All About HIM

He Truly Understands Me

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

While driving home from the office, I had a moment of… I felt a little spiritually unproductive; I suppose that’s the best way to say it. I thought, “Oh, I need to turn on some worship music or my Bible study app.” Then I heard God’s voice.

“But you like the silence.”

“Yes,” I responded. “I do.”

“So enjoy it.”

Believe it or not, I cried in that moment as I was reminded that He truly understands me. People, God GETS you! He knows all the details of what makes you tick. Even such a simple thing as this, that I value silence because I get it so seldom, is an important thing to Him. He cares about the details!

Celebrating Jesus and God’s love for me!
Tammy C

Thy Will be Done

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

As a child, I heard numerous prayers that included the words, “if it be Thy will.” As a result, I had one picture of “Thy will be done.” Mind you, that picture is not inaccurate, simply only one part of a picture.

As an adult, I ask that God’s will, and only His will, be done in situations and people’s lives all the time. But today…

In this week’s Flourish Journey (passionpublishing) I was led to read Psalm 19 and several other scriptures in light of “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven,” and I saw something new. Or, perhaps I should say I saw an old truth with fresh eyes.

I want God’s will to be done in and through me just as surely today as it will be when I live in Heaven. I want to continually and actively choose to do God’s will, to continually and actively choose to let God’s will be done in and through me here on this earth just as surely and consistently as I will when I’m living in His presence.

Psalm 19:13a shows this was David’s heart. “Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.”

Yes, my prayer is, “God, help me. Help me to live out Your will today just as purely and completely as I will live it in Heaven.”

Celebrating Jesus and the power He gives!

Tammy C

Keep Me Close

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

I’ve been studying in Psalm 61 this week. It is one of David’s prayers, and it provides a very important key to his relationship with God.

• lead me to the rock that is higher than I

• my refuge

• a strong tower against the foe

• to dwell in your tent forever

• shelter of your wings

• enthroned in God’s presence forever

When we pray, we tend to ask for things. They can be good and vital (God, deliver us from this pandemic!), but they should not be our only prayers.

We can learn much from David, whom God called the apple of His eye, and we can learn much from this prayer. There was one thing David wanted above all else.

Essentially, he was asking, “God, keep me close to you.”

My God, I want that too!

Celebrating Jesus while praying!

Tammy C

Keep Away

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment
“Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.”
1 John 5:21 (NLT)

Keep away from anything that MIGHT!

The very last sentence in 1 John is so powerful. Children of God, if there is even A CHANCE that this thing – this new hobby, this relationship, this habit – MIGHT take God’s place in your heart, KEEP AWAY!

Celebrating Jesus!

Tammy C

Holes in Your Soul?

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

These are probably my favorite shoes…at least today. I have literally worn them out so completely that the duct tape you see is only covering holes in my soles – not really doing much to protect my foot. But you can’t see this important detail when you’re just looking down at my shoes.

Today, when I admitted to myself that I really need to dumpster these beauties, it occurred to me just how much they resemble the way we are sometimes.

We can look all pretty on the outside, making everyone think we’re just fine, while our souls seem to be held together with duct tape. The wounds may be hidden, but they are very real. I encourage you, don’t let yourself stay in such a condition. God is there, and He doesn’t just patch us up; He makes us new.

Celebrating Jesus!

Tammy C

Remember Whose Kid You Are

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

A friend used to tell her children, as they walked out the door, “Remember whose kid you are.” She wasn’t talking about herself, but God. When we keep in mind the fact that GOD is our FATHER, it changes us. It changes the way we think, the way we act, who we are.

So who IS our Father? Today, my Flourish journey (Passion Publishing/LifeWay) inspired me to do something I’ve never done before. I added the words “my Father” to a passage…and it seriously brought the Word’s message home in a whole new way.

Psalm 24:1-10 (ESV)

“The earth is my Father’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for my Father founded it on the seas and established it on the waters. Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord my Father? Who may stand in my Father’s holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god. They will receive blessing from my Father the Lord, and vindication from my Father God their Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek my Father, who seek Your face, my Father, God of Jacob. Lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory, my Father, may come in. Who is this King of glory? My Father, the Lord strong and mighty, my Father, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory, my Father, may come in. Who is he, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty – my Father – he is the King of glory.”

THAT is who your Father is, child of God, and don’t you forget it.

Celebrating Jesus!

Tammy C

Do You REALLY Love Him?

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

John 14:15 ends with “But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandments, even so I do.” Because Jesus loved the Father, He kept His commandments.

It’s the same for us. If you love Jesus you keep His commandments; John 14:15, 21, and 23 declare it. Likewise, if you don’t keep His commandments, you don’t love Him.

Do you love Him?

Celebrating Jesus!

Tammy C

Do I?

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

I recently had to stop in the road because two little dogs had dashed into the street. One crossed the road, but the other got confused and was wandering. I prayed for the poor things, but then I realized what they’d been after and was floored.

A large dog was jogging beside a woman. He stayed right at her side, never seeming to even notice the little yapper that was chasing after him. He never broke stride, never looked away. He was doing EXACTLY what he’d been trained to do.

And he was carrying his own leash. Literally. He held it in his mouth as he jogged down the sidewalk beside a woman who obviously had total trust in him. And the two made me think.

In a sense, we’re all like that dog. God calls us to run along beside Him, but though He gives us a guide (the Word and the Spirit) that He could use as a leash to control us, He ultimately leaves the decisions up to us. What do we do? What do I do? Do I actively choose to walk faithfully beside Him, not turning to the right or left?

Do I?

Celebrating Jesus!

Tammy C

Facing the Mountain

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

We all face mountains. The question is, how do we face them? One man starts up the mountain without worrying about its height or terrain, trusting God to lead him every step of the way. Eventually, he pauses to glance around and sees he’s made it halfway up without even realizing it.

Another man stands on the dark side of the mountain, with no light to reveal its features or face. It is fearsome and he shivers at its base in terror, not daring to put one foot in front of the other. Yet if he waits for the sun the truth of the mountain will be revealed and his path become clear.

It is not the mountain itself that matters, but how we face it. If we trust in God with all our hearts and refuse to rely on our own, faulty logic, if we turn to Him for direction at every step, He will show us the right path to take.

Celebrating Jesus and Proverbs 3:5-6!

Tammy C

Get Ready

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

A friend asked me to tell her, in one sentence, what God has been saying to me recently. The question caught me off guard because He’s been saying so much on so many different topics that, for a moment, I had to think. How to put it in one sentence?

Then I saw it. Other than the times He’s come to encourage me and help me through something, or to answer one of my myriad random questions, everything He’s said has ultimately been about me getting ready – ready to be used.

I’m not talking about being used as a speaker or writer, both of which I’ve done before and loved. I’m talking about being used every single day of my life.

I’m to stick close to Him, constantly listening for the Spirit’s whispered, “There. He needs help,” or, “Stop. She’s crying out for someone to listen.”

I’m to be prepared and able. For those two nudges, anyone could respond, but He’s calling me to more. I’m to truly grasp who and what He is in me and who and what I am in Him, to understand the authority I have as a believer when it comes to dealing with demonic activity.

I am to have His Word firmly planted in my heart, ready to be brought out and used as the Sword of the Spirit that it is. There are two important things about a sword. You cannot use it if you don’t have it (I’m talking memorization, not just carrying a Bible) and you can’t use it if you don’t know how to use it.

I’m to stay on the offensive. This is something that’s been churning in me for a while, that as a Christian I’ve been living my spiritual warfare life on the defensive. No military leader wants to fight battles defensively. He knows the best chance of winning any battle is to stay on the offensive.

I am to live thankfully trusting, because this is where peace lies, and peace – His peace – is one of the most vital elements of all.

I am to love with compassion. I am to love like never before, being intentional about expressing the love of God to the people He puts in my path – whoever they are.

So, almost everything He’s been saying recently falls into one of these categories. Really, there’s nothing new here. But that’s the point, isn’t it? We never know what’s coming, but He does, and He wants us ready to face it head on.

Celebrating Jesus!

Tammy C