If Jesus had a Facebook account and He posted, “I’m coming to take my children home tomorrow. If you want to come with me, like this status today.”…how many people would like it? It would probably get more likes than anything in Facebook history. But what if He posted it at 11:59 pm and nobody noticed the date and time? They would probably still keep liking and sharing the post, not realizing that they were too late. Here’s the thing. Jesus is not going to post that. He’s not going to give you another head’s up. He gave us one when He left His word with us. He has given us all the warnings that we need. He’s given us every opportunity to choose Him. So it’s not a question of, “Why would such a loving God send us to hell?”…it’s a question of, “Why would we choose hell over such a loving God?” Our choice…our eternity.

Dear gracious Heavenly Father, we stand before you, a broken and fallen nation. Where we call wrong right, and the good we call bad. We know that where You are, hate cannot exist, but here we are… a nation full of hate. I pray that tonight, as so many are enjoying freedoms that You have blessed us with, that we would all remember that although we are free to choose our own decisions and actions, we are not free from the consequences. I pray that YOUR Holy Spirit would light up our souls like fireworks lighting up even the darkest night. I pray that every knee would bend, every head would bow, and every heart would be turned to You. Because we know that until You enter a heart, hate and sin can still exist. And Lord we pray that this nation will truly be one nation under You. And in all things we give You the glory!! Amen! (Feel free to share this prayer…there is most definitely power in prayer!!’

One morning a few years ago, we woke up to torn up fencing and two injured horses. Sometimes it takes a bad day to realize how blessed we are.

We went to the back pasture to try to doctor the injuries.

My horse came right to us knowing we had feed and that we were there to help her. The other horse was a little more cautious but still let us help her. But in that moment, she had two choices. She could have faith that we were there to help or she could run. She made the right choice.

We are all faced with that same choice in life. We can have faith in Jesus and go to Him or we can run. But only one choice takes us to the Healer.

A while back, a man said to me, “You need to go back to work if you don’t have anything better to do than sit around and post your thoughts on Facebook”. He said it jokingly but it nagged at me. Then I noticed that all of the thoughts that had come so easily to me just weren’t coming anymore. I started worrying about what people thought of me. Did they think I had become one of those radical religious people? So finally one day I stopped thinking about what everybody thought and prayed for God to tell me what to do. He spoke to my heart and this is a summary of what He told me. He wants all of His people to witness and spread His Word. My husband can talk to anyone. That is his gift. I am not gifted in that way. Some people can sing praises that stirs the Holy Spirit within you. I am not gifted in that way. Some can stand and say a prayer that will break even the most hardened heart. I am not gifted in that way. But I can write the thoughts that God gives me. That is my gift. And if the words that I write touch one person, then that is all that matters. Satan can use the most innocent of ways to place doubt on you. So when you begin to doubt yourself, ask yourself, “where did the doubt come from?” If it in any way hinders you from doing God’s will, then it didn’t come from Him. Always always always be discerning of who is speaking to you. IT MATTERS!

On this 30th and final day of April, I think it would probably be easier to count grains of sand under the sea than to count all my many blessings. I may not have some of the things that others consider blessings but I have God’s mercy and grace, the love of a good husband and 2 amazing, beautiful daughters….and although my blessings go far beyond these things, if all I had was God’s forgiveness, I would still have all I need. Praying that all accept this same blessing because it is available and has already been paid for through the blood of Jesus Christ.

I’m pretty sure that God can form His own opinions of others without any input from me and I’m also pretty sure that the only attention that He gives to gossip is to take note of who is spreading it rather than who it’s about. I think too often we take the condemnation of others or worse….our own self condemnation…which truth be told usually comes straight from Satan…and we accept it as the truth but yet we ignore God’s opinion of us. Just because the people of this world can’t forgive or forget doesn’t mean that God can’t. God is willing to forgive anything as long as we come to Him with a humble heart and ask. But too often I see people write themselves off because they have made mistakes. I did it for years. Satan told me that my sins were unforgivable because I knew better….but in reality God was always there…arms open…waiting on me to come to Him.

On this 16th day, I’m blessed that I have love in my heart. Of all the gifts that God could give, none of them are any good if you do not have love in your heart. I’m going to ask a special prayer request for those that seem to have lost the love. We all know someone. Someone that seems angry at everyone all of the time even though he or she has a loving family, nice home, and good job. He or she may have even had a relationship with God at one time but seem to have strayed from it. Pray with me that he or she finds their way back to God.

I went outside between rain showers yesterday morning & I think my plants were doing a happy dance! I have been watering them every day since I planted them but one little rain shower & they are noticeably perkier. We can go through this world enjoying all it has to offer, but it’s not until we have tasted the living water of God that we truly live. Life can hand us so many things that we think are sustaining us but they are only temporary. Until we drink the living water, we aren’t really living. And not only is it free….it’s also from a Well that never runs dry.

How often do we google or go to our social media feed to get opinions of “best of” restaurants… hotels… contractors…movies….mechanics…etc? We ask because we don’t know and we want the opinion of someone who does. We want to hear from someone who has experienced something that we haven’t and we want to know what they know. So when I post about God’s love or invite you to church or tell you that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Light, it’s not because I’m looking down on you. It’s not because I think you “need” to hear it. It’s because I want everyone to know I’ve found THE BEST OF THE BEST and I want everyone to experience what I have. And maybe not spend as much time as I did trying to fill the Jesus shaped hole in my life with other things that never fit.

On this 4th day..on my drive home awhile back, I ran into a 30 second traffic jam and realized how blessed we are to live in a place where traffic is rarely a problem…the drive home is beautiful…and we normally wave at several people on our way to our destination. What a wonderful place that God has blessed us with in which to live and with so many wonderful friends and neighbors!!!

On this 3rd day, I feel so blessed to live in a place where it is not forbidden to openly worship God and to be able to teach my girls about Him. It saddens me that there are so many that take that for granted. If our children are the most important things in our lives, then shouldn’t it be more important to teach them about God than it is to teach them about sports, fashion, popularity, and money? Why do we invest so much time on things that only matter temporarily on this earth when we should be investing in their spiritual eternity? In the end…what is more important?

On this 25th day I’m going to change how I view possessions. I try to remember but sometimes I forget…I have nothing. Everything in my possession is there because God has allowed it to be there. Including “my” girls. They are His but He has blessed us with them. Nothing is ours, nor do we DESERVE anything. We are not worthy enough to deserve anything. Especially if what we think we deserve causes others pain and sadness. When we start thinking that we DESERVE something, Satan wins. When we start admitting that God has blessed us far beyond anything we could ever DESERVE, then we win.