365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 73

Today I will ponder these words from CS Lewis, “God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.” Without Jesus, we cannot find what we need. We are like a blind man stumbling along in the dark but with Jesus by our side, he can lead us towards all that we need.

Phillipians 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 3

In really starting to think about love, I am reminded of how very complex a subject it is. It is no wonder we can spend our whole lives learning about love. I have been reading about temperament theory and how we each have a unique temperament we are born with, created in us by God. Our temperament dictates what it is we need in terms of relationships, control and affection. One person will only need a little love while another person’s need for love has to be regularly demonstrated. This uniqueness in our temperaments also will affect accepting God’s love. Some temperaments, if not, taught early-on about God, will have a much more difficult time accepting Christ. It will be by only the power of God that these individuals come to believe. This really emphasizes the great need to be an example, teach and love on our children all about God. We need to be reminded often of how unique all of us are. Our uniqueness creates a lot of the complexity in regards to love but if we can start to really see each person as a unique creation of God, we may be able to understand and forgive when we are not feeling the love.

Try using this scripture as your prayer each day and instead of the second “I” put in a person’s name.

Psalm 139:14 I praise you because I (person’s name) am (is) fearfully and wonderfully made.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 201

I started writing about something else but my daughter just came down and said "mom you are needed" in her sweet voice. I just had to grab her into a hug. I have to go help her with the milk so this is short and sweet. Praise God for the feeling of being needed and the heartfelt words that come out of children.
Matthew 18:3 "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 17

So, yesterday was a Christmas shopping day for me with my daughter. The looming deadline to get packages mailed out is coming so I had to get out there and find stuff. I got caught by surprise at the register at Michael's when my total got cut in half. Wow, what, why? It's buy one get one free! Yeah, more money to buy more presents! So off we went to Family Christian Book store. I could have stayed in there a long time but shopping with Faith is always a rushed thing. Later, as I was reading a book by Rick Warren called The Purpose of Christmas, he talks about one of God's characteristics of always being present. There's another "P" word to focus on this month. God's presence in our lives is constent and never wavers. He's always there no matter if we see or feel it. But how can we become more conscious and aware of God's presence in our lives. Most of the time, we are aware when we are in desperate need but what about those times when we are just shopping with our daughter or relaxing in front of the TV or cooking up dinner for the family? This month we celebrate the present God gave us in his son Jesus Christ so let's give a present back to God and let him know how much we love him and know that he is with us.
Take this verse from Matthew 5:20 and insert your name in the spot for 'you'. And surely I am with Janine always, to the very end of the age. Type it up and post it in your home, write it up on a prayer card to keep with you in your purse, car or at work. Be reminded often of God's presence.