356 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 6

I keep hearing this song in my head. I am not even sure who sings it. The words go like this: I wanna live like that and give it all I have, recklessly abandoned, never holding back. I wanna live like that. The phrase recklessly abandoned and never holding back are really the parts that stand out and are speaking to me. It makes me think of being in church and seeing just a couple of people in the whole congregation lifting their hands to God during a song. I don’t necessarily think that lifting your hands or dancing as David does in the bible is the only way of letting go and just loving God and worshipping him but I wonder if all these other people are really letting go and not holding back. I know I have had my days in worship that I am not really all there.  Presbyterians are naturally just very conservative people. But is our tendency to be conservative holding us back from truly loving and worshipping God in a no-holding-back kind of way. There may be other areas where you hold back; maybe at your workplace or with a certain group of people? This is an area I will be praying about in the days to come.

Almighty God, I know I love you in my head but help me to love you with all my heart and soul so much so that I am not holding back; that I am shinning your love out of me to all those around me. In your precious name, Amen.

2 Samuel 6:14  And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge

I got a follow-up sermon letter in my inbox yesterday. Hmmm… that’s something new. Pastor John Goodale had preached on Sunday regarding love within the church family. He specifically wanted to follow up on the things he challenged us to do and told us of a visitor at the church on Sunday who emailed him telling him that when he got out of service and was waiting for his wife he had three people come up and engage him in conversation. In looking over the action items that the pastor challenged us to do, I could see the main component to doing these is time. Our lives are busy and we want to use our time as wisely as possible but we have to remember that the people and relationships in our lives need some of that time. Most days I find myself at my desk at lunchtime reading a book but yesterday I was engaged in a conversation with a co-worker in the breakroom as my lunch was heating up and instead of leaving when it was done to go back to my desk, I sat down and continued talking with her. Taking those few extra minutes with her, I found out she is worried greatly about her financial situation after having her surgery on her wrist. With a $5000 deductible to pay and out of work with no pay for 3 weeks, the worry of how to cope with this put tears in her eyes and choked her up. While I certainly don’t have extra money floating around and have my own surgery and days off without pay coming up here next week, I can take the time to pray for her and request my church family to pray for her as well. So part knowing you are filled with love by the Holy Spirit, is being able to slow down, become aware of the people around you and take the time to just see how they are doing.

Try these action items:

          1. Learn 5 new names—and use them.
          2. Ask how others in your church family are doing—and listen to their response.
          3. Pray for church family needs we become aware of.
          4. Combat the toll our busyness takes on church family life by building more time into our  Sunday routine for conversations or to help someone along our path.

1 John 4:7  Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge

I was reminded of a lesson I learned on love a few years ago. I found out I had some abandonment issues and learned why. My mother who had been going through her own issues at the time didn’t show up to my sisters 3 birthday party. I was 5 at the time. She was gone that whole weekend and when she came back it was only to move out to an apartment. To a five year old girl I felt abandoned and rejected. Thru some therapy and discussions with my mom, I was able to recognize my need to forgive her. Her love had failed me but what I learned was that indeed we are all capable of failing our loved ones. We are not perfect. But God’s love will not fail us. His love endures forever. I made it my mission to not only love on my children but to teach them about God’s love so that if at any time I fail them, they will know that no matter what the people in their lives do that they are loved by a God who cannot fail, who’s love will endure forever. If you haven’t learned this lesson on love or need a reminder of God's enduring love, read Psalm 139.

Psalm 139:26 Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.

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 Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 2

A key component to having the forgiveness we need is Jesus Christ. We can not do good things and love our way out of our sins. We cannot go straight to God with our sins. There is a large canyon that separates us from God. He is on one side and us with our sins on the other side. But because God loves us so much, he sent his only son Jesus to live among us and die for us. Our sins needed atonement, a sacrifice and Jesus was it. He was a man without sin, the son of God, our Savior and bridge across the canyon. Why did God give us this one and only way to Him? The only answer I have to that is to trust God and have faith in Jesus. Accept the unfathomable love that God demonstrated in Jesus. There is no greater love. Through this love we can seek the forgiveness we need so we can respond back with our love.

Lord, I am forever in awe of the love you have given to us through the gift of your son, Jesus. I believe that Jesus is your one and only son who came to live among us, died on the cross for our sins, rose from the dead and is seated by your side right this moment. Help me to live with faith and cross the bridge that Jesus has provided today and all the days to come. In your precious name, Amen.

1 John 4:9-11 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

This is a fatihbook page done a few years ago that shows the canyon between us and God and Jesus as the bridge.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruit Challenge

Today begins a new year's goal of working with the Holy Spirit and being filled with His fruits each day. I am going to focus on one particular fruit for 6-week segments. They always say in trying to change yourself or break a habit or create a new one you need at least 14 days. Well, I always need a lot more than that if I want to make it a new thing that really sticks with me. I am just going in the order based on the scripture from Galations so we will be starting with “LOVE”. There are so many things to talk about when it comes to this subject but I am going to start us off with the topic of what blocks us from truly loving God and others. That would be SIN. I think one of the most challenging things is recognizing our sins for what they are. I found this list of 667 sins in the bible on-line at http://www.scribd.com/doc/14087682/667-Sins-in-the-Holy-Bible  I would suggest you read through these as a way to start that recognition process. It certainly opened my eyes. Remember Sin separates us from God. Though we have been saved by the grace of Jesus Christ, we must work at our relationship with God by asking for His forgiveness everyday and asking Him to help us forgive others. To love we must forgive first.

Let us pray this prayer everyday:  Father of all, because of your love, I am saved. I am sorry for my sins of this past day especially the sin of (name the sin). Please wash over your grace upon me and take away my sins. Make me clean and fresh for the new day before me. Help me to forgive as you have forgiven me. Guide me in taking away this blockage of sin that keeps me from loving you and others as you want me to. For with you all things are possible. Amen and Amen.

(**note** I will post all prayers on the new prayer tab for daily reference)

Jeremiah 5:25 says, "Your sins and iniquities prevent good things from happening to you."

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 365

It has been exactly one whole year I have been writing up my praises. This has been a tremendous blessing to me and I hope to you who have read them. I am thankful to God for the use of this blog to be able to praise Him for all he is, does and gives us. It just wouldn’t be the same writing it in a private journal. It has been an honor to share these praises with you this last year. So, what is up for the year to come? There are a few different options I have been thinking about but I keep coming back to this one so here it comes:  365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge.  The Holy Spirit is within us but we need to call on His power to work in us everyday. My favorite scripture is Galations 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  So, this coming year will be devoted to praying about these fruits, seeing these fruits in my life and striving to be Spirit-Filled everyday. I hope you will continue on this journey with me and will be Spirit-filled with all these fruits each day in the year to come.

Galations 5:25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 364

Today I am praising the Lord for laughter; the sound of a child’s giggle, the tear-producing silent laugh of an adult swept up in the moment and the chuckles and hearty laughs when someone gets you good. It was fun last evening playing Apples to Apples with my brother and his family. Playing games together always brings about some good laughs. I hope you had laughter in your day and will in the days to come.

Psalm 126: 2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 363

On this Thanksgiving Day, my thanks is for God, himself. For who He is, all He is and all he does for us. Without Him, none of us would be. He is the maker of all things, EVERYTHING! So my thanks is all for Him just for being our awesome God. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Jeremiah 10:12 It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 362

Okay, this may seem a bit nutty but I am praising God today for the blessing of having my scale. I am a person that is motivated by accountability which is one of the reasons this challenge on my blog this year has been so successful. I am motivated because I know people are reading it. That scale and getting on everyday and recording it in my notebook on my bathroom counter is one of the best ways to keep me in-line with maintaining my weight. I know that when it goes up I have to plan what I am eating better and than it comes back down. So, I have been in the take off a pound or two mode for the last couple days in preparation for Thanksgiving. I have 2 new desert recipes and a cranberry salad recipe I am trying out this year and don’t want to shoot the weight up too much. The bible says our bodies are temples and we should be treating them well. This can be very challenging in our culture of drive-thru fast food, an abundance of dining establishments and grocery stores with choices abounding but with the Holy Spirit all things can be conquered and we can have self-control. If you haven’t already heard, Twinkies are no longer on the shelves as Hostess went bankrupt.  Such is life. Here today, gone tomorrow. But the Lord will always be with us.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 361

With the kids out of school for this whole week for Thanksgiving, I decided a couple weeks ago to go ahead and take my final vacation day on the 19^th and take my daughter up to visit the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. In looking over the website and prices, we came to a decision to go ahead and get a duo-membership for the two of us which would double the cost but get us into the museum free for a year and reduce the rate of the Imax and Planetarium shows. So, we arrive and there are cars and people heading into the museum everywhere. After a few minutes of trying to find a parking space, I began to wonder what was going on and thought oh no is this one of those free days. Yep, we walked in and found out it was a free day. Are you kidding me? Of 365 days in a year, I picked a free day and had already bought the membership! Okay, well I can say I immediately was okay with it as I realized no matter what we didn’t get to see or do with so many people being there that we would be able to come back anytime in the next year. By far the neatest was the show for the Planetarium on super volcanoes. My daughter and her friend who had never experienced a Planetarium show were oooh and aaahing and I proceeded to take a little nap. Another great moment was when my daughter looked over the railing down towards the bottom floors of the building and saw the T-Rex man on the escalator.  She said, "It's not everyday you see a dinosaur on an escalotor". We hurried down and got a photo with the T-Rex man. Thank you Lord for the blessing of being able to do something fun and interesting with my daughter on what would typically be a day of work, work, work.

Psalms 47:1 Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 360

My newest goal is to become a smart Christian shopper. I have heard some not so great stories about how Wal-mart treats their employees and I have heard the same kinds of stories about Michael’s. I have decided that no matter how convenient or less-expensive things may be at these stores I will not shop at a store that treats its employees in such a way that goes against my values as a Christian. The other side of the coin of this goal is to buy only products made in the USA. Thankfully, after shopping at King Sooper yesterday, I think in terms of food that will be fairly easy to accomplish as long as you are checking the labels. But when it comes to clothing, gifts, household goods; that’s where it can get very challenging. So, feel free to come along on this journey with me and do this challenge with me.  Check out this blog with some guidelines on doing this challenge. http://buyamericanchallenge.wordpress.com/    Here are a couple websites that have listings of products made in the USA  http://www.howtobuyamerican.com/index.php  and http://www.americansworking.com/   Thanks be to the Lord for giving us wisdom in making choices that will let our faith in Jesus shine.

Romans 12:9

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 359

We watched the movie Brave last night. It is well worth your time to watch especially if you are a mother or a daughter since the plot is about the relationship between the mother-queen and daughter-princess. The thing I love most about this movie is how it shows the conflict within a person when it comes to facing their sins. The princess ultimately faced what she did and asked for forgiveness. This conflict within a person came up in my reading from a Tim LaHaye book called The Spirit-filled Temperaments. He told of a woman who asked him to tell her the truth about what she was doing that was making her ultimately be depressed. He was hesitant about it but she pushed more and so he told her the flat out truth, it is because you are selfish. The sin of selfishness was making her thought patterns turn negatively and so she ends up depressed. This lady obviously was having conflict within herself and finally was brave enough to ask someone who was going to give it to her straight. The main point in both of these stories is that we have a choice but in making that choice we have to be brave. We have to be able to see the truth of ourselves so that we can go on and ask for forgiveness and be cleansed. Facing our sins for what they are is the first hurdle in restoring our relationship to God that was ripped apart in the Garden of Eden. It is like the symbol in the movie of the tapestry that the princess cut in two with a sword. One side was her and the other side was her parents. One side is us and the other side is God.  Jesus came and he can stitch the tapestry back together when we bravely face our sins and ask for forgiveness. Thank you Lord for giving us the motivation and bravery to face our sins each day and ask your forgiveness.

Romans 14:11-12 If we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong.

365 Days of Prasie Challenge-Day 358

It is always so fabulous to finally get to a place where you know and are at peace with the direction God wants you to take. I have been researching the options on becoming a Christian counselor and have been going back and forth between the conflict of the secular route vs the biblical route.  The question hasn’t been about which route to take as I know that it is the biblical route, however, the path to take for schooling for this has been muddled.  Going the route through the NCCA (National Christian Counseling Association) or AACA (American Association of Christian Counselors) was bugging me and so I have been praying and prayed especially last evening after researching more and feeling more and more confused. So the Holy Spirit worked on me overnight, I laid in bed this morning and let random thoughts come to me and than over pouring a cup of coffee discussed my confusion with my hubbie and had the “Light Bulb Moment”. The school through the NCCA tells you that if you are not already a pastor that to counsel under the authority of the church you will need to be licensed, credential or ordained.  It sounds like a simple fix that they could help you with. I have finally concluded that being a pastor and having that seminary education of a pastor is a part of being equipped to truly counseling others. The word of God says we are to build a foundation of faith with Jesus being the cornerstone.  I have to build a foundation not just of my faith but education and wisdom through the right schooling. I know now that just being a licensed minister so I can counsel is not the right foundation. It feels like cheating. I have to lay the ground work of my counseling ministry with a strong education in the word of God. The NCCA and AACA have some great looking programs and courses that I may ultimately take on but they are not the cornerstone. So, now I will be researching finding my cornerstone and going to seminary. Thank God it’s the weekend where I will have plenty of time to tackle this. Thanks be to the Lord for making my path fully clear. You are amazing!

Isaiah 28:16 So this is what the Sovereign Lord says:  See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;  the one who trusts will never be dismayed.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 357

How did I get so blessed to have the husband I have? He has always been a tremendous support to me, showing his love and caring. In terms of love languages, I think he likes to give love by his acts of service. I see this in him everyday but it is especially evident when like yesterday I was feverish from fighting off some virus, dealing with the shoulder pain and the after affects of my work. He tells me “sit down and relax” and is up and getting me anything I need all evening. I am just so thankful to God for my husband and so thankful to be able to be a witness to seeing him grow and mature in his faith. It is a privilege to be able to walk along side him in this journey of our lives.

1John 4:12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.  

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 356

You would think a household could go one day without electricity. Not mine. I got home and the family was out taking Tristan to bible study group so I went around lighting some candles and than they got home. Immediately they all, including my daughter who was so gung-ho about us doing it, agreed that our No electricity experiment was done. TV won. I was actually very thankful as it had been one of those days at work trying to play catch-up to being gone the afternoon before for my shoulder appointment and dentist appointment and vegetating in front of the TV felt like a good idea.  So, my new shoulder PA and doctor take a look at my shoulder and told me I have “frozen shoulder”. Try putting your arms by your sides and hold up you lower arms with fists; keeping your upper arm by your side, move your arms outward. My right one goes out but my left one I could move out about ½”. Wow! Range of motion is dramatically gone. So to surgery I will go. PA explained that this is a fairly common problem especially for women in my age group. The cause a lot of times is related to diabetes or thyroid but I don’t have either of those issues so the doc thinks the probable cause is an impingement which he will take a look at during the surgery and fix anything else that needs fixing. There are lots of things to praise the Lord for in this situation: being listened to, having answers, having hope and knowing that God is in control and taking care of me. I know everything is in His timing and I am thankful for the Holy Spirit filling me with the patience to endure, peace to keep my mood from becoming dark and especially the loving tender care the Lord provides.

Phillipians 4:19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 355

I write this praise a day ahead of schedule because Wednesday is No Electricity day in the 4^th grade and my daughter has been gearing us up all week for this so that we as a family can do it at home for that day. You do have to plan ahead. Tonight I will be looking for candles, planning a dinner that does not require heating and trying to get the rest of the family on board for our one day of no electricity. This will be a good experience for our kids who have never gone through a black-out for any length of time and give them and us a real appreciation for what blessings electricity brings to our lives.  Thank you Lord for the gift of schools and teachers that teach not just the abc’s but things like this that play a vital part of our lives and need to be appreciated. No Lights, No TV, No Computer, No Microwave, No coffee pot, No hair dryer, NO alarm clock. I am guessing it will be okay to keep our fridge and freezer running. YIPES. Seriously, what would we do with out electricity? 

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18  Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 354

Yesterday I did a large import of customers using our newest database with the modifications that have been made to it to help streamline the matching process. I was afraid that I would find issues importing a larger list of customers and I was right. It wasn’t a major problem but it was an annoying and time consuming issue which really defeats the purpose of the new modifications.  I am thankful that I sent my email to our operations manage last week with my concerns about going live with the new database and the fact the current new modifications were not going to give me any more substantial time to add more work.  They are gearing up to pass all the cancellation requests for all the other jurisdictions that the Irving office handles but I was frank in my email and made some suggestions as to the two pieces that really need to be worked on to bring in some automation that would save time. I got an email yesterday showing that my office manager actually read my email and took my concerns and suggestion seriously. She also let me get a bit off my chest last Thursday when my PMS was in full gear and the negativity was too much to bear.  The next day she bought our team lunch at Jason’s Deli to thank us for all our hard work and to sing our praises.  I have been guilty of judging her in negative ways but I think that like the rest of us she is doing the best she can under the circumstances. So, thank you Lord for being listened to and validated at my work place and forgive me for judging others in any way.

James 1:19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 353

I learned recently that our former pastor asked the front desk ladies to not tell anyone who was to be teaching the sermon on Sunday. He wanted people to come not to hear him but to worship God. It is funny because I have often felt that little let down when I get to church and see that it is not the senior pastor speaking but always, without fail, I end up enjoying, learning from and being inspired by the sermon no matter who is doing the talking. The truth is our Lord is up front speaking to us through the temperament and life experiences of the speaker. Considering how very unique each and every one of us are, it is a great blessing to be able to hear from different pastors and other believers in the worship experience. Nate Stratman was passionate, funny, engaging and very inspiring.  Thank you Lord for this gift of your words through the lives of all who share, teach and witness.

Romans 1:25 Because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.



365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 352

I am grateful for the opportunity and freedom to be able to worship God on Sunday at my church in a community of believers.  It is a blessing that not every believer has throughout the world. Christians gathering together to worship, pray and be in communion with each other is not to be taken for granted. Our founding fathers of this country generation sacrificed greatly to give us this freedom. If you are not connecting at a church somewhere, I encourage you to keep searching and praying for God to lead you to a home church that fits you. We are not meant to do this alone. Thank you Lord for the community of believers in my church, the freedom to gather and worship together and all the blessings come from it.

Psalm 34:3 O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.



365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 351

My daughter picked out this book at the library called Christian, the Hugging Lion. It was well written and we loved the illustrations and in the end found out that it was based on a true story. The back of the book indicated that there was a video about the reunion of the lion with the two guys who bought him and set him free.  Here is a link to that video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozXwG-bAf1k&feature=fvwrel

     I think ultimately God created us to be in communion with animals and not them eating us and us eating them kind of thing that is predominant in our fallen world. So, I am betting that what I will see in heaven are animals and people in a communion of love. This story is just a glimpse of how God created us to be in relation to animals. Praise the Lord for these little snipets of truth and hope.

Genesis 1: 24 And God said, "let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds; livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so.



365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 350

I am not a big fan of Facebook but I am not against it either. Call me a “middle-of-the roader.” I get on it at least a few times a week mostly just to stay caught up in the lives of family and friends but I have been encouraged by words or pictures and inspired to create from something someone has shared. Because I am not on it all that much, I am unfamiliar with all the in’s and out’s but knew that somewhere there was a place where people may have posted a happy birthday wish to me. I finally found it and was so surprised by the number of posts. Wow! It was good to hear from friends that I haven’t seen or talked with in quite a while. It put a smile on my face all day. So thanks to God for giving what’s his name the vision to create Facebook. It is a great communication tool to use in our busy lives to let people know you care and think of them.

Psalm 71: 14 But as for me, I will always have hope: I will praise you more and more.  

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 349

I just love when my hormones shift. NOT. The telltale sign of the shift came with the typical small zit under my nose so I knew what was happening. I was super cranky yesterday morning, teary-eyed and so when I got to work and was slammed on all sides with the negativity that seems to be most prevalent these days I was ready to stand-up and shout “Shut Up!” but I managed to walk out of the room to go get some space and coffee and ran into our admin assistant. She could tell I was not happy since I am usually the light in that dark place and so I laid it on her my feelings and than said I need a hug. She was my angel for the day. Just being able to let go of those feelings and get a hug made a big difference and the hormone shift gradually adjusted itself throughout the morning to where I was back to my some-what normal self. Thanks be to God for giving us people in our lives that can help us when we are in those dark moments.

Psalm 119: 133 Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me.



365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 348

I heard the news of the outcome of the election and went to the bathroom and cried. I am saddened by the direction our country is in and looks like will continue to be in. But I went to bed and woke up several times during the night with different words of songs coming to my mind. In the end, God helped me to get passed this moment in our history and see the bigger picture of his plan. He is in control and Jesus has already overcome. The war has already been won. Our real battle isn’t getting the right person elected but reaching each individual person out there that doesn’t know Christ or a “believer” whose view is warped or stagnant. If anything, how the vote went shows how much work we have to do for the hurting right here in our country. But it’s not about relying on the government to help the hurting. It needs to come directly from the body of Christ.  We have to be the example and teach that all our needs come from God and our reliance should be on Him. I am praying for the Lord’s guidance in how to reach out to the hurting, the disillusioned, the stagnant Christians and help them have their needs met through the body of Christ and not through the government.

Pslam 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 347

Today we find out the course of our country. It is a great blessing to be able to have the freedom to vote. Every vote really does matter and we really can’t say we are truly democratic if only a percentage of us our actually voting. We all have a say. If you haven’t already, take the time to get out and vote. Thank you Lord for our freedoms we have in our country and for knowing it is not something to be taken for granted. God Bless America!  And a quick happy birthday to me!

2 Corinthians 20-22 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. 

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 346

Yesterday, we spent the afternoon at my brother’s home and celebrated my birthday which is Election day and my brother’s birthday on the 8^th. I can’t even express the blessing of having them here in Colorado. For many years, I tried to convince them they needed to move here from CA and in God’s timing it happened. I am so thankful to God for brining my brother and his family here so we can connect with each other, celebrate with each other and just be together. And a special bonus, was having my step-mom here from CA, too. It was a good celebration for our birthdays and the peanut butter cup playground ice cream cake from Cold Stone was a yummy blessing that was the cherry on the top!

Ecclesiastes 11:8  However many years a man may live, let him enjoy them all.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 345

I had the blessing of being able to attend and help with a workshop hosted at my church for Special Needs families called There’s a Person in There. I was very humbled by the appreciation for my being there from some of the parents. They were very thankful that someone without a special needs child was there simply because of compassion. I feel for what these parents are going through. There was one thing that has really stood out to me that I heard during the workshop. Some parents on a video clip were saying they realized that having a special needs child was not a bad vs. good thing but rather it was an easy vs difficult thing. Despite not having a special needs child, I was able to participate in the discussion simply because most everything these special needs parents go through can be applied to the typical child parents. We talked about what we do to show our kids they are loved, disciplining our children and teaching our children about God. Things that most parents are striving to do with their children. I think that there are things like fears or misconceptions that keep other people from embracing these families with special needs children. These kids are amazing and uniquely made by God just as all of us are. We just have to accept them for who they are and not be afraid of the unknown. These parents need our support and love. Do you want to do something for the kingdom of God? Get to know a family with a special needs child, give them encouragement, a listening ear, babysit their child so they can get some time-off from their difficult task of parenting.  It will end up being a great blessing to them but to you as well.  Check out this website for  volunteer opportunities in the COS area. http://www.sksfcolorado.org/ or search Google for opportunities in your area. Talk to your church leaders and let them know we have to reach out to these parents for if one part of the body of Christ is hurting, we are all hurting.

1 Corinthians 12: 25-26 …that there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 344

You really never know what kinds of blessing a day will bring. I love the unexpected. Yesterday at 12:30 my co-workers and I heard a loud pop and than the lights went out. However, our computers were still on but programs weren’t happy and so seeing how it was lunch-time we all choose to just go ahead and take our lunch. So, I took an hour long lunch at my desk reading a book and was able to get my programs up and working so started back to work. That didn’t last long… Another bigger pop and everything went out. This time the entire building was out. Okay, so now what?! The utility company was already outside working on fixing things and they had originally predicted 2-3 hours from the time of our first phone call to them. Well, now we have no phone, computer, lights and one co-worker who brought soup for lunch couldn’t heat up her soup. We had laughs about going to the dark bathroom using a cell phone that accidentally would be blinking a red light taking a video and we crumbled about the waste of time and the controlling aspects of our boss who told us to wait another hour. The experience was two-fold. It was a blessing to not have to work the afternoon and deal with frustrated alarm companies. Our boss did finally say we could go at 3:45 so we got off early on a Friday! The second aspect made me think of how we rely on electricity and the effects when we don’t have it. For us, it wasn’t a big deal but for those out on the East Coast who are without it for days now because of Superstorm Sandy, it’s not a laughing matter. Thanks be to God for blessings in disguise and for the reminder of being blessed everyday to have light, heat and all that electricity brings us. Sending prayers heavenward for those struggling without electricity.

James 1:2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 343

Words of encouragement and compassion are priceless and even more so when they come from a child. Last night, I was TIRED and that made me very cranky. So, the bedtime routine for my daughter was just one more thing I needed to do before climbing into my own bed. My daughter picked up on my crankiness and asked if I was cranky. YES! So she says “Mommy needs a hug” and leans over to give me a hug. Well, that just put a smile on my face and helped me to let go of the “crankies”. Sometimes, all you need is someone to show they care. Thank you, Lord for the gift of words that show love, compassion, encouragement and all those things that we need. What a blessing a hug can bring! Don’t let the politically correct or timing or whatever stop you from reaching out to someone who could use some kind words or a hug. Be like a child and just give it.

Matthew 7:12 ”So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 342

Hobby Lobby is setting an example of standing up for our beliefs. Hobby Lobby is a Christian-based company and is fighting in congress against Obamacare and the fact that it requires companies to pay for insurance that will allow women to take the morning-after pill. This is an issue I am extremely passionate about. You can see my full testimony on my testimony tab here that will share with you my experience with abortions. Once a blind believer in the right for a women’s choice, I have learned the hard way that it is not our choice to make. A women’s right to choose is just a politically correct way of saying you can play God and decide that you don’t want the baby that has been created by God. It is time for all the women out there that have fallen victim to this right to choose culture who now know the real truth that God is God and that we have to except the blessing of the children that God gives us even if it doesn’t fit into our timing. Praise God for Hobby Lobby for taking the stand and prayers for all of us to follow suit and take a stand against this deceptive sin called the right to choose.

2 Corinthians 5:10 I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.