Social Security disability because of her health, and there is no estate to speak of. Suddenly Emily, Amanda, and Gabriel have no parents. Cara. Brenda’s mother, is quitting her job to care for them.

I cannot think of my “new” car, nor drive it, nor even think of this provision,  without praying for this family. I believe God gave us this car because he wants me to pray often for them. It is not just a free car, it is a car with a spiritual invitation to participate in God’s involvement with the family who once also rode in it.

Won’t you join me? Pray for Cara, the grandmother who is answering the call to care for these children. Pray for the church that is graciously reaching out to the family. Pray for Emily, Amanda, and Gabe. Amanda (9)  especially is struggling at this time. She  said to Cara, “It’s not fair. Everyone else has at least one parent. It’s not fair.” Pray that these children  will know they have a loving heavenly Father who is watching over them.

And if you feel led to participate in this family’s well-being in a tangible way, please use the Donate button to give whatever you feel God lays on your heart. There is a fund set up for the children and your entire donation  will go to that.

СувенириикониикониПравославни иконииконописikoni

So it’s today. January 28.  I didn’t want it to be too far after the real date, or it wouldn’t happen. Made that mistake once. One year I never had a birthday. (Does this mean I’m a year younger?)

It’s just the morning, but God already has given me a sweet gift.

It’s winter here, we had a fresh dusting of snow recently, the sun is shining and everything looks winter gorgeous. After my morning walk, I settled down in my office to do a bit of work. (I do plan to take most of the day off, though. Will read a novel, my favorite thing.)

There’s a tree outside my office window, and when I looked up, there was a brilliant red cardinal in the tree. I watched him for a while.

Then, two juncos came along. Then, a chickadee.

It’s unusual for me to see so many birds in that tree in so short a time. Though it was a small thing, it felt like a gift.  I enjoy birds.   And so does God! Jesus said not a sparrow falls to the ground without the Father’s knowledge.

God enjoys birds, and trees, and snow (every snowflake different, remember) and today I have a settled sense that he is sharing his enjoyment with me. The other day, a hawk landed on a branch of a tree outside my window. Perhaps it wil l come back today.

Two of my favorite stories  in Abundant Gifts are about birds. One is about how God pulled me out of a postpartum depression from the antics of birds.  (If you have the book, look for “The Visiting Birds” from Week 36, Thursday). The other is about a sweet personalized gift of a bird sighting told by my former pastor (who now, no doubt, is enjoying the birds of Paradise).

Dr. Tony Evans says you’re blessed when you can enjoy what God has given. God seems to like to bless me in various ways through birds. Sort of our little “thing” we share.

So today, already, just a few hours into the day, I’m feeling blessed.  Perhaps I can let God run the universe while I play. After all, I’m his child.

And as a child, I anticipate other surprises. He’s no stingy God, I’ve found. Gifts abound … and I don’t intend to miss even one of them!

икони на светци

Beautiful.

And treacherous, as it turned out.

As I embarked on my morning walk with my Bishon, Millie, the snow was still coming down, muffling the world with quiet.

I passed my neighbors as they cleaned off their driveway. “Be careful,” warned Greg. “It’s slippery. The Big Guy already went down. Hard.”

“The Big Guy” was the man who walked, seemingly almost always at the same time I did, even when I changed the time. He was known as sort of a grump, but he often said hi to me because we seemed to share the same dedication to walking every single day, at the same time.

I picked my way carefully, but I did slip a couple of times. A few hundred yards  from my house, I passed “the Big Guy.” “Slippery,” I said. “I already went down,” he said. “Are you ok?” “Yes.”

So I walked on. I soon realized, after paying attention to where it was I slipped, that it was the smooth places that were most treacherous.

The rough places that were not cleared away were actually the safest.

It hit me: We want our way in life to be smooth. We think it’s safe. We know it’s easier.

We want easy. We want smooth.

But sometimes, smooth is dangerous. It’s the rough places that force us to trust in God.

And ultimately, that’s the safest place to be.

In fact, the only safe place to be.

Life has had its rough patches for me lately. Perhaps for you, too. But I’m more at peace with knowing that the rough patches are gifts. The rough patches are the safest. Walk there. With less fear, more confidence.

I’ve written on another Thanksgiving about giving thanks for what I call “disguised gifts” in Abundant Gifts. I wrote that when we give thanks for things that don’t seem on the surface like good things, our faith opens the way for God to turn it into a blessing.

Some things we experience are downright painful, and part of living in this broken world. Death,  for instance, is an enemy that Jesus himself cried over (then conquered and transformed).

There are other kinds of pain I think God allows into our lives because his ultimate goal is for  healing.

If Dr. Alex Loyd is correct in his book, The Healing Code, then many of the things that are painful to us are painful because they are connected to unhealed memories. The same incident that bothers you may not be painful to other people in the same situation.

Take getting stuck in traffic, for instance. One person may take the delay as an opportunity to relax and listen to music, or to pray. Another might go into road rage. It may trigger subconscious memories of being blocked or thwarted in a goal, or a time when something disastrous happened because of being late for an important meeting. The road rage is really aimed at an accumulation of times when being late caused pain of some sort.

Anais Nin said, “We see things, not as they are, but as we are.” Our perception of a situation is based largely on the experiences we’ve already had, especially the things that are unhealed i n us that the incident triggers.

This is where the gift comes in. The current situation, which God allows, bothers us mostly because it’s attached to unhealed memories and issues. If we allow God to reveal what those issues are, and to heal them, then the “triggering problem” was actually a blessing, a gift, though it certainly may not have felt like it.

This concept has been life-changing for me. Always before, truth be told, when something bothered me I dealt with it as best I could, then moved on. I did not realize God allowed it into my life for healing. I did not seek healing.

Now, I always ask first, “What is it that bothers me about this?” I identify the feeling. Then I ask, “When have I felt that way before? What lies have I been believing?” As the memories come up, I bring them into the Light of God’s truth and love.  I pray for healing and counter the lies with truth.

And healing does come. It really does.

Recently, for instance, something happened that caused a huge emotional trauma for me. I’m still sorting out what actually happened (which I may never know fully), but the incident triggered many memories of past perceived rejections. You know what, though? In less than a week of using this process, along with The Healing Codes, those memories are healed. The issue is manageable. Even the physical symptoms that I experienced in one day of illness dissipated.

So I am thankful for the traumatic situation. God allowed it so that all these other unhealed memories could be healed.

What difficult things are you dealing with this Thanksgiving? Can you, in faith, thank God for allowing them into your life and seek his healing? I know people are dealing with very tough stuff. I’m praying for people who have lost loved ones, are facing the prospect of losing a loved one. People dealing with terrible illness, financial crises, emotional traumas.

Yet I truly believe that God is merciful and powerful, and can turn anything into blessing as we trust him. I heard Tony Evans today talk about Hebrews 12, and how when God shakes things up, it’s to disconnect us from what is seen, the earthly, so we can see what it unseen, the spiritual things that God is wanting to show us. The healing he wants to bring us always starts with the spiritual, with the heart issues. Dr. Tony Evans and Dr. Alex Loyd have both convinced me: “everything that exists in the physical realm has its roots in the spiritual.”

That’s what God wants to heal, first and foremost. We have to listen to the message in our pain, for it will lead us to wholeness if we bring it into the light. As we let the Light in, it will destroy what is not good (as a laser would) and gently bring to life what will produce fruit, as sunlight on a seedling.

This Thanksgiving, I hope and pray it will be the beginning of true healing, especially as you thank God for the things that don’t look like blessings. Just make sure you go deeper, and let God do his full, intended healing on the underlying memories with their pain and wrong beliefs. (And i you want a little help from me on the process, you can find it here.)

Three Old Testament passages per day.

One theme constantly emerges: how important it is to “fear the Lord.”

It’s the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7, Psalm 111:10) . It’s a life-giving fountain (Proverbs 14:27). It characterized the Messiah’s life (Isaiah 11:2). I could go on and on.

Since it’s stressed so much, I wanted to know what it really means.

My new Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (IVP) says that there are well over a hundred references to the fear of God, as distinct from the terror of him.

So what does it mean to “fear” God in the positive sense?

A light went on for me when I read that it means to be in awe of God.

Suddenly, I understood what a wonderful state it is to live in constant awe of God.

As in:

• I’m in awe of how much you love me, that you sent your only Son to earth to suffer and die for me.
• I’m in awe of your power that created–and now sustains–this entire universe.
• I’m in awe of the amazing beauty of egret orchids.
• I’m in awe of how the passages of Scripture I read (seemingly random passages) form a harmony of similar themes.
• I’m in awe that because of your holy nature, your wrath consumes my sin … but because of Jesus’ death and resurrection in which I trust, it doesn’t consume me.
• I’m in awe that your Holy Spirit can speak a personal word into my situation, so that I know how to solve a business problem, or deal with a difficult person, or give me the right word for a friend in distress
• I’m in awe of the majesty of a sunset.
• I’m in awe of ….

I could go on forever. Couldn’t you?

It is, if I may say it, an awesome way to live.

No wonder God tells us to praise him. That’s just an expression of awe. When we praise him, we’re not focusing on our problems, are we? We’re focused on God.

What does that do to our problems?

Find out by trying it. Especially when something is bothering you, switch focus. Find something to be in awe about concerning God. Turn it into a note of praise.

And tell me what happens by commenting below. What about God is awesome to you?

I didn’t.

Now I do, and if you can extrapolate that perhaps the central verse of the whole Bible might be the one thing God wants us to “get,” then it’s worth knowing, even memorizing.

Enjoy!