Sharing the Journey

If you have read any of my previous posts as I have shared this Christian journey, you know I have had a bit of struggle along the way.  I didn’t feel as if I was doing anything wrong. If fact, I felt I was doing fairly well. I was reading my Bible; I was praying; I wasn’t doing any of the things of the world God had delivered me from. I could not figure out what I was doing wrong, yet I knew something was not right because I felt stuck or in a holding pattern. In short, I didn’t feel God’s presence as I once did. I knew He was there, but something in the relationship was stagnant. Last night I went to a worship service and came forward when the call went out for prayer. The woman of God told me that on THIS NIGHT, you are delivered. It wasn’t an instantaneous thing. In fact, I couldn’t really feel the hand of God until the woman of God removed her hand. But when He came... I cannot fully describe what it’s like to KNOW you are in the very presence of God. I heard someon...

This post was taken from my book "From The Shepherd's Heart - A Devotional" (available on dutchesshorton.com, Amazon, and BarnesandNoble.com)  It's become an important part of my journey as my desire grows stronger for the presence of God and less for the presents of God. It keeps my passion for Christ flamed and I hope it flames up a passion in you as well. ~Dutchess            In the 1980’s a gospel recording group called the Truthettes released a song about a little boy whose soul was blessed during church service. The young man, unable to fully express what it was he was feeling, came home from the worship service and told his mother, “I’m so hungry.”   The mother, not realizing just what her son was trying to convey, had him follow her into the kitchen so that she could make him a sandwich.   It was at this point in the song that the boy declared, “I don’t want no peanut butter and jelly.   I want my soul to be saved.” 2 ...

I sat down before my computer today and prepared to write my second book. I prayed, I got all of my study materials together, and I put my hands on the keyboard. Nothing. Not one single solitary word. In my Charlie Brown voice – “UGGHHHHH!” I prepared a cup of coffee and returned to my computer. Still nothing. I turned on some inspirational music. Nada. I prayed some more. What could possibly be wrong with me? I know I’m supposed to write this book. I know what’s supposed to be in it and the direction it’s to go. I know how to do this – I want to do this. But I wasn’t doing a thing, except maybe giving myself a tension headache. I could hear a little squeaky voice quote to me James 4:17, “ If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them. ” God had given me a work to do and instead of doing it, I was doing nothing – another day wasted. The devil is a liar! Yes, the devil will quote scripture to you also. He did it to Jesus during the te...

Growing up in a ridiculously small town in Eastern North Carolina, my family didn’t have very much. Of course as a child I didn’t realize it or if I did, I didn’t think much of it. I do know that we didn’t waste very much. If clothes ripped, they could be patched. If someone outgrew something, it could be altered or even better, passed down to someone else. If the toast got burnt, as it often did since we didn’t have a toaster but put bread in the oven on broil, we just scraped off the burnt and added jelly or butter or even both, and you couldn’t tell the difference – it was still edible and still good. Thinking of that, I was reminded of how my heavenly Father doesn’t waste anyone. Every life has redeemable qualities, IF they are submitted to the Master’s hands. Just looking at my own life is proof of this. Many were prepared to toss me away. Many more said I wasn’t nothing and won’t never gone be nothing. (Poor grammar, yet this is how it was said.)  But God. The ...

This morning marks the beginning of a new day, a new work week, and for me, a brand new attitude. I awoke early this morning after having dreamed again. And that won’t make sense to most people, in some ways not even me. So let me try to explain. I have dreams that play like movies. Often times I’m not even in them, just an observer. They are always entertaining but nothing deep or spiritual. In fact, many of these “movies” would not qualify as something I would even chose to watch. The significance of these dreams – to me – is they only come when I’m in close communication with my Heavenly Father. So if you go back and read the 2 nd sentence of that first paragraph you should be able to deduce that I had fallen out of close communication with my Father. Sure I spoke to Him daily, throughout the day even. But it was not the kind of communication you’d have with someone with whom you shared a close and intimate relationship. I’d grown discouraged and even apathetic in my relatio...