365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 98

Change has been happening a lot lately especially at my work. I have never been afraid of change but rather embrace it but too much change at once can create a feeling of being out-of-control and wreak so much havoc and cause a lot of stress. That's how I was feeling last week, I let the changes at work overwhelm me instead of taking it to God which I finally did. I have been much more at peace and less stressed about getting the amount of work I have done. But again as I said early this week after my friend died unexpectedly things can change on a dime. Yesterday, I along with a few others from my department were called into the break room for an unexpected meeting. Unexpected meetings are almost always not good. I big red flag went up when I walked in and saw a lady I didn't recognize and noticed that my team lead looked like she had been crying. Something Not good was up and I was starting to feel a bit sick at heart. Half of my department was laid off yesterday. Thankfully, I wasn't in that half but here come more changes. So, I will be asking God continually throughout my work days for peace and comfort to help me and the rest of what's left in my department to get through these changes with grace and a sense of calm in our hearts. Things can change in a heart beat, death of a friend, getting laid off from work, slipping on ice and hurting yourself, and the list could go on and on. How do you handle change? As with EVERYTHING it is best placed in the hands of God who never changes.
James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 97

As I met with my bible study last night and we discussed the chapter on fear of death, my thoughts were with my friend's family and how they are doing. I found out it was a very unexpected stroke that took her to Jesus. We ended up discussing what we think is on the other side. What do you think will happen when you die? A few of them actually had some real life stories of family that died and a bright white light that was seen. I think when people acutually experience this or something like it that is God letting them know it's okay. I am praying that my friends family although they may not have seen the white light or witnessed anything that was profoundly of God, that they keep the hope that they will see their mother, wife, daughter again. When something like this happens, you really take heart of your own life and how much you are loving others and how much you are sharing about God. There is always room for improvement! So first we take our prayers to God to help us let go of the fear so that we can reach out in love. Is there a fear of something that is keeping you from reaching out in love or being all God wants you to be? Seek him out and be freed.
Psalm 34:4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.

365 Days of Praise Day 86

I think every child out there at one time or another or for some more often than not experience the unrealistic fears of the monster in the closet, the fear of clown dolls or fear of the dark. My daughter had some fears that had her waking me up at 3am last night. Turns out this time it is a fear of the hand that comes out of the closet. Her friends are telling her scary stories about the headless horseman and hands in closets. I crawled into bed with my daughter and she curled up, closed her eyes and said "I feel safe when your hear." I cuddled with her for a little while and than started to get out of bed. She, of course, popped her eyes open and lifted her head up asking where I was going. "I am going back to bed, you have to close your eyes and remember God is right here with you." So, she did and fell back to sleep for the remainder of the night. She told me this morning about her fears and that she made her fears do something funny together in a dream. Her dream was in the bottom of the Ocean in Sponge Bob's pineapple house. I was there with a bunch of other stange people and the headless horseman and the hand and we were all on a dance floor dancing together. I said God is using your own imagination to help you conquer your fears. All of this really made me think about choices and how if we have the holy spirit within us it us up to us to call on the holy spirit to help us. We can conquer our own fears by calling on our helper.
Psalm 91:14-15 I will protect those who trust in my name. When they call on me, I will answer.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 84

You have probably done this before and felt something similar. I was in the spa last evening relaxing after a stressful day at work and after the lights automatically went out, the sky darkened and my eyes adjusted and I started to see a multitude of stars. Not just those really bright ones that always seem to be there but the more distant ones that need a very clear sky without lights affecting it. I just stared in amazement. It reminded me of a time when my family went camping in a desert somewhere in CA and we got to sleep out under the stars. If you have never been in the desert at night, you need to get it on your list of things to do. I was probably elementary school age and because my memory is so bad, the fact that this stayed with me is a testimony to how powerful an experience it was. You want a good idea of how great our God is take a nighttime look at the universe he created. Wow! Our God is so great! Our God created this huge seemingly unendless universe and yet he is right here with us, loving us, caring for us, giving up his son to save us. I am in awe and will seek out that nighttime sky full of stars to remind me often of how much we are loved by the One true God of the universe.
Psalm 8:3-4 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him?

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 59

I had this great analogy the other day when I was contemplating that word "reflection". I am not sure how this came into my mind but it started with a regular balloon and has grown into a big hot air balloon. Let me explain. We are the balloons. God breathes into the regular balloon and the more breath of God going into the balloon (us), the more we are filled with the spirit of God and rising towards Him. The hot air balloons really work well with this analogy. Have you ever seen hot air balloons take off? We have an annual hot air balloon festival in COS every labor day weekend and have loved seeing 20 some hot air balloons take off into the sky all at the same time. Hot air balloons have a big lighter so to speak that when clicked will create the flame and heat the air making the balloon rise. That flame is the Holy Spirit and the point is this just like they have to click the 'lighter' to ignite the flame, we have to 'click' the Holy Spirit every day, hour, minute. When we ignite the Holy Spirit, we are filled with that breath of God and are lifted higher and higher. I can't wait to create a scrapbook page about this!!! It's going to be so colorful and amazing. Thank you Lord for this wonderfully amazing visual analogy that you brought to me of how your Holy Spirit works in us.
Genesis 2:7 ...the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.