365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 336

I have been pondering the word rely since Monday when I got through my day without calling on God for help. I resorted to doing it my way and I was frustrated, angry and even said something that offended someone. To make matters worse, I knew I was not being a very good example of Christian love and the fruits of the Spirit had turned sour. I was a mess and instead of taking my stress to God and dealing with it in godly ways I went home had a glass and a half of wine (that is a lot for me these days) and then proceeded to let go of self-control and ate too many chocolate almonds. I woke up the next morning feeling very sorry for my pathetic display and asked God for forgiveness and help on being better prepared to handle my day at work that is extremely challenging right now. That word “rely” popped in my head so I tried looking it up in the concordance of my bible but it wasn’t there so I did a search on line for scripture about relying on God and was led to what I needed. I gave me a good visual and for me a visual works so well. God led me to another visual too of a father walking with his daughter holding her hand and as they go down the path they encounter a big pile of sticks in the way so the daughter looks up to her father and asks what they should do. My pile of sticks is my current workplace and the challenge of dealing with another culture and a communication barrier in the middle of 5 butt-loads of work that keeps piling up. Prayerful preparation with my Daddy and the visual tools helped me get through my day with patience and gentleness and my self-control was focused on what would glorify God.  The visual brought me instant peace and a smile to my face every time. If you have encountered a pile of sticks in your path, look to our Daddy and let him help you decide the course you should take.

Jeremiah 17:5-9 Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 285

After cooking all morning, I took a break and pulled up Netflix. I watched a movie called Unconditional which I highly recommend. The basic outline of the story is about a young woman whose husband was murdered and how she comes from the brink of suicide to a new life and faith found again. There is a beautiful visual that is told in the movie which is really about God. God is the sun who is always shinning, never gone, always there but storms come in and cover the sun up. We often at these times feel God has abandoned us, that he is not there, you don't feel his presence. But we have to rise above the clouds and we will see he never leaves us and is always there. I think we ride up over the clouds on the wings of an eagle that is the Holy Spirit. So next time you feel a storm covering your life, ask the Holy Spirit to take you up above the clouds.
1 Corinthians 13:7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 319

My church has over the last couple of years had on display artwork from artists in the church. They create pieces that have to do with an upcoming sermon series and often are shown on the big screen during the sermon as a visual. After seeing a piece of jewelry that someone had made on display this last go around, I realized that I should look into this so I can submit a faithbook page. So, I went to the recent meeting for all artists with our new pastor to go over his thoughts and expectations and we went over a little bit about the upcoming series which will be called Faces on the scripture Isaiah 9:6. The sermons will specifically be about the names in the scripture: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace.  These are the faces of God but because we are made in God’s image and have the Holy Spirit dwelling within, we can be a humble glimpse of these faces of God, we reflect in little ways these faces of God in our own faces. A counselor is someone who listens and shares truth and wisdom. We get this all the time from our spouses, parents, friends and co-workers. The friend who listens patiently to you all the time when you need to express the challenge you are facing or the co-worker who empathizes with you as you vent your frustrations or your spouse who will hold you as you cry out your hurts. We see our Mighty God in the faces of people standing up for their faith, in people loving in big ways and in the creative people in the world who can express how great is our God. We can see a glimpse of our Everlasting Father in the dad that has sacrificed his career to take care of his daughter, the mother who in her exhaustion still shows her love to her children, the friend who is always there when you need them. And finally our Prince of Peace can be seen in the face of a family member suffering from cancer with a smile on their face, the friend who lives cheerfully with chronic pain and the neighbor who brings you fresh baked cookies just because. These faces of God are all around us but do we see them in our daily busy lives as the faces of God? Start living each day looking into these faces and recognize that God is with us and working through us all each day. Thanks be to God for showing us who He is, in and through those that are all around us.

Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

365 Days of Prasie Challenge-Day 247

I have just recently have gone into the world of Pinterest. If you are a visual person, you will be hooked like I am. You will be inspired in so many ways with so many great ideas for everything. I love that I can find a recipie, a scripture with a beautiful inspiring photo and a scrapbook sketch idea all in one place. If you haven't been invited to Pinterest, let me know and I will invite you to join. Thank you Lord for this gathering of inspiration.

2 Timonthy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.