Patience.....

"Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." Romans 5:1-6

These words give me hope for today and every day that I live until Christs return. I mean if God was willing to send his son to die for me when I was a lost, dying sinner; how much more will he do for me as his child? Satan will try to convince you that God doesn't care, or that it is to hard; but know that the love of God is there on the good days and on the days that we mess up. He doesn't turn his back just because we make a mistake. If we come to him and repent when we realize that we have sinned, he is faithful to forgive us.

Know that God loves you even if he has sent you a storm. Look at the storm as a chance to walk on the water with Him. As the verses state above, storms work patience. Patience is a tool that we all run short on. It is a handy tool though and we should all work to make ourselves more patient. Most times we get tired in our storms, and Satan will not get tired. He will pound the waves upon you until you give up. Thats where patience comes in. If we are patient, God provides a way out, His way out (and His ways are always easier and more fruitful than ours.)

Patience works experience. When we get through the storm with our sanity and patience, we have experience. We all have stories of trials and heartache. You know the old saying "Hindsight is 20/20"; well hindsight is a wonderful tool, it is just never around when you need it. This is where patience comes in. You cannot have hindsight if we do not go through storms. We cannot counsel the friend with a broken marriage or the teenage girl thinking of giving herself away if we do not have experience. Sure we may have words of wisdom, but people want to know that they are not alone, that someone has been there. So don't give up, the Son's coming up in the morning!

Experience breeds hope. If you have ever been through hard times you may have a hard time with this one. I understand it now, but it took awhile. When you are in the storm, it all looks cloudy and dark; but just around the corner is a breakthrough. Some people get stuck, some people turn around, don't be one of them. If you get stuck, you will always be in the same spot. Reliving the same nightmare is never fun. If you turn around, you will eventually have to go back through what you avoided. But, when you see that ray of Son peeking through, there is a tiny sliver of hope. Nurture that hope. It will grow into love.

Not just any love mind you, God's love. God's love does what ours cannot, it suceeds. You cannot love a drug addict or alchoholic on your own. Eventually your patience (theres that word again) will run short. If you have God's love however you will never get tired or impatient. He is always refreshing you if you ask. I know from personal experience that a spouse is sometimes the hardest to love. Try letting God's love flow through you and into them. You will be surprised at what you can do and who you can love with God in your heart.

I love you all and you are consistantly in my prayers. May God bless each and everyone of you. He will supply your every need. He will get you through your personal storm. Trust in Him.

 

It's been awhile........

The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. Exodus 14:14


So, my husband and I recently got a puppy. She is a five pound terror of a Chocolate Lab that we absolutely adore. We are putting her in a crate at night to sleep and she usually sleeps until about three in the morning. Then she starts whining, crying and howling. It breaks my heart and I always want to go release her and bring her to our bed.  I don't though because it is something she has to learn.  I realized that we are a lot like Ellie Mae in that God will try to corral us to teach us something and we struggle against him the whole way. As she was making her noise, I thought the same thought I am sure God thinks from time to time with us; If you will just wait and rest Ellie, morning is just a few hours away. I believe that sometimes we are put in an hard, harrowing position by God himself. Mostly to teach us something we don't already know or to reinforce something we are supposed to know. When that time comes we can either be like Ellie and fight or we can do what God put us there to do lean on him and pray for guidance.
My thoughts are short and sweet this week, but nevertheless they ring true. God only disciplines us because he loves us. Remember that this week. Until next time.........

Vigilance....

We must be vigilant, in all things we must keep watch. That way we will be prepared for Jesus' return. For when he returns we should want to be ready. We are to be a holy people set apart by God. People should know that we are Christians. They should see it in every aspect of our lives. Our actions, speech, dress, all things should reflect godliness.


We can never be perfect. If that were possible, Jesus would not have had to die. Think about it. Do you think God would have sent his son if there was and easier way? There was no other way. We are sinners yet God loves us so much that even though we chose (through sin) to be separated from him, he gave up his only son. Let the gravity of that sink in for a moment. Would you be able to sacrifice part of yourself, your child, for people who chose to separate themselves from you. I just want to shout Gods holy name from the rooftops!!!! I am, we are so blessed!!

We need to realize our need for him. We must prepare ourselves for him. I for one want to be ready. You know that old adage; don't put off till tomorrow what you can do today. Examine your life, come to terms with what needs changing. If you don't know God, find him. It is not a complicated procedure. No high priest has to be there. Its just a simple acknowledgement of your sin and what Jesus died to accomplish for you (yes you, not just a collective us. He died for YOU!!!!) Hit your knees, pray for salvation. For those of us that are saved, realize that perfection in this life is not attainable. We should strive for it, but know that we are going to fall short. Everybody does. That does not however, excuse bad behavior. If we know it is wrong and do it anyway, we have no excuses. We will have to answer for every single choice; every single action will one day be judged. Try to examine your choices. Think them over, pray about them. If it does not seem God blessed, don't do it. Don't tempt God. He will humble you just to prove that very point.

Have a blessed night everyone. Feel free to comment below.

Lent.....

"Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."  Phillipians 3:13-14

These verses have been weighing heavily on my mind.  I guess it is because really and truly, that is what we should do.  The past is just that the past.  It  is gone, we cannot get it back.  God says he casts all our sins away and they are forgotten.  Why then can we not do the same?  If we ask God's forgiveness and bring our sins and doubts to him, we are to let it go.  We are to leave them there.  God loves us, he does not want us looking back on our journey.  He sent his Son to pay the ultimate price so that we did not have to.  We should be reaching, straining as Beth Moore said, toward  the Father.   You cannot strain toward God if you are looking behind you.  That is what satan wants from us.  He wants us to be so consumed with guilt and shame that we cannot move forward from our past.  He wants us to be tangled up in the knots of sin that Jesus died to untangle us from.  

With Lent season upon us we should keep that in the forefront of our minds.  We should be preparing for Jesus' return not fretting over what we have or have not done.  There is still time to change.  God is still God, he can still work wonders and miracles if you let him.  There is still time to let go of sin and unforgiveness and cling to an unchanging hand....... 

Kindness.....

God designed us to be kind, generous, good-hearted people.  He put us here to lift people up instead of breaking them down.  We should always strive to be a blessing in this crazy world.  It's not always easy, but we have to try.  Mark 12:31 tells us to love our neighbor as we would ourselves.  That means that when we are rude to someone we are essentially saying this is how I would treat myself.  I don't think we find it very nice when someone smarts off to us, so why would we do it to someone else.  The answer I think is that we are so wrapped up in our own lives, that we don't pay attention to anything around us.  We need to slow down.  We need to do things for other people.  People who are not in our circle.  Random acts of kindness, shouldn't be random.  People should expect them. 

Galatians 5:22-23 Says that the fruit of the spirit is; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self control.  Notice that fruit is singular, not plural.  You cannot pick and choose.  In order to have the fruit of the spirit you have to have them all.  Likewise, if you have kindness you are going to have all the others.  You build upon with kindness.  You tear down with rudeness.  Jesus did not come and die for us just to have us turn our backs on his word.  Our actions are just as big a witness as our words.  Sometimes they are bigger. 

We must also remember that little eyes are watching.  Our behaviors today will lead them into .  We don't often realize that, but it is true.  They see us at our best and in our most trying hours.  It is our reaction to those trials that children often remember.  We must always remember to ask ourselves if our behavior is something we want them to see or emulate. 

tomorrow

Just try and think before you do something rude.  Whether children are around or not, we are still the voice of Christianity.  We can either be kind and welcoming or we can be rude and uninviting.  Think about it.  Which one would you like?