Category

Faith

Category

God Is Always At Work

God Is Always At Work

A few weeks ago, I had spent countless hours looking for a Birthday list that I use in my home-based business.  After several days of looking and not finding it, I started to get a little frustrated.   I had prayed and asked God to help me find it, but I still couldn’t seem to put my hands on it.

It was important to me because it was the beginning of a new month, and I always tried to send out my Happy Birthdays on the very first day of the month.  One day while thumbing through lots of papers, still looking for the list, I decided to send up one more prayer.  What happened after that prayer was absolutely amazing, and straight from the hand of God.

I heard a soft whisper saying “Send out a text to all of your customers letting them know that your birthday file had disappeared.  Ask them if they would send you their birthday info”.   The response was unbelievable!   Within 24 hours the size of my list had tripled the size of the original list, and people are still texting their info to me.

What God showed me in that moment, is that so many times we get upset and frustrated because we can’t have what we want when we want it.  We don’t realize that many times God is trying to bless us with more.
I had to stop and just thank God for blessing me beyond my expectations. As a result of things going God’s way and not my way 4 things happened.

  1. I will get to be a blessing to more people through my Birthday Club.  Not only will customers benefit, but my team members will also benefit from what I have learned.
  2. God’s timing and provision proved to be what was best for me.
  3. I became more keenly aware of God’s concern for even the small things in my life.  No need is too small for God to step in and show that He cares about what’s important to me.
  4. I learned that no experience is insignificant, because God is always at work.

 

 

What Is Your Disobedience Costing You?

What Is Your Disobedience Costing You?

Since the beginning of time, it has been man’s will against God’s will.  With the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden, humans have since entered the world with a sinful desire to be in control of their own lives.

This sinful nature can be very costly.  Not only does it affect the lives of the sinner, but also the lives of those that are nearest and dearest to them as well.

A couple of days ago I was reading a passage of scripture from 1st Samuel, chapter 13.  King Saul had become fearful of losing all his troops.  He became impatient and would not wait any longer for Samuel (who was a prophet) to arrive as promised.  He did as most of us do when we become impatient, we decide to take matters into our own hands.  This is almost always a mistake, especially if God has said wait.

Saul’s disobedience cost him his kingdom, a kingdom that Samuel told him that God would have established forever, had he been obedient.   As a result, God sought a man after his own heart, and that man was David.
King Saul not only lost his kingdom, but he also lost his peace.   He became a jealous crazed man, who desired to kill an innocent person, and he even tried to kill his son at one point.  Needless to say, he lost the respect of his son also.

Can you imagine losing an entire kingdom for generations to come, because you were disobedient?

So, I ask you to stop and think today, what might your disobedience be costing you?  You see God has blessings upon blessings in store for us, but we will never know what they are, if we live in disobedience.
May I encourage you today to live a life that honors God, with a heart that seeks after Him faithfully and obediently and watch the blessings flow!

With God,You Are Enough

With God, You Are Enough

Have you ever felt inadequate, or like you were just not good enough to accomplish the assignment that God had put before you?   Let me assure you that you are correct, in and of ourselves we are not enough!  However, there is hope for us all.  When we have accepted God as the authority in our lives, and we surrender our will to His, miraculous things can happen.

There are a few examples of this in the Bible, but today I would like to share Gideon’s experience.

The Midianites had ruled over Israel for seven years and were very cruel to them.  God sent an angel to visit Gideon to let him know that he was to go and rescue Israel.

Gideon instantly had doubts as to whether or not he could accomplish this assignment.  He asked God for a sign three different times to be sure this was what God wanted Him to do.  Because God knew that Gideon had doubts and that he was afraid, God in His merciful grace indulged Him each time, so that he would be clear that the request was from Him.

I am sure that we all have thought at one time or another, “Why me” when God has directed us to do something that was clearly out of our comfort zone.

What we must remember though is that God never set His children up for failure.  When He asks us to do something, a plan for success is already in place, and it will be accomplished in a way that He will receive all of the glory.  Our job is just to be obedient and move forward.

God’s plan for Gideon, was that He was going to achieve a great victory with a small army.   When you do the math, it does not make sense that such a small army of men could be victorious over all of the Midianites.  But God does supernatural math.   Gideon started out with an army of 32,000 men and God had him to streamline it down to 10,000 and then on down to 300 men.  These 300 men fought a battle against 135,000 Midianites, and with God as their general, they literally wiped them out!
Can you say, “But God”?

When I tell you that you plus God is more than enough to conquer any mountain, believe me, because it is true!   I don’t know what your mountain is today, but if God called you to climb it, you are enough for the journey, because He will go before you, he will give you the wisdom, the strength, and yes even the courage to get it done. So go be great! You have His permission.
Because with God you are enough!

Judges 7:1-7
Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’ Now announce to the army, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.

But the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”

So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.” Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.

The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.”

Judges 8:4-12
Gideon and his three hundred men, exhausted yet keeping up the pursuit, came to the Jordan and crossed it. He said to the men of Sukkoth, “Give my troops some bread; they are worn out, and I am still pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

But the officials of Sukkoth said, “Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread to your troops?”Then Gideon replied, “Just for that when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will tear your flesh with desert thorns and briers.”

From there he went up to Peniel[a] and made the same request of them, but they answered as the men of Sukkoth had. So he said to the men of Peniel, “When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower.”

10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with a force of about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of the armies of the eastern peoples; a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had fallen. 11 Gideon went up by the route of the nomads east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked the unsuspecting army. 12 Zebah and Zalmunna, the two kings of Midian, fled, but he pursued them and captured them, routing their entire army.
2 Corinthians 3:5
Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.

Divine Appointments

Divine Appointments

14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”
Esther 4:16
16 “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”
Esther 7:3
Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare my people—this is my request.

Today I would like to visit with you about divine appointments.  So many times, we go through life on autopilot, not really paying attention to what’s going on around us.  I would like to encourage you to start paying attention to what God is doing.  I have heard people at times mistakenly refer to a divine appointment as a coincidence.   As Christians, we know that there are no coincidences.

You may be blessed with a divine appointment in a grocery store, at a ball game, on a plane, or even at some event. Wherever you are, know that if you are walking with God, He wants to use you to share Him with others. We are his ambassadors created for divine assignments.   Divine assignments are always orchestrated by God, not us. We are simply His hands and feet carrying out His plan in order to touch the lives of others who needed His help.

As I look back over the years, not only has God used others to orchestrate a divine appointment with me, but He has also used me to carry out divine appointments that He orchestrated for the benefit of others.

One of the examples that instantly comes to mind for me, is the day that I decided to go into a local restaurant here in town to get a bagel.

As I was paying for my food, I struck up a conversation with the cashier that was waiting on me.  She mentioned to me that she really wanted to go back to school, but she didn’t know how she would make it to work, and children.  If I remember correctly, she was a single mom.

I encouraged her, and I told her that she could do it.  I also told her that it would be so worth the sacrifice.

Fast forward about a year to a year and a half later, she showed up at a business event that I was hosting.  To be quite honest, I did not recognize her right at first.  It was not until she approached me and thanked me for encouraging her to go back to school that I realized who she was.  She told me how much my words meant to her that day and how they inspired her to go for her dream of completing her degree.

That my friends were a divine appointment.  God used me to help steer her in the direction that He wanted her to go in.  I became her nudge.  My divine purpose in this situation was to give her a nudge and to help her feel confident that with God’s help, she had everything it took to complete her schooling.

When we yield ourselves to God’s will and His timing and purpose, He can do amazing things through us.  Remember, there are no coincidences, only Divine Appointments.

 

 

Life is Hard But God is Good!

Recently I have had several friends, share some of the difficult things that they are going through right now.  One of the ladies feels that what she is going through, is just too much for her to bear.

I personally know that life really can be hard at times.   We have lost several family members in the last two years, and some were in the prime of their lives, or so we thought.  As I have tried to wrap my head around these unexpected deaths, I have come to the conclusion each time, that no matter what happens, God is still good, God is still sovereign and God’s will, shall be done in heaven and on earth. We must remember that His ways are higher than our ways and so are His thoughts.  Our timing is not His timing.

We must also remember that hard stuff happens to everyone.  It’s called life!  There is an enemy that works day and night to discourage us.  His attacks can be a lot at times, but we have a God who will carry us through those hard times if we just turn to Him for help and strength.  There are times that we will go through difficult seasons, so that God can prune us into a better person.  He is more interested in our character becoming what it should be, than our circumstances changing.

We all have been tempted to ask the question; Why Lord?   Let me encourage you to trust that your hard time will be a time of spiritual growth if you dare to trust God with a completely surrendered heart.

Have faith in the One who loves you most, because even though life is hard, God is still good, and He will only allow what’s best for you.  So maybe instead of why, we should be asking what.  Lord, what is the lesson that you want me to learn from this difficult experience?  Keep going, don’t give up! Your hard time is not forever, but it is for you! 

Psalm 46:10
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;  I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
Romans 8:28
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose.
1 Peter 5:7
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Psalm 46:1-3
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.[c]
James 1:2-4
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Is Anything Too Hard For God?

I was recently reading the story of the promise that God made to Abraham and Sarah.  God promised Abraham that his wife Sarah would have a son.  Sarah happened to hear the promise being made, and laughed at the possibility of bearing a child.  You see they both very old, and it didn’t seem possible that she could conceive in her old age.   Oh, but she forgot that what is impossible for man, is totally possible with God.

Reading this made me wonder how many times God has given us a dream, promise or vision for our lives and we laughed like Sarah did, due to our unbelief or our feelings of inadequacy.

Sarah laughed because she was looking at things from a human perspective, but the promise that God made to her was from a spiritual perspective.  We tend to forget that God’s thoughts and ways, are higher than our thoughts and ways.  We also tend to forget that all power in heaven and on earth are in His hands.  Therefore with God all things are possible.

God healed a ninety year old woman’s womb, so that it would function as though she were in her twenties.  Because He can do more than we can ask or imagine she was able to carry and give birth to a healthy bouncing baby boy.  If God can do this, He can do anything. What are you currently believing God for?   When you start to doubt whether or not it will happen, ask yourself Is there anything too hard for God?  Let me assure you, the answer is No!  Believe in His promises because they are true!  All things are possible with God!

Genesis 18:14
14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
Matthew 19:26
26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Jeremiah 32:27
27 “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?
Luke 1:37
37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
Mark 10:27
27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
Job 42:2
“I know that you can do all things;  no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

Happy Valentines, “GODS LOVE US”

Who Is Love?

1st John 4:8
8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

John 4:16
16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

How Does God Love Us?

John 3:16

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Romans 8:35-39
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John 15:13
13 Greater love has no one than this than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

Ephesians 1:4-5
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.

John 4:7-10
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

How Are We Commanded To Love?

Matthew 22:37-40

37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
John 13:34-35
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples if you have a love for one another.”

John 15:12-14
12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.13 Greater love has no one than this than to lay down one’s life for his friends.14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.

How Should We Love One Another?

Philippians 2:1-11
Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests but also for the interests of others.
1 Corinthians 13
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicings in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.
1 John 3:14-24
14 We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother[a] abides in death. 15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
16 By this we know love because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
18 My little children, let us not love in word or in the tongue, but in deed and in truth. 19 And by this we know[b] that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. 20 For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. 23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us[c] commandment.
1 John 5:1-3
Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

How Should Husbands and Wives Love One Another

Ephesians 5:21-33

21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.[a]
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body,[b] of His flesh and of His bones. 31 “For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”[c] 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Love Your Enemies

 Matthew 5:38-48
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’[a] 39 But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40 If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. 41 And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor[b] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,[c] 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren[d] only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors[e] do so?48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Romans 12:14
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

Romans 12:17-21
17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,”[a] says the Lord. 20 Therefore

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
If he is thirsty, give him a drink;
For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”[b]

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Jesus A Gift To The World

Jesus A Gift To The World

Isaiah 7:14
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you[a] a sign: The virgin[b] will conceive and give birth to a son, and[c] will call him Immanuel.[d]
Matthew 1:23
23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”[a] (which means “God with us”).
Luke 2:7
and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
John 1:14
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
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.
Luke 1: 30-35
30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most  High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[a] the Son of God.
Luke 2:13-14
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

This morning as I look out of my bedroom window, I can see snowflakes gently falling to the ground.   There are only three days left until Christmas, and basically, the entire town has come to a silent halt.   For days now, the weather stations have been predicting, that the temperatures would plunge to very low and dangerous levels and that we would see snow.  It was also predicted that this would be one of the coldest Christmases on record, across forty-five states.

That being said, isn’t amazing how God chooses to slow things down.  I consider this a huge blessing, especially this close to Christmas.  What a great opportunity to enjoy spending time with God, focusing on His birth and His sacrificial stay here on earth.  This is a wonderful time to curl up with a cup of hot chocolate or hot tea and spend hours reading, journaling, and studying His word. It is also a great time to refamiliarize yourself with the story of the birth of Christ. 

Also, take a moment and think about all that Mary and Joseph went through in preparation for Jesus’s entry into this cruel world in the form of flesh.  I encourage you to put yourself in Mary’s shoes for a minute.   How would you have responded to the Angel that brought Mary the excellent news, that she had been chosen to be the mother of Jesus?   How would you feel knowing that you were indeed carrying the Savior of the world?   How would feel knowing that you were bringing a child into this world, knowing that He would be crucified? You see even though she understood the purpose for His coming, He was still her son. 

It may be a little difficult for you to focus on all that I am asking you to do If you have not finished your Christmas shopping.  You are probably going into panic mode right about now, wondering when the streets will be cleared enough for you to finish your Christmas shopping.  I want to encourage you to take some time to release yourself from the commercial side of Christmas, relax, and just for a few minutes simply bask in the spiritual side of Christmas.  After all, it is what truly matters.  Everything else will work out one way or the other.  I know that when you do, you will feel a sense of peace and you will be blessed for being in God’s presence.  You will also be focusing on what Christmas is really about and that is Jesus!    May you and your family be blessed with a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

God Cares About The Little Things

God Cares About The Little Things

Luke 12:7
Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Earlier this week I had to go to a doctor’s appointment that required me to receive two shots. The nurse that was going to give me the shots, informed me that I would have to wait for one hour after I had received the injections before I could leave the facility.  I was not expecting to be there that long at all.  It was a super busy day for me, and I was in charge of a meeting later that evening, that I had not finished preparing for.

That morning right before I left home,  I put some things in my bag that I needed to get in the mail.  I had fully planned to drive to the post office after my doctor’s appointment, sit in the car and work on all of the things that I needed to mail.

After hearing how long I would have to wait after my shot, I told the nurse that I had brought some things with me that I needed to work on.   I asked her if I could just stay in one of the empty rooms,  off to the side, and work while waiting for my hour to pass by.  She told me no that I would not be able to, in case they needed the room for someone else.

She then pointed to a seat out in an open area where everyone else was seated and told me that she could bring me a table and I could work there.  I really didn’t like the idea of setting up my little makeshift office right where everyone would be passing by me, and probably wondered why I was setting up an office in the doctor’s office.  I totally understood her reason for saying no and I calmly accepted it.

Before she went to get my medication that the pharmacy had sent up, I asked her for directions to the ladies’ room.  Now, this is where I saw God show up.  By the time she got back with my medication, and I showed back up from the ladies’ room, every seat had been taken by other patients.  They had come in during the brief time that we were away.

She looked at me after she glanced around the room and said, I guess you will have to wait in one of the private rooms, which was exactly what I had asked for in the beginning.   There was already a small table there for me to work on, and a big comfy recliner that I could sit in, and they even brought me some refreshments to have while I waited.  All I could think was Look At God!

Ladies He truly cares about everything that matters to us, no matter how small or large.   My question for you today, is do you see Him in the little things, or do you just look for Him in the big things because you don’t want to bother Him with smaller things?

Please know that He cares when it’s pouring down rain, and you need a closer parking space, He cares when you can’t find your car keys, or when you don’t have the funds to pay your bills.  He cares about every detail of our lives so much so, that He has counted and knows the number of hairs on our heads.  Today I want to encourage you never ever to think, that there is anything too small to consult God about. Remember, He loves us and He loves blessing us!

1st Peter 5:7
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Matthew 6:8

Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Lamentations 3:25-26

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

Will You Trust God ?

Will You Trust God ?

They will have no fear of bad news;  their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord.
Job 13:15
15 Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him;  I will surely[a] defend my ways to his face.
Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the Lord with all your heart  and lean not on your own understanding;
Psalm 9:10
10 Those who know your name trust in you,  for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.
Isaiah 55:8-9
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,  so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Today as I sit to write, I do so with a broken heart.  You see in the past seven days,  two couples that my husband and I consider dear friends, have each lost a child.  I cannot express how hard it has been these past seven days,  knowing that our friends were suffering through such unimaginable grief.

I have found myself praying for them numerous times, throughout the days and nights since I heard this sad news. I know that there are no words that I can say to them, that will really help at this time.  So I have chosen to simply pray, and ask God to give them strength, comfort and peace during this difficult time.

When things like this happen, it is really hard for us to wrap our heads around it.  Our human minds want to understand it.  We want to know why?  Tragedies are always a challenge for us to accept, especially something like an unexpected death of a child.   It reveals to us that no matter how much we think we are in control, we really aren’t.

During times like this,  we can choose to trust that our God is sovereign, and that He is still in control.  We can also choose to believe that He is the same loving Father that He has always been, and that whatever He does is with purpose and for purpose.

Our other option is that we can choose to become angry and  bitter and turn away from God, because we resent what He has allowed to happen to us or to others.  Some may choose to change their view on who God is, but be clear He has not changed.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever.  He is loving and compassionate and faithful.  And no matter what you or those that you love are going through,  He really does still love you.

Today as I deal with these sudden losses,  I choose to encourage myself with the word of God.  I also choose to trust Him remembering that His ways are higher than my ways and His thoughts are higher than mine.   My question for you today is; Will you trust God no matter what?     Remember no matter how hard it gets, He has promised that He will never leave us or forsake us.

I choose to trust God, will you?