These pictures were taken at the Paint Mines in Colorado while living there last year. This picture and the featured image are taken in the same spot on the trail…just me facing the opposite direction and a slightly different angle when taking it. I love both pictures.
Back in February, I did a post on the Manitou Incline. In that post, I took similar photos where I took an image of what was ahead of me…and what was behind me.
As in the Manitou Incline post, I briefly share how this concept was solidified in my mind through my love of Louis L’Amour’s books. I wish I could have met Louis…hope I get to someday. This concept was prominent in a lot of his books as he mentioned it often. How the traveling westerner would always check his back trail. For many reasons…but two important reasons.
One reason…the backtrail looks different than the front trail. If you are going to travel back to the same region and take the trail back…you need to know what both viewpoints look like. Years ago…there were no maps which meant no GPS to guide you. Men and women who traveled the states had to remember the trails they took…coming and going. It was important for them to physically turn around to mark in their minds certain images…landmarks in the landscape as they traveled. They needed to be familiar with the landscape they traveled…from both viewpoints.
I love the spiritual implications associated with this. It is like studying history in school. We must mark certain events in our past. The point of looking back…is to LEARN from our mistakes. Unfortunately, many fail to look back on their past and co-labor with Father and His Spirit…to clean it up. To study it and learn from it. Instead, many want to bury it, suppress it, deny it, or USE substances to avoid feeling the pain from it.
The Past
MANY times over the years, I have heard people say…you need to let go of the past. Forget it.
If you haven’t forgotten…you haven’t forgiven.
For thirty years…I have been doing inner healing on my heart and mind. Doing the inner reflection necessary to pull out the weeds/tares that were planted in my heart and mind when I was a young impressionable child…in my past. The enemy does that…plants weed seeds…the tares…lies and deception in Father’s fields…our hearts and minds. Beliefs and emotions that are distorted and perverted. Our own fleshly thoughts and opinions of people, situations, and the world we live in.
As a result, we build our own flesh-based worldview. That means…we have our own opinions…about everyone and everything. Based on lies and deception both in thoughts and feelings. A perverted point of view…yet we arrogantly think we know the truth. About people. A situation. About the world. In addition, we arrogantly think we have the answers. We KNOW what should have happened. We KNOW how so and so should have responded. Etc. Arrogance of man. Formed on deception…lies. Perversion. Foolish bunch of human beings we are. 🤷♀️
Chasing After the Wind
Building your own worldview…based on lies and deception…is like chasing after the wind…foolishness. Why? Because you are wrong. Building a life on the sand. Constantly assuming you are right. Maintaining you are right. Arguing with people demanding they bow to your perception of what truth is.
While man is defending their own perception of my truths to you. Man fighting man…all defending my truths…merely opinions of man. Foolish behavior of immature children who arrogantly think they are adults.
This behavior is…moral relativism. Humanism. Man believing man’s lies and elevating man along with his lies…which they call my “truths.” ARROGANT.
Humility
While talking to a young man lately, I had mentioned to him…what I do to almost everyone who asks…the way to follow Father…is ask Him what to do. Like a child…always ask. Ask why. How. What. Where. When. This is how I live. Father…what next? What do you want me to do next? Then I listen…He tells me…I do it. SUPER SIMPLE. I KNOW I don’t KNOW…so I let Him make all the decisions. He is my Father. My Husband. My very best friend. Father. Son. Spirit. That is how they function.
He got it. SUPER excited…this is what he said yesterday. “Asking Him about every decision, it’s incredible to know that when it comes from him…there’s no anxiety. No pressure or teeth pulling. Things just work out.”
I am GIDDY he sees now what I have been saying. THAT is humility in a man’s heart. He is no longer assuming he knows…He has accepted the reality…the truth…he does NOT know. Father knows. Father knows best. See?
The man went from being a foolish man building his own house on the sand and making his own decisions to building Father’s house on the rock…the truth…His truth. He is building a house that is permanent now. One that won’t be blown down when all the little piggies…the swine come to blow it down. Or the storms come blowing in. He is building a house that will stand…for eternity.
Friend or Foe
The second reason those travelers in the past would look at their back trail was this. The enemy pursues you. Louis mentions…when meeting a stranger…you didn’t know if they were a friend or an enemy.
That is true today. Unfortunately, many arrogantly assume everyone is their friend. We see this concept on social media. A person may have 2,000 “friends” on their account. Yet, many of them…have never met in person…and/or have never bothered to get to know the person to discern their character and/or nature. But most importantly…even when they get to “know” a person, they still determine through their own perverted/distorted lie-based belief system if that person is a good person or not. Their friend or their foe.
If you have ever watched crime shows…every single time they speak of the dead person…the relatives always say…she was such a good person. So well-liked. The life of the party. Kind. Loving. Etc. All good reports. AND…they all go to Heaven. I have never attended a funeral where someone said…they went to Hell. Have you? Don’t you always hear the dead person went to Heaven? That is an assumption unless Father specifically told you they did. It is arrogant to assume they went to Heaven. That is a solution you are USING to make you feel better. Who wants to think someone they thought highly of went to Hell? 🤔
An Obituary Notice
I recently read an obituary of a woman I knew personally. By the time she graduated high school, she had three abortions under her belt. She finally gave birth to one child in adulthood. Her obituary spoke of how her child was her life. She loved that child dearly. Yet the truth is…her mother raised that child because she was an addict who would disappear for long periods of time. They found her dead in a road ditch.
The truth is…she didn’t love her child. She did not choose LIFE for her or her child. She chose death instead. That is not love. Her child was not her life. Drugs were her life. 😳
Good or Evil
Man foolishly judges by the appearance of man. Father judges a man by the heart of the man. If you will build your house and the relationships you have based on this truth…you will save yourself a TON of pain.
Ask Father…who is your friend and who is your foe. Ask Him to show you the truth about the heart of each person in your life. You will be amazed. Many people build false fronts…false appearances. Look at social media as your example. People use social media to build a narrative they want you to buy. They have a certain perception they want you to have of them. They build on that perception. They are selling a product. Themselves. Their self-portrait.
An Example
Years ago, Father had me study people on social media. He would take me to a person’s public page and then He would show me their heart. He would tell me who they were. Who He saw them as.
He once took me to a woman’s page who was a single mother. I scrolled through the page, and He had a lot of things to say about her. One thing He said to me was this…she doesn’t love her children.
I was in disbelief.
I said to Him…I don’t believe that. These pictures seem beautiful to me. Being a mother myself…I know how a mom feels for her children. How can that be true? It doesn’t make sense to me. You are going to have to convince me…IF that is true. 😕
That is His job. Holy Spirit’s job is to convict our hearts and minds of the truth. To convince us…of the truth. We can’t convince ourselves. Conviction of truth is a work of His Spirit…not the flesh of man. Conviction is a fruit of Holy Spirit. It comes from the Tree of Life. Him. NOT man. Sometimes, I have to ask Him to convince me of the truth. I ask Him to…and give Him permission to…do His job in my heart and mind. I co-labor with Him to believe His truth. Man can’t do it on their own…in their own power or strength. It is according to His power and strength.
The woman in my example is one who always has yearly family portraits done and they all look so happy and smiley. Her posts are always all about the children. They seem to be her life…she has the appearance of a very loving mother. Her social media page has the appearance of a very loving mother and a loving healthy family. Yet Father said to me…she hated her children. Called her the queen of death.
He then explained. She had not chosen LIFE for her children. Her heart is black. Full of wickedness. Anger. Unforgiveness. Hatred. Rebellion. A woman who refuses to bow to Father to raise those children His way. Instead, she has chosen to go her own way. Foolishly built her house on the sand. She is her god. Leading her children down a path to Hell. She refuses to submit to Father’s ways. Instead of following Father and teaching her children to follow Him, she is following her own path and teaching her children to follow her. Leading your children to Hell…is NOT love. That is one selfish mother who will lose her children in the end.
The Little Piggies
When we form our own opinions of man…we are consorting with the enemies of our souls…blindly so.
The enemy plants people in our lives who by all appearances are angels. They come with bright lights and pure colors with the appearance of life when in reality the truth is they are dead. The walking dead who are encouraging us into death.
The little piggies come to blow our houses down. Sometimes…that little piggy is your spouse. Your “friend.” Co-worker. Your parents. Siblings. “The love of your life.” The people you erroneously believe according to your lie-based belief system are wonderful people.
If someone in your life…does NOT encourage you to follow Father and build your life on His truth…you should reevaluate that relationship. You should ask Father what He is seeing in their heart. Are they a friend…or are they a foe? Are they going to follow Father at some point in life before they perish or are they going to leave this world and be sentenced to eternal death? Spend their eternity sitting on death row?
Personally
For me, Father and I have purified my relationships.
Those who have been in my past…a part of my back trail…who did NOT encourage me to follow Father, we left them along the trail a long time ago. No man…no thing…is going to detour Him from this plan He has for my life. That means along the way…those who opposed His plan for my life…He pruned out of my life. I follow one voice. His. I follow Him.
The closer you get to Him…the hotter the fire gets…the more that gets burned up. I prefer clean and pure. That includes my relationships. I prefer people in my life whose intentions are to follow Father and to encourage me to as well.
My Family
My family has been through the Wilderness with me. Been gypsies and nomads moving with me at times. They have been my stability and security.
So grateful for my sons and daughters who have chosen to follow Father and His plan for their lives. Who want the truth…and don’t want to be deceived about the people in their lives or the situations that arise daily. Children who are willing to turn around and look at their backtrail to acknowledge weaknesses and mistakes, so their future trail is the straight and narrow one that leads them to Christ…with a humble, clean, pure heart for Him. Children who recognize the enemy is real…and he wants their hearts and their minds. Deception keeps you weak. The truth is our strength. He is the truth…and the way to living in freedom from the deception in this world we live in today.
In my house, we follow Father for I have been building a house built on the rock. Him. His truth. A solid secure foundation upon which we can stand…for eternity.
2 thoughts on “Paint Mines”
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. This is shooting straight from the hip. Us with ears ought to hear. Thank you Crystal and praise the Lord!
As always, thank you so much for your encouragement and support of me and what I am doing. You are gold…gold.