|
Hide His Words in your Heart  In times of suffering they will rise up to your mind and give you the peace you need. “If God is for us, who can ever be against us?” (Romans) Coronavirus. Does is it feel like God is not with us? When we have accepted Jesus as our Savior, he is. “Nothing can separate us from God’s Love.” (Romans) Nothing. Nothing. Nothing can separate us from God’s love. Stop and think about this wonderful true statement. If we are in God’s LOVE somehow we will be safe, we will be secure. We will be protected. True it is hard and takes faith to not know how it is going to happen? Yes, it is hard! But it is a true statement and we can trust God to hold us. “Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today or our worries about tomorrow — not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.”(Romans) There is a spiritual realm that we cannot comprehend. Just as there is God, there is Satan. But God is over Satan. And Jesus has conquered Satan. Satan was removed from God’s firmament because he wanted to be like God. Satan wanted to be in control. Satan wanted to be God. Satan has tainted everything that happens on the earth from the time God kicked Satan out of the heavenlies and gave Lucifer (Satan) power over earth. What does Satan want? Us. Why? God loves us. He loves us so much He gave His Son Jesus Christ for us. And Jesus’ Holy Blood washes over us and cleanses us into holiness and eternal relationship with God in heaven immediately when we confess our sins and claim Jesus Christ as our Savior. Satan’s goal is a desire to get us to follow him, not God. “No power in the sky above or in the earth below — indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:35-39 So, what does that mean? It means that once we have received Jesus as our Lord and Savior we are covered and protected and predestined to be HIS forever. Nothing is surprising to the God over all of Creation. This Coronavirus is not bigger than God. It cannot separate us from God. It is not the victor. We are God’s children and we have eternal life, eternally. Be encouraged we are His. “But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you. (Timothy) Timothy reminds us that we have a job to do here on this earth. Join God in the ministry He has given you. And what is that? Telling others of the Good News. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.” (Timothy) I want to join Timothy in this statement. I want to fight the good fight, finish the race, and remain faithful. Will you join Christ and know it is already done. Be blessed and encouraged by the Words hidden in your hearts from the Word of God. Spend time in His Word. Hiding them for such a time as this (Esther) He has fought the good fight Christ has won (the entire bible) Suffer well for the LORD Because He IS the I AM, i am robynrochelle cox Robyn and Biff Cox pray that He becomes your ALL. RR&BC,LLC© all writings are protected by copyright laws please either give credit to this author or contact the author for any reference. Thank you to the God Who Sees - El Roi. Click If you want to join our membership community, daily readings and commenting available: ©RR&BC, LLC Drop by and see us anytime: Website: www.readthebiblewithrobyncox.com Email: rrandbc@readthebiblewithrobyncox.com 
0 Comments
Immutability of God -- it means God's Character doesn't change. The unchangeability of God can give us peace. It is an attribute of God that we can hang our hat on, lean against, trust. This unchangeable attribute has a name. It is called immutable. God's core never changes. God created Time, He is outside of Time and because of that He remains constant. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Unlike this world, where we find change the only constant. God's immutability provides security. With change comes uncertainty, and chaos. So, what do we do when it feels like the only thing we can count on is: nothing remaining the same? We can settle into the Truth that God is Immutable. He does not change. *In Malachi 3:6 we read: "I am the LORD, and I do not change." *And also in James 1:17 James says: "Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes...." We are children of the unchanging God. Just think about that for a moment. This Immutable attribute gives us even more assurance when we know He is just and He is love. He is perfect and complete. He lacks nothing. Trusting in the God that is perfect, just, and lovely allows us to meet the unforeseeable future with an anticipation instead of trepidation. Breathe in the wonderful Truth that God Character hasn't changed. He won't change. He is right here outside of space and time and in control of all around. Anticipate His remaining the same. Robyn Cox @RR&BC,LLC 2016  Because He IS the I AM,
i am robynrochelle cox Robyn and Biff Cox pray that He becomes your ALL. RR&BC,LLC© all writings are protected by copyright laws please either give credit to this author or contact the author for any reference. Thank you to the God Who Sees - El Roi. Make a Joyful Noise Did you know there is a little known nerve that connects your brain, to all your major organs? In fact, it controls your heart,, lungs, and digestive tract. It is the longest nerve of the autonomic nervous system in the human body. The ending part of this nerve is known as the nucleus ambiguus. It is called the Vagus nerve. It runs from you brain down your neck (jugular, carotid sheath, etc.), lungs, heart, abdomen. It conveys sensory information about the state of your body's organs to the central nervous system. It takes a little hook around the trachea and exiting the esophagus then entering the diaphragm through the esophageal hiatus. Then down into your colon. It also controls a few skeletal muscles. And muscles of the Larynx (speech). This nerve has been determined to be what Ecclesiastes 12:6 is referring to when the Bible reads: 6."Remember Him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed; 7 then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it." Some say the golden bowl is the head (head injury), the pitcher is the lungs (lung disease) and the wheel is the heart and circulatory system (heart failure). But the most interesting one is the Silver Cord. This is the only place in the Bible this term is used. When we sing or hum this Vagus nerve reverberates throughout our entire body. It stimulates our organs and creates a healing response, as if we were exercising our heart, lungs, etc. If you stop right now and hum and throw the air up into your sinuses you can honestly feel the movement. This activity has been used to help epileptic sufferers to calm them, it has been used to calm heart rate. This is not to replace your doctor care, of course. But as a person who no longer has a voice due to a brain dysfunction (1), it is one of the exercises I use to continue slowly helping my esophagus muscles. Why do I bring this up in a devotional? This humming/singing exercise can be done anywhere at anytime and is proven to calm our bodies. Now, think about this. If you've ever done a Bible study leading you on to join the journey with the Israelites through the Song of Ascents: Psalms, 120-134. Psalm means Song. God is guiding the Israelites to sing during their journey. He is giving them songs to sing and this exercise inadvertently physically calms them. That is the way God is. He knows the science behind his instructions. i.e. washing of the hands, cleansing of animals before eating, etc... and He knows we don't know how intricately we are made. As we begin to walk through this journey of COVID 19. Remember, God is available to help you through these days. Praise Him in Song. Trust Him. He knows what He is doing and where we are going. Please be encouraged by this information. Recognize that God even gave us singing and praise to calm our hearts and our minds. Make a Joyful Noise unto the LORD. Take a moment to lift up a song to the Great Almighty Creator — Jehovah. Be blessed this day, Robyn Cox  Because He IS the I AM,
i am robynrochelle cox Robyn and Biff Cox pray that He becomes your ALL. RR&BC,LLC© all writings are protected by copyright laws please either give credit to this author or contact the author for any reference. Thank you to the God Who Sees - El Roi. A Promise Keeper Keeps His Promises As I celebrated Palm Sunday this year, with my husband and my bible, reading Genesis, I was captivated by Abraham’s faith once again. At the age of seventy-five Abram was called by God to leave his homeland, Haran, and promised he and his offspring would be a blessed nation. Twenty-five years later, yes when Abraham was 100 years old and his wife Sarah was 90, they had their first child, Isaac. Granted, Sarai had not been the most patient woman in those twenty-five years. (A very important story for another time.) Isaac was born to Abraham and Sarah in God’s timing, not theirs. Somewhere around Isaac’s fifteenth year of life God calls out, “Abraham.” And Abraham responds, “Yes, here I am.” God tells Abraham to take his beloved, Isaac, up on the mountain and sacrifice him as a burnt offering. The Word says that God was testing Abraham’s faith. Abraham responded faithfully. This one hundred+ year old man woke up early the next morning, he chopped wood for a burnt offering, saddled his donkey, took two servants and his son, Isaac, and began a three day journey to Moriah. Isaac was not a baby. He was a young man. When they got to the place God told them to go, Abraham left the donkey with his servants saying: “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.” Abraham puts the wood on Isaac’s shoulders and carries the rest. Notice the pronouns here. Abraham says ‘WE’ not ‘I’. WE will worship, WE will come right back. As they continued on their walk Isaac asked his father, “Father? We have the fire and the wood, but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?” “God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son” his Father responded. They arrived at the place God had designated and Abraham built an altar and arranged wood on it. He tied his son Isaac up and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice." Stop, stop for just a moment. Think about this unwavering trust. Abraham picked up the knife. Abraham, in faith, picked up the knife. And think too about, Isaac, a fifteen-year-old young man, out of love and respect for his father, just laid there. This act of faith and love shakes me every time. This did not look good for the family. This did not bode well for the nation that God had promised Abraham. The entire journey was a journey of darkness. And Abraham prepared to do exactly what he was asked to do by the LORD God Almighty. Was this an easy task? Was it hard for his son? Without relationship and faith in a promise keeping, loving, caring God would Abraham have done this? Without Isaac’s love and respect of his own father, would Isaac have done this? “At that moment the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven. “Abraham! Abraham!” Abraham is stopped from ending his son’s life. God is satisfied with Abraham’s faith and God provides a ram caught by its thorns in a thicket. So, the two sacrificed the ram, worshiped the Lord and returned to the servants. What an act of faith in the Promise of God from them both. We are in the moment of testing. Are we listening to God’s still small voice? Are we providing the security our children need from us, as we answer, “The LORD will provide. He alone is trustworthy,” When they ask us the big questions, “Will we have enough food, are we going to die? When we place our heads on our pillows at night are we handing over the world’s problems into the hands of whom they belong? Do our children see this? Even our adult children, do they see this? Do you really believe God is trustworthy? Abraham named the place where he came into this deep faith YAHWEH-YIREH (which means “The LORD will provide”). To this day people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.” What? What will be provided? His promises. The Promise Keeper’s promises. Yahweh Yireh! Be blessed this day as we remember His promises. Robyn Cox Because He is the I AM,
i am robyn rochelle cox Robyn & Biff Cox pray that He becomes your ALL. RR&BC,LLC © all writings are protected by copyright laws Please contact the author for any reference. Thank you to the God Who Sees - El Roi. During times of stress we are prone to worry. And worry is considered a sin. So we heap guilt onto ourselves for worrying. Multiplying our self-loathing and beating ourselves even harder. There is a very thin line between worry and concern. Let's uncover just one of many examples how Christ lived his life when thrown into worrisome situations. You might remember: feeding the multitude. This feeding of 5,000 is reported by all four gospels Mathew 14:13-21; Mark 6:31-44; Luke 9:12-17 and John 6:1-14 In Matthew we find Jesus stepping out of the boat into the multitude. He heard them and having compassion he healed the sick. Then the disciples asked Him to send the crowds away because it was getting late and they needed to buy food for themselves and eat. But Jesus challenges them. "...you feed them." The disciples spoke back with their lack of ability to do this. They only had five loaves of bread and two fish. And what did Jesus say? "Bring them here." Then he told the people to sit down on the grass. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. He did what? Wait a minute. You mean even Jesus looked up into heaven and asked for the Father's help? When we are put into a tougher than normal situation we have two choices. Worry or concern. Worry means we dwell on it allowing anxiety and unease to be the major importance; Concern means we have a specific connection with or responsibility for. The question lies in the responsibility and in the connection. Jesus recognized God the Father was responsible for the multitudes. He went directly to the Father for a blessing. The Bible makes it clear that Jesus is to be our example of how to live life. When we want to emulate someone, we should make it the best person to emulate. And well, we all know Jesus was perfect. Being a Christian is to be Christ like. To be a Christ follower. What did Jesus do? He went to the Father. And therein lies the difference between worry and concern. Where am I/you taking the anxiety? If we are taking on a problem that is bigger than ourselves, we must take it to the Father in prayer. He is the one that can handle the bigger than big problems. If we hold it and coddle it, it will drown us. One of the wonders of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is His tri-fold desire to be in relationship with us. He is pursuing us to get to know Him. Worry is sin. However, concern leads hopefully to dropping our hearts to our knees in prayer and request help from the Almighty God. The next time that you find yourself worrying over something you have neither the ability to help, nor the responsibility for, throw yourselves into prayer. Simply lift it up to God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit who is there to go into His presence and make those requests known to the throne of the Almighty God, the LORD of Heaven's Armies. Please LORD, 'pour out a spirit of grace and prayer' (Zech 12:10) upon us as we go through these days of trial. Because He is the I AM, i am robyn rochelle cox Robyn & Biff Cox pray that He becomes your ALL. RR&BC,LLC © all writings are protected by copyright laws Please contact the author for any reference. Thank you to the God Who Sees - El Roi. Resurrection is not the End Ascension:
It is Easter Monday. In the early hours of the morning the children and believers in Germany traditionally are walking in a parade with candles to represent the visits Jesus had after His Resurrection. I learned about this celebration my first year living in Germany as a missionary. I had never heard of it before. It is documented, Jesus appeared to over 500 people. This uncovered an entire new celebration for me. I have since contemplated it often. I had a tendency to throw myself into Easter, my favorite Christian holiday, and then let out this great sigh afterwards. Like… It is Finished. And I felt it was a good thing to do. And it was finished — for Sin and Satan. However, as Jesus walks around outside the tomb, He visits with people, He enters into their worlds, He touches and laughs, and eats, and sleeps. We don’t know exactly what He did or where He went. There are 10 visits recorded in our Bible with either the women Jesus knew or the disciples. Then, He leads His disciples up on the mount for the Ascension forty days after His Resurrection. There are three different theological steps that Jesus went through. Jesus’ Ascension begins with 1.) the final departure of Him from earth, 2) the going up into the clouds, 3) and then His taking his place in the final sitting at the right hand of the Father. Each of these has wonderful and powerful theological implications. But what I would like to focus on today is His taking His seat at the right hand of the Father. Dear Brothers and Sisters, You, the Family of the Most High God, Jesus sits at the right hand of Jehovah. The Son of God takes His rightfully earned place in redemption. He has redeemed us. We, by accepting Him as our Savior have the availability to come BOLDLY to the throne of Almighty God Father. The Holy, Sinless, Pure, GOD. The God who cannot be touched by any evil because even a tiny spot of evil cannot be in contact with Him, consequently we as sinners were never going to get near Him. We were never going to have relationship with Him. We could only have judgment from His Righteous Holiness. And Yet, He loved us so much He planned a Way. That Way? Through His spotless Lamb, His Son, His Beloved, His Only child we are given the opportunity to receive relationship with the God Most High. Through Jesus’ pure blood, which was shed for us, we have possibility of Father to adopted child relationship. Why is it important? We live in a fallen world. Evil is all around us. In the midst of every trial we are called to make choices to be faithful and courageous against the evil. Yes, Jesus conquered Sin and Satan. And in His conquering of those, He says rejoice in the relationship and it will bring the Fruits of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 — But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. So in the midst of this Pandemic, what Satan has meant for evil, God will use for good. How? I’m waiting to see. But while I wait, I will spend time with my Father coming Boldly to His throne and asking Him to heal me, our nation, our world. We don’t need revival as much as we need repentance; a renewed walk in deep relationship with the one and only God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Through Jesus Christ’ conquering on the cross, and rising to life, and taking His seat beside the right hand of God Father we have this available. Let’s watch as He fills us with the fruits and as He shows us His Goodness. Robyn He Has Overcome the World Because He is the I AM,
i am robyn rochelle cox Robyn & Biff Cox pray that He becomes your ALL. RR&BC,LLC © all writings are protected by copyright laws Please contact the author for any reference. Thank you to the God Who Sees - El Roi. Did you know singing is healthy for you? Did you know there is a little talked about nerve that connects your brain, to all your major organs. In fact, it controls your heart,, lungs, and digestive tract. It is the longest nerve of the autonomic nervous system in the human body. The ending part of this nerve is known as the nucleus ambiguus. It is called the Vagus nerve. It runs from you brain down your neck (jugular, carotid sheath, etc.), lungs, heart, abdomen. It conveys sensory information about the state of your body's organs to the central nervous system. It takes a little hook around the trachea and esophagus exiting then entering the diaphragm through the esophageal hiatus. Then down into your colon. It also controls a few skeletal muscles. And muscles of the Larynx (speech). This nerve has been determined to be what Ecclesiates 12:6 is referring to when the Bible reads: 6."Remember Him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed; 7 then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the [b]spirit will return to God who gave it." Some say the golden bowl is the head (head injury), the pitcher is the lungs (lung disease) and the wheel is the heart and circulatory system (heart failure. But the most interesting one is the Silver Cord. This is the only place int he Bible this term is used. When you sing or hum this Vagus nerve reverberates throughout your entire body. It stimulates our organs and creates a healing response, as if you were exercising your heart, lungs, etc. If you stop right now and hum and throw the air up into your sinuses you can honestly feel the movement. This activity has been used to help epileptic sufferers to calm them, it has been used to calm heart rate. This is not to replace your doctor care, of course. But as a person who no longer has a voice due to a brain dysfunction, it is one of the exercises I use to continue slow healing of my esophagus muscles. Why do I bring this up in a devotional? This humming/singing exercise can be done anywhere at anytime and is proven to calm our bodies. Now, think about this. Pastor Bill has been leading us on a journey with the Israelites through Song of Ascents Psalms, 120-134. Psalm means Song. God is guiding the Israelites to sing during their journey. He is giving them songs to sing and this exercise inadvertently physically calms them. That is the way God is. He knows the science behind his instructions. i.e. washing of the hands, cleansing of animals before eating, etc... and He knows we don't know how intricately we are made. As we begin to walk through this journey of COVID 19. Remember, God is available to help you through these days. Praise Him in Song. Trust Him. He knows what He is doing. Please be encouraged by this information. Recognize that God even gave us singing and praise to calm our hearts and our minds. Take a moment to lift up a song to the Great Almighty Creator — Jehovah. Because He is the I AM, i am robyn rochelle cox Robyn & Biff Cox pray that He becomes your ALL. RR&BC,LLC © all writings are protected by copyright laws Please contact the author for any reference. Thank you to the God Who Sees - El Roi. Dependency? What do we depend on? Dependency, is it a big deal? If we were walking down through life's journey do we recognize what makes us, us? What does it mean, anyway? Why do we need it? What’s the big deal? Aren’t we educated capable competent individuals? Do we have to keep going back to square one and talk about dependence? On what or whom we are dependent upon?What are we leaning on for our strength, our support, our identity? I sometimes want to just learn this and get on with it…The disciples seem to have been on this same train of thought in Mark 6. We find that they asked a few questions of Jesus themselves. As we enter into the text of Mark 6:30 we notice that the disciples have come back from a journey and they are tired. Jesus beckons them to “Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest a while.” And they proceeded to climb on a boat and head for a lonely place by themselves. Seeking Rest – how many of us can relate to that? The multitude follows Jesus, running to meet Him. Some recognize Him. Recognize. What a powerful word. Recognize – to be familiar with, to know, to identify. Do you think that the disciples recognize Jesus? Truly recognizing requires relationship. Our text makes it clear that Jesus recognized the multitudes. He likens them to sheep without a shepherd. He has compassion on them and began to teach them many things. In verse 36 the disciples confront Jesus and request some relief. “send them away… so that they might get something to eat.” Now, my first thought has always been that the disciples were a bit frustrated with the whole multitude situation; however, I wonder – could it be that the disciples were actually feeling some compassion for the multitudes as well? Think about it. They had come in from a journey, were excited about telling Jesus of the results of ministry, but they still hadn’t gotten anything to eat. They knew how hungry they were. Could it be that they were concerned about how hungry the multitude might be? Could it be that they too were feeling a bit of compassion for the multitudes? Could it be that they were frustrated with Jesus for not seeing the need and taking care of it? They make this request and Jesus challenges them, “You give them something to eat!” Stop for a moment and step into those disciple’s shoes. They are trying very hard to solve the situation. They don’t want to spend money. Wow! I wonder if they were having difficulty raising support? It could be that they don’t want to accumulate one more transportation story to share around the campfire later on during the evening… who knows. The inadequacy overwhelms them and they break. They retort with a short curt answer. Let me be very clear about this: They retort to the Master of the Universe with a short curt answer. They obviously don’t recognize who He really is. But, they do have a relationship with Him. They know Him well enough to feel comfortable to question. They know Him well enough to feel free to question. And as soon as they do, Jesus guides and directs. How many loaves do you have? Go look!” What are your resources? This seems to be the question that He keeps asking me. Robyn Rochelle Eubanks-Cox, what are your resources?????? And I like the disciples come up short. They return with five loaves and two fishes. Five loaves and two fishes to feed a multitude. I think it is quite interesting here that in verse 38 the disciples gather together five loaves and two fishes and then Jesus commands them all to recline on the green grass – and after reclining they are in companies of hundreds and fifties. Does Jesus want us to know in our present time how drastically low the available resources were for the need? Let’s read verse 41. And He took the five loaves and two fish and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them and he divided the two fish among them all. Jesus took the opportunity to model dependency on God. He could have given the multitude a feast without asking for a blessing, my goodness! He could have given the multitude a feast without giving them food!!!!! He could have turned His hand and each one of those people could have had their bellies filled to overflowing. He could have. But He didn’t. Instead, He began to break the bread up and the fish up and the disciples carried the baskets out amongst the multitudes and Jesus KEPT giving them to the disciples. They kept coming back for more and more and more. Feeding five men is a task. Stop and think about feeding five thousand. The resources were insufficient. But were they really? Or was this just that the disciples were depending on the wrong resource? WHO is our resource? Jesus reveals that He is the final and full resource available. When we keep coming back to Him, He keeps giving us what we need to live. But wait. In verse 42 we read, “And they all ate and were satisfied. And they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces and also of the fish.” Jesus is such a gracious teacher. He takes this opportunity to allow the disciples to enter into ministry with Him, to learn to depend on their true resource, to open one more door to understanding who He really is, and to feeding the five thousand with His words and food. But He is more than just a gracious teacher. He is the all sufficient God. And He tucks this story in the pages of His book for us to understand that today as we are moving down our journey, we too will become frustrated with being tired, being money conscience, being hungry physically and spiritually, but the dependency issue will never be a past issue. It is one that He will continue to use to reveal Himself to us. He so wants us to depend on Him, to Really Recognize HIM! Because He is the I AM,
i am robyn rochelle cox Robyn & Biff Cox pray that He becomes your ALL. RR&BC,LLC © all writings are protected by copyright laws Please contact the author for any reference. Thank you El Roi. Zephaniah This is a book of the bible many glaze over, if not for the odd sound of the name, for the brevity of the verses. It is a small book. Only three chapters, after Habakkuk and before Haggai, at the end of the Old Testament. Who needs it? The first time that Zephaniah became introduced to me was at my commissioning service with a European mission organization. I was Forty-Nine years young and they read Zephaniah 3:14-20 It was read over me after the actual commissioning, as a sending verse. The woman that read it over me had spent a great deal of time finding out about my life history. The first verses she read, 14 and 15 were like a warm oil being poured over my head. 14. Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, oh daughter of Jerusalem! 15. For the LORD will remove his hand of judgment and will disperse the armies of your enemy. And the LORD himself, the King of Israel, will live among you! At last your troubles will be over and you will never again fear disaster." Zeph 3:14,15 NLT Doesn't that sound empowering? And it was. Until I had troubles. Of course! Trust me as a foreigner in a country that I didn't know either the culture nor the language, there was trouble and it did not take long for it to find me. My first few days in Germany, the woman that was to be over me let me stay in her home. But, she left the country after only days. Her husband left, Her daughter left. I was in a place I could not drive, I could not speak, and I could not read signs, papers, AND, I couldn't write. I'm a writer. And I know this sounds incredibly trite - I could not write. I had no pens. I have a fettish — pens. Yes, that is my fettish. I love great pens. My pet peeve is a poor pen. What makes a poor pen? 1) the flow, 2) the feel of it in my hand, 3) how much time does it take to dry on the page? If anyone understands this fettish, you get where I am coming from. I arrived at this woman's home and got a tiny bit acquainted with the way things work there in her home in this foreign place. Things like, don't use the bathtub, the water costs too much, to open the windows every day for 10 minutes to Luft (let the air in) the apartment. I set up a checking account with the help of the woman. She drove me around town. I was in a complete fog. I know she was doing the best she could. But, I was lost. Unwilling to cry 'I give' I muddled through. The woman and her family left and I began roaming their home without any anchor. I looked outside. It was snowing. January is not such a great time to move to the Black Forest mountains. A woman from an American school came by for tea once and a sweet young girl took me under her wing, checking on me more often than that. As a writer, I both wanted and needed to write everything I was experiencing in a journal. ALAS! I was days behind. My exit off of the plane in Switzerland had not been an easy one. Exhausted and befuddled from the long journey and time change, I arrived and exited the plane in in the wee hours of the morning, In my confusion of exiting the plane, I left my pens in the pocket of the seat in front of me. My entire pen bag. L.e.f.t.! Lost - gone forever, these pens I had thought about taking, these pens I had kept out of my baggage so they wouldn't break their cartridges, these pens that were my babies. GONE! I didn't even realize I didn't have them until the family was gone. Then I scrummaged through cabinets, drawers, everywhere to try and find a decent pen. There were none. This family obviously did not have a fettish for pens. And I was lost. Now, how silly was that? I knew there was a store down the road a mile or so. A few days into my stay, the snow stopped falling and I decided to venture out and go the the PENNY (a grocery store) and buy a pen. Easy, right? Not so much. I walked to the store. It was cold, but, I had dressed well. I got to the store with red cheeks and runny nose. Nothing could have prepared me for a German grocery store in rural Germany. Small, quiet, and selective. I searched for a pen. I went up and down the aisles. There were less choices than I had ever seen. Only a few products available of each brand. And the prices were confusing. I picked up some snacks I hoped would be what the pictures on the labels showed, because I could not read the labels. I walked to the cashier, swallowed my fear and asked, do you have any pens? I asked this in English LOL! The cashier was blank-faced They called a young girl over that was stacking groceries close by. She translated for me (as I used a miming of writing in front of her). And then...the answer. Oh no we don't sell those. You have to go to a special store for those, we don't have them here. "Which store? Where do I go?" Her response, "No we don't have that kind of store in our town." I was stopped. I was more than whipped. I was shaken. No pen, no way to buy a pen, my culture shock had just begun. It is such a small thing, but as I was told beforehand, it's the small things that come up and bite you in the face in a foreign culture shock. Why you ask? It was a pen, not anything of any importance. Why was this little thing sending me over the edge? I was supposed to have no troubles, my troubles were supposed to be over. Now, even though I had received these verses, I still didn't embrace them unto myself. I had not really understood what God was saying to me. I didn't really get what God was trying to teach me until later. We will always have troubles. Until the end days are over. I knew that. This wasn't even about that. God was teaching me a very simple truth. What God showed me during those next ten years on the mission field. Be Glad! You will never again fear disaster. Since 2006, when I sold everything and left my career and my adult children in the United States. I have found that I wallow less in the fear of disaster. Am I over that? No, not completely, yet. Fear is stagnating. It is overpowering, It is the beginning of the end of any valuable project. Satan plays with it. He slams it in our faces. He uses it to manipulate us to stop what we are called to do and succumb to not doing much of anything. No not much of anything at all. Does that mean our calling must be some great over the top mission? NO. Does that mean our calling must be famous? NO. It simply means our calling, whether that is to take care of little ones at home, or build a business of public influence, must be ours and cannot be anyone else's. God set that calling aside for you. I've heard some people say, God doesn't need us. And He doesn't. He can grow someone else into the person that will do whatever He has needed to be done. But, with that said. It will never be what He planned for you to do. It will have a different flavor, a different look, a different feel. It cannot be the calling that He called you to, because you are not a part of the recipe that completes the call. You are unique. He made you unique for a reason. He wants you that way. Only your personality, gifts and genius can be applied to your calling. If someone else does it, it is their calling, not yours. I'm 63 years old. I have lived much. I have lived many places, and worn many hats. But, as for my calling? Here it is: Share with the world the Joy of intimate relationship with God. Invite them to come with me and to spread the Good News. God gave me that call when I was 30. He has been honing it for 33 years. Learning not to fear disaster gave me courage, to raise my kids by myself with the help of the LORD, and a very gracious loving church body, to sell everything and go onto the mission field trusting that God would provide the finances to do so, to stay chaste in this world where chastity is not valued, and to give my all to the one man that He brought into my life (at 58) to be my forever love. With these words from Zephania I've learned to refuse to fear disaster. I embrace the JOY of His delight in me. The LORD lives among us. He is right here with Biff and I at BlueMoon (our little haven.) His calling is constantly morphing me bringing a deeper and deeper walk with Him into adventure. And as I step out in faith to follow (i.e. continuing providing a place for people to gather and share His word, as well as, write novels that confirm that true love happens.) I will find Him smiling down upon me and Him keeping the fear of disaster away. I hope you will find this place of JOY as well. Fear is not of the LORD! Because He is the I AM,
i am robyn rochelle cox Robyn & Biff Cox pray that He becomes your ALL. RR&BC,LLC © all writings are protected by copyright laws Please contact the author for any reference. Thank you El Roi. When faced with the brevity of life, one begins to count the moments. As you might have read, I had a heart attack a few months ago. I am finally in the afterglow of the ordeal. No, mine was not as bad as some of those who have gone before, but it was a major heart attack brought on by extreme sadness. That happens sometimes after a long drought. In these months since this heart attack, other things have caught us off guard. Our kitchen had a tiny leak in the ice-maker hose. It collected behind the wall and filled the floor, dropping our workroom ceiling in the basement on the floor! This was over months. Consequently, we've been without anything in our kitchen since end of May. Cooking with no sink, counters, cabinets, stove, microwave, is quite impossible. LOL! Due to these life issues that have eeked into our world. We have been delinquent in our blogs. We will return soon. Please remember if I'm not here. Please pray for me and my wonderful husband Biff when we are not here. Trust me - something is happening to keep me away. I will return SOON! I miss our time together. As for our community, we have continued daily. We reached 1,000 days of reading the bible and reflecting on it together this week. What a joy! I am looking forward to feeling better and writing and contemplating the Word with you here, soon. I am not as bad as I was, however, I am also not as good as I will be. I am amazed at how God is healing this body. Heart attacks are not fun, and not easy. But, God seems to have a reason for me to be on this earth still. And one of those is for me to be here, sharing about His greatness, mercy and love. I would appreciate your prayers and your support. Come and join us on our daily log in page and read the word with several of us every day. Letting the word change our hearts from inside out is an exciting and powerful journey. Thank you for stopping by. Come back soon to the blog. But consider joining us on our third year in this endeavor to read and reflect on the Word of God every day within a community designed for unity, growth and support.  Because He is the I AM, i am robyn rochelle cox Robyn & Biff Cox pray that He becomes your ALL. RR&BC,LLC © all writings are protected by copyright laws Please contact the author for any reference. Thank you El Roi. |
Robyn Rochelle Cox
WHOSE AM I? Archives
June 2020
|
RSS Feed