Year End..

I can't believe this year is coming to an end. I totally spaced it was even New Years eve today. I guess I don't get into the whole "yayyy, this year is coming to an end" business. Ba humbug huh?
Given the days that God has granted us, years-months-hours-are so precious to come by. I think people can look back at not only their years- but their lives, their weeks, even their smallest moments in amazement and at how swiftly they all go by. I remember when my daughter Tiana was just a small little thing, and she is blossoming so. Turning to God and knowing Him in her own heart, she is truly growing swiftly! Even little Adrianna will be visiting soon, and I know that I will be amazed at how much she will have grown in the small amount of time that she has been away. Looking at the girls pictures, and remembering that life will so often change, reminded me of what Moses prayed in Psalm 90:12

12 "So teach us to number our days,That we may gain a heart of wisdom."

What a valuable thing to pray!
I read that we will spend most of our lives sleeping, and working with about equal time in between to do what we please. Doesn't seem right does it? Now, I don't remember the exact numbers, but when I think about how fast my day goes by, and how much time I waste when I'm NOT spending time with God, it saddens me.
I also know that when I take the time to be still and stop long enough to hear myself breathe, I am thankful that I have a God that thought me worthy enough to allow that breath to give me life. Yes, He is in control of all Heaven and Earth...All the creeping things of the land and of the sea.. The stars, the moon, the sky. Yet and still every day, He loves me enough to grant me life. Amazing isn't it? One more moment, one more hour,one more day. A chance to grow closer. A chance to listen. A chance to Love.
Thank you God, for you always know exactly what to do, exactly what to say, and exactly where to show up!
Here is to a fuller, even more delightful walk with God. Whether it be one day, or you are looking forward to an entire year, let us remember to number our days as Moses said. Being mindful that those minutes are choices we make to grow closer and closer to a God we so dearly love!
Happy New Year everyone :)

God Hath Promised

I love this small simple poem. It is short to the point and ohhh so true! Enjoy!

What God Hath Promised
Annie Johnson Flint

God hath not promised

Skies always blue,

Flower-strewn pathways

All our lives through;

God hath not promised

Sun without rain,

Joy without sorrow,

Peace without pain.

But God hath promised

Strength for the day,

Rest for the labour,

Light for the way,

Grace for the trials,

Help from above,

Unfailing sympathy,

Undying love.

Uplifting Scripture of The Week

Matthew 11:28-30

28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

This is my husbands favorite verse, and rightly so. These verses remind us that Jesus gives rest to the weary heart, and food to the hungry soul. When we become like Christ and allow Him to lead us, our burdens become light, and easy to bear. Knowing you have a leader and a partner in Christ is always knowing you will go the right way, you just have to let HIM steer!

To Inspire

I have been told in the past that I have somewhat inspired a few people. An amazing compliment? YOU BET YA! It is good to hear, but it is God that deserves all the Glory. For it is the God inside me that I obey, seek, and look towards for guidance and ultimately to help me grow.

I thought about what it means to inspire, and I began to see that inspiration to some, is not always inspiration to others.. so I did some research. The American Heritage Dictionary defines inspiration as:

in·spi·ra·tion
(ĭn'spə-rā'shən)
*Stimulation of the mind or emotions to a high level of feeling or activity.
*The condition of being so stimulated.
*An agency, such as a person or work of art, that moves the intellect or emotions or prompts action or invention.
*Something, such as a sudden creative act or idea, that is inspired.
*The quality of inspiring or exalting: a painting full of inspiration.
*Divine guidance or influence exerted directly on the mind and soul of humankind.
*The act of drawing in, especially the inhalation of air into the lungs.

I thought this was very interesting indeed! Look at these definitions..

To inspire is something we don't create ourselves, but it happens naturally, or spiritually rather. In these definitions, there is really no explanation on how these events occur. We have to have faith that God is behind all true inspiration, and that the gift of inspiration is a precious one. When we stay faithful and obedient to God, we bear fruit, and this fruit when created in Christ, can feed others. I have benefited from the fruit of those who truly know God, and it has made me grow! It truly is a blessing to be able to inspire others, but let us always be thankful for the message, for the Love that was poured out to us, and the inspiration that becomes life.

I Believe..

I loved this idea from Priscilla, and enjoyed reading her "beliefs" here are a few of mine..

I Believe.. Jesus Christ died for our sins and made a way for us in Heaven.

I Believe... God can do all things

I Believe.. that though you think you know people, sometimes you've only scratched the surface.

I Believe...that it only takes a moment to make a mistake, but it can take a life-time to repair it.

I Believe..that God does all things for a reason.

I Believe..that the people that love you most sometimes say it the least.

I Believe..that caring for others is a necessity.

I Believe.. that some of the sweetest things in life can be missed in the blink of an eye.

I Believe..that stopping to hear God whisper, is sweeter that hearing the world scream.

I Believe..that every day is a gift.

I Believe...that every time you think you lose a friend, with God involved, He just preps its for take off!

I Believe.. that no matter the circumstance, you are never alone.

I Believe..that when you truly believe, things happen.

You may not notice..

But I changed the name of my blog. I tried to find something more "me" and something that reflects what I have been experiencing lately.
Seriously, God is so good to me. He has really set me free lately, and though He is the only one that truly knows my heart, my words can never express how grateful I am to Him. He has really formed me from the nothing-ness that I was and made me somebody whom He loves. I say that with confidence not because of my works, but because of the promise that He made to me, and because of how much He has given me in my life. I never deserved any of it, and when I think of how much He carried me through this life, I become overwhelmed with joy and thankfulness. He never gives up on us, and His patience is unmatched.
I think often about Psalm 118:8 and how it states:

8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.

This has been a wonderful passage for me to remember. I think back to when my friend Becky and I were at odds with each other. I had given up on our friendship, and came to terms with the worst-that we would never become friends again. Somehow, a while before Christ found me, her and I got together and started talking. We discovered that we missed each others friendships dearly, and were sorry for time we had lost together. It was no short amout of time, and being as close as we were, not speaking in over a year was something major! I was afraid our friendship would never be the same, but as I got closer to God, He blessed that friendship and now she is like a sister to me. I love her no matter what, and that friendship could only develop because of our love of God. It has indeed been blessed. Again, perfect no. But a blessing, yes.
See..Sometimes I think I know how things will turn out in life, but it is God who knows all, and who crates all. I had even lost friends for silly reasons, only to find out they have realtionships with Christ as well, and He brought us around full circle. Isn't He great? It is the Lord that blesses all those relationships, and continues to help them grow. He has made it clear! and once again, I am thankful.
Reflecting back, I have felt passionately about some things in my life, a couple that I can recall right off the top of my head, but it is only God who has out-shone all those things in my life- and He should, shouldn't He?.. yes, He remains in the center. Am I perfect? absolutely not, but that is the gracious part of Gods wonderful gift.

He gives us another day to learn, another day to love, and another day to put our trust solely in Him. In essence, to grow. Listen, I have been let down before..we are human, we ALL have, but isn't it a blessing that God will never disappoint us? Yes, sometimes we don't understand, but we KNOW that He will never, ever let us down.

I love it, and my heart cries out to Him in thankfulness in all He has done. There is much work to do, but I am glad that I can lean on an awesome healer like Jesus Christ. He understands me inside and out, and yet, He still loves me. There is true relief in that, and even if I said it a million times, then a million times again, those thank-yous would never be enough. They couldn't even come close.
For He knows what He has done for me, knows what He has changed inside me, and though the world may fail us, Christ stays with us- we are all blessed indeed!

New Blog-ventures..

Ok so one of the newest things I do is making up new words...as demonstrated in "blog-ventures" there.. The words never stick, but it has earned me somewhat of score on "cool points" as once dubbed by me and my sister way back in what..? 93? yeah that's probably about right. Anyway, some people actually enjoy my off-the-wall, and sometimes random sense of humor. As you all know, I purchased a VW bug with my husband and it is looking to be quite the adventure.
The first 2 minutes we got the car was hilarious and it inspired a new blog idea. I've entitled it"when good cars go bad". I don't know,something about the true sadness of a car that is almost sad beyond measur...and, it's what came to me when I thought of the hilarity of some of the things we do for cars we love~ anyway, its should be pretty funny and you can check it out anytime on blogger- yes, the link to Good_Cars_Gone_Bad is now available- Click and visit today!

This Little Light of Mine...

"I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!"

I thought about this melody when I came into work this morning. Humming along as I came in..I thought about how many times I could let my light shine, and how the adversary tries to dim that light, the Light the Lord so graciously shone upon us. And has shared within us.This morning on my way in, I got some bad news..kinda. Just one more to add to the list! (btw I think "bad news is really only as bad as you take it to be) I was ok with it, and you know what? I'm not letting anything dim or darken the Light that is within me- nope, just not gonna let it! God has blessed me this day, and there is nothing that can change that. Here's confirmation:
when I finally got my computer up and running, I saw this picture my sis took over the weekend- you may notice it from my updated blog :

I tweaked it a little and added pretty borders, etc to it, but this is what I see every time I boot up my computer now. I thought about all the things that make our light brighter, and just being happy for the things that we have, the people that are safely within arms reach, and the beauty that God unveils to us each day. Scripture says: "Be Still and know that I am God. "(psalm 26:10) He rarely screams or shouts, we have to search for him- always. I find myself looking over these pictures constantly because they add electricity to the Light that God instills inside of me. I bug my sister often for every single picture she takes for this very reason- so I am reminded always of where my life comes from, and never forgetting that when I look at the lights within my life, I can't help but to smile. Here are some for you to enjoy with me!

This one is of our new family, we are missing little Adri, but she is never far from our spirits or our hearts.

How can you not smile when you look at this?

And there He is...always with us, always watching us,- His children, forever encouraging us to grow!

Big ups to my sister Tiffanie- she does a great job with photography, and I love seeing her pictures over and over and over again! Till next time..Let your light shine continuously- the Lord within us is never failing, and He endures forever! have a blessed day!

A new day..

So many things to write about, so little paper...
I guess I will start with the weekend. It was an eventful one, concerning my spirit, and it has changed a lot within me. Like I had stated in a previous blog my friends sister in law passed away, and I found my self at her service there early on Saturday. It was a beautiful, amazing, and love filled home going service. It caused me to think about my life, and what I would leave behind, what kind of a person I would like to be.. and I decided that I would let God figure that out. He can do so many things in my life, so I re-committed myself to Him. This was ironic to me because it happened to be what we talked about during Sundays sermon, so it was a reassurance to me and comfort to know that God was indeed trying to tell me something.
It seems though, that as soon as you do that, as soon as you listen, the adversary looks for a way to bring you down. I argued with my family a lot on Sunday which saddened me because I feel like there is a simple answer to all the chaos that surrounds us. I hate fighting, but we are human, and it is hard to show love to someone inside a moment when they are pushing every possible button you have....relentlessly.
Especially for me.
and the adversary knows it.
I have a temper-a short fuse- and irritated way about me, because deep down, I just want to love people, and when its not reciprocated, or when I don't get the answer I expect-I get hurt- then what do I do? I get irritated. It's so easy, and so quick, yet so dis-satisfying. I often feel like I'm fighting an uphill battle in my very own flesh, and there I am, helpless in the middle of it- just screaming for it to stop! Stop..Stop..STOP! Then God shows up.. soothing and subtle to my Spirit.
God has so much more planned for us, and I realized on Saturday that we haven't much time to do it in. Who cares what food you will eat today? Where the laundry goes, or some other meaningless matter? I don't! No, my focus is on God, and all the Glory that He has planned for me. Someday, all these things will pass away, and I too, will go with it- but my desire, my prayer, my never ending hope is that while in the presence of the Lord, He is pleased with me. God instilled in me a warm, loving, and joyous spirit, full of life, and screaming out for excitement and fun. Tell me how THAT can't bring God Glory- No matter what, He is my Father, and I am His child, and though not perfect, I pray that in His eyes- one day, I will be.