365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 279

In the midst of life and its inevitable sufferings, God is always with us. Despite waking up with a headache this morning, I am going to sing praises to God for guiding me and comforting me on this path to a healthy body, mind and spirit. Without the balance in all three areas, we will suffer. More time is taken right now in my food planning and preparation but I am certain that within time, it will all become easier and everything will balance out again. Praising God is a demonstration of our love for him and shines his love for us. I am singing to God today for all his goodness.

Isaiah 12: 4-5 Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world.

365 Days of Spririt-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 234

Have you ever gone along with the crowd or agreed to something because you thought it would please the group, crowd, family, etc? I think we have all been swayed by peer pressure and driven by our own fears of rejection or our needs to belong and done things that we should not have done. King Herod does this in Acts 12. He sees how the Jews are pleased with how he has had James, the brother of John killed and so he decides to seize Peter because he wants to do what is pleasing the crowd. In this case, Peter is put in prison in chains and heavily guarded but God uses this opportunity to show the believers who are earnestly praying for Peter that God is listening by sending an angel to help get Peter out of prison. This is not anything like a jail break in a modern movie with tunnels being dug or schemes being played out that help the prisoner to get out of prison. Peter is literally visited by an angel who instantly releases him from his chains, tells him to put on some clothes, shoes and a cloak and to follow him. The angel leads him out and the iron gate leading to the city opens all by itself. God has taken the unwise decision of King Herod and turned it into an event that brings Him glory. Our own unwise decisions will be used by God for his greater plan as well but how about working on not making those unwise decisions in the first place. We shouldn’t be swayed or manipulated by anyone to do or say anything. Only God is our Guidance Counselor. It is Him we should go to when choices need to be made. This is a tough challenge in our busy world to do. How to stop and consider what Jesus would have us do. Pause and pray for wisdom to make the wise choices. It is something that needs to be cultivated in us. A habit needs to be formed and only a committed heart and some preparation will lead you to successfully becoming prayerful in all your choices. I am going to make it a family challenge and get my family to start working on praying before making our choices. We can celebrate with each other our successes and share our thoughts on how we might do better in the next days. A community effort is always helpful and I am sure pleasing to God.

Acts 12:11 Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 116

Do things ever go as you plan? No, of course not. We are in the final prep stages for my daughter's 10th glow-in-the-dark slumber party. I have had to make the room as dark as possible covering the windows and other small light sources. We have 2 black lights set-up. The girls are going to paint glow-in-the-dark paint on black t-shirts, make glow-in-the-dark lava lamps, paint glow-in-the-dark jar lanterns, make glow-in-the-dark slime, paint their toes with yep, you guessed it, glow-in-the-dark nail polish. Not to mention paint their faces and finish the wall decor all of which will glow as well. There has been a lot of prep work and than I had to go and decide to make a homemade ice cream cake. Well, it is looking good and just needs the last minute decor put on it. I am old enough and wise enough to know that all our plans are not under our control. How everything happens will be determined by God? So we've made our plans and said our prayers that all will come out well now it's up to God. Say a prayer for us it all goes well!
Micah 4:12 But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord; they do not understand his plan.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits-Challenge-Day 100

I woke up yesterday not feeling so great. A head cold had descended into the left side of my head. With now three of us, sniffling, sneezing and coughing, we chose to stay home and watch our church service on the internet. I had it planned to go to my friend’s house about 3pm to take my first test. I should have re-scheduled! I wasn’t thinking clearly. I had not reviewed a vital section of the course and after starting the test I knew I was in trouble. I missed about 11-12 out of 50. Ugh. I don’t know at this point if I will be required to re-take the test or not. My husband was the first to give me words of encouragement. It’s been 20+ years since I took a test so I have to give myself some grace and move on. I know the devil wants me to think I can’t do this but I know I can with God’s help and a little time to get back those study skills from my young college days. So, I will keep fighting the fight, be thoroughly prepared and will be victorious with the next test.

Philippians 1:6 …being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 307

I got the call yesterday from my church that I didn't get the job. I had made the final two after a grueling interview process that took just over 6 weeks. I really am honored to have made the final two and in the end they chose the other lady because she had 10 years experience as a missionary in Turkey and the postion had a lot to do with missions. I thought I would feel more disappointed but what I really feel is free. I know that in this time I have been doing research on other carrer paths and my calling from God became crystal clear. I am going to study to be a biblical counselor. I am very excited to be able to move forward with this. The whole job thing really took me down a detour road which I did do because God did call me to go for the job. Obviously, it wasn't to get the job but to go through the whole process. I discovered that with preparation I really wasn't so bad of an interviewee that I thought. It really was about being prepared for the questions. So, in the end, I have gained more confidence in myself, practiced my patience and learned to let go and let God do his thing. All things work for the good of God's plan. So, now I have to narrow down my schooling options and let God lead me to the school that works in his plan for me.

Romans 11:29 for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 215

It was a sad and scary day yesterday seeing how the fire has spread and come into our town. Unknown numbers of homes have burned but we are thankful that people are safe and fire fighters are safe. Our homes are like our children in so many ways. We invest alot of time and money into them and we have tons and tons of memories within them. I am thankful that those these people whose homes have been burned are alive and that they had some preparation time to get some of those things that cannot be replaced. They may not have gotten all the things out that they wanted but in the end none of it goes with us in our next life in heaven. I am not going to lie. I came home from work after stopping multiple times to take photos of what I was seeing and collected some of my scrapbooks into one spot. Tonight I will probably get out the suitcase that I packed several years ago for emergency situations. It needs to be updated with clothes that fit the kids and who knows what. I will be checking out the Red Cross website for the list of things they will have that you should have packed and ready to go in case of emergencies. We should not fear but it is good to be prepared for anything. How prepared are you for an emergency situation? How prepared are you to meet your Lord and Savior? How prepared are you if you haven't accepted Christ? Jesus will be returning and it could be at any moment.

Matthew 16:26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?