Tami Bemis Cole – Page 2

Saturday of Life

What does Saturday make you think of? I usually say a day off, end of the workweek, a time to go out and enjoy life. Maybe even a day to party.
But I was listening to a sermon on Good Friday by author & Pastor Max Lucado and he talked about looking at Saturday in a different way. He said not to overlook the Saturday after Jesus was crucified. Many of us jump right to the Resurrection Sunday, which is an awesome day, but what about what was happening or not looking like anything was happening on Saturday. A time of waiting when Heaven seemed to be silent. Silence as the disciples scattered, devastated by the death of Jesus and all hope seemed to be gone.

It got me to thinking about waiting. If you think about it, we spend most of our life waiting, waiting for big things, like:

Waiting for the right person to marry
Waiting to buy a house
Waiting to have children
Waiting for the perfect job or to get promoted
Waiting for test results can be a big & scary thing to wait for

Some smaller things we wait for could be and we wait on a daily basis for most of these:

Waiting in line, at the checkout, at the bank, at the movies, at the drive thru
Waiting in traffic or at a light
Waiting for others to speak and then we can respond
Waiting at an appointment
Waiting for the commercial to finish to get back to our favorite show
Waiting for our dog to do his business so we can go back inside
Waiting for the coffee to brew
Wait, wait, wait

We are not very patient at waiting it seems. We want things fast.
Society has changed much over the last few years, it seems we can have things in our hands or done for us faster & faster.

Quick meals via the microwave and now instapot, Meals delivered to our door with a few clicks online, online banking where we can take a picture of a check and it is quickly deposited into our account, fast internet to connect and have a group chat, Skype or other video chats, or look up information, self-diagnose or order products, We have overnight delivery of mail because we need it now! We don’t like to wait.

God tells us we need to know how to wait. But how do we act while we wait? How do we react when God isn’t answering our prayers, when we have asked & asked, even pleaded, knocked & knocked, yet Heaven is silent? When the wait is stealing our joy for today.

Are you in a time of your life where you are waiting? Waiting for this COVID-19 virus to be over, waiting for test results, waiting to go back to work, waiting for the children to go back to school, waiting for money to come in, waiting for a phone call from a loved one, waiting to see & hold your loved ones again.

Waiting can make us weary, like maybe life will never be back to normal or what is was. To be honest, this day number whatever of self-quarantine was leading me to a slump.
How can I encourage you if I am discouraged? The answer is to look to God for my strength. I sometimes want to rush God to get Him to fix areas of my life. I can get anxious when He is not working in ways that I want Him to or ways that I can see or in my time frame. Is He working?

I was recently working on a Bible study and these verses on waiting came up at the perfect time in my life. I needed this encouragement from the LORD today.
“In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; In the morning I lay my requests before you and WAIT in expectation.” (Ps. 5:3) He hears our voice and we should be waiting expectantly for how He answers!

“We WAIT in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.” (ps. 33:20) We wait in hope that He will help us and protect us.

“WAIT for the LORD and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land.” (Ps. 37:34) We shall receive all that He promises if we wait and follow His ways.

“I will WAIT for you, O LORD; you will answer, O LORD my God.” (Ps. 38:15) We can wait without getting anxious.

“They that WAIT upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” (Isa. 40:31, KJV)
We can wait without getting weary, even though time seems to drag as we wait. He will give us strength. We can run and continue with our life, continue with His plan for us while we wait for answers.
Through everything God is working. He is working all things out according to His purpose. Think back to Good Friday and that Saturday in between, after Jesus died on the cross, Mary waited, Peter waited, James & John waited, the rest of the disciples waited, perhaps even all of creation waited. They did not know that Sunday was coming!

They waited through Friday and that hopelessness dragged into Saturday, but on Sunday morning Jesus rose from the dead! He did what He said He would do! God was still very much at work between Friday & Sunday! I am thankful for the reminder. I am in a Saturday of life right now, maybe you are too…waiting, waiting…most of the world can probably say they are waiting with the Corona virus and the shutdown of life as we know it…we don’t know what is going to happen, what the future holds but God does.

So hold on—Sunday is coming!

Your Love Letter

Have you ever gotten a love letter? When someone took the time to tell you how much you mean to them. Do you remember how excited you were you to read the words from someone who loves you!

I was out walking with a friend today and along the path, I saw this heart shaped rock. I call this a God wink, when He draws my attention to things in nature that make me aware of how much He loves me! He loves you too!

Maybe you know this, or it may come as a surprise…But you and I…we have a love letter that was written to each of us. It is called the Bible, or God’s Word.

Right from the very beginning as recorded in Genesis 1, God talks about all He created, including us. In Genesis 1, after each day of creation, God looks at His work and He says it is good. Look closer on day 6, (Genesis 1:31). After God has created you and I in His own image—He says,“it is very good.” When He created us, He tells us that in His job of creating us—we are very good. Not “kind of okay” or “maybe I should have done this or that”, not “oops.” NO, He says His creation is very good!

His love letter is full of instruction and guidance. This love letter is like no other. It is a written to a daughter or son by your Father. Your Heavenly Father. A perfect Father, with perfect love for us. No human knows the depth of us, only God knows all.

“For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works. And that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You. When I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You.” Psalm 139:13-18 (NKJV)

Wow, the Creator of the heavens and earth thinks about you and me. His thoughts about us are so many they cannot be counted. We are wonderfully made. We are not an accident or a mistake. We are alive at the precise moment and place that our Creator has willed. You are on earth at exactly the right time, created with the exact features, personality and skill set that He designed. We are His workmanship.

In Ephesians 2:10 of the New Living Translation (NLT), we are called “God’s masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand.”

No accidents, everything we are and even what good works we do is prepared by God beforehand.

“But the very hairs on your head are all numbered.” Matthew 10:30 (NKJV)

Again, I say, WOW! I am in awe of how close He is connected to us.

There are many more things that God longs to tell you if you open your love letter.

I have a favorite anchor verse that I would like to share with you, John 3:16. See how much you are valued.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (NKJV)

In His love letter to you, God tells you what it cost, what He gave to show how important you are, how loved you are, how valued you are.

He gave His Son Jesus to die for us. Sounds like the end of the story…Nope!

On Easter morning…Jesus rises from the dead! Overcoming death, darkness and the grave to set us free!!

During times in your life when you are feeling overwhelmed, overlooked, under appreciated or unloved, or if someone is saying you have no value…open God’s love letter. If you want to have a relationship with the Creator of all, your Father, open your love letter. If you are unfamiliar with the Bible, may I suggest you read in the book of John.

Until next time, May God bless you as you seek Him.

Find me on YouTube at Tami Bemis Cole

My heart’s Desire

“As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.” Psalm 42:1 ESV

I want it to be my heart’s desire to want to know God more. I sincerely want to want that.

Do you remember the song, As the Deer? Such beautiful words and condition of total surrender of heart.

“You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart’s desire
And I long to worship Thee

As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after Thee
You alone are my heart’s desire
And I long to worship Thee

You’re my friend
And You are my brother
Even though You are a King
I love You more than any other
So much more than anything

I want You more than gold or silver
Only You can satisfy
You alone are the real joy giver
And the apple of my eye”

I ask myself these questions. Why is it so difficult? Why do I not put Him first. Why is my walk so lukewarm most of the time? Why can I not stay focused on Him?

He is so worthy.

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” Revelation 4:11 (ESV)

I have a poor excuse. Life gets in the way and I don’t take time with Him. I don’t take time to sit at His feet and listen. I forget how awesome He is. I forget His Majesty.

My heart needs to put Him first. Time in His Presence is what I need. I want to hang on His every Word. I want Him to be my heart’s desire.

Sitting by the ocean watching the waves calms my soul and helps me to focus on the Majesty of God. I’m working on making Him the desire of my heart. How about you?

Anchored In Him Bible study

I apologize for not posting lately. Exciting things have been happening! I was busy writing a Bible study called, Anchored In Him. It was recently published and is scheduled for release on January 9 wherever you purchase your favorite books!

Here is a little bit about the study:

“You can rarely avoid them; the storms of life show up to blow you off course, suck you into a vortex of wavering faith and make you doubt the direction you are going. Storms can drown you, devastate you, and cause you to fall into despair on ever finding your destination safely.“

However, there is hope for peace and direction in the storms of life, and that is through GOD.

This Bible study consists of twelve chapters reflecting on aspects
of God’s provision and love that create “anchors” for us to hold
onto when the storms of life batter us relentlessly. I wrote this during
a difficult storm in my own life. I will pass on to you what God revealed to me during quiet times spent in His Word. I pray that you will find this study helpful to you as an individual or to use in a small group…to everyone trying to find refuge in life’s storms.

Let me know what you think at anchoredinhim7@gmail.com