Terrie's Tender Touch

Why is that people always say, “If it’s God’s will then things will go smoothly?”  I have searched the Bible and can’t say I find that to be necessarily always the case – in fact in most cases it is the exact opposite!   Jesus said, “I do always those things that please the Father…” and look at His life!  He was born in a manger, He had no place to lay His head; He was falsely accused, mocked, and ultimately crucified!  He lived a sinless life, and fulfilled God’s will – but it was not clear sailing! It was God’s will for the children of Israel to leave Egypt and look how that happened!  When God saw that His children were in bondage He sent Moses to release them – but it was not easy!  In fact when Moses first asked Pharaoh to let the people go, Pharaoh’s response was, “ And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying, Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and ga...

This morning in my Bible reading I read from 2 Chronicles and once again this verse caught my attention. " And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God : and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper."   2 Chronicles 26:5 We all want to prosper – but what does that mean exactly?  What does prosperity look like?  I know most people will consider one prosperous if they own a lot of material goods – a nice home, a nice car, designer clothes, etc.  But the truth is I have known people that have lots of material things that are absolutely miserable!  In fact I remember a time in my life when we were going through some of our darkest hours – our daughter had cancer, we were going through a recession, our lease was up on our car so we had to turn it in, and we had no money for another one, groceries were scarce…as I said a very dark time.  With all that was going on – ...

Forgiveness -what a wonderful word.  Forgiveness is something we all long for – and something that was purchased for us at GREAT COST! Forgiveness for our sins was paid with the Blood of Jesus!  “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace ” Ephesians 1:7 “ In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins ” Colossians 1:14 Forgiveness – God loved us so much that He gave His only Son to die in our place so that we could receive forgiveness for our sins.  What a freedom we enjoy when we know we've been forgiven!  I remember so clearly how I felt after I was saved and knew that I had received forgiveness from my heavenly Father through Jesus His Son!  It was as though I had been carrying chains and shackles around with me that I had grown so accustomed to carrying I  didn't  even realize how heavy they w...

Have you ever thought about Joseph’s brothers?  I was recently thinking about them and their story and was once again reminded of what a loving God we have. Joseph’s brothers were jealous because he was favored by his father (a big NO, NO!) and he kept telling them about his dreams of one day becoming a prominent person in their society.  Here he was one of the youngest 2 sons, and he was telling them that he would one day have dominion over them, and that even their parents together with the brothers would bow before him.  Between their jealousy and his dreams of grandeur they hated him and could barely talk to him! They were so envious and jealous of their brother (not to mention flat out angry at him because he was a 17-year old tattle tale in their eyes for reporting to their father of their evil deeds) that they decided to get rid of him.  They wanted to kill him, but by God’s grace he was spared of that and was instead sold as a slave!  They lied ...

“Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?  YOU stole the cookie from the cookie jar!  Who me?  Yes you!  Couldn't be!  Then who?”  Remember that old game from elementary school?  Funny thing is no one will take “credit” for taking the cookie from the cookie jar, because we don’t like to admit we’re wrong, we don’t like to be found guilty; it is always someone else’s fault.   When my children were little no matter what happened or who did what, somehow it always seemed to be one of the other one of my children’s fault.  In fact, one of my kids even went so far as to say that it was his brother's fault that he hit the ball over the fence and broke the window because he pitched it in such a way that the ball would go over the fence no matter what!  He was dead serious! Of course Adam and Eve placed the blame on someone else even though they knew that God was all knowing and all seeing!  And…they still tried to hide and...

Last year the Lord allowed us to move into a home that has a sizable yard.  One of the things that we looked forward to was growing fruit and vegetables in our own garden.  I was so excited as I bought the seeds and imagined all the fresh vegetables we would enjoy for dinner.  I was equally thrilled as my husband/farmer/pastor rototilled the yard and set the rows for our soon coming bountiful harvest! What I  didn't  imagine was that so many creatures would be so enthralled with our garden.  There are strange lady bug looking beetles that ate our broccoli, and the squirrels have stormed through our strawberries – and now the moles are eating through the roots of the lawn! I have learned that lizards are my friends as they eat many bugs, and I enjoy watching them do their  push-ups  on the dirt before they conquer our pesky infestations.  I have also learned that playing whack-a-mole is much easier when the mole is raising its head in a...

And they lived happily ever after.   Isn’t that what we all want?   I know that’s what I want; I know I like to watch movies that have a good ending.   I hate it when movies end up sad and there is no resolve to a problem!   I know that in “real life” things don’t always turn out the way we hope and that we must face hard truths – but why should I have to watch it?   I like to watch a movie to escape…not to face more harsh reality! I like the corny movies – the ones where the girl gets the guy of her dreams, where the bad guys get their due rewards, and the heroes get the deserved recognition.   I especially love old movies from the 40’s.   During that era everyone dressed up – guys even wore a tie to baseball games!   In those days the administration did not allow criminals to get away with their crimes – by the end of the movie they had to be caught.   I like that and of course wish it would always be that way!   I was...

Have you considered how often we hear instruction or warnings and walk away either not believing it is true, or we just think it will never happen to us?   I remember as a kid my grandparents warning me, it seemed, about everything!   Everything was dangerous or life threatening…I was certain that they simply did not want me to enjoy my life. Then, there are the statistics we hear, and again, we either think that someone else will be the 1 in a million that is the actual statistic.   I remember when my daughter was born on my 25 th birthday I was so thrilled to receive such a gift, but I was also had a weird feeling because someone else I knew had a child born on their 25 th birthday that was born with cancer – so it bothered me – I was afraid that she could get cancer too.   Then a few years later I read a statistic that 1 in 4 children get cancer…and I looked at my four children and felt a little more worried about the idea that one of my children...