A Heart-of-Thanks Thursday

I love how every instruction of life is given in the scriptures. We’re told how to turn from evil, how to love our husbands and wives, and how to raise our children. We’re even told how to pray, how to be fishers of men, how to spend our days, how to sow seeds and reap the

harvest, and we’re given the freedom to praise God with a joyful noise!

Within these same scriptures, we’re lifted, loved, blessed, encouraged, comforted and strengthened. We’re given the firm foundation, the solid rock – we’re offered the gift of salvation.

The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

² for attaining wisdom and discipline;
for understanding words of insight;

³ for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life,
doing what is right and just and fair;

⁴ for giving prudence to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the young-

⁵ let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance-

⁶ for understanding proverbs and parables,
the sayings and riddles of the wise.

⁷ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools ^[a] despise wisdom and discipline.

(Proverbs 1-7)

Is Your Joy Contagious?

Stepping up on my soapbox for a minute…

After a recent conversation with a fellow Christian, I hung up the phone realizing one important thing: joy is only contagious if you can somehow manage to maintain it when you’re around those who clearly aren’t joyful! Wouldn’t you agree?

The world may be falling down, crumbling all around us, but those who truly live in the light of the Lord don’t allow their faith to crumble along with it (of course, there are those exceptional circumstances, but I'm talking about the basic stuff of life). I have to think of all the time God has invested in me. He’s heard and answered my every prayer. He’s taken me by the hand and walked with me through the fire. He’s dried my tears, and he’s opened my eyes each morning to hope and opportunity. I owe it to him to live out what I profess, to stand defiantly against the enemy’s attempt to drag me down with those whose praise is mumbled, buried beneath layers of negativity. As a Christian, I’ve invested years strengthening my faith, my prayer life and my walk with the Lord. If I can’t even stand firm on that faith around other “Christians,” what kind of testimony am I to the non-believer? Pray it like you mean it, and then live it out. Don’t let the enemy steal your joy and the passion from within that you and the Lord have worked so hard together to create – use it for God’s glory!

Lord Jesus,

Help me to hold on to the joy of knowing you. Help me to remember, as I interact with others, that I am yours and you are mine. Your promises, your Word and your Truth will never fade or weaken with time, but prove to only strengthen in your people. Help me to respond in love to those whose joy has been diluted and weakened by the struggles of life that they may draw closer to you with renewed faith and trust. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

“So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.” (John 16:22) NIV

It's a New Day!

Good morning to you! So glad you have a minute to join me.

Today is a brand new day! Despite what’s forecasted, it’s not a bad day or a good day – it’s an awesome day! It’s a clean slate and yet one more opportunity to either draw closer to the One who’s speaking our name or to trudge our way down the rutted road of our own will. We have the choice today, you and I. We’ve been invited by the Creator of Heaven and Earth to choose the Way the Truth and the Life, and to pave today’s path with prayer, thanksgiving and hope. Join me as I turn this day over to Jesus, not just with my words, but with my whole heart! I pray you’ll do the same.

“With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth.”

I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches.

I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight

in your decrees; I will not neglect your word…”

(Psalm 119:13-16) NIV

"All Who Are Thirsty..."

My poor, sleep-deprived brain has been sitting in idle mode for the past 3 days. Seriously, I haven’t slept – I’ve coughed instead. Not just a simple a-hem and we’re all done. No, it’s a cough with attitude; the kind that flips you inside out and turns your face the shade of a ripe pomegranate! It waits until I’m in the frozen food aisle of the grocery store and sneaks up quietly to tickle the back of my throat. Of course, I’ve no other alternative but to rip open the glass doors and bury my cough in bags of frozen peas and carrots!
This stagnant-brain phase has rendered me pretty useless, plunging me knee-deep in a slimy puddle of writer’s block! I can barely write my own name these days, let alone muster up something witty and wonderful! My book projects are collecting dust bunnies, and the article ideas have stopped flowing.
I’ve tried jumpstarting my creative energy with coffee, and lots of it! I’ve tried chocolate, aromatherapy, laundry, even dog licks…nothing! It’s really frustrating.
OR…it could be that I’m standing dangerously close to the jagged edge of that deep-dark valley known as Menopause. Hey, that’s it!! That’s where my active brain cells have gone. After all, we’re now officially into “fall.” I just hope I’m not about to fall into a vat of hot flashes, cold sweats, more elaborate mood swings, random bouts of emotion and weird food ravings. I’ve heard crazy stories about that old Mizz Menopause. She’s the reason my motivation well has run dry! It’s all her fault. I wonder what else I can blame on her? Hmmm.
It’s hard to imagine that God would ordain such a season; a clear-cut, defining point as we transition from one phase of life to another. But he has. I have to trust and believe that he ordains it all, the highs and lows, the pain and the joy.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
(Romans 12:12) NIV)

I'm Praying for You

Heavenly Father,
I come to you in prayer this morning and ask that you bless those who are running on an empty tank today. Those who are expected to fulfill obligations and exceed expectations. I ask that you strengthen those who may feel so beat up with life and so caught up with the demands of the day that they feel unworthy to cry out for you.
Bless those who have given their all that they may discover the vast resource of your love and grace. Lift weak arms. Renew and encourage and give light to those who continue to stumble in the dark of their own will. Replace discouragement, loneliness and sadness with your peace – the peace that not only transcends all understanding, but the ways in which we’re accustomed to thinking.
And at the end of the day, let those who have come to you feel refreshed, cleansed and loved beyond measure.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.

“…And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19)

Who's Holding Your Hand?

“Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. ⁴Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, ⁵to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.” (Titus 2:3-5) NIV

I love this passage – don’t you?

In this day of calendars and to-do lists,

rushing here and there

racing against the clock,

doing, being and accomplishing,

it’s not the items crossed off our list

or the mornings we rose before the sun

or even the dreams left to be pursued,

but the way in which we’ve chosen to live out our days,

and who's in control of our heart

that really matter in the end.

Whether intentionally or not,

we’re setting examples, you and I.

Whether we’ve climbed the stairs two at a time

or sat out our chance to dance in the rain,

let those who come after us see, instead the One who held our hand

the whole way.

Son In My Eyes Sundays

Good Morning to you.

Is the Son in your eyes today?

Thank the Lord for another beautiful Sunday! I am so excited to get to church and worship the Lord! Whatever you’vebeen through this week, and whatever you anticipate for the week ahead, bring it with you and leave it at the cross. Nothing is too big for our God!

"Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy in his dwelling place. Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength, ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness".

I Chron 16:27-29

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu4PWSnVabg

"I Am a Friend of God!"