On this 27th day I love how God has transformed me!!! Hopefully it’s obvious to everyone but hopefully even more so by those who knew me when I was simply a sinner. I’m still a sinner but a sinner saved by the Grace of God. A sinner that tries every day to live for God. A sinner that falls short but through God’s unending mercy and grace, continues on the narrow path. A sinner that tries to plant seeds of faith. A sinner that tries to put God first, my husband and my family second. And a sinner that puts on God’s armor every day to guard against Satan’s attempt to steal my joy by telling me that they are contained in things or in people. You see..joy and happiness are not dependent upon people, things, or circumstances. They are internally dependent on your relationship with the Father and cannot be stolen as long as you don’t allow them to be. I know this because I was and still am a sinner by nature. Difference is now my eyes are open and I’m a sinner saved by the grace of God.

Fair warning….this one’s gonna hurt. But if it makes you feel any better, it hurt me too…

We all have them. That one or two relatives or acquaintances that we never hear from until they need something or their kids are selling something. And truth be known…sometimes we are that person. And what’s worse, is when you go to them for something and they don’t help you. We end up frustrated and angry because we have been there for them yet they are so self centered that they only think of themselves.

How do you think God feels?

He is there for us all the time. He supplies our every need. Cares for us. Loves us. And what do we do for Him? We claim to be Christians but we would rather fish, sleep, play ball, sleep, mow our yard, golf….anything than to go to His house and glorify Him on His day. And even if we do make it to church on Sunday, we can usually find our bible…God’s holy word…laying in the same place we put it last Sunday. Oh sometimes we’ll say that we worship privately. Well that’s fine as long as it’s true. But how often do we say it and then never even speak His name? Have you opened your bible this week? I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t opened mine. How often do we say we’ll pray for somebody and then never give it another thought. Sometimes the hardest person for us to he honest with is ourselves. Problem is, we might be able to fool others…we can even fool ourselves…but we can’t fool God.

On this 24th day, I LOVE how even though, I have a relationship with God and can feel Him moving in my life no matter where I am, that when I am in His house, I can feel His spirit wash over me even stronger. I cannot imagine trying to maintain my relationship with Him without spending time in His house worshiping and giving Him praise and glory. I know I have His holiness in me no matter where I am but spending time in His house is like fuel for my soul that gets me through the week. I absolutely hate that I missed yesterday because my daughter and I are both sick. I somehow feel incomplete when I miss church. God doesn’t want us there to occupy time or warm a pew. He wants us there to worship, praise, fellowship, and do His work & bring Him the glory. He died on the cross for me. I intend to live for Him.

Your testimony begins the moment you accept Jesus as your savior. Your past is not your testimony so don’t worry about whether or not someone is trying to judge you. If you have a relationship with Christ then you know that they aren’t qualified to judge you. However, once you have accepted Christ, you should guard your testimony very carefully because a Christian should try their best to be a reflection of Christ. It’s impossible to succeed but that does not mean you shouldn’t try. God doesn’t want us to profess our Christianity and then willfully sin. You can’t live wrong and die right. And when you see a Christian fail, instead of laughing & gossiping about it, perhaps we should pray for their strength to overcome their failure and thank God for their…and our…forgiveness.

On this 18th day, I LOVE spring flowers! It’s a sign that warmer, sunnier days are ahead and that God’s beauty cannot be quenched by even the coldest of winters.

Have you ever heard people say that they have to change themselves before they can be a Christian? I have. Here’s the thing…you can’t change yourself! Not alone. Alone you are no match for satan. Alone, satan knows exactly when and how to present sin to you and he wraps it in a pretty package. Satan will do anything he can to keep you away from God. If you truly want to be a Christian then you need to stop worrying about changing, accept Christ, and let Him change you. I heard a really good pastor tell a story about a lady that came to him. She felt the draw of the Holy Spirit and wanted to accept Him but she had some things that she enjoyed in life that she really didn’t want to give up. This pastor told her she could do anything she wanted to do as a Christian. She came back to him a few weeks later, laughed, and said, “You didn’t tell me that I wouldn’t WANT to do those things anymore.”. You see, nobody is so bad that Christ can’t fix them. But nobody is so good that Satan can’t get them. Christ is your only protection. You just have to let go and let God!

When Jesus walked the earth with His disciples, He spent His time teaching. Teaching them about Him. Teaching them about the new law. Living as an example of how He wanted them to go forth and teach others. He was an example of what He wants all Christians to be. His second command was

Mark 12:31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

So my question is, why does it seem that too often, a new Christian is given a handshake, an “we will be praying for you” and expected to know how and what to do? It’s almost as if they are often set up for failure by the ones that are supposed to be teaching them how to walk with Christ. Because you see, a new Christian is a new disciple and the elder disciples should have enough love for their neighbor…their brother or sister in Christ…to help guide them.

Why do so many people get upset when their spouse changes? Of course they are going to change. If they didn’t there would be a problem because life certainly changes. People have to be able and willing to change or what is already a difficult life on this earth would be unbearable. My hubby and I have both changed. When we married, we had no children, we weren’t Christians, we had few responsibilities, and we loved each other. Today we have God, our girls, many more responsibilities, we love each other even more, and we are happier than we could have ever imagined. Without change, we wouldn’t have forgiveness or salvation. And without God, I don’t even want to imagine where we’d be. The correct change results in growth. Growth in love, growth in respect, growth in a family bond, but most importantly, growth in a everlasting relationship with Jesus Christ.

I posted a thought yesterday but deleted it. You see, although I meant it, I don’t think I managed to say it in love. And as a Christian, I must strive to do all things in love. I was frustrated when I wrote it. Frustrated because I’m having a difficult time teaching my girls to take responsibility for their actions. We live in a world that constantly shows them that everything is someone else’s fault. I don’t believe that and I don’t want them to believe that. But I can’t change the world. Only God can do that. But we have to let Him. We have to let Him into our relationships, finances, jobs…we have to let Him into every aspect of our lives. And then we have to listen to Him. Guilt is Him telling us we need to take responsibility. Yesterday I was a clanging cymbal. Today I want to be a light.

1 Corinthians 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

Psalm 97:11 Light is sown for the righteous,And gladness for the upright in heart.

Oh be careful little eyes what you see…. Gonna try really hard to be a living testimony for my girls. The bible says to honor your mother and father and I don’t want to make it hard for them to do. They will have enough challenges in this life without me making it even harder for them. My job in this life is to put God first, my husband and my children next. And as long as I am doing God’s Will, and living my life for Him, He will take care of my every need and fill my life with joy. The second I start thinking that I need more or different joy, that’s the second that Satan gains entry and convinces me that somehow I am more important than God or my family. Kids are very intuitive. They will not be fooled by empty words when our actions do not back them up. So my prayer is that, although my actions in this life haven’t always been honorable…with God’s help, they will be honorable in His sight, my husband’s, and my children’s. And that my words have the actions to back them up because you can’t fool you kids and you certainly can’t fool God.

I’m hungry so I’m sitting here debating on if it’s too early to have lunch and it has occurred to me….I’m hungry! So who cares if it’s not the customary ‘lunch time’! When we are hungry, we should eat. When we are empty, we should be filled. God is always willing to feed us, we need only to seek Him. We don’t have to wait until Sunday. He’s there for us 24/7/365. So if you’re hungry, be fed!

Heavenly Father, Thank YOU for YOUR whispers that guide us. The whispers that tell us right from wrong, good from bad, and the whispers that tell us YOUR Will. Help us to be patient and listen for the whispers. Help us to silence the shouts and cries of the world around us and to listen for YOUR voice. Forgive us when we fail to muffle the outside noise and concentrate fully on YOU. For it’s in the peaceful silence that we can be still and know that YOU are GOD. All glory be to God. Amen.

During the summer, my plants are beautiful! They are full and green. But every year I bring them in for winter. Right now they aren’t looking so great. I keep them watered but no matter how well I take care of them, unless they get a lot of sunlight, they just don’t do as well. I can usually get them through the winter but until it warms up and I move them somewhere that they can get lots of sunlight, they simply survive. Then I realized that I spent a lot of years simply surviving and I didn’t even know it. It wasn’t until I received the Son’s light that I began to thrive. You see…we all have needs and although we can exist on this earth…in this world’s ever present darkness….if we want to live, we’ve got to allow God’s light to shine within us.

If you’ve ever flown, you know that when the flight attendant goes through the little safety demonstration, you are advised that in an emergency, you are to put your oxygen mask on before helping anyone else. They tell us this because if there was an emergency, we are only helpful to others if we have taken the appropriate precautions to help ourselves first. We can’t help out anyone else if we pass out because we failed to first put our own mask on. God wants us to spread His word and plant seeds but He doesn’t want us to get so busy doing this that we fail to grow in Him. We can (&should) tell a million people of His love for us, but how well can we do that if we aren’t learning & growing in Christ ourselves? How can we help others if we aren’t first infused with the Holy Spirit? That way, you can show God’s love to many instead of using up all of our oxygen on one.

A vehicle is a pretty big investment. So we take care of it. We make sure the oil is changed regularly, we keep fuel in it, drive it with care. We watch for the “check engine” light or other warnings & try to take care of them before we have a serious problem. But do we spend that much time & energy on our marriages? Are we making sure that our spouse is getting the care & attention that they need? Are we watching for warning lights with them? Everyone has ups & downs but I believe the best way to increase your odds of having a successful marriage is to put Christ right smack dab in the center of it. If Christ is the glue that holds your marriage together, then nothing can ever break that bond. However…you may want to warn your spouse before you start being more attentive. I was extra sweet to my hubby this morning & I think he left for work worrying that I was up to something…heehee.