I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint. Jeremiah 31:25
Good morning and Happy Wednesday! For some of us this means we are half way through our work week. It’s a beautiful, but cold spring morning in Florida. The Dogwoods, Bradford Pears and Azaleas are in full bloom. It’s beautiful here.
Today is a good day to remember to give back to others. It doesn’t have to be anything big. It might be a hug or helping someone with a daily task. Maybe you could help a sick neighbor with their yard work, or help a new mom so that she can get some rest. If that is too much for you, pay the bill for the person behind you in the fast food line. Take a friend a cup a coffee. One of the best ways to give is to give your time. It means so much more than money. Go see a shut-in. Have lunch with a distant relative. Take time out of your day to help someone else.
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2 Corinthians 12:9 KJV
Happy Friday! This week has been speeding along like a blur, but I’m super glad it’s Friday! I look forward to sleeping late tomorrow and working on some school work.
Sometimes I think God reminds me that I should be humble. After a few trying days at work, God spoke to me through this song by Mercy Me. It is one of my favorites that I have played when I’ve experienced physical pain. Guess what! It’s good for emotional pain too. The lyrics are below.
There’s got to be more
Than going back and forth
From doing right to doing wrong
‘Cause we were taught that’s who we are
Come on get in line right behind me
You along with everybody
Thinking there’s worth in what you do
Then like a hero who takes the stage when
We’re on the edge of our seats saying it’s too late
Well let me introduce you to amazing grace
No matter the bumps
No matter the bruises
No matter the scars
Still the truth is
The cross has made
The cross has made you flawless
No matter the hurt
Or how deep the wound is
No matter the pain
Still the truth is
The cross has made
The cross has made you flawless
Could it possibly be
That we simply can’t believe
That this unconditional
Kind of love would be enough
To take a filthy wretch like this
And wrap him up in righteousness
But that’s exactly what He did
No matter the bumps
No matter the bruises
No matter the scars
Still the truth is
The cross has made
The cross has made you flawless
No matter the hurt
Or how deep the wound is
No matter the pain
Still the truth is
The cross has made
The cross has made you flawless
Take a breath smile and say
Right here right now I’m ok
Because the cross was enough
And like a hero who takes the stage when
We’re on the edge of our seats saying it’s too late
Well let me introduce you to grace grace
God’s grace
No matter the bumps
No matter the bruises
No matter the scars
Still the truth is
The cross has made
The cross has made you flawless
No matter the hurt
Or how deep the wound is
No matter the pain
Still the truth is
The cross has made
The cross has made you flawless
No matter what they say
Or what you think you are
The day you called His name
He made you flawless
He made you flawless
No matter the bumps
No matter the bruises
No matter the scars
Still the truth is
The cross has made
The cross has made you flawless
The lyrics of this song say it all for me today. So, as I face Friday, I am comforted that it’s a new day and I can “take a breath, smile and say, right here right now, I’m ok, because the cross was enough”!
My hope is that you will also find comfort in God’s grace today and everyday. Spread His love everywhere you go. God bless you.
Songwriters: Barry Graul / Bart Millard / Ben Glover / David Arthur Garcia / Mike Scheuchzer / Nathan Cochran / Robby Shaffer / Solomon Olds
With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding.
Job 12:13 KJV
Good Morning! It’s spread the love Friday! What will you do to make others feel special? I always love Friday because we can wear jeans to work. Today, I added a pair of snazzy boots to the outfit. It gives me a little giggle inside.
Have you ever needed someone you could talk to? I mean someone you know you can trust and say whatever is bothering you, and not worry about hurting their feelings? Have you ever had anyone you could talk to that did not judge you, or stab you in the back? Isn’t it great to know that our sweet Lord fills the position at any moment in time. Yet, sometimes we need to talk to a person who understands. Someone that we don’t have to wonder about loyalty, hurting feelings, or anything else.
Throughout my life I have had amazing counselors, leaders, mentors and coaches, and I have found that I do much better in every area of my life when I have them. It’s like having a personal cheerleader to help me through my day. Someone who cares about me and puts me first when they are speaking with me. They also give me a gentle push in the right direction to keep me accountable. The types of coaches I have had has varied from professional, to physical/emotional health to weight loss. It may not be for everyone, but it works for me.
This morning I hurried to prepare for work so that I would have an opportunity to speak to my Weight Watchers coach. She is amazing. I had a bad day yesterday, but was still able to stay within my rollover points. Her words to me after providing suggestions for the weekend were “you never really have a bad day, if you are doing your best.” Wow! I know it was a small thing to say, but I feel like there aren’t any temptations big enough to tempt me now.
God is our coach at all time, but I believe he understands when we need a little extra help. That’s why we have ministers, counselors and various kinds of coaches in our lives. My first stop in the help department is God. Then, I pray Matthew 9:38 that the Lord of the harvest “will send forth labourers into his harvest” to guide me.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
Romans 15:13 KJV
Happy Thursday! Yesterday was a day filled with good news and joy for me at work. I have been going through a slump for a while. I had spent a great deal of time on one big project that looked like it wasn’t going anywhere, but yesterday it started coming to fruition. That was good news. I had also been working on some projects to help our city that weren’t really part of my job. I just wanted to help the community. Along the way I had many rejections and people telling me that my work was horrible, but I just kept trying. This has been going on for months. Don’t get me wrong. I heard and felt all the rejection, but I’m tenacious and don’t give up easily. My husband always tells me “hang tough”. Hanging tough when we want to give up isn’t easy. Well, some of that work looks like it might be producing good benefits now. I will be happy if even a little good comes from it.
I share this story with you because sometimes we get beat down in life. Depending on the situation, it could take a long time to recover. Sometimes it might be something that we don’t need to move forward on. Yet, there may be times when we know we aren’t doing anything wrong, and feel strongly like we are supposed to do something good. In those cases, don’t let people’s negative comments hinder you. One person can make a difference! Forgive those folks. They have all kinds of motives that we may never know. Pick yourself and keep moving forward.
Make this a day that you will be strong and forgiving! God bless you!
I know I’ve used this video several times, but it’s one of my favorites and seemed especially appropriate here. I hope you enjoy it.
Encourage each other and build each other up. 1 Thessalonians 5:11
Good Morning! Have you ever been so excited that you just can’t wait for something to happen? Tomorrow we are giving my grandson a birthday party. He turned three on the 18th, but I’m still excited. Funny, when I was a child it seem to take so long for birthdays to come around. Now, birthdays come around way too fast. We are so blessed to be able to see the world through his eyes.
I’m beyond happy this morning, but everyone does not feel the same. If you know someone with struggles this morning, build them up. If you are struggling, know that everything is temporary. I love you and God loves you. Never give up.
Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers, In Speech, In Conduct, In Love, In Faith and In Purity. 1 Timothy 4:12
I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. I enjoyed a busy Saturday with family and a restful Sunday. I had a little time to enjoy Dominic, who is four months old and growing rapidly. He is also calming down a bit. He follows me around and watches me quietly. When I’m posting blogs, he sits near me and watches. Last night, he discovered his cat tree. It’s like an amusement park to him. The pets are becoming more comfortable with one another, although there is still a little friction. Isn’t it great watching the young make their way in the world!
Do you feel like it is tough to find your way in the world? Do you feel like others in your life never listen to you or give you a chance? Do you feel like others just don’t understand your world? Do you remember feeling this way when you were younger? It’s tough making your way in the world. You have to figure out what you believe, and deal with endless people telling you how to believe. Decisions are critical and can be life changing, and just when you think you have it all figured out, you realize your in a huge mess. If all that wasn’t enough, you don’t want to disappoint the ones who believe in you the most. It’s tough!
If you want to make good decisions, read and follow the Bible. It has withstood time and never leads people astray. There are young people throughout the Bible, who accomplished great feats. In 1 Samuel 17 a young David (about age 17) took on Goliath, and later became king. In Genesis 37 Joseph was sold by his brothers into slavery. Then, the Potiphar’s wife flirted with him, which resulted in him being thrown into jail unjustly. In the end, God honored Joseph for being just and right despite these bad events. In 2 Kings 5 a little girl feared for the people around her not knowing God, and actually played an important role in Naaman being taken to Elisha the prophet for the healing of his leprosy. In Daniel 1-3 King Nebuchadnezzar casted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into a fiery furnace after the three young men (probably between 10 and 30 years old) refused to bow down and worship idols. The soldier that pushed the three into the furnace burned up because the fire was so hot. However, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego walked out without any pain or suffering. Don’t forget the little boy in John 6 who gave up his lunch of bread and fish to feed 5000 men (not counting women and children). For the young of heart, Daniel was about 80 years old when he took on the lion. The good news is whether you are 6 or 96, you are great too! Trust God and follow the lessons in His word. You, too, will make great decisions. Oh, and one more thing, be gentle with your parents. They love you!
I am truly honored to have been nominated a second time for the Liebster Award. This time I was nominated by When I’m with You . . . Whitney Ibe Blog. The author (Whitney) of the Whitney Ibe Blog is upbeat and full of sunshine. Whitney’s positive outlook is inspiring and I love to read her posts. If you haven’t checked out her blog, I encourage you to do so soon, because her inward and outward beauty sparkles through in her writing. Thank you for thinking of me Whitney.
The Liebster Award is an Internet Award given to bloggers by other bloggers. The German word “liebster” means: dearest, sweetest, kindest, nicest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, welcome, and sweetheart. The Award is a nice way to recognize and welcome new bloggers, while allowing others to discover them, as well.
The rules of the Liebster Award are as follows:
1) Acknowledge the blog who nominated you for this award.
2) Answer 11 questions the blogger gave you.
3) Give 11 random facts about yourself.
4) Nominate 11 blogs.
5) Notify them.
6) Give them 11 questions to answer
My Answers
What made you start blogging?I love to read and write. I’ve always wanted to write books. I love the Lord above all. When I was growing up I was taught to share God’s love with others. The church I attended called the sharing I’m referring to “witnessing”. I was taught that witnessing was wonderful and that we should share the gospel through our lives and words everywhere we go. The Bible talks about spreading the gospel. That is what I did.
Over time witnessing has become politically incorrect. As a supervisor at work I was told that I had to be careful about what I said because my workplace and I could be sued. I could lose my home if I mentioned God at work. I heard others say it wasn’t appropriate to say “Merry Christmas”. “Happy Holidays” was the correct holiday greeting. Well, if you have ever had God’s love inside you like I do, you will understand when I say I was about to explode. The funny thing is, I didn’t have to say anything because God’s love just radiates out of me. Over time I just became miserable. So, I sought out another way to spread God’s love, blogging. It helped me to feel more fulfilled. I felt a little like Jesus must have felt when he traveled home and his hometown rejected him, because most of my friends and family refused to look at my blog. I have been told “that was a coincidence, not a miracle,” “you are to legalistic,” and last week “you’re a fanatic”. This doesn’t bother me too much. I feel like it’s their loss. I pray that I will have the opportunity to write and publish books in the future?
If you could visit any country in the world, which would you visit?I love to travel. If I could go anywhere, I’d visit the Holy Lands first. Books, Maps, Photography and Internet information is wonderful and I’m thankful, but nothing is quite like seeing and experiencing places first hand. I want to go to the places we read about in our Bibles.
What is your favorite food? Anything my husband cooks is my favorite food! He’s an amazing chef! I am especially fond of fish.
What is your favorite sport? I’m not a big sports fan. I enjoying watching my college alma mater football team play (Florida State). I also enjoy watching figure skating, and swimming and diving teams. During warmer months I swim and I walk year round.
Do you prefer digital or physical books? Both. It’s a wonderful convenience to be able to bring hundreds of books on a phone or tablet with you everywhere you go. It’s awesome. However, I still like to hold a book in my hands. I make notes in my Bible, so that I can pass them down. Likewise, I have a digital and physical planner. To me it sometimes seems like the digital world is fragile. I often think of the loss of information in the library of Alexandria.
What is the biggest problem you encounter while writing? I want my writing to be perfect grammatically, and inspirationally. The days I feel my writing falls short, seem to be the days I have the most positive comments.
What color are your eyes? Green. Most of the time the whites of my eyes are red from Sjogren’s Syndrome, which makes them look even greener. I’ve had people tell me that my eyes look like they are bleeding sometimes.
Recount a brief childhood story. What happened? When I was a teenager I worked for the County School Board one summer giving swimming lessons. Five days a week my parents would drop me off at 6:30 in the morning to catch a bus that would take me and a few other brave teens to Blue Springs. Blue Springs has ice-cold water in the middle of the day. When we arrived the sun wasn’t high in the sky yet, and the trees shaded the edges of the swimming area. So, most days we spent half of the time trying to get wet above the knees.
The children we were teaching varied in size from kindergarten to I haven’t been able to graduate yet. So, some of my students were larger in stature than I was. In the middle of the swimming area was a floating dock about fifty to seventy-five feet from the surrounding three shorelines. All the experienced swimmers would hang out in the middle. So, it was my goal to have my students swimming to the dock and back by the end of the summer. The problem was most of the students couldn’t put their face in the crystal clear water when they started lessons, and the shorelines dropped to about twenty-five feet deep about ten feet away from the shore.
All summer I worked with the students until the last week of lessons had arrived. I was determined that I would have at least one student swimming to the dock successfully. However, I only had one who could dog paddle a few feet. On the last day of lessons I looked up into the eyes of my six-foot tall most successful student and proudly proclaimed “today you will graduate because you are going to swim to the dock! Isn’t that great!” He shook and looked worried. So I reassured him by saying “don’t worry, I’ll be right beside you and I can save you if you can’t make it.” I was about five foot three and weighed a little less than a hundred pounds. My student looked to be about three hundred pounds. I wasn’t worried at all though. He could dog paddle now.
We made our way side by side toward the floating dock. I was glowing with pride. After all, I had taught this football player to swim. As soon as we were about waist deep, he began to panic. So, I told him to just stand up. That should have been my sign to turn back, but I was convinced he could do it, and I was a “good” swimmer who had mastered life saving techniques. We continued across. It wasn’t long before the water was deep and my student knew it. He was on top of me like I was a floating log. It’s times like these that you realize the lifeguard’s are also students, who in this case were obviously not paying attention because they would have seen me bobbing up and down with a football player on my back. I’m guessing he wasn’t as popular as he thought either, because no one was trying to save him. Finally, I slapped him as hard as I could and said, “get a hold of yourself, the water is only a foot deeper than your height. If you go down, you can jump up off the bottom.” I don’t really know why he believed this, because if you looked down, the water was clear enough to see that it was easily twenty feet deep where we were swimming.
So, we kept inching towards the dock, with my student trying to drown me. I was thinking that I probably needed to ask for assistance to get him back to the shore, if we survived the trip over. Suddenly, he began to swim with great vigor. I looked at him and realized he was looking at a beautiful face on the dock. The girl waved and smiled. I guess you could say he didn’t want to seem embarrassed, because he pointed at me and said, “hey, I’m teaching this girl how to swim. I’ll be there in a minute. She’s having trouble.” I couldn’t believe my ears. I started to speak and he said “shut up. Just get me there and I will find my own way back.” That day I learned that love will find a way. He made it to the dock and spent the remainder of the time with this young lady. Then, he swam back to the shore. The best part of this story is the two later married and are still married today.
What type of music do you like to listen to? This is a tough question for me. I love praise, gospel, hymns, pop, 70’s and 80’s tunes, and classical music. I like some country music.
Do you collect anything? If so, what is it? Yes. I love books.
Where do you see yourself in five years? I see myself writing books, teaching and comforting others. In my free time, I will spend time with my family.
But the LORD stood with me and gave me strength. 2 Timothy 4:17
I hope you are enjoying a wonderful Saturday. My sweet grandson has spent the day with me while his mom sleeps. She’s a working nurse on midnight shift. I wasn’t sure if I could keep up with him all day, but the LORD gave me strength.
A few days ago I was provided an opportunity to do something I have wanted to do and prayed about for many years, teach Sunday School. Isn’t that great? I feel like this opportunity is something God is providing me, and conversely I think I might be an answer to someone else’s prayer. So, what’s holding me back? Only one thing, am I able to make the commitment physically? I know it sounds like virtually no exertion is involved, but for me just getting there takes a great deal of effort, and I want to honor my commitments. I know the answer, but hesitate because I know I have limitations. I also know that God will let me run around in circles like the Israelites in the desert as long as I can, but avoiding the opportunity only hurts me. So, I will ask God to stand with me and give me strength. Have you ever been in a similar situation? Please share.
He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things. Psalm 107.9
Happy Thursday! It’s a great time to practice forgiveness.
Have you ever felt empty? Have you felt like no matter what you do, you can’t find happiness? Is being content something you can’t seem to wrap your mind around? Are you an overachiever, a workaholic, a perfectionist or something similar? Do you feel you have to fill every moment of the day with an activity? Do you dread quietness? I know how you feel. There is only one thing that can fill that hole, God. You can try everything you can think of, but I promise nothing will fill that hole but God. Start your day with God and put God first all day long, and he will fill the emptiness in your soul.
We can’t always see where the road leads, but God promises there is something better up ahead we just have to trust him. Psalm 56:3
Happy Wednesday! It’s a great day to Use Your Gifts to Change the World! So, what will you do?
Do you ever feel like you are unable to make positive change? Do you feel like the world is too big? Then, I have good news. The smallest of changes are viral in the scheme of changing the world. Whenever you do something as simple as smiling at someone having a bad day, the results are beneficial, and that’s not all. Positive changes grow exponentially. Yesterday, I actually heard a very nice lady, who collects items for children in need, say that she had so many people donate that she had to create a new list of items to prevent sending volunteer donors away. She was also taking overflow donations to other agencies. Isn’t that great! That’s how it should be. When we work together to help society, government doesn’t have to. As I’ve said so many times before, changing the world doesn’t have to involve donations or money. You can smile, give a friend a hug, tell the manager of a restaurant or store about an employee who is doing a good job, leave a note, and the list goes on and on. There is no limit to what YOU can do.
As you go out into the world today, start at home and radiate. Make a difference everywhere you go. God bless you.
