Author: IAMHIZ.blog

Bringing Glory to Jesus IAMHIZ·THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2019 Life is complicated and I can get weary. When all seems lost and I don’t know where to turn, I turn to Jesus. He is my Strength & my Deliverer. In Him I trust. I enjoy each moment because it will not come again. My name is Tami. I am an ordinary wife, mother, mother-in-law, sister, friend, and now a Grammy! This is my grandson Kaleb telling me a story! I have no special abilities. I laugh, I cry, I hurt, I see joy. Well, actually I do have a superpower... My Super Power is JESUS living within me. I AM HIZ. He is mine. As we journey together, I hope I can cheer you on, inspire you and tell you about Him who gives me Hope & Joy, JESUS. There is joy in the little things, the warm sun on my face, dancing in the rain, a butterfly fluttering by, smelling Kaleb’s sweet baby head (oh that sweet Baby Magic smell!), holding my husband’s hand, a hot cup of coffee with my Bud, a gentle breeze, a flower opening. There is joy in the big things, loving Jesus and allowing Him to guide my life, the love and protection of my husband, spending time with my sons, Ricky & Benjamin and their beautiful wives, Colleen & Molly, snuggling my precious grandson Kaleb, spending time with my brothers & their families, enjoying fellowship with my Bible study girlfriends. Life needs to be put in the right perspective. Things will not be perfect and life hurts us...but we can choose joy. We can choose to look for the good. Be careful not to miss out on the moment while you are worrying about tomorrow or wishing things were different. I try to keep my focus on Jesus. When I do, my trials don’t seem as overwhelming, the storms don’t rage as strong. I know He is working in and through the trials. I can get through this. You can too.

Strength For The Storm

When one of the biggest emotional storms hit my life, I fell to my knees. When my whole life was shattered like a pile of broken glass on the floor, I needed hope.

When my heart was so broken and I slid to the floor, I cried out to God. In the quietness of my heart I heard His reply, this is how the conversation went,

Me: “God, I can’t take this. There is no way that I can get through this.”

God: “Yes, my child, you will. I will help you.”

Me: “No Lord, it is too much. I can’t bear it. I don’t have the strength.”

God: “You are right. You do not have the strength, but I DO.”

Me: “I don’t understand Lord. What must I do?”

God: “Lean on Me. I AM your strength, don’t let this shake you.”

“He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.” (Psalm 62:2)

Me: “I’m scared Lord.”

God: Shhhh, little one, I am here. I will never leave you. Trust Me”.

He is right. All my struggles did not go away but leaning on God and trusting that He is working on my behalf gives me peace…I will get through this in His Strength.

You may be going through difficult times. Maybe you have felt lost and without hope. When we are dealing with missing loved ones who have passed, broken families, wounded relationships, and the stresses & storms of life…Lean on Him. Trust Him.

“I wait eagerly for the LORD’s help, and in His word I trust.” Psalm 130:5

God is trustworthy, steadfast and sure. He is the strength of my heart. May He be the strength of your heart too.

Give it Over

When I go through struggles, disappointments & heartache and I want it to be OVER NOW, I am faced with choices on how to handle things. Here are some I’ve tried:

I can try to resolve things by forcing an outcome, by fixing it myself, doing whatever I can do in my own strength to “fix” it.

I can crawl into a pit of despair and wait & see if it “magically” gets resolved.

I can have a temper tantrum, blame others and feel sorry for myself. Holding many pity parties for myself as the “why” scenario plays in endless loops in my head.

OR I CAN GO to our HEAVENLY FATHER, confess any wrong I have done, tell Him what is on my heart and ask Him to help me. (This has been my best choice!)

“Truly my soul silently waits for the God, from Him comes my salvation. He only is my rock, my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved.” Psalm 62:1-2 NKJV

Some versions say, “I will not be greatly shaken” I love that! Don’t let the things that are going on to shake you up too much. Remember Who you belong to. He is our place of refuge, where we can safely run and confide in Him.

He is our defense. The BEST defense attorney in history…sorry Matlock…lol

If I can trust Him and wait. He is working things out to benefit His Kingdom, so many will be saved. How I want things to work out usually benefit me the most and they are not forever. God fixes things the BEST and for ETERNAL VALUE!

I don’t think of is as giving in or giving up…instead it is all about GIVING IT OVER. Giving it over to my Dad and trusting Him and allowing Him to resolve things in His way & in His time.

Thank You Father, that You really do know best!

They don’t know my voice

Oh, my naughty chickens. Not all of them. Most of them listen to me. Not Black Beauty (BB) a Black Jersey Giant & Pibs (Pain in bum sometimes) a beautiful Ameraucana mix. Strikingly beautiful. They have wandered before. They know me but they don’t listen to my voice.

Paying no attention to my voice, they are oblivious to the danger.

I am the happy owner of 12 chickens, 11 hens and 1 rooster. I have had most of these girls and boy for five years. I feed them, water them, clean there coop, shovel their yard in winter, protect them and talk to them. They know my voice, they will follow me or at least I thought they would.

Three days ago, I let them out of their enclosed yard and let them free range. I try to do that so that they can eat the ticks and other insects that are around. Not everyday, but some days. Around 10 am, I heard the chickens squawking and carrying on…a different sound. I knew something was up. I looked out my front door and a red-tailed hawk with a big wing span glided over head. He or she was looking for a fat, tasty breakfast. “Not today”, I said!

I went back in and grabbed a loaf of bread, hurrying back to their fenced in yard. I called my girls and they came out from under our back deck and followed me…most of them.

Nine hens and my Bantam rooster with Little Red leading the way. She is my favorite hen and has been with me 6 years. I tossed bread crumbs inside the enclosure and they followed Red’s lead and dashed in…all except BB & Pib.

They came out from hiding but meandered across the lawn, oblivious to the danger and started pecking the grass. I called and called and they barely looked up. Now I had another dilemma. I had to close the door to keep the ten in but then these two could not get back in. Sure hawk breakfast.

I closed the door, saved some bread and went to shoo my rebels in. I went around behind them and started moving them towards safety. They got close to the fence, so I opened the door hoping they would join the others. Nope. They ran to the other end of the yard and paid no attention to me. Every time I got close they would scoot around into the bushes.

This went on for some time. No luck. Finally I said, “You are on your own girls. The hawk is looking to eat you and I am trying to protect you. You need to listen to my voice. Follow me. You are my chickens and I need to keep you safe. Why won’t you listen?!”

Just as soon as the words were out of my mouth, I thought of Jesus and His words to us, to me. Listen to My voice. Follow Me. I will save you. You are Mine.

Why didn’t I listen all those times? Maybe it was because I didn’t think I was in danger. I don’t see the big picture. He does.

Just like my girls, disobedient & (seemingly) blissfully unaware of danger; I have tried to forge my own path, my own way. Trouble in the making.

I watched my girls from the window & I did go out a bit later and BB & Pib went into the coop door that I left open. Away from where the ten were. I crept in, closed the door behind me and picked them up. I put them in with their friends, again telling them they need to listen to my voice. To follow me next time. We shall see.

For me, I remember that Jesus is the True Shepherd and we are His sheep. I am His. IAMHIZ

“And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” John 10:4 NKJV

I am listening Jesus. I will follow You.

He Is Risen

I want to wish you a blessed Easter. I hope you had a great day praising our Risen Savior and spending the day with those you love.

I know I am a few days past Easter but I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what just happened from Good Friday until Easter morning.

The sadness, the gut-wrenching guilt and hopelessness that His disciples & family felt was very evident on Friday. Even into Sunday as two of them were walking to a village called Emmaus. Resurrected Jesus is walking with them. They are unable to recognize who He is at this point. (Luke 24:13-16)

Let’s pick up the conversation as Luke recorded it:

“ He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast. ¹⁸One of them, named Cleopas,asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” ¹⁹“What things?” he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. ²⁰The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; ²¹but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place”. Luke 24:17-21 (NIV)

Their faces were downcast and they we hoping that it was He (Jesus) who was going to redeem Israel. It is also the third day. Perhaps they remember Jesus’s words in John 2:19, about raising up the temple in 3 days.

Where was He? Where is our Redeemer? We had hoped You were the One, Jesus. He said He would rise from the dead. Oh Jesus, where are you??

JESUS IS THERE among them on His way to be seen by His disciples, especially Peter who must be in a very deep place of pain & anguish knowing he betrayed Jesus and Peter believes at that point that he has no way to say he is sorry. For Jesus is dead.
“But go, tell his disciples and Peter, He goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.” Mark 16:7 (NKJV)

JESUS IS HERE! Among us today, right now. HE IS RISEN! Just like He said!

” He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” Matthew 28:6

He did what He said He would do. He is trustworthy. If we can believe that He rose from the dead, surely we can believe He is with us now, loving us, helping us, leading us…Remember in John 14:6 He told us,

He is the WAY. He opened the way to Heaven so we could have fellowship with the Father. No more sin between us. He shows us the way to live on earth as well.

He is the TRUTH. He told the truth that He would rise from the dead. He said He is coming back for those who believe in Him. It is the Truth.

He is the LIFE. Through His death & resurrection, we have ETERNAL LIFE. A Home in Heaven one day! Thank You Jesus!

Good Friday

I had often wondered why the day my Lord Jesus died is called “Good” Friday. It seems odd to call a day good when such terrible things were done to Him and He died.

From the betrayal the night before, to most of His closest friends abandoning him, to the scourging, ridiculing and outright lies told about Him, It seems there was not much good leading up to Friday. It goes from bad to worse, Jesus is so weak from the beatings and loss of blood, yet He must carry His own cross to the crucifixion site. Being fully man, He is tired and in excruciating pain, yet He says not a word.

He feels all that we would feel if we had gone through this day instead of Him. His human body is near death. He does not call legions of angels to help Him. He could have. I know He could have. He is fully God… in human flesh.

It should have been me on that cross. I’m the guilty one, not Him. He is perfect. He could have said, “Forget it, she’s not worth it, Take Me home Father.” But He did not say anything like that. He has to finish. He is the only Way to be reconciled to the Father. My sin is great but His love is greater.

He has one more thing to say but His lips are so parched. He is thirsty. He has been on the cross nearly 6 hours and probably without water since supper the night before.

“After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said,…I thirst! Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth” John 19:28

He is also fulfilling Psalm 69:21.

“They gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” Psalm 69:21

Maybe, do you think…He needs to wet His lips, to speak so the people can hear. As He struggles to take a breath, He knows it is time.

“So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.” John 19:30

“It is finished!” What Jesus came to do, He finished. Our sin debt was PAID IN FULL! Woo Hoo!

I understand now why it is called “Good Friday” GOOD NEWS for you and me! He had to die to defeat sin & death. To finish the hold it had on us. In three days, on Easter, He rises from the dead so we can live!
When we choose to make Jesus our Lord & Savior…we are FREE!

GOOD JOB my AMAZING SAVIOR. Thank YOU!

I AM the Life

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” John 14:6

Life, a precious gift given to us by our Creator God. From the first breath He breathed into Adam to the last breath He breathes into mankind, it is a gift. The opposite of life is death.

Death came into the world in the garden of Eden. When Eve was tempted by the serpent and she believed a lie. The lie was that God was not trustworthy.

“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’? And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:1-5 NKJV

The serpent says, “Surely you will not die.” He made Eve doubt the God she knew. She doubted His guidance. Maybe she thought about what could happen…she could be like God. She never thought about the long- term consequences of her disobedience. Consequences we are still reeling from today.

SIN. Sin entered our world.

The perfect garden. The perfect relationship with God was gone.

What do we get from sin? From being disobedient? Romans 6:23 gives us the grim answer, “The wages of sin are death.”

We all have sinned, which equals dead in our sin and separated from God.

” For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” Romans 3:23 NLT

Remember what Jesus said! “I am the Life.” Read on my friend, we have Hope.
“And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. Romans 8:10-11 NLT

If we believe in Him, He will give us life. Death no longer has a hold on us. We are no longer slaves to sin. He sets us free. Perfect Jesus, His ultimate sacrifice on the cross reconciled us with the Father. He gave His life to redeem us. He rose again on the third day! Woo Hoo! He conquered the the grave to set us free from sin and death and give us new life.

“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:2 NJKV

“Therefore if the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed.” John 8:36 NKJV

Jesus tells us the truth that He is the Truth & Way and again He says He is the Life

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26

“Do you believe this?” You have free will to choose for yourself.
Choose Jesus, choose LIFE.

Sorry, I am not an artist but I hope you can see my point 🙂

I AM The Truth

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” John 14:6

Let’s talk about Truth. What is truth? There are many opinions on that. It seems that we live in a society that is convinced there is no absolute truth. Many see the Bible and the words of Jesus as outdated or too restrictive. Our sinful flesh self wants to be free to decide what is truth. We do what we want and we see “our version of the truth” as truth to us.

Jesus again is very bold in His statement saying, “I am the truth”. The Hebrew word for truth is emet אמת . The Hebrew alphabet is very unique and based on the word emet itself and its’ relation in the Hebrew alphabet (אמת: first letter, middle letter & last letter), the word emet means the whole truth flows from the beginning, through the middle to the end. All three Hebrew letters are grounded and stable.

Jesus is the Word and the Word is Truth.

“In the beginning was the Word,and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God”.
John 1:1-2

Notice that the “Word” starts with a capital “W” The Word is Jesus. He was with God in the beginning and He is God. Part of the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

In John 17, Jesus is getting ready to leave His disciples and go to the cross. He is praying to the Father for them and for all believers to come. He knows the world is going to confuse and lie to them as it confuses & lies to us. He wants to be clear on what to believe. God’s laws are truth.

Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,
And Your law is truth. Psalm 119:142 (NKJV)

“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. Sanctifythem by Your truth. Your word is truth”.
John 17:17-19 (NKJV)

God’s Word is Truth. Jesus is The Word. Jesus is Truth.

The world is full of lies and half truths. Our enemy, the devil and his entourage of evil spirits roam the earth looking to cause trouble, especially for Believers. (1 Peter 5:8) Satan tells us lies, lies that make us feel like we aren’t redeemable, feel like we aren’t loved, feel like we have no value—ALL LIES!

Jesus calls Satan the father of lies, “… He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it”. John 8:44 (NKJV)

Jesus knew we would need a “truth compass” so to speak. An irrefutable Truth. We need to know Jesus to hear His voice and recognize the Truth.

During His trial in Pilate’s court, this conversation was recorded in John: “Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” John 18:37(NKJV)

Don’t get lost in the lies of the world. You are precious, loved and valued. Jesus said He is the Way, the Only Way… the path of truth, and the truth is…He loves you and provides freedom and hope.

“And you shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free”. John 8:32

Know Jesus and He will make you free!

The Way

Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” John 14:6

I love this Bible verse. For the next few blog posts, I will be talking about this verse and the impact it can have in and on our life. Today I will discuss “the way”.

There seems to be so many thoughts on how to get to Heaven, how to have a relationship with our Heavenly Father and how to live the best life. How can we find the right way? How do we know it is the right way?

We are all lost in this world when we travel on our own. Lost on a dark, bleak highway, lost in sin, pursuing the desires of our flesh. We are lost to a life of joy and peace. Many times we do not even know we are lost…until we discover The Way.

We don’t have to stay lost. Jesus rescues us,

“For the Son of man is come to seek and save those who are lost”. Luke 19:10

Jesus came to earth seeking to save you & me, to give our life direction. To show us the way. To open the way to Heaven. To give our lives meaning and hope.

Are you feeling lost? Jesus came to earth and gave His life to save us from all the wrong ways and show us “the true way.” All you & I have to do is realize we are lost and believe His Word.

Romans 10:9 NKJV
“That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”.

Email iamhiz2019@gmail.com

The Journey Begins

Thanks for joining me! My name is Tami and I am so happy you found my blog! This blog is dedicated Jesus Christ and the hope I find in Him. I love nature and each of God’s creations teaches me a life lesson. Just like the beautiful Monarch caterpillar you see me with here (more about this and my trip to Aruba in a future post!), we go through different parts of our “life cycle”. As we journey together, I will share how Jesus has changed me, breathed His Spirit into my life and given me hope when all seemed hopeless. Feel free to come back as often as you like!