When Turtles Speak...

Now that, Michael, was pretty profound! Off on my bike I go, looking for signs that HE is speaking to me. FATHER, today let me see with eyes annointed by YOU and a heart tuned to YOUR still, small voice! Bless you for sharing with us. k__

Mike, You are an inspiration to me. I often look forward to your emails. I am very sorry to hear of your loss. I pray you always remember and rest, assured God is with you always my friend and know that my prayers are also. Dennis

This WORD from Michael is more PROFOUND than even Michael may realize. I am a passionate flower gardner. God is speaking to me multiple, multiple, sometimes LOUDLY, nuggets of HIS TRUTH and nature while in my garden. Saints, walk with God in a constant intimacy. THIS IS WHERE YOU WILL LEARN FROM THE GREATEST TEACHER AND REVALATOR OF ALL TIME! Discover where \"your place and time\" is; it is not in the halls and rooms of empty religious traditions, believe me. Mark chapter 7 teaches us that our \"traditions have made the WORD of God of none effect!! Recently the Lord is saying, our problems and lack are not God's fault or will, the problem is on the RECEIVING end---us, His intended receivors. Love and Prayers to all. Watchman on the wall, Carol

Thank you for that article. Most times God works in ways not preceived by our natural senses. They that wait on the Lord,(not work for the Lord) shall renew their strenght. Waiting on the Lord is the key to God revealing His secrets to us. Thank you again

\"The sun shall no longer go down, Nor shall your moon withdraw itself; For the Lord will be your everlasting light, And the days of your mourning shall be ended.\" Isaiah 60:20 This Scripture came to mind as I read your article; I pray this ministers to you in your situation. God bless you abundantly as you have blessed me!

Michael, Thanks for being vulnerable in your latest email. You are right, God desiers to speak to us personally and many times He does so through natural things going on around us. I am going through some particularly rough and painful things associated with my work, but the Lord has been faithful to meet me where I am and download just what I need for the seaon I am in. In my flesh, I want to walk away and wash my hands of the \"mess\", but the Lord has other plans. I am continually encouraged by what He is speaking to my spirit, but I am also regularly reminded that it's not about me, it's about Him. In the midst of it all, I want to be able to say with conviction, God is Good, because He is.

Dear Sir: I have read your blogs for a few months now and find them most encouraging, In fact I have posted some in my office to keep me in the right heart. I wanted to encourage you as you have done so for me. This is a hard time in the body of Christ, for all of us. It seems that God is shaking our foundations, and revealing where we are holding the wrong securities. I identify with the feeling, although do not personally know your situation. My encouragement to you is that even though it is a hard time for the body of Christ right now, it is in preparation for great and glorious times where the saints shall reign. We are seated at the right hand of the father, which means we are never more than an arms length away from Him! My prayer for you is that God would richly bless you and expand your foundation. I pray that you will see His goodness in your life even now and would be filled with a supernatural Joy! Blessings!

Thanks Michael. My ways are not mans way. Mans makes the plan but God directs our steps. Rejoice always, I say again rejoice. God is the God of all confort, Kern

Your writings are always an incredible blessing to me. This was was so immediately relevant that I was hoping for a link to the \"rest\" of the story :-). Thanks for your transparency and for sharing the healing process - Victoria

I'm so sorry aobut your loss. Some might think it trivial, but, I do not. Our little mascots are so part of our family and even if they are not ours, we feel for their loss, or there disappearance. You are so strong in faith, that you listen to God's teachings, whatever and however they may be. I hope your heart is healed soon. Blessings to you and your loved ones and thank you for all the wonderful thoughts and writings you share with so many. Yours in Christ, Blanche De Jesus, Miami, Florida, 33126 PS. I have been to one of your wonderful seminars in the past, with the Miami Christian Chamber of Commerce & recieve your Email messages. Thank you.

well bully for you...(sarcastic). I'm tired of metaphoric posts that say only the process and not the real nuts and bolts content of life....

I was teaching my Sunday School class this past Sunday. It was a time in the lesson when I was opening for responses. Then, the poet Laureate of Tennessee made a statement that was filled with wisdom: \"you cannot download experience.\" We want to gain wisdom without the painful experiences. We want life to be easy and learn the deeper truths without paying the price of struggle. Person God choose to be teachers need to head the statement in James 3:1 \"Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more severely than others.\" Those who aspire to be teachers imparting wisdom can expect to live somewhat separated lives. I made that decision in response to the call of God many years ago and have learned again and again the pains to gaining Godly wisdom

thank your for sharing, I am encouraged as I need some surgery right now myself. I will be watching and waiting expectantly!

Michael, My wife and I have lost our newborn in 6 days. I would rather that you had taken after those birds than consider your neighbor's convenience. Still, it is terrible to watch and my feeling on such a matter are rather raw. I hope you found a value in the expensive lesson you observed. We hope there is some value in our loss, but it is very hard to see at the present time. We know only that our daughter's loss has a good and eternal worth to her in God's eyes, for our pain is for the cost to ourselves. We know that God has watched over a short life which is no less minature than our own, from God's sense of eternity. Christ has not yet saved us from all pains, yet we most clearly rescued from a pointless life, as God sees and knows us always.

Wow!! I had a very similar experience this week with our Zulu Chickens who are mostly sitting on their eggs however when a chicken lays she will not sit on them immediately but only when she has enough. The result is that some of the nest boxes have eggs but until she sits the eggs remain vunerable to predetors and especially because they are free range the chicken run stays open during the day. I was sitting at the pond watching all the new life on our small holding and meditating on the Goodness of God when suddenly out of nowhere some vervet monkeys ran in our stole some of the eggs, and wow was I mad and like you I wanted to blast them with a gun.... but i too stopped I let the Lord speak to me. I realised that in order for me too be enjoying the very goodness, grace, mercy and love of God, He had to sacrifice His son for my redeemption. It is not always easy to see the bigger picture but I got it. This morning one of the sitting hens had 20 chicks running around her and she safely gathered them under her wing and again I knew GOd has me under His wing safe and sound no matter what circumstances I will face today.... blessings Michele

Good morning all... Anita, the Scripture you shared did minister to us. Thank you for that. Lynn, I am sorry you missed the point of the message. Jesus frequently spoke in metaphors and there was good reason. That reason is still true today. Selah. Thanks to the rest of you who also posted. Your comments of support and insight were invaluable. God is definitely at work!

Michael, Psalm 42 Externally his circumstances are oppressing. Verse 3 says that his enemies “say to me all the day long, ‘Where is your God?’� And verse 10 says the same thing, only it describes the effect as a deadly wound: “As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, ‘Where is your God?’� And the taunt “Where is your God?� implies that something else has gone wrong too, or they wouldn’t be saying, “Where is your God?� It looks to them like he has been abandoned. The internal emotional condition of the psalmist is depressed and full of turmoil. In verses 5 and 11, he describes himself as “cast down� and “in turmoil.� In verse 3 he says, “My tears have been my food day and night.� So he is discouraged to the point of crying day and night. In verse 7 he says that it feels like drowning: “All your breakers and your waves have gone over me.� Fighting to Hope in God In all of this, he is fighting for hope. Verse 5: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.� Verse 11: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.� He is not surrendering to the emotions of discouragement. He is fighting back. I cannot tell you how many hundreds of times, I have fought back the heaviness of discouragement with these very words: “Hope in God, Kern. Hope in God. You will again praise him. This miserable emotion will pass. This season will pass. Don’t be downcast. Look to Jesus. The light will dawn.� It was so central to our way of thinking and talking in the early eighties that we put a huge “Hope in God� sign on the outside wall of the old sanctuary and became known around the neighborhood as the “Hope in God� church. His external circumstances are oppressing. His internal emotional condition is depressed and full of turmoil. But he is fighting for hope. And the really remarkable thing is that at the end of the psalm, he is still fighting but not yet where he wants to be. The last words of the psalm—and the last words of the next psalm—are “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.� He leaves us still fighting for the joyful experience of hope and freedom from turmoil. He is not yet praising the way he wants to. A Bittersweet Ending Is it a happy ending? Like almost everything else in this life, it’s mixed. His faith really is amazing, and his fight is valiant. But he is not where he wants to be in hope and peace and praise. Bless you brother, Kern

Dear Michael and your lovely bride, Thanks for sharing your open heart surgery with us. That in it's self shows courage since we are among wolves. I appreciate this article , it's timing is crucial . And yes there are \"Super \" in the \"natural \", I too... have been seing God and actually a little shaken in how apparent things seem. Like double rainbows, an Eagles that seem to be putting on a show for you. Wow, wow, wow are God is so BIG yet into so.. many details in our lives. I know God in His Great Love for you in your time of need and comfort and understanding used nature to reveal so much. Know that some things revealed are mysteries and secrets and are between God and you. So hold them close and ponder them, you don't have to explain \"the supernatural \" sometimes in the moment it's best to just enjoy and be comforted by it. Blessings to you as you recover and heal . Jeremiah 17:14-18

Good morning to you Michael and all, Michael, appreciate your courage in being vulnerable to us...Christ's church should be a healing shelter for the hurt, wounded, and broken people....yes, like you and me...us. If not for the grace of God as we know, we cannot have the honor of working with Him in the restoration process of His creation that is in pain. How amazing really His grace is !...wounded people such as us enabled by Him to effect change by seeing first the invisible... Peace and all good... with HISTeam that works in His marketplace, Benjie B. Caballero/Mla, Phils.

Maybe this is a late response. I read your e-mails when I can really ponder on it. I just thought of Heb 12:2 \"Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God..\" Somebody made me aware of the link between \"shame\" and the \"cross\" and then comes the joy. When I backtested it, I saw that it worked in my life. \"Shame\" could represent the emotions of any difficult situation (\"cross\"). When you endure it, but despise the emotions (or other mind processes you go through), you will get to the other side of the victory, at the right hand of God. Maybe I oversimplify. It is part of our spiritual growth. Let us have joy about the circumstances we find ourselves in, not for the circumstances, but for the end result of His victory in our growing. Your words always encourage me and it is a NOW word. Annatjie