8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness". Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmity's, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:8-10
It never ceases to amaze me what little promises I find in the Bible. When life throws you lemons make cheesecake, when the curve ball comes so unexpectedly swing at it and hit it out of the park....when we feel weak let Him who is strong carry us. In life, in death, in things going wrong in every way we can see, from cars, jobs, money or the lack of it, family to friends. Whatever is in our path we can take it with stride....we may not like it, it may hurt us, we may feel like giving up, we may feel to weak to carry on but, carry on we will with God's strength helping us through. I will be honest my life is far from easy but, there are others who have it harder than I do. The strength I have seen from them can only come from God. I admire their faith and if I can have just an ounce of the faith they have I will be good. Pray for one another, ask for God's help and strength because He is more than willing to give it......
As Summer is coming to a close and we say hello to Fall I have been doing some deep thinking.....about life, the past, the present and the future. I have been some what grumpy and last week I told my kids I needed to be grounded so....my daughter grounded me for a week from FB and TV. I must admit I have been going crazy with FB withdrawals, with that said I am admitting I am addicted to FB and need to take a break so when my grounding lifts on Saturday I will continue to take a break from it. I hope!!!! The exact reason for my brain to go into thinking overdrive and well some not so happy memories came with it. I am coming up on a year of when I lost a friend (not in the way you must be thinking right now) One I had thought was a good friend things were said I over reacted and well.......I have apologized with no forgiveness and I will say I miss her terribly with no chance of contact that I know of. So, I am just left wondering and missing and hoping for one day.....but, I guess only time will tell and maybe that one day will consist of my heart not hurting anymore. That is in the past we can not change the past or the choices we made but, we can move forward in the present and if we are willing God can guide us in a direction of less pain and distraction. With that said, to us as humans our present may not be what we want it to be....I know I am in a less than stellar situation but, I have a roof that does not leak, 4 walls that face North, South, East and West and I am praying for a day when my floor does not need wheels to support it. I can some what choose my present I can choose to Thank God and not yell at Him, I can choose to be happy for what I have and try not to sweat the small stuff, I can help others if I can and not compare myself with others, (all that will do is make me angry and cry and that is no fun at all.) As for the future all I have to say about that is, only God knows!!!!! I am confidant that God has something really great in store for my family and myself and that gives me hope for my life, I have faith that God is providing and I love the fact that no matter what I do God has and will forgive me Yesterday, today and tomorrow....
I am sitting here listening to classical Christmas music as I write this, drinking my peppermint mocha coffee and I am thinking....(now that can be a good thing, and at times I totally over think and get myself in trouble lol). Never the less I am thinking, about the end of summer, the beginning of school and the Holiday season is just right around the corner. With saying good byes and saying hellos it can get a little discombobulating at times. With all this said I am jumping ahead to New Years and what that brings. Since we have some time before that happens it will give you time to think......We finished Leviticus yesterday we will be moving on to Numbers and I have to say my Pastor makes the Old Testament so interesting I am enjoying it a lot. (I know this seems a far cry from New Years but I promise I will tie it together). Worship what is it? the Merriam Websters online dictionary has 4 meanings for the word. 1. (chiefly British): A person of importance-used as a title for various officials such as magistrates and some mayors. 2.reverence offered a divine being or supernatural power; also: an act of expressing such reverence. 3. a form of religious practice with its creed and ritual. 4. extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object. Wow I am not sure I like any of them but, it is not my place to judge just to live my life and worship My God and only Him....just sayin....My Pastor said it in a different way that I really like so if I got the basic gist of it here it is Worship~ the bowing of OUR will to Gods....What does this mean to me??? We bow ourselves down so that God's will can work in us. Plain and simple I like simple...so why do we as Humans make it so difficult??? So back to Leviticus 27 it was talking about vows (ahhhh here we go with New Years). A person could "vow" something to God and the priest would then place a value on whatever was vowed, whether it was plant, animal or human. If something was vowed to God it could be gotten back but, the value plus interest had to be paid....my Pastor also made the comment some people are better at making promises than they are at keeping them it seems a bit harsh but, it is totally true.....often when we are in crisis mode we make promises to God do we keep them???? What about promises to our friends, our kids, our spouse or other half??? When we make a vow, promise or resolution do we make them with a pure heart or pure intentions? When we make a promise do we intend to keep it??? I certainly hope so but, there are times when something beyond our control comes up and we are then forced to break the promise.....If you make a promise it is wrong to break the promise....people will understand or at least one would hope they would if plans had to change and, it makes it better to "make it up to them". If you can not keep your word make other arrangements...we expect God to keep His word we should really keep ours....here is another tid-bit from my pastor "it is the expectation of God's character" my opinion we need to be Christ like if we expect God to be God we need to strive to have a Christ like Character. Have you ever been compelled to give yourself wholly to God? To let God control EVERYTHING in your life have you vowed to live for Him alone??? Making vows, promises, resolutions or what ever a promise is a promise even to yourself. As we start looking at the end of the year coming, think about it all around and if you make plans for next year make sure they are ones you can keep because disappointing yourself is no fun either. I challenge you to start with God and commit, vow or something to that effect now, don't wait.
I recently did Relay for Life in my county, I have done it now for the past 3 years being Captain each time. I want to make a difference so I do what I can to make that happen. Most by now know how much I LOVE Christmas and it is no secret at Relay either. I had my heart ripped out and stomped on and it trickled down to my daughter, by people I had thought were my friends, all because of Christmas. I had to ask myself what would Jesus want me to do and the obvious answer was forgive them so, I did. I also held my head down every time I went past their site and avoided them at all costs....my sinner nature would have taken over and said something to them and that would have made it worse. In the morning I was stopped by two of them they apologized to me and gave me a hug. One said she was sorry for not sticking up for me and that she loved me. It made my very tired heart smile and if you know what Relay for Life is you will understand tired.
Today I am going to ask you a question what is Christmas really? Today, I am going to answer that question from my point of view. According the the Merriam Webster online dictionary Christmas means *Christian feast on December 25 or among Eastern Orthodox Christians January 7 that commemorates the birth of Christ and is usually observed as a legal holiday. Oh that is so dictionaryish isn't it? So to put it in simple words Christmas is about Christ.
The whole feeling that surrounds Christmas the peace, joy, goodwill towards men, love, kindness, giving I can keep going here if I really need to. But, I believe that is something we should do EVERYDAY not just for a season. When the Holiday is over people put Christmas away and it seems they put Christ away too.... the feelings get stored away with the lights, decorations and tree. Where did it all go?? in the basement, attic or garage but, Why? I celebrate Christmas everyday because I never want to forget to live Jesus and spread His love everyday. Christmas is not about presents or it is not supposed to be. Christmas is about Loving the unloved, being kind to those who don't get kindness, giving joy to those who are sad, having goodwill towards all man, woman and child no matter what time of year it is. It breaks my heart that people forget that, no matter what we may be going through someone else is going through something too, whether it is worse or not it is still a hardship, stress and heartache for them. Everything in me is asking Where are you Christmas???? Why are you so hard to find? and Why can't people just believe in the feelings of Christmas to live them all year long? The answer to that is something I may never know. So please do me a favor, if you see someone who loves Christmas, don't criticize them, just enjoy their giving spirit and let them spread some cheer.
Yesterday my Pastor spoke about Leviticus 25 the Sabbath, weekly, yearly and the super Sabbath the year of Jubilee. He spoke about the Israelites and how they expected their trek in the wilderness to be a short one , and it WASN'T. All of the laws given were to begin in the Promised Land. Just a brief rundown here, every six years God wanted the land to rest a year so, the seventh year would have no planting no harvest just rest. In order for that to happen He would provide an abundance in the sixth year so they would not have to "worry about it". After six days we rest, after six years the land rests and after seven times of resting we come to the year of Jubilee...there is 3 years yes I said 3 years of no harvest. God provides in the sixth year before Jubilee for 3 years here is the catch, there is this little thing called faith. In our daily lives we are challenged in everything to have faith in God, to trust Him for our needs but, do we? Not always at least I don't. I am weary, frustrated and run down my faith is shaken to be honest with you. I am technically homeless yes I have the trailer but, when I turn I run in to something or someon. We have 4 people, 2 cats, 2 Guinea pigs and 4 rabbits of course some of the rabbits live outside so that helps. I have pain everyday among other issues going on health wise, cars that do not want to run, no home, and stress of money or the lack of it. One thing I realized today is I need to TRUST in God to know it will be ok. I am tired I want to give up but, I won't because my year of Jubilee is coming and I am looking forward to it. One day and God only knows when I will get my rest. I encourage all of you that want to give up to NOT give up, God will give you rest if you ask Him. Now Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1 NKJ
