Author Archives: Tamar

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About Tamar

Tamar Knochel at your service! From sewing and crafting to words of encouragement when you need them most. I'm here for you. ❤️

Egypt in the Bible

Posted on July 6, 2013 by Tamar


Daniel 10:1-12:13

Last night I noticed a new app on my phone that I hadn’t put there myself – always interesting. But when you have two kids who play on your phone, it’s not unheard of. I tap on the icon and find out it’s a new social media app, fun! I’m a budding social media “expert” so let’s check this out. I start flipping through this new app, Flipboard, and it’s fun. The way you flick to get to the next story is gratifying. And it has news on there along with many many other features like a “trending” page. I noticed that #Egypt was going down in the trends and thought, “Egypt? What’s going on in Egypt?”

[photo courtesy of businessinsider.com]

(Give me a break, I don’t watch the news, like ever. I have my reasons.) So I click on the hash tag and find out about the coup going on over there.

[photo courtesy of www.cbc.ca]

The first thing I think about is the fact that it’s EGYPT. There are few places more Biblical than Egypt, except you know, like Jerusalem and Israel!

[photo courtesy of FoxNews]

[photo courtesy of MediaSalon]

Egypt was the original “bad guy” of the Bible. It was the place where the Hebrews were enslaved for 400 years before the mass exodus and is the symbolic “bad guy” throughout the rest of the Bible because of this very enslavement.

[Photo courtesy of TheBlaze]

So when I see news of this coup going on in Egypt my radar immediately is triggered, but not so much so that I couldn’t sleep last night. However, I am now wide awake at 5am on a Saturday morning. So I pull back the covers and grab my trusty Bible to go hang out with Jesus for a while before everyone else wakes up. As I’m perusing through my pages of Daniel searching for a Word for today I find it. But not the kind of Word I normally get, where it’s personal and sweet. No. This time God gave me a word that has thrown me knee deep into news feed and Google searches. (I’ll include some links at the end so that you can beef up more on what’s happening if you haven’t heard much yet.)

Honestly, what are the odds that I would read a news story about Egypt last night and then less than 5 hours later in my Bible!?! But not just any comment on Egypt, well, I’m going to let you read and make your own decisions. But I find this “God-incidence” veeeery interesting and I plan on keeping a closer eye on Egypt and Libya for a while.

(Daniel 11:40-12:13) 40 At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen, and with many ships. And he shall come into countries and shall overflow and pass through. 41 He shall come into the glorious land. And tens of thousands shall fall, but these shall be delivered out of his hand: Edom and Moab and the main part of the Ammonites. 42 He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 43 He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt, and the Libyans and the Cushites shall follow in his train. 44 But news from the east and the north shall alarm him, and he shall go out with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction. 45 And he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea and the glorious holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end, with none to help him.

The Time of the End

12 “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. 2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. 4 But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”

5 Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, two others stood, one on this bank of the stream and one on that bank of the stream. 6 And someone said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream, “How long shall it be till the end of these wonders?” 7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream; he raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time, and that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end all these things would be finished. 8 I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, “O my lord, what shall be the outcome of these things?” 9 He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. 10 Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand. 11 And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days. 12 Blessed is he who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days. 13 But go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days.”

News links for stories on Egypt and Lybia:

Fear, panic grip Libyan capital as unknown fighters wage battle in Tripoli

By Jomana Karadsheh, CNN

updated 6:49 AM EDT, Thu June 27, 2013

With Egypt unrest growing, U.S. Marines placed on ready as precaution

By Barbara Starr, CNN Pentagon Correspondent

updated 6:03 PM EDT, Fri June 28, 2013

Showdown? Egypt’s Morsy defies military ‘ultimatum’

From Hamdi Alkhshali. Reza Sayah and Chelsea J. Carter, CNN

updated 11:39 PM EDT, Tue July 2, 2013

26 dead, more than 850 wounded as post-coup violence hits Egypt

By Ben Wedeman. Reza Sayah and Chelsea J. Carter, CNN

updated 10:30 PM EDT, Fri July 5, 2013

Categories: 365 Life, Daniel, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

YOU are Someone Worth Dying For

Posted on July 4, 2013 by Tamar

070213_1513_OnlyYOU1.jpg Daniel 7:1-9:27
I can’t think of a better way to end this week than with Mike’s Chair’s song, Someone Worth Dying For. Listen to the words and let them sink deep into your soul. They are Truth and Life. YOU are Someone Worth Dying For! At least Jesus seems to think so anyway!

Categories: 2 Chronicles, 365 Life, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Tags: , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Only YOU

Posted on July 2, 2013 by Tamar


Daniel 4:19-6:28

For the past few weeks I’ve been emphasizing the importance of doing what God has called you to do and being who God has made you to be. Last night I found out why I’ve been doing that. I received an email that confirmed everything. It was a Women of Faith Devotional, forwarded from a friend of mine, and written by Thelma Wells. In it she recounted the story of a dream that God had given to Rick Howard a dream that you need to hear about.

“Rick had a dream that he went to the judgment seat of Christ and was surrounded by people he knew. When it was his time to stand before the Lord, he thought he would be rewarded as the pastor of a megachurch and having fame in the media that surpasses many. He stepped up to Jesus sitting in the Judge’s seat and presented his works.

In this dream, Jesus tried Rick’s works in the fire—and they burned and burned and burned until nothing was left but a deep, black hole. The pastor stood there with a broken heart and asked Jesus why all of his works were burned because he had worked for the Lord all his career. Jesus told him that, no, he had not worked for the glory of God because God had told him to go into ministry on foreign fields. But because his wife refused to marry him if he went, the pastor had selected the woman over God. He had been responsible for millions accepting Jesus and for many great and wonderful works, but because the pastor did not accept the real calling of God and instead pleased his wife, his works were burned up like wood, hay, and stubble. Sure, the pastor entered into the kingdom of God in heaven, but he lost his rewards for the work he did on earth.

Rich also saw an old lady of no acclaim. Someone who was never written up in the paper, never appeared on television, did no radio interviews, and never spoke for a conference of any size. As she walked up to the judgment seat of Christ and presented her works to Jesus, they begin to burn. When they finished burning, what was left were stacks of gold, silver, and precious stones. This nobody on earth was rewarded at the judgment for edifying people while glorifying God. She received the rewards that Jesus will bestow at his judgment seat.

As Rich stood before the judgment seat waiting for Jesus to talk to him, there was a period of total silence and no activity. Disappointed and wondering, he woke up from the dream with no precise results.”*

What kind of pressure are you under today? Are you being pressured to eat the king’s food (worldly wisdom and media)? Are you being pressured to worship false idols (money, medicine, possessions)? Are you feeling pressured to be someone you’re not, do something you don’t feel is quite right? DON’T CAVE UNDER THE PRESSURE!!! Stand firm, be strong and courageous. Look at that fiery furnace before you and say, “O (fill in a name here), I have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18)

I think it’s always important with the story of the furnace to point out the “But if not”, for those circumstances where God doesn’t do what we hope and expect of Him. This doesn’t mean He’s not faithful and true and just and real. It simply means that He has a better plan that we can’t understand with our finite minds and perspective. If He doesn’t save in the way WE want Him to, does that make Him less God? No.

When we stand firm in our faith we have to stand firm with a “But if not” attitude, where come what may, we will still stand strong for God and HIS glory, knowing full well that it will not be easy.

In Rick’s dream his works were burned up because he chose his wife’s plan for his life instead of God’s plan. When I stand before that judgment seat of God and He asks me why I didn’t do what He told me to do; “because my husband told me not to”, will not be an acceptable answer. Ultimately, I’m responsible for my own life and how I live it.

We all have eternal life… somewhere. We have to live with today’s choices for eternity, no matter where we’re going.

God made YOU for a reason. YOU have a purpose, a position, a job that ONLY YOU can fulfill in this world. If you are not doing it then who will? If you’re not living out the dream that God placed deep in your heart then how will you answer Him on that day? The judgment seat isn’t for condemnation of sins – those have already been judged in the flesh of Jesus. The judgment seat is the day of REWARD. What will yours look like? You don’t have to do big things in human eyes to get your reward. You only have to do one thing – TRUST GOD. Trust His opinion of YOU. Trust His love for YOU. Trust His forgiveness of YOU. Trust His plans for YOU. They are plans for hope and a future not harm and destruction. The God of Love made these plans for you so they MUST be good! Good for YOU. Trust Him. Jesus loves YOU.

Lord, after weighing me in the balances of life, may I never be found wanting in Your eyes! In Jesus’ name, Amen!

* Devotionals Daily FaithGateway. Refining Grace by Thelma Wells. Copyright © 2013 HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 501 Nelson Place, Nashville, TN, United States. All Rights Reserved. http://www.faithgateway.com/refining-grace/

Categories: 365 Life, Daniel, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Resisting Compromise

Posted on July 2, 2013 by Tamar


Daniel 2:1-4:18

“Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” Daniel 3:15

Wow! Is anybody else noticing a pattern here? “Who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” Now where have we heard that before? Hmmmm… Oh Yeah! Just two days ago from the mouth of the king of Assyria, Sennacherib! It’s almost as if it’s not the kings saying it, but perhaps someone behind them. Someone… sinister and evil, and hell-bent on driving God’s people to extinction… someone devilish like, oh I don’t know, Satan perhaps?

You see, Satan is doing his utmost best to destroy us. But what Satan intends for our destruction, God intends for our GOOD. In today’s reading we find the beloved story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Three men of God, friends of Daniel’s, who refused to bow to the pressure of the king.

Yesterday we talked about the pressure that Daniel had to withstand in order to “just say no” to the king’s food and now today we find his friends (who also resisted the king’s food) in an even bigger pickle than before. Before it was just the food that they were eating, that was a big test at the time. But this, this was WAAAAY bigger than food. This was bowing to an enormous idol. And not doing so would result in death by fire! I mean, what food to eat, that’s one thing. But worshiping another god, that’s just unthinkable!

Or is it?

We tend to do it every day without ever giving it another thought. In Who Do You Trust I talked about some of the idols that we worship (money, doctors, medicine a hospital); the things or people that we place our trust in to save us from our difficult situations.

Let’s take Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego for instance. They could have bent under the peer pressure and done what EVERY OTHER Hebrew there was doing to save their own skin and they could have bowed and worshiped the golden idol. But they didn’t do that.

They were friends with Daniel, who at this point had risen pretty high in the ranks among the king’s officials. They could have played their friend card with Daniel and tried to use his influence to get out of this situation. But they didn’t do that either.

Under the greatest of pressure they didn’t cave and they didn’t compromise, they trusted in God. Period. They stood firm in their faith. Which was no easy task, I might add!

Categories: 365 Life, Daniel, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Only God

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Tamar

2 Chronicles 35:1-36:23 & Daniel 1:1-21

OK, today I especially loved the “coincidence” that we went from reading about the exile from Jerusalem to Babylon and then followed Daniel into the Babylonian king’s court. How cool was that? That doesn’t happen often when we’re reading alphabetically. Anyway, I feel I need to pull more on Daniel’s story today than on Josiah and Jehoahaz.

Daniel had just been sitting around in Jerusalem, minding his own business, doing his own thing when out of the blue he finds himself exiled to Babylon. Once in Babylon he is told that he has been chosen to “stand in the king’s palace” where he will learn “the literature and language of the Chaldeans”. Intimidating, but exciting none the less. Hey, it’s not slave work right? But then there’s something else. Mealtime rolls around and Daniel sits down to the table, his stomach rumbling and his mouth is watering from the smells that are coming from the palace kitchen. He was probably thinking, “This hasn’t been nearly as bad of a day as I had expected.” I can only imagine how crestfallen he felt when they brought in the trays filled with food that he couldn’t eat. Like a sweet-toothed diabetic in a candy factory, he couldn’t eat a thing. Then he probably thought, “I’m going to starve. I’ll be the smartest dead guy around.” The pressure to eat that steaming food before him had to have been incredible. Yet he stood firm in his faith and refused to eat it.

Sometimes in life God plants us into situations where we are forced to make a choice, his ways or the world’s, God’s food or the Babylonian king’s. We’re placed at a fork in the road where whichever path we choose will change life dramatically and neither really looks to be that fun. But we can’t stand at the fork forever; we have to choose one or the other. The pressure to take the World’s way is incredible, yet the eternal resentment of not taking God’s way is equally unbearable. But there is hope. 1 Corinthians 10:12-13 tells us,

“Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

Do you remember in yesterday’s reading when the king of Assyria (Sennacherib) had been attacking Judah and “sent his servants to Jerusalem to Hezekiah king of Judah and to all the people of Judah who were in Jerusalem, saying, “Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria, ‘On what are you trusting, that you endure the siege in Jerusalem?'” (2 Chronicles 32:9-10) The Enemy of Judah was attacking the cities of Judah and putting intense pressure on the people. Yet they were enduring it and that infuriated Sennacherib causing him to turn his cause of frustration into a taunt. “On what are you trusting, that you endure the siege?” I talked about it yesterday and how there is always SOMETHING we are trusting in to save us, whether it’s money, medicine, doctors, or God. But of all these options, and the many more that I didn’t take the time to list, which of them is able to help you endure the siege? Which of them is able to help you withstand the pressure of the World to eat the king’s food? Which of them is able to help you locate the trap door hidden within every single temptation of life?

Only God.

Only God can be our source of salvation from the siege. Jesus is our shield and refuge, our shelter in times of trouble and in times of glee. Only the power of His Holy Spirit can hold us up in our human weakness.

Only God.

Hallelujah!

Categories: 2 Chronicles, 365 Life, Daniel, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments

Who do You Trust?

Posted on June 30, 2013 by Tamar

image

2 Chronicles 32:1-34:33
Hezekiah’s reign was an interesting one.  He worked with all his might to restore the leadership of God into their family. And yet as we start today’s reading what do we find? “After these things and the acts of faithfulness, Sennecherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah.” (2 Chronicles 32:1)
What did Hezekiah’s faithfulness bring him? An attack.
Have you been there? Are you familiar with this at all? Or am I alone here when I say I know how this guy feels! I get so weary of doing something good and then being attacked for it. I mean, yeah, I know why I’m being attacked, I’ve just leapt over into the Enemy’s territory and taken it from under him. It’s only natural that he fights to try and gain it back. Unfortunately for him, he doesn’t ever think about who he’s dealing with. First of all, he’s dealing with me, one of the most bull-headed people you could ever meet. I don’t give up, ever. But on top of that, and much more importantly, he’s not even really fighting me. He’s fighting the Spirit behind me – Jehovah.
Jesus fights my battles, not just with me but for me! Because the battle was never mine in the first place. It’s always been His. From the beginning of time this very battle between good and evil has been waged, with Satan taunting us, “on what are you trusting, that you endure the seige?”
So I ask you, on what are you trusting today?  There is something that you are looking to to bring you peace, comfort, joy, fulfillment and security, what is it? Are you trusting in an “arm of flesh” or God – whose name includes salvation? Be honest with yourself when you answer that question because if you’re not honest it could hurt you.
What are you trusting? Where is your hope finding its resting point? Does it lie in the LORD and His infinite love and grace, mercy and favor? Or does it lie with money, a person, a medicine, or a hospital? Yes, those things may appear to be your only hope but they’re not. Our ONLY hope is unmerited favor from God. And guess what! He’s serving it up daily through the Word of God just for YOU! What a mighty God we serve!
Ask and He delivers!

image

Categories: 2 Chronicles, 365 Life, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

You Can Have New Roots

Posted on June 29, 2013 by Tamar


2 Chronicles 28:22-31:21

Today’s reading starts with the end of Ahaz’s story and the beginning of Hezekiah’s. I find this interesting this morning as we’re starting a new book for our devotional reading we’re doing the same in our Bible reading. We’re closing the door on Ahaz, the evil king. And we’re opening the door to Hezekiah the good king. I found it interesting that his mother was the daughter of Zechariah. I wonder if it’s THE Zechariah. Ya, know, the one that wrote the book of Zechariah. I’m pretty sure it was, mostly because of what happened next.

Generally the way these family histories go, when one king is evil and his son takes the throne he is evil too unless he has had some sort of godly influence on his life. You know, like maybe being raised by a prophet’s daughter. I could see how that *might* sway you away from the dark side. (Not to mention a HUGE testimony for motherly influence I might add!)

In Ahaz’s distress he turned from the LORD to false gods. His thinking was, “‘Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.’ But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel.” (2 Chronicles 28:23) So Ahaz gathered up all the sacred items of the house of God, cut them up, and “shut the doors of the house of the LORD”. (2 Chronicles 28:24)

Now normally I wouldn’t think too terribly much about this, it’s a common theme in the Bible. But as God would have it, yesterday during my Sabbath rest, I just happened to watch several sermons on breaking generational curses. It became almost like a game for me as I picked one random recording after another, three sermons, three different pastors, all three on breaking generational curses. Do you think God was trying to tell me something?

So then I pick up my Bible this morning and here we have a reading that just “happens” to be about an evil father that shut the doors to the LORD’S house and a son who opens them back up (2 Chronicles 29:3). It just made me smile. Yup. God’s just awesome like that. Hezekiah was a son that broke a generational curse (probably with a lot of help from his mom).

So, in one of the sermons it was emphasizing our power over these curses. When we choose to accept Christ’s gift of becoming children of God, we are grafted into HIS bloodline. [John 1:12, Romans 8:16, Romans 11:11-24, 1 John 3:1]

For example, when the branch of a red apple tree is grafted into the trunk of a green apple tree, it is cut away from the original red apple tree and connected to the new green apple tree.

*The sap that flows through the original tree’s veins no longer flows through the grafted branch because it now receives its provision of nourishment from a new source, the roots of the new green apple tree.

We are officially no longer a member of the human bloodlines we were born into. With that comes liberation from any and all generational curses. However, it’s up to us to take hold and claim that liberation. If we choose to just sit back and say, “Well, my father was always hot tempered, so I will be too”, then that’s all that will ever happen. However, if at any point we choose to remember that we are no longer part of their human lineage, but rather the lineage of Christ – the picture of patience. Then that generational cycle of anger is broken and will no longer be passed down to the next generation.

Anyway, back to Ahaz and Hezekiah, my point is this. According to the scripture seeking false gods was “the ruin of [Ahaz] and of all Israel.” 2 Chronicles 28:23) The evil intentions of one man ended in the ruin of all of Israel. Yet, the good intentions of one man, Hezekiah, ended in the restoral of all Israel and the celebration of the first Passover to be remembered in generations!

You. Yes you.

Your decisions have the power to affect millions of lives throughout the rest of history. Today I set before you life and death, blessing and curses. Which do you choose to pick up and claim for yourself; the life and blessings of Christ or the death and curses of the world? Remember the choice is completely up to you… as are the results.

*A huge thank you to www.TimelessTruths.org for their picture of the grafted trees! I highly recommend visiting their site, it’s wonderful! If you click on the picture of the trees it will take you to the story the picture came from, which just “happens” to be directly related to what I’ve shared with you this morning. You know, because God’s just that awesome!

Categories: 2 Chronicles, 365 Life, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sabbath

Posted on June 28, 2013 by Tamar

NO

READING TODAY!

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Impossible Dream

Posted on June 27, 2013 by Tamar

2 Chronicles 24:20-28:21

“The LORD is able to give you much more than this.” 2 Chronicles 25:9

One day when I was in Kindergarten, or there abouts, my mom said something to me that would stick with me forever. She said, “Honey, I think you’d make a really good teacher someday.” I can’t remember exactly how old I was at the time, but I remember how it made me feel when she said it. It felt like I’d been hit by a lightning bolt of revelation. I certainly wouldn’t have described it that way at the time mind you, I was like, 6. But more than anything I remember that feeling coming from deep inside me that she had said something deep and right. In that moment I knew that I wanted to be a teacher. And from that moment on that’s all I’ve ever wanted to be. But at the time that this dream of teaching was born “I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.” (1 Corinthians 13:11) I was a child in elementary school, surrounded with women who taught elementary school and seemed to really love me for me. At the time that was all the higher I was able to dream because I didn’t know any differently.

As I grew the dream to be an elementary teacher solidified and become firm in my mind. I was going to be an elementary teacher. Period. When I got to high school all my friends knew that I wanted to teach elementary school. One of my friends went so far as to tease me that I should work with the Kindergarteners because they would be the only ones I could teach that would be shorter than me and take me seriously. (I’m 5 foot 2… on a good day.) I hated his taunt and vowed to *never* teach little kids.

Once I made it to college and I was studying at Purdue to be an elementary teacher, when something interesting started happening. There was this desire birthed inside me that was different from the original dream. I remember the classroom, the teacher, the other students in the room when the revelation started. I realized that I wanted to teach the building blocks of life. I wanted to teach them how to take a good test, how to be a good friend, how to survive in life. I wanted to teach so much more than what they were offering me to teach. I wanted to teach about LIFE more than math or reading or spelling.

So while I was still on my path to be the awesome elementary teacher I had always dreamed of being, there was disquiet in my soul about it now. Without my realizing it, the dream had changed. While I still desperately wanted to teach, I wasn’t exactly sure that elementary school was the right place for me anymore. But I was a semester or two from graduating, and I still wanted to teach so I carried on with my studies and graduated.

Just before graduation September 11th hit and changed our world forever. My husband and I had been married just over a year at that point and were considering having a baby. Then the towers fell and world was suddenly plunged into a darkness we had never experienced before. And the only thought in my head was, “how can we bring a child into a world like this?” But then God countered with, “If people like you never bring children of light into this world it will always be dark.” And by the time I walked across the stage at graduation I was fully pregnant. We moved back home to be close to our parents and I applied for a job at the local elementary school where they all knew and loved me. I got an interview fairly easily. But then the unthinkable happened. I was admitted into the hospital at 33 weeks gestation for pre-ecclampsia (high blood pressure). I was there for about a week before our son Gabriel was born.

He was born the day before my interview. I didn’t get the only job they had available to me. The door to that particular dream had officially shut. And really, I was OK with it. Mostly because at the time I was still battling for my life! But I’ll have to tell you more about that part later.

Gabe was about six months old when a daycare center opened up the next town over. We needed extra income and it was the ONLY thing for a teacher in the area. I applied and the owner thought she had died and gone to heaven. She couldn’t believe I wanted a job there instead of at the elementary school. I explained that there was nothing for me there and she snatched me up like a hot pancake fresh off the griddle. I was promoted to daycare director within a month of working there. And I LOVED it. Here I had been swearing I would NEVER work with little kids and now I was working with toddlers every day and thinking it was the best thing since sliced bread.

Shortly after settling into my role as director we moved again. This time, to Glendale Heights, a suburb of Chicago, so that my husband could go back to school to be a mechanic. While there I tried my best to get a subbing job at the school that was located in our back yard but they weren’t hiring at the time. Imagine that. But I did manage to get a job in a local daycare center as a floating substitute. Except two weeks before I was set to start they had 15 kids enroll, this is absolutely unheard of. So they needed to open up a new classroom and guess who got to teach it. ME! I was in heaven. For the first time I had my own classroom, my own students, I was a real teacher. I was in love.

For the next five years I taught in three different preschool daycares and loved almost every second of it. I didn’t stay at that first one very long though because it was a corporate daycare and I could feel God calling me to a church daycare down the street.

There I was teaching children the true building blocks of life; both the physical ones and the spiritual ones. I was living the dream. But it wasn’t anything like the dream I had first started dreaming. It had grown and changed as I grew and changed and learned more about myself and who God was calling me to be.

Eventually I risked death once more in order to have our baby girl and my husband and I both could feel the Holy Spirit nudging us to take the financial plunge and have me stay home with the kids.

And this is where things really started changing. That first year home with a newborn was one of the hardest in my life. We had a new house, a new baby, I had a new job, it was crazy to say the least. But I had one salvation; our local women’s Bible study. That weekly meeting kept me sane through the chaos. But more than that, it was through that Bible study that God awakened something new in me. While I had always loved the LORD and had a relationship with Him; it was time to kick the teaching dream into real high gear. So He reawakened my dream and love for writing. A dream so dead in my life that I had completely forgotten I had had it in the first place. When I announced on Facebook that I was writing a book about God and sex (True Intimacy) I had a friend from middle school tell me that she still had all my short stories from that time. Stories I didn’t even remember writing she had kept for over ten years!

Even before I met my husband, I had dreamt of being a writer, a good one. It was a dream that I hardly even entertained because at that point it didn’t fit with my larger and longer lived dream of being an elementary teacher. I was still a child thinking like a child at that point. I was literally incapable of thinking any larger than the box I was currently in. Honestly, because I was dreaming up to the sides of the box… but never past what I could see as possibly achievable.

But then I started writing True Intimacy and everything changed. I was still teaching that dream has never died and I doubt it ever will. I was born to teach. I’ve come to the point where I’ve realized that I can teach just about anybody just about anything depending on the circumstance. When I was a child my dream was to be like those teachers I loved when I was in their classrooms. My dream is so different now, and yet completely the same. The Holy Spirit is my teacher; I’m an eternal student in His classroom of Life. And I want to be a teacher like Him in whatever classroom He chooses to place me in. Right now that classroom is my website, my books and my newspaper article. I’m also teaching social media classes at the local library. When I was a child my largest and grandest dream was to have my very own classroom that I could decorate any way that I chose and to teach whatever I felt appropriate. And while I no longer dream of an elementary classroom filled with construction paper decorations that fade in the sunlight, I do dream of souls saved by the Son light. I pray God uses me to bring His marvelous light into their lives. My classroom is the world.

At last count my website has been viewed by people in over seventy countries. My articles are in over a thousand homes in the area weekly with the numbers steadily rising. My deepest desire is no longer to teach children how to take a good test; it’s so much bigger than that. My dream is to teach the children of God how to pass the tests of life when they seem oh so impossible. I want to bring hope to the hopeless through the Word of Christ, because how can they believe if no one ever shares things with them? How will they hear if no one ever tells them? I have a heart for the lost children of God who think they have Him and know Him when in reality all they have is the dry bones of religion and nothing more. How will they know there is more
to the abundant life if someone doesn’t tell them?

Jeremiah 33:3 says, “Call to Me and I will answer you and I will tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” I have lived this more times in the last thirty-three years than I can count! God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or imagine through the power found in Christ Jesus, (Ephesians 3:20) if we would only believe in Him. God has challenged me over the years to “dream big” and I feel like I have. Yet I know that my dreams still pale in comparison to the plans that He has for me.

He has plans for my welfare and not for evil, to give me a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11) “For now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12) When I was a child, I dreamt a possible dream. Now as an adult I have chosen to dream an impossible dream. It’s a dream that I can’t possibly achieve on my own, not ever. But God has placed it in my heart none-the-less. It’s a dream where I write the books the world reads because they’re hungry for the bread from heaven. It’s a dream where I stand on a stage before thousands of people and lead them through a prayer of salvation followed by a worship and praise that they’ve been holding in their entire lives. I dream for people to KNOW Him like Adam knew Eve, intimately and beyond all shame because they’ve been eternally forgiven and not condemned. None of that is possible without God. Apart from God we can do nothing, but a part of Him we can do everything!

So often I feel like Mary in Luke chapter 1 when the angel Gabriel comes to her and tells her that she has been chosen to birth the Christ child and she says, “how can this be?” And the angel replies, “Nothing is impossible with God”.

Often I find myself praying and thanking God for using me for this or for that and I will say, “Lord, you could have used anybody to do that, but you used me. Thank You!” Do you know what He said the last time I prayed that, “No. I couldn’t have used just anybody. I could only use you.” And I knew that He had a point.

We are all made so uniquely that we all have a unique purpose in this world. We were created to perform certain jobs and functions that only we can do. And if we’re not doing them then who will get them done? If we’re not doing the job that we were created for then that job isn’t getting done correctly.

I was created to be a teacher. A teacher of the Word of God. I know that now. I NEVER in a million years would have known that in Kindergarten. I couldn’t dream that high. I still have trouble dreaming that high. But I know that as long as I keep following the Man with the plans I’ll get there. Somehow. Someday. In His way. Until then, I’ll keep dreaming the impossible dream that the God of all hope gave me to dream. He is a good God who fulfills His promises. No matter how impossible they may seem to us.

What’s your impossible dream?

Categories: 2 Chronicles, 365 Life, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Victory in Christ

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Tamar

2 Chronicles 20:24-24:19


Victories these days look a little different than they used to. It used to be that if your team had the most people still alive at the end of the battle you won. If you were the last one to call “Uncle”, you won. Today the battle isn’t fought on a huge field with swords and chariots. It’s fought in your mind and in your heart with words and faith. The words that win the battle, are the words found in your Bible. Romans 10:17 tells us that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” What is the word of Christ? The BIBLE! All of it! How can you know the words that will defeat the Enemy if you never read your Bible for yourself? How will you have the faith to slay the giant if you never hear the words of Christ? Still not convinced that it’s imperative to read your Bible daily? Check out Hebrews 11:6 “Without faith it is impossible to please Him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.” This is a hard verse for me to share, but I promised you and God both that “what my God says, that I will speak”. (2 Chronicles 18:13) This is the Word of God, it is the truth, without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God. What brings God pleasure? Your faith in Him! Hebrews 11:1 tells us that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Although the LORD is not a God that you can see sitting on a shelf, do you believe that He exists? That brings Him pleasure!

Are you seeking His presence? That brings Him pleasure!

Do you believe that He rewards those who seek Him? That brings Him pleasure!

Personally, the first two are easy. Does He exist? I’ve experienced too much to believe otherwise. Do I seek Him? LOL! I’ve experience too much to do otherwise! Do I believe that He rewards those who seek Him? Sure! Do I believe that applies to me personally? That part is a lot harder for me to accept. I know who I am and what I’ve done. I know the thoughts I’ve thought and the things I’ve done or not done. Plus who am I that He would reward ME? I admit it’s an extremely hard pill to swallow. The Enemy has worked my entire life to keep me from taking this Truth and applying it to my life. The other day the Holy Spirit gave me a perfect visual of salvation that I think really applies to everything in the kingdom.

Jesus died to save the WHOLE WORLD, not just the Jews and not just those that were present at that time, but everyone in all of time. His death was a sacrifice that He offered on our behalf effectively paying our price of admission to heaven and onto the lap of God the Father as His child. You are His CHILD and everything that that implies. This sacrifice of the cross was given to us as a gift.

You don’t pay for gifts, you just accept them. But here’s the picture that God gave me the other day. I can give you the gift of a bar of soap, but just because I give it to you doesn’t mean that you will accept it, and it doesn’t mean that you will choose to use it. Those things are completely up to you.

Just because Jesus’ death has been given to us as a gift from the LORD, who adores us, doesn’t mean that we will accept that gift. Or that we will use it to declare ourselves righteous through Christ and eligible for receiving rewards from Him. (Romans 3:22) Those things only happen through faith. And faith comes through hearing. And hearing comes through the Word of Christ.

Categories: 2 Chronicles, 365 Life, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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