Letter Thirty-Eight on Trust

 THIRTY-EIGHT on Trust

My Dear Child:

This is a hard letter for me to write, but this is important.

Faith doesn’t come with a guarantee.

If you know much about me, you know I am all about faith. It’s been that way since the beginning.

I told Adam and Eve they could eat of every tree in the garden except for one. I gave them a stern warning to avoid the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. I hoped that they would take it by faith that I meant what I said. That is a dangerous tree and I wanted them to avoid it at all costs.

But they failed the faith test. They chose their own way and took from that tree.

I wanted faith. They wanted selfish desires.

The fruit on that tree looked very enticing, and I knew it would open a door that could never be closed again. I hoped they would take it by faith and obey when I said leave that one alone.

Faith is all about trusting me when you don’t see things clearly or have all the facts. Sometimes I want you to stop, sometimes I want you to lean out, or jump over the edge. You can’t always see the other side, but I want you to have faith in me.

Faith doesn’t come with a guarantee.

I’ll always allow you to make your own choices. If you want to open a forbidden door, you surely may. You won’t always like what’s on the other side, but I’ll let you open it if you choose.

I care and that is precisely why I put up some “Do Not Enter” signs along the way.

I can handle whatever comes your way ... today, tomorrow... forever. Just trust me with a little bit more of your life.

God,

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

Letter Thirty-Seven "Do I Matter?

THIRTY-SEVEN

Do I Matter?

Dear Child:

I hear your cry. You wonder if anybody cares. You feel empty, abandoned, and alone.

You cry out, “Do I Matter?”

Let me wrap you in my arms. Listen as I whisper words of calm. “Yes, you matter. I am God, and you matter to me.”

I know where you are every moment of the day. I never lose track of you.

I never take my eye off you.

“Do I matter” you ask?
My precious child, yes, you do matter.

As long as you take a breath you shall matter. Your significance is not diminished simply because of your age. You are, therefore you are significant.

You are someone important. 

Someone of value

Someone of worth
Someone with skills and a destiny

Someone worth knowing
You are valued simply because you exist. “DO I MATTER” you ask?

Yes, you certainly do. You matter!!! 

Your God of Compassion 

Letter Thirty-Six - From God

 THIRTY-SIX

My Dear Child:

This is the season of grief in your life. Everyone goes through this at some point and now perhaps it is your time.

I want to say some things to you about this time in your life.

This loss you are experiencing will pass in time. That may be a difficult thought for you, but it is true.

Meanwhile, know this.
I am here. I am with you in the middle of your grief. 

I AM HERE!

I’ve never abandoned you.

Shed tears if you like.
Talk with a trusted friend or advisor. They are there to help you as a part of my plan. Reach out to one if you will.

And hold onto this thought: “Do not fear. I am with you; I am your God, so do not be shaken. I will give you strength and I will help you. You are held by my righteous right hand.”

Your God of Strength,

P Michael Biggs

Hope Encouragement Inspiration

Letter Thirty-Five - From God

 Letter THIRTY-FIVE

From The Letters by P Michael Biggs

Dear Child:

I am all about simple things, and I want simple from you.

   Simple prayers. 

         Simple conversations. 

               Simple thoughts.

You don’t have to use big sounding words or holy sounding phrases. Just be you.

I’m not impressed with fluff. I don’t like a lot of high-minded blabber or lofty sounding words.

Just be yourself. Be true to the nature I have put within you already.

Even if you can’t utter the words, I still understand. I know your thoughts. I know everything about you. I love you, just as you are.

Your words are important, but your attitude is what I consider most. Just be you. Come to me just as you are.

Simple is beautiful. 

God,

From:

Thoughts on Prayer

 Thoughts on Prayer

And what about prayer?

What is prayer all about and how do you do it properly?

If you’ve ever tried to pray, perhaps you have your stories of struggle, of staying awake until the “amen” and of making a coherent string of thoughts in prayer so that God is pleased with you, and you get a gold star for the day because of your prayer.

Hmmm. Consider this:

“Just patch a few words together 

and don’t try to make them elaborate. 

This isn’t a contest but a doorway 

into thanks, and a silence in which 

another voice may speak.” 

Mary Oliver – Poet

Mary was not a theologian nor a biblical scholar. She was in touch with life in her own way as a poet and writer.

However, I think she was onto something with this quote.

Praying is not a contest to see who can pray the most eloquent thoughts, or the most beautiful phrases or string together the perfect synonyms for creative thoughts on God.

Praying is based on sincerity, humility, and intent of the heart.
I love Mary’s analogy of prayer as a “doorway into thanks”. Simple thanks.

Ann Lamont wrote once that “‘Help’ just might be one of the most profound prayers ever uttered.

When the burdens are heaviest, when the way is darkest, when the mind is cluttered with too much information or not enough of a sense of God, then perhaps “help” is the most appropriate prayer we can pray.

I’ve used that one a few times in my life.

Perhaps you have too.

I have some mulling to do on Mary’s last thought.

“And a silence in which another voice may speak.”

Silence. Isn’t that one of the eight deadly sins of the church? We can’t sit still and silent for too long for fear that half of the congregation will fall asleep.

Ah, what if we use that silence as a true tuning in time? What if God wanted to say something to us and was waiting for us to simmer down, hush up, and quite yakking long enough to whisper an important thought into our minds?

Now, wouldn’t that be something.
That’s the kind of praying to which I can relate. It goes like this.

Come in, with no agenda, no prepared speech (prayer) and no worries about what I am going to say and no fear that I’ll say the wrong thing or leave out someone or something for which I should pray. Whew.

And then, in the stillness, the quiet quieter than quiet, what if God whispered to you and me? What if He started with something simple like, “Hey you. I love you.”

That would really be something.

A real, honest-to-goodness God-moment.

P Michael Biggs

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

When the Heart is Heavy, Then What?

When the Heart Is Heavy, Then What? 

I’m going to talk specifically to those of us who currently have or have had what we might call “A Heavy Heart”. Heavy hearts ain’t no fun, as we used to say in the hills of Tennessee.

I’ve often not known what to do in the middle of my heavy heart moments. Have you? Perhaps you’re going through one of those times even now, in this moment of reading this.

Heavy Heart times are caused by those circumstances in life that just about crush us to death. The load is so heavy, the burden is so awesomely great, and the issue looms very large. We find ourselves scratching our head, wringing our hands, and wondering if God is anywhere nearby and does He hear and see you and me, and even care about what in the world is happening right now, this very minute.

And then some well-meaning spiritual super-power comes along and says, “well, Honey, you just need to pray more.”

Pray? I can’t even tie my shoes for the weight of this “thing” I’m carrying. “Pray” you say. 

Here’s the thing.

When the heart is so heavy, and the weight of the world seems to be resting on your shoulders in the awful times of life, maybe, perhaps, all you and I can utter is HELP! Now I used all caps and an explanation mark, but sometimes it comes out “help”. Or perhaps

H. E. L. P. !

And do you know what? God hears that kind of prayer too. Oh my. Yes indeed.

I’ve prayed that prayer before. Once someone near to me relapsed on a drug addiction that I thought was well behind her. I was so unprepared for that experience. I didn’t know what to do nor where to turn. All I could utter was “help”. (Lower case intended)

Maybe today is the day you pray the most acceptable prayer ever uttered. It’s nothing fancy. It’s not long. It’s not profound. It’s not eloquent. It’s a great cry for the God of the universe to come down and touch you in some unique way that only you need in that moment. It is a miracle prayer of one word, and this one-word-prayer gets attention.

Is your life a train wreck?
Have you made some really horrible decisions?
Is your past about to catch up with you?
Are you in a despicable and deplorably situation and you don’t know which way to turn?

This I know. A prayer like “Help” spoken in great moments of desperation and with a sincere heart gets attention from God himself.

He already knows what you did, or said, and what you are doing or have done. He wants so much for you to turn around and come to Him. He’s listening for your call.

I believe that with my whole heart.

Ann Lamott said this in here book, Help Thanks Wow:

“Prayer means that, in some unique way,

we believe we’re invited into a relationship

with someone who hears us when we speak in silence.”

So, step right up. You don’t have to get dressed up, put on your shoes, wear a necktie or a string of pearls, or even smell pretty. Just approach and say the words as you turn toward God: HELP! Help. help.

I don’t know in what form God will answer, but in time He will answer. It may be through another person, or it may be an idea that pops into your own mind, but God hears.

God hears.

P Michael Biggs

Internet Church Blogsite

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

Oh, the Places Where God Has Been with Me

 Oh, the Places Where God Has Been with Me

In October 2017, I had my first-ever angiogram so my cardiologist could look at my heart to discover the blockage and damage that had occurred. I was afraid. My blood pressure was high as I lay on that surgery-room table. And God was with me.

In December 2017 I had open heart surgery resulting in three heart bypasses. God was with me through it all.  As I lay in the surgery prep area the attending nursing staff had to shave the front part of my upper body. I was afraid. I was tearful, and God was with me.

I’ve gone through bankruptcy and wondered if I’d ever repair my credit rating again. God was with me through all of that.

I’ve had love go sideways, and God has been with me.

When the creditors called and wanted to repossess my new Ford Taurus, God was there.

In job changes, in job losses, in the pursuit of career paths, God was there.

In the hard decisions – about careers, homes, cities to live in, whether to move or not, and a dozen other decisions that are tough to make; in every situation, God has been the steady hand, the guiding still-small-voice always looking on and always prompting, always impressing me as to which path to take.

There are some giants that I have admired during my years of living – men and women I have and still do look up to. Billy Graham was one. Here’s what I read one day a few years ago.

God spoke and said, “I don’t need Billy Graham more than I need you.”

What? But I’m not a famous person. I’m a nobody in the grand scheme of things. And yet, God said He needed me just as much as Mr. Graham. How can it be?

I’ve read of numerous accounts in the scriptures of how God has used ‘nobodies’ and made them useful.

Mary was a peasant girl, perhaps fourteen, and God used her to birth the Christ-child.

He used a prostitute or two as examples – one of which was the woman about to be stoned. His words were simple – “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” (John 8:11)

He used David, a striking, good-looking lad who later committed adultry and then had the woman’s husband killed in battle. That’s a long fall from grace, and David came back and was claimed as, my words, “The apple of God’s eye.”

Peter denied Christ three times and look at the impact he had on Christianity and the spread of the gospel.

Do you see the places where God has been with people down through history? He goes to the depths of the mud and back to bring redemption and grace, forgiveness, and healing. And He gives peace and His presence in the middle of the mundane moments of our lives.

I know what it is like when the presence of God invades an operating room with His peace and settling presence.
I’ve experienced His calm assurance in the middle of trauma, in family crises, in the death of family members, and when in financial need. God has met me in these places, and I am a living witness to His grace, mercy, and peace.

I am nothing special. I’m not famous. I’m not rich or influential, and I don’t own the largest house in the city, and yet, God has been with me in the good and the bad times of life.

And this same grace is available to you, regardless of your name, rank, serial number, bank account balance, skin color, language you speak, or status in society.

You are loved and graced with the presence of God, who watches over you. He never sleeps. He never takes His eyes off you. He never takes a vacation, and He cares for you oh, so much.

One of the strong Bible verses that has stood the test of time in my life is Joshua 1:9.

“Be not afraid nor dismayed, for I the Lord your God

will be with you wherever you go!”

That is indeed an encouraging word for today.

Internet Church

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration