Hey There,

Being numerically challenged  the issue of the financial crisis that seems to have hit the global economy is beginning to take on a personal face. In the past few days stories of how the crunch is effecting those around me are astounding. What is interesting though, is that the people who know and love the Lord are reacting to their news with the hope and peace that their God provides, and in this circumstance their faith will not be shaken.

Is it not true that in the circumstances of life it is so easy to be side tracked into dwelling on the situation at hand, but as my friend says, she chooses to look to her Saviour and take her eyes off her situation to bring her the hope and perseverance to travel on in such an unknown and difficult time in history.

This verse was interesting to me as I thought about the people in the Bible who’s stories are recorded to show us and remind us that Gods love, protection and provision are timeless and are available to all who call him their Saviour. Just think if Paul had not written about his experiences being in a position of plenty and then found himself with nothing. How would we feel in this economically uncertain days? What if David had not recorded his thoughts and emotions in the book of Psalms. Would we feel free to express anger, frustration, fear in these troubling times. I don’t know? What I do know is the God who did not leave Paul’s side is the same God we have access to today. The God who David cried out to is the same God who is waiting to hear from us. How reassuring !!!!

The God of the Universe used men and women from thousands of years ago to speak to us through their lives. With questions being raised about the financial security flooding our TVs and radio’s it is so reassuring to know that the Bible, God’s love letter to us has the words of encouragement we need for our days, the words of hope that are so desperatly being sought after, and the wisdom we all need in these uncertain days. 

Can I challenge you to seek after those divine words to reassure your troubled thoughts. Only His words will provide the peace you are looking for.

Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. 1 John 1:6 The Message

Journey On Friends! 

Good Morning,

Happy Donut Day! My kids were talking about the iced delights they have come to recognize as the beginning of the weekend. Yahoo it’s Friday! Anybody else excited?

Question for you on this fine Friday. Are you a journaler? Do you write your thoughts down? I have to admit I am not. This blog is my pseudo-journal but up until I started writing this, I did not journal. Actually taking time to process my thoughts and putting it to pen, or in my case cyberspace was much too intimidating. I would rather talk then write. I have come to realize that my aversion to writing comes from a lack of personal discipline and the fear of what I may write. My own thoughts can leave me feeling unsettled and extremely vulnerable. Can anyone relate? And yet when I came to recognize that writing this blog became a matter of obedience I have seen how God has used the written words to encourage me. It is my journey of faith. Who knew- well obviously God did, but definelty not a Tatum plan. If you had asked me a year ago what a blog was, I wouldn’t have been able to answer you, but just as God does, when we obey Him adventures await that you could never have dreamt for yourself.

I find it  interesting that in the Bible there is a specific reference to journaling. God obviously felt it necessary for Joshua to have a visual, tangible reminder of what the He had done. I can imagine Joshua pulling out the reminder of the Lord’s faithfulness when he was feeling discouraged, or wondered where the Lord was as he continued to lead his people to the promised land.

Documenting how the Lord is working in your life, reminding you of His faithfulness has been so encouraging for me. I figure if the directive came from the Lord to Moses, its obviously a good thing. So friends, I challenge you to track your journey. In the good and bad times the Lord faithfulness will shine and provide you with the courage to remain strong and courageous as Joshua was told so many times.

Journey on friends, and write something down along the way. It is your spiritual history that you are recording.

Have a great weekend,

14 God said to Moses, Write this up as a reminder to Joshua, to keep it before him, because I will most certainly wipe the very memory of Amalek off the face of the Earth." Exodus 17: 10-14.

Good Morning,

My, how the week flies. I hope you are all having a good one.

This past week has been the first time I have intentionally studied a “character” in the Bible. In our small group we are learning about the life of Joshua and how he was radically obedient to God. Going through the verses in the Bible that recount his adventures, there are a couple things that have grabbed my attention. The next couple posts will be about Joshua’s life and what I am learning. He really is a very cool guy and I know we have a lot we can learn from him.

10-13 Joshua did what Moses ordered in order to fight Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went to the top of the hill. It turned out that whenever Moses raised his hands, Israel was winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, Amalek was winning. But Moses’ hands got tired. So they got a stone and set it under him. He sat on it and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on each side. So his hands remained steady until the sun went down. Joshua defeated Amalek and its army in battle.

The first thought that has stayed with me is how keenly aware Joshua was of Moses- who was his mentor. He noticed that when Moses had his arms up, they were winning the battle against Amalek, but as you can imagine Moses’s arms would tire, they would fall and the battle would no longer be improving for the defeat of the Amalek’s.

What I took away from this scripture was that it is our job, to be watchful of one another. Not just to passively watch and observe but to act. Joshua was in battle and yet he was aware of those around him. His story is no different then our daily lives. We are busy fighting battles all day long, and yet are we aware of others, are we taking action.  The action Joshua and his men took may be different then what you or I may have done but when they decided to put stones under Moses’s arms to keep him propped up they were taking positive action steps to help someone in need.  Kind of a guy response hey, fix the problem, unlike the more typical female response in trying to understand why the problem is occurring, who is involved, you know all the details that the Lord created us to think about. The relational aspect to a problem. Well Joshua’s choice in action is now written in the scriptures to remind and demonstrate for us, we are called to act.

Friends do you need some propting today? Do you need someone to help carry your load? The battle of life is hard, and yet we are told by Jesus himself to love one another and through Joshua’s life, he demonstrated that by being aware to the needs of others needs to be followed up with action.

Can I challenge you to be intentional about observing and taking action for a person who the Lord has brought into you life. The battle was won due to Joshua’s diligence and obedience. Watch and see how the Lord will work through yours.

And if you are in need of some propting up, pray that the Lord will send you someone to deliver some rocks to keep your arms up in your battle. He loves you, ask Him!

10-13 Joshua did what Moses ordered in order to fight Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went to the top of the hill. It turned out that whenever Moses raised his hands, Israel was winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, Amalek was winning. But Moses’ hands got tired. So they got a stone and set it under him. He sat on it and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on each side. So his hands remained steady until the sun went down. Joshua defeated Amalek and its army in battle.

I was spending some time alone on my porch (which is such a southern thing), but it’s a trait this northerner has come to enjoy.  The wind was blowing and creating the wonderful sounds of the rustling leaves.  The air was crisp and I was feeling thankful for the week that had passed.  It was an emotionally challenging week, but after I had an all out cry in desperation, I asked God to provide for my lonely heart.  I tortured myself and allowed the emotional roller coaster to crash so fast, but my God showed me just how much He loves me.

Let me tell you the story.  On Tuesday night my emotions seemed to hit a crescendo. You know the kind. In music it is the part of the song where it erupts in your ears and spills over and seems to flood all your senses.  It’s beautiful when it’s musical, not so when it is an overflow of emotions.  Let me tell you friends, it was ugly!  After my patient honey endured the overflow I sat praying that God would provide for this emotionally drained mommy.  My tank needed to be filled, and quickly.  Well don’t you know, the phone rang and at the end of the line was my mom.  Let me tell you, Niagara Falls had nothing on the floods that erupted from my eyes.  My parents were calling to tell us they were coming for a visit.  Thank you Lord was all I could say through my tears.

The next day, before breakfast was done I had had two “surprise” interactions with people who began to fill up my tank. Later that day on the cell phone I spoke with a friend, enjoyed spending some time sitting across my counter from a more recent acquaintance, and later that evening my very good friend called from home.  When I saw her number I smiled.  The Lord went above and beyond to demonstrate to me how much He loves me.  Without a shadow of a doubt I believe that the day was orchestrated for me. 

Today as I was thinking back over the events of the week, these words grabbed my attention. “Are you able to see the loneliness you feel as a call from God beckoning you to spend more time with Him?”  That was taken from the book I spoke of yesterday.  As thankful as I am for the way God showed up for me on Wednesday I also came to recognize that my need for quality human contact will never surpass the need my spirit has to find comfort, support and encouragement from the Lord.  The time I had spent with Him was me talking, not listening, or receiving, when that was exactly what I had needed. God is so good!

That is the end of my story for the week, however as this recurring theme pops up in my life this experience will always “beckon” me back to the true remedy for loneliness.

Psalm 139

A David Psalm

 1-6 God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand. 
   I’m an open book to you; 
      even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking. 
   You know when I leave and when I get back; 
      I’m never out of your sight. 
   You know everything I’m going to say 
      before I start the first sentence. 
   I look behind me and you’re there, 
      then up ahead and you’re there, too— 
      your reassuring presence, coming and going. 
   This is too much, too wonderful— 
      I can’t take it all in! 

 7-12 Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit? 
      to be out of your sight? 
   If I climb to the sky, you’re there! 
      If I go underground, you’re there! 
   If I flew on morning’s wings 
      to the far western horizon, 
   You’d find me in a minute— 
      you’re already there waiting! 
   Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark! 
      At night I’m immersed in the light!” 
   It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you; 
      night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you. 

Journey On Friends!

Happy Friday!

Its been a very unproductive blogging week to say the least. Life just revels up and something has to give. I know you all understand.

Have you had a donut yet? I’m reading a new book called” Just Enough Light for the Step I’m On”. Stormie Omartian is the author. I’ve never read any of her books but she sure does seem to have a ton of them. 

This statement caught my attention. “Sometimes what seems like the darkest step we’ve ever been on comes just before the brightest light we’ve ever experienced.” So what do you think?

Has this been true in your life?

 12Jesus once again addressed them: “I am the world’s Light. No one who follows me stumbles around in the darkness. I provide plenty of light to live in.” John 8:12 The Message

Hey There,

As some of you know, I am not a fan of the bug, the insect or the reptile. Pretty much anything that flies, crawls and is not a feathered friend bothers me. I have little appreciation for these creatures and as my children remind me, Jesus made all of them, and yet my opinion has not changed.

Well on Friday we had our quarterly bug inspection and the gentlemen told me to expect the unwanted guests to arrive and squat for a awhile. Turns out it takes a couple days for the spray to kick in. Great, been through this before, didn’t like it the first time but at least I was prepared. I bought spray, you know the kind,  when it hits the intended target it stops them in their tracks. Well I mentioned this to the exterminator only to find out I needed to let the invaders roam my house as eventually the “Stuff” he put out would eventually kill them off. Not the kind of news I was looking for. And you guessed it, the bugs arrived full force today! Not a happy mommy. The sight of tiny crawling things in my house makes me very uncomfortable and yet it was interesting this happened today. You see, last night I was challenged when information we received about someone was extremely uncomfortable. Made me quite angry actually but as I tried to remain calm, like today while the bugs where trampling all over my home, I  was sending up one of those “help me Jesus” prayers. The kind that come out of sheer desperation, because I knew my emotions would take over and get the best of me and my words and actions would not result in any kind of resemblance of how Jesus would have reacted. Can anyone relate?

So today, the bugs are crawling the challenging person in my life is still around too and yet my spirit has been still as my Jesus heard my cries for immediate help and thankfully he showed up. 

Can you think of a time where you sent up a “help me Jesus prayer and He showed up?

Exodus 4:11-13 (The Message)

Happy Friday!

Have you had your donut yet? I am on my way out with my youngest to pick up our weekly celebratory donuts!

I was thinking today that I have spent a lot of time looking back. Please don’t get me wrong, looking back to remember, enjoy found memories and learning from the past is absolutely a wonderful and necessary thing for us to do, but I think I have been stuck, stuck in what use to be. And then on the other hand I pine for the future- whatever that may be.

So today I have prayed that I will focus and live in the present. Looking for the ways I see and experience God today.

The Bible says, Do not remember past events; pay no attention to things of old. Look. I am about to do something new … I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:18-19)

So how about it! This weekend, take time to notice and enjoy the moments. We only get one shot at each day! God has given us today to experience and share in life together. So have a good one, my friends!

Happy Donut Day,

Tatum

Hey Friends,

Its been one of those weeks, full of activity, planned and some unexpected circumstances. You know what I mean don’t ya! I’ve been feeling a little bit out of sorts this week as my time being quiet, reading and talking to the Lord has not been at all regular. Interrupted almost every time I have tried it has been a very frustrating week. I need that time, it recharges me and allows me the opportunity to talk about what is on my mind instead of letting it all build up and then eventually exploding on my poor honey. Can anyone relate? As much as I am not a morning person if I can do it in the morning the day just starts out on a brighter note. However life has happened. My youngest refuses to sleep through the night and decides that the beginning of his day is well before the sun, or the birds are up and it is wearing me down. My mornings have been a disaster to say the least. It hit me this morning as I sent my children off to school after loosing it on them. Not my shiniest moment for sure. To top it off, it was one of my brothers and girlfriends birthday this week. Two very important people to me and I am here, no where close to join in their celebrations. 

As I was driving with my screaming (because he gets up way too early) child my thoughts immediately went to one of the biggest challenges I have faced since moving…being homesick. As tears were streaming down my face  (I’m sure Coop and I looked like quite the pair as we were both bawling at this point) I felt the sweet and gentle assurance that I was not alone. Once again my God showed up and I was not even looking for Him in that moment. He showed me that my feelings of condemnation were not from Him, that He was patiently waiting for my return and that He understood the craziness of life. What an awesome God we have the privilege to know.

The Bible talks about the Holy Spirit interceding on our behalf, without out knowledge, well yesterday I got a taste of that and it was sweet. Instead of the day falling to pieces and the sting of loneliness overtaking this mommy’s day, it turned out to be a wonderful experience with my God showering on me His attention and reassurance I was not alone.

What experiences have you had where God showed up?

Have a great day!

Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope! Romans 12:13 The Message

3But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth). For He will not speak His own message [on His own authority]; but He will tell whatever He hears [from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him], and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the future].

    14He will honor and glorify Me, because He will take of (receive, draw upon) what is Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you. John 16:13-14 Amplified Bible

Good morning,

Hey Friends,

I was reading my friend’s blog today, www.somethingoutofnothing.com and she made an amazing observation. She said, “worry and fear are best friends”.  That hit me like a ton of bricks when I read it. I don’t consider myself to be a “worry wart”.  In actuality though I work very hard at not worrying.  I do however allow myself to get caught up in my fears, real and imagined.  I might be driving and I think about if something was to happen to my husband, my dad, our future…my mind wanders and it takes me down a path where I am feeling unsafe, insecure, or unloved.  Can anyone relate?

As I began thinking about those times, I realized that in those moments, I am fearful and begin to worry.  A tactic I now recognize as one that Satan has used quite frequently with me. My friend Jennie’s astuteness in her blog has brought to my attention that perfect love, the kind I experience from my Heavenly Father showers and protects me from my human fears.  I need to choose to live in that protection though.  So today I have decided when those moments of fear arise in my mind I will recite 1 John 4:18.  There are enough times that I don’t see the angel of darkness coming at me, but today I’ve been shown an area in my armor that was cracked…God works in such amazing ways doesn’t He?

1 John 4:18 

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

How do you combat fear in your life? 

Go grab a donut and have a great weekend!