out of life's storms & into Thy Calm ...

I heard this song play on BBNRadio.org yesterday afternoon and I wanted to reacquaint myself with this old hymn. The right words at the right time kind of moment lets my heart uncurl from the tight ball of anger and brokenness that had taken hold. A breeze was in the air taking me to Jesus ....


Jesus, I come
Out of my bondage, sorrow, and night,
Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come;
Into Thy freedom, gladness, and light,
Jesus, I come to Thee;
Out of my sickness, into Thy health,
Out of my want and into Thy wealth,
Out of my sin and into Thyself,
Jesus, I come to Thee.

Out of my shameful failure and loss,
Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come;
Into the glorious gain of Thy cross,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of earth’s sorrows into Thy balm,
Out of life’s storms and into Thy calm,
Out of distress to jubilant psalm,
Jesus, I come to Thee.

Out of unrest and arrogant pride,
Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come;
Into Thy blessèd will to abide,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of myself to dwell in Thy love,
Out of despair into raptures above,
Upward for aye on wings like a dove,
Jesus, I come to Thee.

Out of the fear and dread of the tomb,
Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come;
Into the joy and light of Thy throne,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of the depths of ruin untold,
Into the peace of Thy sheltering fold,
Ever Thy glorious face to behold,
Jesus, I come to Thee.

Words: William T. Sleeper, in Gospel Hymns No. 5, 1887.
Music: George C. Stebbins (MI DI, score).

touch, a woman's sexual desire ...

Swindoll was on the topic of King David seeing bathing Bathsheba. I know that sexual desire grabs men through visual but what I didn't know was that sexual desire grabs women through touch! Really? I am a girl I should know this! So like my typical self, I start going though my journey looking for the trigger points so that I don't fall off the edge. If you don't SAFEly test where your weak places are, you will be sabotaged. When you pick yourself up from the fall out, you will berate yourself for not living as purely as possible with your relationship with God.

So what about touch? I definitely do not like people getting into my personal space. I went though a spell where I would pull away from my own father's hugs. That was because I was a teenager just not wanting to be bother because I was mad over something. I also went through a time where wonderful perfumed granny's at church would hug on me so I decided that I would be the first to hug on them every Sunday. Problem was that I carried their perfume with me in the form of a HA. I dislike hovering of any type especially in the checkout lanes. So how is touch going to be take me down in sexual desire?

Well, I spoke of uncomfortable touch. So if I am that sensitive over my space, what if it is comfortable touch? When I read the book on the "Five Love Languages", I knew right way that WORDS was my thing and TOUCH was the farthest. However, over the course of an alone journey, touch is very important to me. (All five love languages are important in every person's life. To best love is to be fluent in all five love languages.) My word tank is a huge tank. Lets say my word tank is 25 gallons. My other four tanks would be 1 gallon. But having just one of the tanks become empty, the engine fails. Being a loner makes for a tank that needs constant care and watch or there is critical arrest.

My TOUCH tank could very well be more than a gallon. Over this life journey with my Heavenly Father what I cherish the most is His Arms! When I am at the lowest lows, I often pull the covers up tight up to my nose and turn out the lights and let the mind's screen pull up the God holding tight in His Muscular Bare Arms to the point you can't see me and to where His Heart Beat is so loud that it quiets all my troubles. So I could see that if a man ever dared to approach me in this way no matter how small compared to God's, I could be wooed. Wow, touch is a woman's sexual desire! What girl doesn't want to be protected? Arms holding you in when you are falling apart tell you that you are still loved and still cherished and will be protected. mmmmm... yessss .... touch is very desirable!

I had an experience once with a guy whose love language was touch. This was a LDR so trying to speak his love language was a huge challenge. I felt as though I really never reached his heart. I feel that REDEEMED 'touchers' need to allow friends to touch them via the mind, heart, and soul and not just the physical. Honestly, I am afraid to touch the opposite sex. (AND IT IS A HEALTHY RESPECTFUL fear because I know the dangers.) I guess I didn't realize that this healthy respectful decline of touching a male other than the handshake is a 'protectent' for my girly heart.

I am glad that Swindoll said this in passing. I really needed this mental note. I probably will have more to learn...
What about touching via words? ....

reflections of Easter ...

My thoughts started connecting dots. I was noticing how the story of Abraham taking Issac to sacrifice as God commanded and how God led and ultimately sacrificed His Beloved Son. As a dear friend once told me of how the same Bloke wrote the whole Bible because He wrote the same story though out (butterfly effect), I can't help but notice it here even as it contrasts a bit. The Issac story teaches us to let go of all that we hold precious and the Jesus story teaches to hold on THE PRECIOUS. I love how God tells a story. His Story is always of His Deep Love for us.... It is a Love Story ... a Love Letter...
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This evening as I watched an reenactment of doubting Thomas not believing until he could actually touch the Master's nailed pierce hands and the wound in His side. I realized that Thomas has the love language of TOUCH. He needed to touch to know. My heart ached and whispered a prayer for a dear one who also has the love language of touch. Oh, how it must weigh heavy on these types. Oh, how it takes a deep strength to believe without touching. I know our relationship wasn't as deep for him as it was for me because I need words and he needs touch..... I felt him struggle with where he was with his life. I wonder how much of has to do with touch and feeling YOU in his life... a question I would love to ask. God has him. He is my Issac ... he is not mine...

embraced forever...

I think I am a lover and a romantic. Yes, give me the ooooooowy goooowy yummmy sticky hubba hubba. Even as I say this I know true love is hard work but give me that too!!! Not afraid.

Being a very visual learner, I have to share my excitement over a rather interesting picture. A man and a woman preserved love by their final moments on earth forever. Eyes locked on eyes and arms in tender touch and legs intertwined ... Cannot help but be encouraged! Yeah, call me wierd. I do not care!

free hugs & orpahages ...

1) Free Hugs
wikipedia's account
An Australian man had a notion and tried his social experiment. Tears came to my eyes as I saw in action how the love language of touch played out. People were looking at this guy holding a sign which said 'free hugs' like he was crazy. Then out of the blue a wise senior lady came at the guy with a big hug. I couldn't help but cheer!

2)Trong & Rani Hong
Tronie Foundation
Two people with childhoods of being taken from their family who found themselves adopted into USA families. They met and got married. Surprisingly, Trong did not reveal his own tormented childhood to Ronnie until after they were married. Now they work on building projects that are geared around orphanages.

to withhold touch ...

I have noticed once again that one whose love language is touch resorts to pulling oneself away from the rest of society. One claimed he was insular. He knows no other way but to protect himself in this way. Another has claimed a needed time out for an inner quest.

Touch isn't my hunger pain but because it keeps gnawing me into paying attention, I have seen this love language revive lives. When I was a teenager, I would pull away from my dear father when he hugged me. I would defend my pulling away because we just had a verbal conflict. Words being so dear for me, it was hard to hug my dad back. Oh, I wish I could take those days back. Today, I hug my dad every time we are together.

I just cannot fathom how isolation of any kind is of God and His Love. I have been chastised every time I have gone in hiding to lick my wounds and even retrospection. I would beg for mercy from on High. It finally has sunk in that every time I am isolated from others or alone, I must engage every time. The greatest human need is value. I know this most intimately. If I feel this so intensely, it must be an ache felt by all human kind. Believers have an Ultimate and Eternal responsibility to
supply the demand with active Godly Love. Because this human need is so great, believers have the task to balance their time outs with their engagements to be most effective. To live in balance honors being our brother's keeper besides honoring God's grand design.

I may be called to engage the very one who has pulled away. This is the hardest thing for me as our soul journeys convey opposite and possibly polar ends...
II she's out