They will come to watch you burn: what will they see?

We never know why we learn things when we learn them. Have you ever been drawn to a topic and became interested in learning about it? Maybe it was engines, quilting, baseball, or behaviors.

At the beginning of this year in anticipation of my book being published and doing a lot of public speaking engagements I became interested in poise. Growing up in Loco Hills, New Mexico, we didn’t have much teaching in this direction. I had often admired women who had great poise. What gave them their bearing under all kinds of circumstances. People like Laura Bush, Sandra Bulloch and Liz Chaney. They keep their poise no matter what is thrown at them.

So, I looked it up on the internet. One of the main components of poise is the mindset of abundance. The article pointed out that if you are in a store and everyone thinks there is only one item and they all want it people act from a point of view of scarcity. Think crazy walmart sale on TVs just before Christmas. People have pepper sprayed each other over TVs. They think that is the only TV in the world that they could get.

Stop and think about it for a second. Think about something that worries you right at this moment. Then realize this:

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

John 10:10

We hear about that first part all the time but the second part we gloss right over.

Jesus came to give us life in abundance. Whatever it is if God put it on your heart it will come in abundance.

There is not just that one TV there are bigger and better ones. Let those with no faith fight over it. We think bigger. What kind of blessing can God give if we are faithful and seek Him.

I learned about poise and abundance on New Years Day 2022. I practiced it on Jan 2. I was called to use it on Jan 3 when I watched my home, the home of my parents that we lovingly had brought back to life over the previous 2 years burn down to the ground.

How was I going to react? Crying, screaming, angry? Neighbors showed up to watch. They didn’t come over and put their arms around me to comfort me. They were waiting for the anguish, for the sorrow, the giant burden of pain and loss to crush me.

But God had prepared me. I stood there realizing that everything we owned was going up in flames. The flames warmed me on the coldest day of the year wearing only mismatched flannel pajamas and galoshes with no socks watching all our hard work go up magnificently dramatic flames.

One word came to mind, poise. What was it to be poised: a mindset of abundance.

If God gave us this old shack and we were happy I could not wait to see what he had in store for us. He was preparing a blessing:

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Luke 6:38

What would be our measure? We left that day while the cottage was still in flames to start our new life. Through a series of divine interventions that each looked like a blocked door, we found our open one. We soon found our new home and community where people are welcoming , kind and friendly.

I am a testimony that God brings us out of the ashes just as quickly as we turn from them and realize the abundance we have in the Living God, Jesus Christ.

I never set out to be that religious fanatic but God has shown us so much mercy I am compelled to tell what good things he has done for us. God is a God of abundance. I am here to tell you today that He is bigger that you think and your problems are your path to realize His Glory. The most amazing miracle of all is that he shares His Glory with us! Wow, that is Good News!