My Dream - A Visitation

In the very early morning of Thursday, June 30, 2016, I was awakened from a vivid full-color dream. I dreamed I was in a nice room somewhere and there was a door to what I assumed was another room. Someone was urgently knocking on the door.  I opened the door and a human-like being entered the room. "He" was very tall. I was not afraid of him. I knew he was male, however he didn’t seem to be wearing what I regard as clothes and was a pale pinkish white color and glowing. He just kept saying over and over only these words: “Deuteronomy 28:7-8. Deuteronomy 28:7-8. Deuteronomy 28:7-8. Deuteronomy 28:7-8….” Only that.

I awoke at that point saying out loud over and over, Deuteronomy 28:7 and 8. I remember thinking I should get up and look this up in the Bible, knowing it was important, however, I opted to stay under my warm covers and told myself to remember it and repeated it to myself – Deuteronomy 28:7-8.  In the morning when I got up it was immediately on my mind and I went to look it up in the Bible. I remember thinking, I bet Deuteronomy doesn’t even have 28 chapters or something! I also thought, since I don't read Deuteronomy, that it was probable going to be some long list of "begats", and not meaningful. There were 28 chapters however and here is what it says:

7 The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. 

8 The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.

Just on the face of it, I knew it was a promise, a message from God. I was very encouraged and I believed it was directly related to my son's case and to what we have all been through. I couldn't have conjured this from the far recesses of my memory as a Bible verse I maybe memorized in the past. I haven't, and don't, read Deuteronomy! This was absolutely God.

I did some further digging into the verses and the specific phrases and words, in context. What I found excited me even further. This all falls under the heading of “Blessings of Obedience.” Living to please God. The secret to securing the blessings of God, is to choose obedience over rebellion – every time! Humility over pride. Love over hate. Mercy over condemnation. Forgiveness over unforgiveness.

Enemies is a participle and is used 8 times in Chapter 28. The word refers to the active hostility of a person or group against another person or group. “They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven” means they were united in one front and came at you in the firmest, most united way. They will “flee from you in seven” means they will be broken, confounded, and routed so they scatter in different direction in disarray and confusion, totally dissipated. The phrase is expressive of an entire victory, and of a complete rout and dispersion of an enemy. There is also significance to the number seven: perfection, completion, total victory.

“The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to” refers to storehouses, or more modernly, bank accounts. Barns is only used one other place in the Bible, Prov. 3:9-10. Everything you undertake will succeed and prosper. Success of all undertakings and endeavors. It does not say the Lord will bless everything you WISH for…no, he will bless the things you put your hand to.   Meaning, you’ve got to go to work and take care of your business.  You must tend to your goals, your dreams, your blessings. 

I have no doubt that this was a message from God to give us his promises for obedience and to encourage us in the struggle. The battle is the Lords!

Together - We Stand

(2016)

Still Standing (by Cheryl Banks)
I stand with challenge and dire tribulation
Undaunted by the world's intimidation
And shrugging off all the shallow affirmations
I chose to trust my judgment of intimation.

I am a sturdy vessel carrying a priceless rare pearl
Hard-pressed and mishandled has made me stronger still
Deep inside lies a courageous trusting thief.
A thief of honor, stealing the suffering of another’s grief.
Can you feel me from the shores on which you dance
I'm just a one woman storm, fighting for a chance.

Stressed and burdened in the long sleepless dark
Fighting other’s battles as a different Joan of Arc.
I will beat these dark days as I’m a subtle warrior
A wingless angel and tireless mind explorer
I am strong in quiet ways of introspected grace
Yet, in the alone, my waning force seeks for your embrace.

For you would place me close to God in highest tower
Your passion, truth, and love renews my sapping power
You alone witness my tossing on long and sleepless nights
My dreamcatcher’s constancy, making fractured parts unite.

I am your starburst center, the axis on which you spin
You are my crashing sea waves and cool spray on sunburned skin
I am a magical star-wisher and converser with the moon
And you, my dear, a rare instrument, just slightly out of tune.
The congregation of alikeness and the symmetry we’ve sought,
It occurs to me would bore and demean the uniquely ‘us’ we’ve brought.
Instead to open our mouths and gulp down all the magnificence we bring
To taste the nuances and colors is what makes life a grander thing.

When we marvel at the sheet of perfect azure sky above our heads
Is its beauty spoiled by wayward clouds or more beautiful instead?
Or isn’t it in the subtlety and playfulness of shadows and light
That great love, like art, is enlivened, more valued, more of a delight?
So I'll continue to walk beside you my dearest darling into the uncertain
Until, plucking impatiently at the pleats, we slip through heaven's curtain.

Sisters

This road I find myself upon is not the one I chose,
Full of dangerous detours, and soul-jarring potholes,
Sometimes I wonder as I suffer, where is God’s loving hand?
Then there you are, my pillar, holding me up so I can stand.

At times my faith seems weak and on my knees I bow,
I don’t think I knew His love the way I know it now.
Dear Lord, the sadness and despair make it difficult to stand,
And then you dear sister call and say, "I will hold your hand." 

Where is the happy life I’d planned, the blessings I expect?
I don’t deserve this burden Lord, You promised to protect.
He heard my cry and sent me sisters, our hearts then made us friends
To feel their love and know they care, my heart begins to mend.

Through pain some things I’ve learned, God’s testing’s not for naught
With Him I can endure for the outcome His pain bought.
Another thing of which I’m sure - your unselfish love has shown
By reflecting Christ into my life, dear sisters, I know I’m not alone.

My Mama Loves The Whole World

       My mama is so full of love. 

Everybody needs love so she 

loves the whole world !

Innocence

INNOCENCE

 (Written by Cheryl Banks in a “stream of consciousness” writing style, also called interior monologue, while sitting at Carlsbad Beach on 12/21/2015)

I watch as children romp and dive into the white cold winter surf oblivious as only children can be to the discomfort as they simply relish in the what IS of joy and abandon in this infinite bubble bath of chilly froth as chill bumps bloom on tanned skin and are instantly warmed by the sun which plays it's silver strokes of light upon the gray blue surface into an infinite horizon nestled under distant white mountains, or are those clouds I'm never quite sure, and the birds - oh the birds join in the fun dipping gliding riding invisible streams, shrieking laughing noises mimic those of the children in a musical cacophony competing with the constant crashing of waves erasing the wet footprints soon after they are imprinted in the sucking sand littered by rocks worn smooth by the endless tumbler of moon-driven ancient tidal pulls and now that wide carpet path of light laid upon the deep from shore to horizon's setting sun shimmers and parts the clouds in a golden array that seems to kiss like a gentle lover the orange tinged reflected expanse while graceful arcs of gray-finned dolphin dip and weave playing in the light as children run and dodge the wet cold squealing in delight and seagulls play and ride the air currents. 
I want to be a child, a bird, a fish - carefree and oblivious to anything but the joy of this moment, this sun-kissed water-birthed moment of pure innocence