He is Risen!

But he said to them, "Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him." (Mark 16:6)

May all of you feel God's peace and love on this glorious Easter morning!

Please read this beautiful blog post written by a mom who lost her 17 year old daughter to cancer just a few short months ago. Her post will bring you to tears, but you make you smile at the same time.

(click Kayla's name)

KAYLA

A to Z Blog Challenge - G

I'm starting early today! (Be sure to read about "F". I posted it late yesterday!)

Letter G

God

I believe in God. I do not question whether He exists. I know He does. I am a true believer. He is the Beginning and the End. The Alpha and the Omega. The One who created the world that we live in. He is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present, and all-loving. I look foward to meeting God... face to face... when my journey, here on earth, ends.

Georgia

It is the great state where I live, here in the United States. As you know... I have lived in Georgia my whole life. I know no different. When I was little, I used to dream of moving to Texas. I have no idea "why", tho! Texas and Pennsylvania (for whatever reason!) were my two favorite states. As it turned out... I ended up marrying the man of my dreams who just happens to be from... Pennsylvania! **Smile** I guess that's why I had Pennsylvania on my mind! --- I'm still not sure why Texas was! --- Yet!

Gallbladder

Just this past September... I had to have mine removed! Last July, I started having terrible pains in my upper abdomen and it took over a month of tests to figure out that my gallbladder was the cause of the pain. It was only functioning at 11%. Yikes! I had to have it removed before it ruptured. Luckily, the doctors were able to do it lyproscopically and I was able to go home that same day. The surgery went fine, but the anhestesia made me terrribly sick!! THAT was NOT fun!

Goat

When I was little, I wanted a goat. I thought that they were so cute!! I wanted to name mine "Mildred". I have NO IDEA where I got that name from! LOL! I never got my goat. Well.......Wait a minute! I take that back! I have one now!! His name is Chester!!! **Smile**

Grandparent

I know that it is quite a few years off (at least I hope it is!)... but, I look foward to becoming a grandparent! David and I talk about it all the time, which I find kind of funny! Heehee! He is so cute when he talks about it! We want to take our grandchildren to places like Disney and also take them camping. We want to buy them things just for no reason! I want to be like my grandmother and sneak a dollar in their hand as they leave my house to go home. I want to do crafts with them and bake cookies. I can't wait to tell them stories about their Mommies when they were little! I have friends that are grandparents and from what I gather.... being a grandparent is THE best thing EVER! It will be a blast, I'm sure! I just wonder "where" my girls will end up living and where David & I will be. I think the hardest part of being a grandparent will be.... if my kids live far away. That will be tough!

The Beautiful Psalm 139

Each morning, I recieve an email from The Upper Room containing a devotion for the day. This morning, it was Psalm 139. I have read this Psalm before and I am sure that it "touched me"" then, as it did this moring. But, that is one of the reasons that I love reading the Bible - God's Word - so much! Each time you read it, God speaks to you in different ways.

Let me share the Psalm with you ~

Psalm 139 (New Living Translation)

1 O Lord, you have examined my heart

and know everything about me.

2 You know when I sit down or stand up.

You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.

3 You see me when I travel

and when I rest at home.

You know everything I do.

4 You know what I am going to say

even before I say it, Lord.

5 You go before me and follow me.

You place your hand of blessing on my head.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too great for me to understand!

7 I can never escape from your Spirit!

I can never get away from your presence!

8 If I go up to heaven, you are there;

if I go down to the grave, you are there.

9 If I ride the wings of the morning,

if I dwell by the farthest oceans,

10 even there your hand will guide me,

and your strength will support me.

11 I could ask the darkness to hide me

and the light around me to become night—

12 but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.

To you the night shines as bright as day.

Darkness and light are the same to you.

13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

16 You saw me before I was born.

Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out

before a single day had passed.

17 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.

They cannot be numbered!

18 I can’t even count them;

they outnumber the grains of sand!

And when I wake up,

you are still with me!

19 O God, if only you would destroy the wicked!

Get out of my life, you murderers!

20 They blaspheme you;

your enemies misuse your name.

21 O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you?

Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you?

22 Yes, I hate them with total hatred,

for your enemies are my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 Point out anything in me that offends you,

and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

My thoughts ~

V. 1-6 ~  The Lord knows everything about me. He knows my every thought, no matter where I am. He knows what I am about to say, before I say it. He knows where I am at all times. He is with me when I travel. He travels before me and behind me. He blesses me with His hand on my head.

V. 7-12 ~ No matter where I go, He is there with me. Wherever I am, He will guide me & support me. The dark is light to Him and He can see still see me.

V. 13-16 ~ He "designed" my body - all of my parts. From every cell to every hair. He "knit" me together in my mother's womb.  He SAW me before I was born! Every day of my life is recorded in His BOOK. He has my whole life planned out for me! Many parts of it I have yet to even see!

V. 17-18 ~ He thinks about me so much that His thoughts can not be counted.

V. 19-22 ~ I have no thoughts on these verses. I'm not sure why David (the author of this Psalm) included these thoughts here.

V. 23-24 ~ Lord, please help me to relize my sins and guide me down the path that you have laid out for me.

May God bless you today and may you feel His love!

He knows that I love Him

and I don't feel that I have to PROVE it to others.

If you are on the popular social network site called FACEBOOK, then you may have seen this post on someone's status ---

I believe in Jesus Christ and have accepted Him as my personal Savior. One facebooker has challenged all believers to put this on their wall. In the Bible it says, if you deny me in front of your peers, I will deny you in front of my Father at the Gates of Heaven. This is simple. If you love God and you are not afraid to show it, re-p...ost. Are you willing?


I see a lot of different post like this one that ask you to "repost" this to your status if you believe whatever the post is about. (I wanted to find some more examples, but of course... when I go looking for them, I can't find any!)

This one really bothered me, tho. I feel as if it is asking me to PROVE my love for God by reposting this to my status, and if I don't... I will be denying that I know Him!

In Matthew 22:37-40... Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

I try very hard to live out my faith and I show my love for God in my everyday actions.


Jesus said "If you love Me, keep My commandments". I try very hard to do this.

How can we show our love for God to others?? -- Here's how...


By following His teachings and commandments, by loving others, and by continuing a relationship with Him; by praying to Him and by reading His word.

By praising Him and thanking Him, all the time, for everything that He has given to you and does for you. To Him, give all the glory!!
 
Read your bible every day in order to learn more about my God. 
 
Witness to others. Tell them about God.




Commit your life to Him. Make sure He comes first in your life and try very hard to seek Him first in everything that you do!  
Remember that when you serve others, you are serving Him.

Go to church every Sunday.

Live the way Jesus did to the best of your ability.

Believe that Jesus is God.


Remember that you can not earn salvation. Salvation is given to you by Jesus as a free gift when you believe the truth about Jesus. The truth about Jesus is that the only way to be saved and to get into heaven is by believing in faith alone that Jesus, who is God, died for our sins on the cross and rose from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Believe this and you are saved, no matter what you do or what you fail to do.

May God Bless you today!

I need to recharge MY life. What about you?

It's sad, but it's true. When a crisis happens, I am guilty of letting worry & anxiety fill my body and my mind to the point where I forget to let go and let God take control.

I try to handle it all by myself and forget that God is walking right beside me... just WAITING for me to give Him control.

I can see Him in my mind, begging me to give it over to Him, but I am so caught up in the worry and anxiety... that I can't even hear Him speaking to me.

This breaks my heart.

Another thing that I have neglected to do lately is read the devotional blog that I follow. I've been skipping right over them, unfortunately.

This morning, as I scrolled through my blog list on my dashboard... one title caught my eye -- Recharge Your Life with Him. You can read this blog post by clicking here at --- internet Cafe devotions.

Here are some parts of the blog where I heard God speaking to "me".

May these words be a blessing to you as well.


Matt. 11: 28 – 30

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

How often do we forget to take our weariness and heaviness to the One who promised His burden would be light; to the One who promised us rest?

“Cast all your anxiety on him for he cares for you.” I Peter 5:7

God is there in the midst of the storm. His hands are outstretched, calming the turbulent sea that we are are, whether it is man-made or natural.

...we must take heart while in this world, and not let it consume us so we forget the most important things in our lives: family, faith, and friends.

Jesus aroused from his sleep, opened his eyes, and looked into their frightened faces. Seeing their alarm he arose to his feet and asked, “Why are you so fearful? Why do you have no faith?”

What’s really great is taking a deep breath and remembering (as hard as I know it can be sometimes), that no matter how things may seem, God has already gotten things in control. The sea has been calmed and made safe for us to travel.

Let down your guard today and let God calm the storms in your life. Before reaching for that cup o’ joe, let God wake you up. It’s one thing to say He calms storms, it’s another to let Him to actually calm your beating heart and give you that much needed energy boost.

Devotion this morning: "Plan B"

This summer, I have gotten WAY off track and out of my morning routine of praying and reading my daily devotions & scripture. School starts back, for the girls and I, in just over a week (YIKES!) and I have GOT to get back into a routine before then!

So.... I am happy to say that I have done well this morning and God is pleased with me because I kept my morning "coffee date" with Him and did not get side-tracked into something else.

I read a wonderful devotion this morning in my devotional book entitled:
Babes with a Beatitude - Devotions for Smart, Savvy Women of Faith
- by, Linda P. Kozar & Dannelle Woody.

Here is the devotion, as written in the book with MY thoughts written in blue ---- 

Plan B

Friends, this world is not your home, so don't make yourselves cozy in it. (I love that part!)

Don't indulge your ego at the expense of your soul.

Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute

their prejudices. Then, they'll be won over to God's side

and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives.

-- 1 Peter 2:11-12 MSG

When the moving men showed up an hour late, I was more than ready. Stacks of boxes were labeled and organized --- even color coded to match the rooms they were supposed to be deposited in when they reached the new home. And, of course, the labels matched the spreadsheet on my clipboard. I'd planned things down to the last detail. (This was me, 12 years ago, when we moved down here from the Atlanta area! My boxes weren't "color coded", but they were labeled with a number that corresponded with my list of boxes and their contents! Like, the author... I had planned this move right down to the very last detail!)

But, to my horror, the three men began picking up boxes randomly and stacking them on dollies. I tried to stop them, to explain the system, but the only one who spoke English was me. My best-laid plan was suddenly kaput! I wanted to cry, but I cried out to God instead. Lord, all my work was for nothing. This is so frustrating. Please help me!

Our attitude in times like this tells our new neighbors and our children a lot about our spiritual walk. I love how The Message interprets this verse. "Don't indulge your ego at the expense of your soul."

BEATITUDE CHECK: It's good to plan and prepare for things, but we must be flexible enough to know that life's little events don't always go according to our plans. Don't give in to times like this and let frustration show in ungodly ways. Your example of acceptance and kindness will go a long way to show others what Jesus ' personality is like. (I am doing MUCH better with being "flexible". I used to not be. I used to get VERY "out-of-sorts" when things didn't go just how I had them planned in my pretty, little head. But, I have learned to be much better about it and to "go-with-the-flow" as much as I can.)

I am so thankful that God is the God of second chances, and third, fourth, fifth, sixth......... well, you get the picture!

*** ON A SIDE NOTE ---- I feel better today. Your prayers must be working! Thank you! ~ I am still anxious to hear the results of my ultrasound, but I feel much better about it all and I am a lot less worried! I am feeling God's comfort and peace, which is the way that it should be.  

God Is My Stabilizer

Tomorrow, I am getting a new washer & dryer! YAY!!! One of the features on my new washer is that it has "TrueBalance", which is a feature that will almost instantly stabilize your washer if it gets "off-balance".  I am excited about this feature because with my old washer, by the time I got to the laundry room to open the lid (...from the top, because the old one wasn't a "front-loader") and move the clothes around myself... the washer had "walked" across my laundry room floor!

I am sure by now you are wondering...
"What do washing machines have to do with God?". Well, as I was praying to God this morning.. (in between "watching" Chester!)... to help me get my life back in "balance".. (See yesterday's post), I realized that God is MY stabilizer! By praying and reading God's Word, HE can help me find the balance that I am missing right now. It may not come as "instant" as my new washer, but it WILL come if I follow His lead and listen to His words.

Thank you Lord, for this encouraging thought this morning!
I love you!

A Quiet Place

Each morning, I start my day out by spending time with God. I call it my... "Coffee With God" time. I like to get up early --- I'm talking 5am! --- before the rest of my family awakes. I start the coffee pot, feed the dog, let the dog out ....(well, first I have to turn on the "bunny lights", so the bunnies will scatter before I let my bunny-killer-of-a-dog, loose!)... then, with coffee in hand, I come here, into my "office" ... (it's really a converted dining room that I made into my office / scrapbooking room, but I don't really scrapbook anymore, so now it's just my "office".)

I have a whole routine that I go through each morning. First, I write in my journal (the actual "book" kind. Not the computer kind.) Second, I light my "Jesus Candle" (it's just a regular candle, but that's what I call it.). The flame of the candle is a reminder to me that the Holy Spirit is here with me. Third, I open up my "prayer journal" and silently read and pray over all of the prayers that I have listed in my journal. When a prayer is answered, it gets checked off and dated in red so that I will know that it has been "answered". (There are MANY red checks and dates in my prayer journal. Thank you, Lord!) Fourth, I log into my email and check to see if there are any prayer requests that have been added to the church prayer chain. If so, then they get added into my prayer journal along with any other "new" concerns that I may have for the day.

After I am done praying, I take out my two devotional books that I read each morning. One is called... Babes with a Beatitude, Devotions for Smart, Savvy, Women of Faith. And the other one is called...Once a Day, Every Day For Women. This one is actually my favorite, but both are good. Before I read my devotionals, I pray to God and ask Him to help me hear His voice through what I am about to read. I also ask Him to help me understand what it is that He wants me to learn from each of these devotionals. I keep a notebook on my desk that I write down what I believe He wants me to hear and learn. Whenever I have the chance... I love to go back through it and read HIS messages.

I also have several devotions that come to my email each day. One is from the Upper Room and one is from Rev. Mark Brown, called Journey Into God's Word. It is actually his daily blog, but his writings are WONDERFUL!! (if you are on Facebook, you can follow him there or you can Google him.)

I started this post with the idea of sharing today's devotion from my "Once A Day" devotional book. The title of the devotion, is the title of this post --- "A Quiet Place". When I read it this morning, I knew immediately that this would be what I would write about today. I didn't realize, tho, that I would write so much about my quiet time with God! But, once you read this devotion, you will see why I did. Here it goes --- Enjoy!

A Quiet Place

Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed. -- Mark 1:35 NKJV

In the first chapter of Mark, we read that in the darkness of the early morning hours, Jesus went to a solitary place and prayed. So, too, should we. But, sometimes, finding quiet moments of solitude is difficult indeed.
We live in a noisy world, a world filled with distractions, frustrations, and complications. But if we allow the distractions of a clamorous world to separate us from God's peace, we do ourselves a profound disservice. Are you one of those busy women (or men) who rushes through the day with scarcely a single moment for quiet contemplation and prayer? If so, it's time to reorder your priorities. Nothing is more important than the time you spend with your Savior. So be still and claim the inner peace that is your spiritual birthright: the peace of Jesus Christ.

The more complicated life becomes, the more we need to quiet our souls before God. -- Elizabeth Elliot

In the center of a hurricane there is absolute quiet and peace. There is no safer place than in the center of the will of God. -- Corrie ten Boom

A TIMELY TIP
Be still and listen to God. He has something important to say to you.

Well, ... you can see why I really felt strongly that I needed to share this devotion and write about it. I have highlighted my favorite sentence. It is so true!! We tend to forget this because of our busy, busy lives. God just wants us to spend time with Him each day in quiet peace. If we are not still, we will never hear His beautiful voice! ~~ My prayer for those of you that read this, is that you will find the time each day to have your own quiet time with God. ~ God Bless!

Day two of .... "The Purge"

Original date written -- 4/6/10

I'm not sure how much "purging" I will get done today. I need to just clean my house today. First on my list is to work out on the Wii.

I do believe that God gave me a message this morning regarding "holding onto things", which goes right along with what I wrote yesterday about how I have a hard time "letting go of things". In my devotional book -- "Babes With Beatitude" -- God helped me to understand that.... anything that I can't do without or that I have an addiction to, means that it is an "idol" in my life and therefore could be put before God. I need to seriously think about the things in my life that I think are so "precious" to me. Are they really more important to me than God?? If I had to choose between them and God... which would I choose?

This is the thought that I need to have as I go thru the "things"... (aka: CLUTTER!) .... in my house and decide what I can get rid of. I know some "things" are things that I really can't (and shouldn't) get rid of. But, I do need to seriously think about why I feel so strongly about holding on to so many "things".

I think I just discovered something. --- The answer is that these "things" are just that... THINGS! And they really are not more important than God.

*** It's now 2pm and I have been busy all day cleaning my house. I got a lot done, but there is still more to be done. I took a break about an hour ago to lounge by the pool.. *smile*.. for a bit.

Until tomorrow....