Sing Each Morning

Do you every stop and think of all the kindnesses that God has towards you? I am so thankful for the goodness He lavishes on me. I want to be someone who is quick to notice all of the incredible ways He shows me His love.

I shall sing of Your strength; Yes, I shall joyfully sing of Your lovingkindness in the morning. Psalm 59:16a

One of my favorite times and places are early mornings on my front steps. The sun rises I witness across the field are absolutely beautiful. It is easy to see God’s goodness in creation and to be reminded of His mighty hand.

Having a heart that is thankful for the greatness of God is the best way to begin the day.

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It is Surely Impossible! Or is it?

“It is totally impossible. There is no chance this would ever happen,” she said. Have you ever had similar thoughts, where logic tells you there is no way?

I just said these words a few weeks ago while talking to a dear friend at a concert. I am thankful that God so quickly reminded the two of us, that these words are not truth. They are not who He is. He has no limits.

“‘Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.” (Jeremiah 32:17)

Within just a few seconds of voicing my doubt, Sidewalk Prophets was ready to play their music. They said, “Do you ever think something is impossible? There is nothing impossible with God!” We laughed at the Lord’s perfect timing.

All throughout the Bible, God defies the odds. He has no restrictions.

Jesus not only brought others back from the dead, He brought Himself back. He conquered even death, proving to mankind that He is God. Nothing holds God back.

So of course, if He can conquer death, He surely can conquer anything that appears impossible!

My Big Mouth!

Lately my mouth keeps getting me into trouble! I can be so quick to nag or get defensive with my husband. Or sometimes without realizing it, I am quick to spout off the “right” way to do something, when what I should be doing is taking a step back and remembering that I don’t need to have my way all the time. It is so easy to fall into unhealthy and ungodly patterns of thinking and speaking! When it comes to marriage, easy is an understatement!

My husband loves me an awful lot though and has no problem telling me to guard my tongue. But even more so, God makes it abundantly clear when I need to repent! It seems that I need this necessary reminder more often than I’d like! Can anyone relate? The reality is, if I am getting loose lips, I am sinning and not following God’s Word.

James 1:22 says, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” If tension is building in my home because of what comes out of my mouth, God is giving me a very clear message that I need to repent, pray for the Lord’s help in guarding my tongue, and change the way I listen and speak.

The Bible has a lot to say about our tongues and how we use them. James 3 compares our tongues to a spark that can burn an entire forest to the ground. It calls our tongues evil, corrupting, and full of deadly poison! The Bible also calls people with loose lips fools! Proverbs 18:7 says, “A fools mouth is his destruction and his lips are the snare of his soul.”

I want to be like the virtuous wife in Proverbs 31. “She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.” Proverbs 17:27 says, “The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint, and whoever has understanding is even-tempered.” Let us all strive to be more like this in our todays! I know I won’t do it perfectly but God doesn’t ask for perfection, just obedience! And, guess what Jesus said about being obedient to God’s word? “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23) That’s a promise I intend to cash in on! How about you?

God Given Determination

I was so touched by the kind response to my ‘God Inspired Healthy Eating’ blog post, that I thought I would continue a bit of my weight loss story.

God definitely helped me lose the weight, because I had no self-control when it came to food. I remember being at a friend’s house and she had chocolate in a drawer, she offered me some and I remember thinking, “how can you let chocolate sit in your drawer? I would have eaten it in one sitting.” Or, pancake day (is that exclusive to Britain?). My Dad had to beg me to stop having too many pancakes.

Overeating was a huge weakness for me. “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:10b. In my weakness God gave me strength and determination to lose the weight.

In Galatians 5:23, one of the fruits of the spirit that is stated is “Self-control”. It was not good that I gauged myself on food, but how would I stop? God wants me to have self-control, I knew He wanted me to over come this weakness. So I continued to pray.

Then one day after praying I found I had a God given determination, I thought “I am going to do this” and I told my sister Susan and she was excited for me and she knew from the way that I spoke that I was going to do this.

I have had to educate myself in food. Everyone is different, but food is a huge issue for everyone. When getting healthy, I researched food and tried different plans to maintain my new weight. It is a learning curve for everyone.

Our Heavenly Father loves us and being in a relationship with him means “praying without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). My Mum has always taught me to pray about EVERYTHING. God cares about the little things and the big. He’s helped me work through a huge weakness of mine and workout how to eat well. And, he cares for each and everyone of you too.

My Sin is Sad, My God is Greater

As far back as I can remember I have believed in God. As a teen though, I wanted to do my own thing and have “fun.” But, now that my eyes have been open to Truth, I see that there was no fun in those times, just sadness.

Ezra was a great leader in the Bible who saw the sin of the people as a sad thing. He knew what their sin meant. He knew it meant sad things for them.

God had told them, do not intermarry with the people of the land. There were many reasons why God had this rule, but it wasn’t to ruin their fun. It would cause them to stray from Him and His ways. It was His will for them to be a separate people for Who was to come. It would cause sad things for them, heartache. But, many disobeyed and married them anyway.

Ezra knew too what it would mean for the people he loved and he wept over it. Eventually, the people saw how sad it was and what it meant for them and they wept with him.

“While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a large crowd of Israelites—men, women and children—gathered around him. They too wept bitterly” (Ezra 10:1).

Their sin caused them a lot of deep heartache because they had to separate families. Imagine husbands and wives separating and children being without their families intact. The grief of their sin was huge.

Let us think about the sin around us like God does. It is sad. Even something we might think is small, like a hurtful thought towards someone is sad. People are made in God’s image. All of our sin is sad. Instead, if God’s heart is for His glory, and our goodness and if He is love and light, and there is no darkness in Him, we should want to choose His ways and reap joy, laughter, peace, and love.

Hellos Are Great, GoodByes Not So Much

Traveling to see our son and family in Texas is always such fun. They are wonderful hosts. His hysterical sense of humor and their overall hospitality is extremely welcoming. My husband, Ray and I always have a splendid time with them and we look forward to our Texas trips. We step off the plane to hugs, laughter and an overall feeling of love. Our hellos are always great!

But, after a few weeks it’s time for us to head back to New England. Heading back to the airport is tough. We try to let each other know how much we love and will miss each other. When we part, our hugs are a little tighter and linger just a bit. As our son’s car pulls away we wave and try to get that one last look until the next time.

Hellos are always great, goodbyes not so much.

What helps each of us through the goodbyes is knowing we will see each other again. We have already begun the planning for the next time we meet. There is great comfort in planning and looking forward to the next hello.

Jesus spoke about the ultimate goodbye and hello. Because of His great love for us, He wanted to comfort us in our grief.

He said, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. John 14:1-3

Jesus knew if we were to be comforted through the ultimate goodbyes, we needed the hope of the ultimate hello. He promised that He is preparing a place for us and that He will come again. Our Hope is that we will see Jesus and every other Christ follower again.

Jesus spoke to those people that were following Him. Jesus said, And you know the way to where I am going.” John 14:4

I want to ask you do you know the way? Have you planned for that ultimate good bye and hello? One man Jesus spoke to asked Jesus, “What is the way?”

Jesus replied, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

I pray you will ask Jesus to be your HOPE and that you are ready for the ultimate goodbye and hello! I plan to see you there.

Pursuing Happiness and Coming Out Empty

Oh the pursuit of happiness, always leaving us empty. Maybe, just maybe, the next thing will fulfill. More money, less body fat, extra education, a new job or relationship, we wonder if ________ is the answer to the yearning.

Attaining these things will never satisfy that unrelenting void we hope to fill. Our bodies, formed by a Creator, were woven with a longing for the worship of Him who created us.

When we accept God’s gift of His Son, Jesus,

“Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee How great Thou art, how great Thou art”

Then we have found the pursuit of happiness. It is Jesus, your soul praising Jesus. Freedom envelopes you in an unexplainable way, for eternity.

This is what we are searching for. I know because, I have found it.

“For he who finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord.” (Proverbs 8:35)