August
20, 2013
This
morning I had to go to a retirement breakfast for a vice president here at UNT.
I went to a table where I know a couple that works at facilities. The table was
decorated with the little glass beads that are sometimes found in flower arrangements. The lady picked one up, handed it to me and
said, “May you have a splash of joy today.” (It is now on my desk!)
I almost
started crying. I said to God, “Yes, I am paying attention.”
I told
Jackie about the message that Christine gave last night. I told her about the
words from Ezekiel 47:1-9 that Cherry told me about. She picked up her phone, looked up the
scripture and we read it.
Ezekiel
47
The River
from the Temple
47 The man brought me back to
the entrance to the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold
of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming
down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. 2 He then
brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the
outer gate facing east, and the water was trickling from the south side. 3 As
the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a
thousand cubits[a] and then
led me through water that was ankle-deep. 4 He
measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was
knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was
up to the waist. 5 He measured off
another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the
water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross.
6 He asked me, “Son of man, do you see this?”
Then he led me back to the bank of the river. 7 When I arrived there, I saw a great number of
trees on each side of the river. 8 He
said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the
Arabah,[b] where it
enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there
becomes fresh. 9 Swarms of living
creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of
fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where
the river flows everything will live.
When I got back to my
office I recalled that Julia prayed about her vision about a gate. Then I just
kept thinking about Christine talking about jumping into the water.
Psalm
46
3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with
their surging.
4 There
is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the
Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at
break of day.
So,
this is what I am hearing today:
It
doesn’t matter if you jump in with both feet, or if you walk slowly because of
the hurts of the past or the cracks in your ‘pot’ or just not sure what to do
or just knowing you have to do something different – JUST GET IN THE WATER. It
is refreshing, cleansing, soothing, filling, calming.
Lord,
This
is my prayer for each woman as she reads Your Word that it will refresh her
soul, cleanse her past, soothe her heart, fill her mind and calm her spirit.
May the salt of her tears bring a fresh insight to Your Word and Your desire
for her life. And with this new insight it will bring rivers of joy to her and
to all cross her path.
