Light Up the Sky

Do you ever feel like you need a song to reach out and GRAB YOU! and to delcare and expression of HOPE!?  This Video HITS the SPOT! and you might need a tissue... be prepaired

Light up the Sky  by: the Afters

Taking the first step

"Just take the first step..."

That can be the hardest thing to do! But afterwards.... you  gain strength, you gain a new ability to proceed forward greater than you were before! 

Diligence

Wisdom

Strength

Patience

I will use a couple of examples:  I've been trying to save money and plan a future with my current boyfriend (such things like: marriage, family, etc.).  With that comes buckling down with my financial budgeting.  ... cutting coupons, no impulse buying, not eating out so much...  These are some things that I have had to take a "first step" in.  After taking that first initial step... the other steps become easier, and if not easier, I feel strengthened and more ready to take on the next challenge.  I haven't perfected it yet, but my boyfriend and I will cook together, and when we sit down to eat, we point out how much it "cost" us to make dinner in comparison to eating out to Whataburger or IHOP etc.  It encourages us that our choices are working for the good of our budgeting.

Working out is another challenge that I think a lot of us face everyday.  I love to workout because of how I feel afterwards, ...rejuvenated, energetic, alert.  Taking that "first step" is the hardest part.  Just the other day, I "made" myself workout on the wii fit plus for 30 minutes.... I loved it so much I wanted to keep going, but I was running out of time. 

So I ask you what challenges are you facing? 
What first steps do you need to take?
Take a challenge and "take the first step"

Grow up!

have you ever had someone tell you to "grow up!"

In some cases that's appropriate, because grown ups have to make grown up decisions, and live in the grown up world.

But the Lord says to have faith like a child. (Matthew 18:3-4)

Have you ever walked through a store where you see to your right the "toy section", and you want so badly to see the toys, but another part of you says, "no, you're too old for that".  With a giggle in my sentence, some of you might be old enough to have kids, so you can get away with the justification of looking at the toy section for your "kids".  I end up going down the aisles anyway, not really concerned of how "grown up" I am or should be... toys are FUN!

Take that concept with your "faith".  You want to live it out with such joy and excitement, and energy, and love, but sometimes we "grow up" in our faith and forget to keep the essence of a childlike faith, not questioning God so much, not trying so much to take matters into our own hands...etc...

So YES, continue to "GROW UP"

But also continue to "grow in your childlike faith also.  GO THROUGH THE TOY DEPARTMENT!  Push the shape buttons on the preschool steering wheel, flip through the coloring books, even maybe purchase one and color pictures and put them on your fridge or mail to a friend.  why not?

The Lost get Found...

Enjoy this expression of reaching out to OTHERS, telling the good news..  by: Britt Nicole.

HELPER

Have you ever asked for help and guidance and you will get good helpers, ones that help you to the best of their abilities; the okay helpers, there are usually strings attached; and the helpers that aren't helpers at all?

People can help, but I will tell you even a greater HELPER..

When Jesus spoke about HIM leaving soon, HE said "And I will ask the Father, and HE will give you another Helper to be with you forever" John 14:16

THE HOLY SPIRIT   aka  THE HELPER

This past week I can testify that when I broke down my pride and started asking for HIS help and guidance, it has come at me like a freight train.  .. in a good way..  But I say this because HE will never let me down, HE will never leave me, HE won't forsake me. 

I was just a whispered plea away... and HE came to my aid!

Have you ever asked THE HELPER for guidance and help?  I promise, your outcome will be the best for God's Glory.

Temptation: the Butter Bowl

When Nanny (my grandmother) said "girls, set the table", my sister and I would start setting out the plates, silverware, ..... condiments, such as ketchup, A1 sauce....and my favorite BUTTER.

That's right!  I was known to stick my finger in the BUTTER BOWL!  Every time we set the table, I was tempted to stick my finger in and scoop out a delightful cloud of butter goodness and eat it.  I got away with it a few times.  Here and there, my sister would tell on me.  Sometimes my grandmother just KNEW and would shout out from the other room, "Jamie, you better not be putting your finger in the butter bowl!"  I was tempted... I loved it!

TEMPTATION:  its a nasty business, and it starts when we're little, like butter bowls, video games, putting down others in order to be cool.
Later as grown ups we deal with it in the form of laziness (someone else will get it for me), food, overspending, pornography, lying...etc.

The best way to explain it is through this video.  Its a song from the VeggieTales Video:  "LarryBoy and the Bad Apple"  There is a villain that is a BAD apple named Temptation, and she out to take over the town and eventually the world.  She fights with tempting individuals with their weak spots, easy to trap them.  This song puts it into perspective.  ENJOY!

The BIGGEST Decision You Make

(An Expression through a dream: a conversation with the Anointed One: His expression to me)
My Love
How have you been?

I've been right here. Waiting for you to come to me again. I've been looking for you and I to have communion... to come and rest in me and regain your strength through your hard times with MY strength. You say I have forgotten you, ....you have forgotten ME and MY power and might...my love

Lord of All Creation: by: Jamie Cook

I want to remind you that you didn't just join a club or social group called "church", you entered into the BIGGEST decision you would ever make. You even said this choice was even bigger that who you would choose to marry and spend the rest of your life with!

You said "YES" to ME.
I am yours
you are MINE.

I gave everything (my life) to you
and I ask only 10% of your life back to ME, please give ME all of you, so I can have LORDSHIP over your life, and you can enter into MY peace.

Consider this my love.

I miss you.

Don't forget the decision you made, it changes the rest of your life

Afraid to Ask...

Have you ever been afraid to ask questions?

This issue is something I'm not so gentle with (as far as if its a waste of time to ask questions or forbidden).  There are questions always to be asked.  There is always room to grow.  There are always moments you want to know the truth so you feel complete. 

Nothing wrong with it, and I will stand up to anyone who believes differently.

Okay, now for the GENTLE part of this issue.  We must be gentle with each other when questions ARE asked.  This means not incorporating anger and degrading looks when the questions begin. 

For example, I have always been taught some moral standards to stand by according to the church body... along the road I've had a few questions about what the bible says, and what the christian says.... with this intrique I am not out to be angry or spiteful towards anyone, but when I have asked certian questions in the past, I have gotten replies back in anger, or "how dare you doubt" looks.  All I was looking for was more council and wisdom to know what is right and wrong. 

A part of me wonders if that is our instinct when confronted with something out of the norm... we start to take defense right away.  ... our duty is to be GENTILE and COMPASSIONATE towards the person asking.

Another example right now:  I have a lot of questions about "missions" and "being a missionary" and being "missional".  Because I have these questions, I'm not in doubt where I'm abandoning all hope or something, I'm simply asking questions that I don't have answers to... with hopes that I'm not judged for asking.

So my question for you is, ... Have you ever been the one asking the questions (which challenge the faith), or Have you ever been the one presented with such challenging questions?  if so on ether end, how have you delt with it?  please share.

The Coolest Interview EVER!

It was 6th or 7th grade, in our history class, and we were assigned to interview someone that went through the Great Depression.  I got to visit with a lady in her mid 70's .

It was the Coolest Interview EVER!  I remember sitting at her kitchen table, eating cookies, and a glass of ice tea.  Her wrinkled hands folded over, breathing calmly with each questions I asked.  Me being just a kid, I could relate to a lot of things she said, because SHE was just a kid when she remembered going throught the great depression.  She would tell me about how it seemed "different", and their food they ate had to change.  And that people were sad.  She also told me some good memories that she and her brothers and sister would play fun games even though times were tough.  Even as a kid, I was amazed to hear her story.  NOW as an adult I think I would have appriciated it more hearing her stories!

But growing up through the years I have heard great stories from my own kitchen table.  My grandmother at times would tell awesome stories, and she still does!!  One of my favorite stories is about her step brother having a pet monkey, and that it would eat her mother's lipstick all the time.

She would tell me stories about living around farm life, about the pros-and-cons of then and now.  She will tell stories of when my mother was a baby.  She even tells stories of her tough times she went through.

OVERALL these stories bring together HISTORY : where we came from, why we are here now, and what will we do next. 

Don't neglect listening to the older generation's stories... you will gain, understanding, knowledge, wisdom, and RESPECT... you'll start to see the BIG PICTURE.

Who are you going to interview?

I wonder WHY

I wonder why...
why do some bugs fly
and some do not
some have stripes
and some have spots

why do some plant grow flowers
while others grow food
some are poisonous
and some are good.

and I walk down the trail and look at the birds...

Why does each one
 have their own song
some notes are short
some are long.

I keep walking and look up at the sky

Why does the moon show his face
while the sun is still setting
why do the stars twinkle
when the sun is just waking

Why does the Lord
love somebody like me
I'm nothin' special
you see.

But just like the bugs, the birds
and the plants, and the sky
His purpose is pure
and I need not ask why

He answers with
these words so true
3 words:
"I MADE YOU"

New Year, New Day

Happy New Year to everyone!  The holiday schedule kept me away from my regular scheduled blogging, but I'm Back!

Every Year ..by the time its October, and I know there is Halloween candy, then Thanksgiving Dinner, then Christmas Dinner, then New Years Dinner... my first resolve is that I'll let myself go in my eating habits til new years and then make a resolution to diet, eat right, exercise more.  By the time May or June hits my commitments to the right diet have started to deteriorate for the year and I'm back in the cycle of October again.  I hate that I do this, but I'm trying to change it!  Have y'all ever done this?

We start something, start it well... and then.... ............. ... we start to ease up on the discipline.  What if we treated each day like New Years day?  wake up.... say its a new day... and I'm going to do .... (fill in the blank).

What if...
1.   we celebrated "Happy New Day"!?  That would totally change our perspective!

"Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.  They are new EVERY MORNING; great is Your faithfulness." (Lamentations 3: 22-23)

2.  Its good to make change each year (or day)

(Romans 12:2) "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

3.  Follow through..... FINISH

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4: 7)


So whatever your new year's resolutions are make them your NEW DAY's resolutions starting now. :D




*Note:  I'm back on schedule as of Monday.  Apologies for the missed blogs.**