Category: Short Story

Ephesians 5:13 ESV But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible. John 3:20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

In my backyard,  I’ve had a hard time growing grass.  I had a lawn specialist come in who fertilized and aerated it. Two years they worked on it but no grass!  I had to let them go, as the lovely green grass in their ads didn’t happen.

As I was making bigger flower beds this year, I decided to put the grass plugs I had removed and place them on the bare areas.  The ground was so hard I dug a little deeper to break up the soil.  Oh my, what did the light expose, a small amount of soil, plastic mesh, and roots heavily crisscrossing everywhere.  I pulled out the roots one by one for those that pulled out easily and used loppers on others.  New soil was dispersed, and plugs were set in place. Within  weeks the beginning of lush green grass could be seen.

I wish God would have said, “Grass Grow”.  How easy that would have been, however, I learn more by real life situations that God uses to teach. How about you?

On the surface you can see there was a big problem that seemed not to be able to be fixed.  One professional after another with their solution weighed in. Trying to doctor the problem by fertilizing, and punching holes didn’t even touch the problem.

Asking God to help me and to show me what He wanted me to learn, I heard Him say one word, Dig!  Immediately, I picked up the shovel and dug.

The first thing brought to light was a thin layer of dirt. 🤔 If soil feeds plants then the Word must feed me.  “O mercy Lord, I need help!

Second, the light revealed mesh holding down a massive network of roots which symbolize sins.🤔 Mesh must be a cover up of the sins.

Third, roots symbolizes sins which are exposed. 🤔 So sins you think you had hidden like Adam and Eve did in the garden is a cover up to you alone, making you sick.. God’s gaze upon the sins and you know  that you’ve been caught. He had seen it all along but His full exposure brings you to your knees in great sorrow and repentance.  God the Son looks down on you and speaks three words, “You are forgiven.” Then pauses and says, “Sin no more.  Be about my Father work.”.

Bury these words in your heart – John 3:16. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever (that’s you) believeth in Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life.  By Rena K. Oynes © May 21, 2018

  Hate versus LOVE… By Rena Oynes

Hate is verbal and physical abuse...Sandwiched between extensive porn and other women…Breaking apart a family….Hate is the enemy who did this to kill, steal, and destroy a family.

Love is painting a picture of an angel that looks like one’s grandchild and seeing tears run down the friend’s cheeks when given to her.

Love is painting a picture for each child who is baptized with Jesus’s arms around her and she is wearing the same colored dress upon accepting Jesus as Savior.

Love is seeing a painting you painted of Jesus and seeing a small child touch and saying Jesus my Jesus.

Love is painting a newly adopted child a sign with a beautiful flower and her little shoes had the same flower.

Love is painting a picture depicting God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit which gave hope to those in a nursing home and another one for a mother who had a son in prison.

Love is painting a picture that looked like one’s father’s church who was thinking of him as you delivered it to her door and as she was grieving with having lost her husband and being her first year without her husband.

Love is making and painting a doll for a women who on the day she received, her husband had a heart attack and she slept, cried, and held the doll and prayed to Jesus to bring him through.

Love is painting  a wall picture of Jesus with wonderful help of friends, saying, “Let the little children come unto me,” and seeing the children’s face light up, touch Jesus, press their bodies against the painting, and touch Jesus’s foot which is on a power outlet which says to them get plugged in.

The painter weeps to see God’s loving hand touch peoples lives.  Also touching hers by sending people to pray for her in her brokenness.

The God who turned tears of hate into tears of joy. God is the God of miraculous love for His children.

Thank you God for the gift that has lifted me and others whatever they are going through.

In this midst of our grieving we find many ‘joy rest spots’. MG’s piano will always play for us regardless of where we are. But, having to relocate her piano which had not been tuned for years was not a ‘rest spot’. That was until the Holy Spirit brokered a perfect match for her little sweet piano.

One of MG’s prayer partners from our Community Church which had been so faithful visiting MG in rehab and helping in anyway she could told me a story about her eleven year old grandson.

He began playing piano before he was 5 years old when he could find one to play. He plays by ear. He comes from a Christian home but a single family home where buying a piano was not an option. They live in W Va maybe an hour or so from Leesburg. His grandmother began to inquire about MG’s piano. I asked her to bring the grandson to see how he liked the piano. He did but knew it had to be tuned since he played by ear. Then there would be the cost of moving down flights of steps and a distance drive to his home.

Our ‘rest spot’…Jerry has the piano as a gift from MG. Grandma paid to-move and tune. The first day he practiced 2 1/2 hours. He played a little video for us. (See below) Had to be short to text to us.

It seems God has given Jerry a gift of music much like MG’s. I am thrilled and hope you will join us in praying for Jerry to be greatly blessed as he blesses many with his gift. Yes, MG’s memorial stone gives a passage,  “Having gifts given to us let us use them. Romans 12:6

Through the looking glass of nature we can learn much about the spiritual things of God.

The other day I had just come home and I walked out to the screened in porch. I heard a slight commotion on the screen. When I looked closer there was a tiny hummingbird with his beak caught in the screen and his little wings beating frantically trying to free himself to no avail. I tried to ease his beak out of the screen but it wouldn’t budge. I didn’t know if I should touch him or not.
In an instant I thought he will die so I rushed to the other side to free hm. I gently pulled him out of the screen. He flew away as fast as his little wings could carry him.

Earlier this summer I was pruning bushes and down among the limbs, I saw something yellow. When I picked the pile of limbs up the yellow was a yellow butterfly. I thought I had killed him when I picked the branches up. I proceeded to pull the branches away from his body. Oh no, was he dead. He laid e perfectly still with wings extended. I gently placed him in the palm of my hand and said a prayer for him to be healed. Suddenly his little body climbed from my palm and up my wrist and flew away.

With all that has been happening in Houston and Florida and adjoining states, we can certainly see the same kindness shown to the beautiful people who needed help so desperately and the loving helping hands that snatched some from certain death or carried others from a bad situation, giving a loving touch and prayers to God to give healing and hope to each person and freedom to fly again. Thank you God for those who serve others tirelessly and lovingly.

Philippians 2:4 …not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.