Thou Art the Potter

My husband and I were on our way home from our vacation. We happened to pick a small, family-owned, Christian restaurant for breakfast. I won't say the name of the restaurant, but it showed this scripture underneath it:
Isaiah 64:8 (KJV)
But now, O Lord, thou art our father;
We are the clay, and thou our potter;
and we all are the work of thy hand.

I noticed that the waitresses were wearing T-shirts with mostly "Old" Testament verses. The old boy even noticed and commented that this must be a Christian restaurant. Our waitress was wearing a shirt that said, "God's love never fails",  with these verses referenced :
Lamentations 3:22-23 (KJV)
It is of the Lord 's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
 They are new every morning:great is thy faithfulness.

I began to read the menu and found that the only thing I could hope to eat that was not full of pork were the eggs and pancakes. I was quite annoyed, since who knows if they were fried in bacon grease. It made me very unhappy to think that more and more people seem to idolize bacon now! I began to wonder why these people did not read ALL of the "Old" Testament? What about the Sabbath???!!! The Sabbath is today! It is one of the 10 commandments, so why are they opened today???

....Uh oh! That's right! Today is Saturday, the seventh day, the Sabbath...uh, Shabbat Shalom? Remember? Yes, it was that awful moment when the rest of my fingers were pointing back at me and I felt that very, very sick feeling in my gut.  What was I doing here? Why was I pointing out their mistakes while ignoring my own? What made me so much better then them?

You see, I was too lazy to boil up some eggs before we left and make sure we had some juice, cheese and fruit to have a nice little breakfast with my husband. I have done this on other trips we have taken in order to rest and to spend as little money as possible on Shabbat, but my nerves were shot, I reasoned. Hadn't I been through enough trying to get along with family, observe the Sabbaths and Passover, not to mention, having a talk with my relative about why I do not accept Easter candy etc. etc....?

The truth is, I chose to disobey Adonai's commandment and even worse, began to criticize people who truly love God and were honestly doing the only things they knew to do in order to spread His love.

I could not finish my pancakes, and asked Abba Father to please forgive me.

Later that night, after we arrived home, I read something that a sister wrote and it hit home immediately. There are no coincidences with our God! Here is a quote from the article:

"What good would it have done to judge Paul before his Damascus Road experience? We know his eyes had to be supernaturally opened. Paul was a scholar from Tarsus, the creme de la creme of Pharisaic Judaism, he had to fall a long way in order to be humbled -- which is why I believe YHVH* waited so long to open his eyes. You see, when we judge the people who have less revelational truth than we do, we are really judging the One who gives that revelation, for not working according to our timetable." ~ Elizabeth TylerDawn Rosenquist

Oh, Abba! I am a piece of work! What a hard, lump of clay I am. Please do not stop molding me and I will try to be more pliable in your hands! Blessing, Glory and Honor to you. In Yeshua's** name.

* Hebrew letters or "tetragrammaton" for the name of God
** Hebrew name of Jesus

My Pagan Vacation

I love snow, but after the tremendous amount we received this winter, I was eagerly anticipating a much needed vacation. My in-laws (who shall be referred to as "the folks" from now on) and the old boy and I are spending 2 weeks in sunny Florida. They have graciously provided a place for us to stay for which I am very thankful.

Sometime in the middle of February I realized that we would be arriving on the day of Passover and it would also be the feast of Unleavened Bread. It would also be the season of Easter and my husband's birthday! Alarm bells started going off in my head like crazy! It is hard enough to honor Sabbath when no one else does, not to mention these 2 appointed times. I am not big on birthdays either as I do not see them celebrated in the Bible, however, I am sure this is highly debatable, so I decided not to worry so much about that and to concentrate on Shabbat (Sabbath) and observing Passover. I have brought my matza to eat so I can abstain from eating bread in order to observe the feast of unleavened bread (see Leviticus 23 please).

How can I do this with out offending my Easter loving family, I wondered? Would this cause problems with my relationship with the old boy and the folks? Oh, and let's not forget about eating kosher... they are very kind people, but I am sure that they probably think I have gone off the deep end!

Well, we arrived here separately. The folks got here a day later which solved the Passover problem. We had a number of hurdles to cross when checking into our room, and arrived very late, but I managed to have my own little Seder, which is the traditional meal for Passover. It wasn't what I would have wished for, but I felt I did the best I could despite so many obstacles put in my way!

Today is Easter and I woke up to a large glass full of Easter candy and a large chocolate Easter bunny. Today is the day I officially declare my faith and prayerfully take a stand for what I see as truth. You see, the Holy Spirit has convicted me. During prayer, He clearly showed me that I was doing my family no favors by avoiding them. It is time to take a stand no matter how many problems it causes!

I am praying that Abba Father is working on their hearts to receive my loving response to their celebration candy. I am praying that they understand how much I love Yeshua...who they know as "Christ", which seems like such a cold name to me now! I pray that Yeshua is who they see in me and that I would not cause Him shame.

I know there are no coincidences with our God and He does things His way and in His time.

1 Corinthians 15:57-58 (Complete Jewish Bible) 
but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah!
 So, my dear brothers, stand firm and immovable, always doing the Lord's work as vigorously as you can, knowing that united with the Lord your efforts are not in vain.