INTIMACY AND LADYBUG SLIPPERS

 

Intimacy and Ladybug Slippers

“Awake, O north wind! Awake, O south wind! Breathe on my garden with your Spirit-Wind. Stir up the sweet spice of your life within me. Spare nothing as you make me your fruitful garden. Hold nothing back until I release your fragrance.” Song of Songs 4:16 TPT

“So I kneel humbly in awe before the Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the perfect Father of every father and child in heaven and on the earth. And I pray that he would unveil within you the unlimited riches of his glory and favor until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with his divine might and explosive power. Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life. Then you will be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences – the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimension. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is his love! How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement that transcends our understanding – this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God! Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than you greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination. He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you.” Ephesians 3:14-20 TPT

It’s all the same message God has been speaking to me. It’s all about intimacy.

So what, you may ask, do ladybug slippers have to do with intimacy with God?

My ladybug slippers came to me identical, no left or right shoe. As I began to wear the slippers they became molded to my feet and now there there is a definite right and a definite left slipper. Now, if I wear them on the opposite foot, it doesn’t feel right.

God does that to me. He comes and make his imprint on my heart, on my thinking, on my emotions. He makes his soft spot in me, and now nothing else fits there but him.

It’s like the words of the song “Come away with me...Open up your heart and let me in…” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jagoM0WSSu4

My prayer for the Church is that she, like the bride of Solomon, be ruined for anything except God’s presence in the secret place. And may the Holy Spirit blow the fragrance beyond the secret place where those who don’t yet know the intimate love of a Father will be drawn to seek him out.

One generation makes your faithfulness known to the next!

 

Isaiah 38

Do you remember Hezekiah? Hezekiah was a king of Judah. His story is told in the Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament. As we read through the history of the nations of Israel and Judah we hear of king after king who “did evil in the sight of the Lord” and whose reigns were cut short. It is with a breath of relief that we finally read about a king that got it right! Hezekiah “did what was right in the sight of the Lord”, we read in 2 Chronicles 29. “Hezekiah repaired the doors of the Lord’s Temple and made them strong. He opened the Temple again.” (2 Chronicles 29:3)

So when we get to Isaiah chapter 38 and read about Hezekiah’s terminal sickness, our hearts cry out with Hezekiah, “Let me live!” Look at what I’ve done, how I’ve served you and repaired your Temple so your people can come and worship you again. Don’t let me die now! Why, God?

So Yahweh changes his mind. And we get to watch the whole thing play out in Isaiah 38.

Hezekiah becomes deathly sick. The Bible doesn’t tell us if he sent for the prophet, Isaiah, or if God just sent Isaiah to him to deliver the news of his impending demise. “This is what Yahweh has to say to you,” Isaiah began. “Set your affairs in order, for you will not recover from this illness. You are going to die.”

What went through Hezekiah’s mind as he considered Yahweh’s message? We don’t have to wonder, because Isaiah 38 recounts Hezekiah’s own rendition of the story, “Hezekiah’s Psalm of Praise” later in the chapter.

Hezekiah’s initial reaction to Isaiah’s death sentence: “He broke down and wept…” Then he did what any other child in distress would do, he ran to the Father. He “turned his face to the wall and prayed, O please, Yahweh, please, I beg you, let me live.” I’ve walked faithfully before you. “With all my heart I have sought to do only what is good in your eyes!”

Then Isaiah, barely having left the king’s palace, heard the voice of Yahweh stopping him in his tracks.

Go back to the king and deliver this message.

What? I just left there? Seriously?

Yes, seriously. Go and deliver this message to Hezekiah:

“Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.” Isaiah 38:5-6

And Hezekiah’s gonna have a hard time hearing this change of plans, going from the depths of despair to the heights of joy, so when he asks you for a sign that I will do what I say, tell him this:

“‘This is the Lord’s sign to you that the Lord will do what he has promised: I will make the shadow cast by the sun go back the ten steps it has gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.’” So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had gone down.” Isaiah 38:7-8

I love it! Love it when you do the impossible as if it’s no big deal. You think nothing of just making a promise of an additional 15 years of life for Hezekiah, and then turning back the clock to confirm your promise!

You say, see if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing on you! See, look and see how much I love my kids and desire to delight their hearts! I take no pleasure in depriving my children out of anything they want or need – it is my joy that they be filled with wonder as they receive from my hand pressed down, shaken together and running over.

I encourage you to read through Isaiah chapter 38, in the Passion Translation if possible. Hezekiah’s’ “Psalm of Praise” describes what he felt as he prepared to die, weeping bitterly as he cried out to God: “..restore my health and give me life again!”

Now armed with Yahweh’s promise and seeing with his own eyes as the hands of time were turned back and the shadow receded on the steps, he pens this poem of praise so that his children, and their children, and now anyone who picks up the Bible, can read the story and believe with Hezekiah in this God who loves his own and joyfully works all things for our good.

“One generation makes your faithfulness known to the next!” Isa. 38:19

So we grab onto this picture of God’s character that he reveals through the prophet, Isaiah.

Do you need healing in your body today? Sing and declare the words of Hezekiah in Isa. 28:20 over yourself today:

“Yahweh is pleased to heal and save me! We will sing to the music of stringed instruments every day of our lives in Yahweh’s house!”

The Bullfrog Amen

 

Proverbs 3:5-8 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.“

I’d memorized the first 2 verses of this scripture verse as a teenager, but now coming it across it again while I was researching scripture promises to pray over my bones, I discovered verses 7 & 8.

My latest bone scan, at 70 years of age, showed decreasing bone density, borderline osteoporosis. My doctor told me I needed to take active steps toward increasing my bone density, or I would be full blown osteoporosis by my next scan. She told me to increase calcium rich foods – that the body absorbs more calcium through foods than with supplements, and to increase my weight bearing exercise. Like walking, she said. Well I already walk a mile and a half nearly every morning before work.

I left the doctor’s office with some other ideas for saving my bones. I decided to research scripture verses to pray over my bones, and to ask a group of my closest friends to pray those verses with me over our bones.

This morning as I walked the Lord reminded me again of Proverbs 3:5-8. “Worry rots the bones”, he told me. “But trusting me in everything nourishes your bones.”

Then he asked, “Are you ready to trust me?”

“Repeat after me.”

He was giving me a walking Sozo!

“I choose.”

I choose, I repeated.

“To trust you.”

To trust you.

“Even when I cannot see the path in front of me.”

Even when I cannot see the path in front of me.

Just then I heard the bullfrog sing out in the drainage pond as I walked by.

“That was the ‘amen’!”

I smiled and echoed what the bullfrog was croaking, Amen!

4:32

 

I woke up while it was still dark and turned to glance at the clock as I often do when I waken during the night. The digital clock read 4:32 a.m. Immediately I heard "Ephesians 4:32", a scripture verse I had memorized with my children when they were little. I had also composed a little melody that we would sing together: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God for Christ’s sake, has forgiven you, Ephesians Four Thirty Two.”

So I lay there, half asleep singing the little song in my head, but the last phrase of the song, “just as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you” stood out to me. What does that mean? God does not forgive me for my sake? My repentance, or regret over my sin is not the basis of my forgiveness?

I thought of the phrase “for my sake”, and could picture me asking a favor on behalf of a friend.

“Would you please give my friend a place at your table?”

“What? I don’t even know her! Why would I have her over to dinner?”

“I know, I know, but would you please do it for my sake?”

“Oh, ok. I don’t know this lady, and don’t need another person at my table, but because I love you, and would love to have you at my table, I will give your friend a place at my table. For your sake.”

So the devil might complain to God about why he would forgive me, kind of like when he accused God’s servant, Job. “Why would you bless him? He’s nothing special. He only loves you because you have blessed him. Remove the blessing and he’ll curse you to your face!” the devil challenged.

And that’s what the devil does. He is the accuser, laying guilt on us, sending his spirits of discouragement, depression and doubt to cause us to hide our faces from God because we don’t deserve his forgiveness.

So Father God highlighted to me that little phrase this morning to remind me that he forgave me for every sin, every doubt, every way I’ve hurt his heart, not because I deserve it, or have made up for it with good deeds or penance, but for the sake of his son, Jesus. Because he came home to his Father on May 9, 1966 and asked him, “Would you please give Taffy Tucker a seat at your table?”

And Father God smiled and asked, “What has she done to deserve a place at my table, Son?”

That’s when Jesus said, “She’s with me.”

Dad's Birthday

 

July 18, 2022

 

Today is my dad’s birthday.  He’s been gone a long time now, but his birthday pops up and reminds me of him.

My Dad was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness, but he left that “church” sometime in his early adult years, as it didn’t match his lifestyle.

When my sister, brother and I met Jesus in 1966, we all began to pray for my Mom, and my Dad, now divorced, that they would come to Jesus, too.  My Mom came gloriously to Jesus shortly before she died through some neighbors on the street where my brother lived.  The fact that those God-loving ladies lived there, before my Mom flew out to CA to live with my brother, was truly a gift from God.

One morning, years after my Dad had died, I was praying.  I don’t remember the subject of my prayers, but as I got up to leave my prayer room and get ready for work I felt Father God whisper to me, “You know your Dad is with me?”

Well, no, I didn’t know that.  Didn’t know if he had ever actually connected with Jesus before we found him on the bathroom floor that night.  We had shared about Jesus with Dad many times, but he’d never responded in such a way that I knew he had met Jesus on his own.

There had been some indications that God was drawing Dad near, like when Dad was asked his religion during a hospital interview, and he told the nurse “Christian”.

So one night at House of Prayer I was sharing these things with my prayer group and my friend, Joe, who has a real heart for people who are Jehovah’s Witnesses told me that a Jehovah’s Witness will never, ever say “Christian”, when asked what religion they adhere to.

When I heard what Joe shared, a joy filled my heart.  It’s true!  What I heard from Father God is true!  And I looked toward heaven and told Father God, “So he’s really there with you, isn’t he?”

 “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” ..Acts 16:31

Always Praying for my Triumph!

 

“Who then is left to condemn us? Certainly not Jesus, the Anointed One! For he gave his life for us, and even more than that, he has conquered death and is now risen, exalted, and enthroned by God at his right hand. So how could he possibly condemn us since he is continually praying for our triumph?” Romans 8:34 TPT

It seemed to me that it happened so suddenly.  One day my daughter was a loving, happy kid, and the next day a moody, rebellious teenager.  I talk about it as the day the aliens came and took her away and left someone else in her place.  And all her troubles were, of course, my fault.

I remember her standing on the stairs, screaming at me, “I hate you!”

Gone was the sweet, creative little girl making me valentines and hand-made gifts.  Without any warning, standing in front of me was this young women who hated me.  So caught up in her whirling hormones, disappointments and the lies she was believing, she forgot that I had always been her biggest cheerleader, that I was for her, not against her.

Shocked and wondering what I had done to upset her so much, I went to her and said “Look at me! Remember me? It’s me, Mom.  I’m your biggest fan!  I’m not the enemy. It’s me! I’m in your corner, routing for you.”

That’s when Daddy reminded me, you do that to me sometimes.

You get angry with me and in your heart you blame me for the disappointments and hard times.  As if I caused the cancer in your family, or it was me instigating the divorces.

You forget who I am, and I have to gently turn your face toward me, wave my hand in front of your non-seeing eyes and tell you, Hello, Taffy, look at me!  It’s me, Daddy, the one who loves you.  I’m always in your corner, I’m your biggest fan, your greatest cheerleader.  Remember me?

Then I wake up, and shake myself out of the fog I’m in. Oh, it’s you?

Yes, it’s me!

It’s you, Daddy?  And you still love me? And you still promise to work all this garbage out for my good?  OK, then, I will lock eyes with you once again, put my hand in yours, climb up on your lap. Choose to trust you again.

Because it’s you!  The One who gave up everything for me, just to be my Daddy.  My biggest encourager, my biggest fan.

How could I blame you – you’re so good. I just had my eyes closed so tight in fear and anger that I wasn’t looking at you and forgot who you are. That you are the one who doesn’t condemn me – even when I condemn myself, and is continually praying for my triumph.

And the beautiful thing is that in returning, there is no shame.  He reminds me that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.  Daddy never holds my mistakes over me.  We just start over from wherever we left off.

Keep your eyes on me, he says. Remember that those who look to me are radiant; they will never be put to shame. (Psalm 34:5)

Skipping thru the Psalms with Daddy: Psalm 139

 

Reading Psalm 139 this morning.  It’s all about Father God knowing me.

Sometimes it’s uncomfortable to be known. Like when I visited a church while running away from another church about 20 years ago.  I’d been hurt and wasn’t ready to be known or recognized.  I sat in the back, enjoying the amazing worship they had to offer, ready to make a quick getaway at the end of the service. 

But Daddy, it’s different to be known by you.  “You are intimately aware of me, Lord.  You read my heart like an open book…” Ps. 139:3

You know me so well that you never give me the wrong gifts.  You know me, what I like, my brand of gum, v-neck shirts, wisps of pink clouds as the sun wakes up in the morning, acorns on my morning walk, the first bloom on my dogwood tree.  Heart whispers that remind me that you see me.

Ps. 139:5 “You’ve gone into my future to prepare the way, and in kindness you follow behind me to spare me from the harm of my past.  With your hand of love upon my life, you impart a blessing to me.”

The future can be a scary place, not knowing what’s around the next bend. Retirement, health issues, and more in the land of “what ifs”.  But you tell me that you are running ahead of me, scouting out what’s to come.  Nothing takes you by surprise – you see it coming and get me ready to navigate whatever is coming, hand in hand with my Dad.

You go ahead of me, and you follow behind me, too, to pick up all the lost pieces of me along the way.

Not every touch is comforting.  Not every hand laid on me is welcome.  But your hand of love on me is warm, comforting, - please don’t ever take your hand off of me, Daddy!  Your touch is sometimes very light, like butterfly kisses.  Sometimes firm like snatching me out of harm’s way when I fell in the street back in Iselin, NJ as a child.

Sometimes I say “where are you, God?” like when Chris was dying, and when I got the call that Melody had passed away on her balcony one winter night… But you promise that “your presence is everywhere, bringing light into my night.  There’s no such thing as darkness to you.”

You never say “I’m in the dark on that one!”, for “the night to you is as bright as the day.  There’s no difference to you.”

I need night vision goggles, or I need to hold tight to your hand for you see right through the darkness.  It’s as light to you.

You recorded in your book the number and substance of my days before my life began.  And you will write the book in my heart alongside me when the time is right.  “Kisses from the Father” will be shared with the family of God, a glimpse into the intimacy between you and me, to draw in those hungry for a Father’s touch.

Ps. 139:17  “Every single moment you are thinking of me!

Listen, Daddy says: You’re never forgotten, never overlooked by the God of the universe, so don’t sweat the small stuff, not being recognized or invited to speak or share your heart.  Just look to me and see I am delighted with you on all counts.  Ps. 139:18 “O God, your desires toward me are more than the grains of sand on every shore!”

“When I awake each morning, you’re still with me!” Ps. 139:18 

Pinch me!  I didn’t just dream about it - when I wake up you’re still singing over me the song I heard as I fell asleep.  It’s real! It’s true!  And I get to spread wide my heart and show others that you want to be their Daddy, too!

Like Jim Elliott once said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain that which he cannot lose.”

 Knowing you, being known by you, is truly the best thing that has ever happened to me.  I don’t know why you picked me to belong to you, but I’m yours for life.  No one knows me, or loves me like you. 

Here I am, your little daughter, “Delighted in You”!