reminders

It's funny how the Lord reminds us of things He has shown us before. Especially when we get caught up with our busy day to day lives. It can be a simple conversation with someone that will spark that memory alive of what the Lord has shown you or promised you. Today, I was getting my haircut. The girl who cuts my hair, I love her to death, I promise....and I have only been going to her since December. The conversations we have are just what I need. It's 2 and a 1/2 hours of talking. Talking about the Lord and how good He is. It's me encouraging her, and her the same for me. Today I left her feeling great. Feeling like she is definitely in my life for a reason, I am not sure yet, but I know that we connect.

I love when the Lord brings someone into your life unexpected and you just automatically click. The funny thing is that when he does bring someone new to your life, there's always some kind of connection. Something that draws you to be friends with each other. There are people that you can just tell by talking to them one time that you are going to end up friends. I feel this way about "K". So today I have been encouraged. I just thank the Lord for his reminding me of a few things He has told me and shown me before, all through talking with someone else.

The Lord never gives up

That's right people, he loves us so much and his grace his never ending. He will see you through something ten times, even if you are stubborn. He wants us to be the best, and have the best that He has to offer. He never gives up on us. My flesh wants to go crazy, but the Holy Spirit keeps me grounded in the Lord. He never gives up.

Walking in the spirit daily is hard if you are not in the word of the Lord, (hello, I am speaking to myself here). The life giving word is so important to our existence here on earth. Until the day comes when our Lord and Savior will return to get us, we must live out the word of God! We must take our life day by day, hour by hour and minute by minute. Everything we do must reflect the Lord. How can you reflect the Lord if you don't know who he is? We must dig deep into the things of God, so that we may know Him more and so we may reflect his image. There is a war raging, and it's not going to get any better, it may lay low for a while but it's always there waiting until you are vulnerable.

Know Him, Love Him, Praise Him!

It's not about me and my world

It's about Him. In Max Lucado's book, It's not about me, he says,"God does not exist to make a big deal out of us. We exist to make a big deal out of Him. It's not about you. It's not about me. It's all about Him."

We are to put Him first in every area of our lives. Not just when we go to church or when we are in need of something. He is to be first no matter what, even when we are having our best days. Because believe it or not he is the reason for your best day. Putting the Lord first causes everything around you to just fall into place. You become less stressed. You have more joy. The little things don't get to you like they used to. Life isn't hard anymore because you have the Lord guiding you and comforting you.

The bible says in Phillipians 4:7, "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." You might not ever know that peace unless you put Him first meaning seeking Him out daily for His wisdom and understanding. His love, comfort and guidance. It also means that if you are experiencing something that most would call horrible or unimaginable, then guess what, if you are seeking Him first you will have this peace that no one else will be able to comprehend. They will probably wonder why you're not falling apart. But you will know that it's the peace of God, that surpasses all understanding. Matthew 6:33 says, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." That basically means that if you are seeking God before anything, then you will have everything you need. Which are things I mentioned above,(wisdom, undertsanding, love, joy, comfort, peace) all of them. Yes! Praise the Lord. How great is that? How awesome is the Lord God Almighty?

Think on this. It will change your life. Know Him, Love Him, Praise Him!

He is RISEN

Do you see that cross over there? Jesus stood on a cross just like that for you and me. He stood their in our place, so that we would have a chance to enter the kingdom and worship the Father. Do you know what all that represents? Jesus died on the cross for our eternal salvation, because without it we would never be holy enough to enter through the gates of heaven. Jesus took death upon Him so that we could one day live peacefully in heaven, providing that we accept Him as our Lord and Savior. He was beaten beyond what any human should ever stand through. He was pierced with nails, so carelessly. He stood beaten and pierced on the cross in pain that was so unbarable, because He loved us so much. Jesus wants all people to know just how much he loves you. Jesus is love, and without Him you cannot ever truly experience love.

He stood for YOU. Acknowledge Him, because He loves you so unconditionally. Praise Him because he took YOUR place. Love Him, because in return you will experience the fullness of life. You will experience what it feels like to have peace, love and joy all in one. If you have not given your life over to Him. I encourage you to do so. You can't afford not to. Hell is not a place where you want to spend the rest of your life. If you died today, where would you go? Heaven or Hell....that is your choice. But I know for me, I will see my heavenly father one day, one glorious day. On that day, I will then live a life that compares to nothing in this world that will pass away. I will live eternally where there is no death, no sickness, no hurt. Just love, peace, true joy.....ALL THE TIME. There's no decision there for me. What about you? Will you choose to live or die. Don't get me wrong, if you choose death or hell that doesn't mean that you will die. Oh no, you will live forever in agony. In pain that is worse than what Jesus endured on the cross. But that is your choice, I pray that you choose life. It's a gift from the Father.

This world that we live in will one day pass away. It will not be here forever. We are all sinners and do not deserve heaven, but that is why Jesus came to earth and lived a sinless life, because God the Father is so holy and we are far from holy and sinless, but that is why Jesus took our place. When we pray the prayer of salvation, we're letting God know we believe His Word is true. By the faith He has given us, we choose to believe in Him. The Bible tells us that "without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." (Hebrews 11:6) So, when we pray, asking God for the gift of salvation, we're exercising our free will to acknowledge that we believe in Him. That demonstration of faith pleases God, because we have freely chosen to know Him.

When we pray the prayer of salvation, we're admitting that we've sinned. As the Bible says of everyone, except Christ alone: "For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) You recognize that Jesus Christ is the only human who ever lived without sin. "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21)

"In the beginning was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made." (John 1:1-3) God could only accept a perfect and sinless sacrifice. One that you and I could never accomplish, that is why He sent his son to pay the eternal price. "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.." (John 3:16).

It's up to you now...

"Heavenly Father, I recognize that I have not lived my life for You up until now. I have been living for myself and that is wrong. I need You in my life; I want You in my life. I believe that your son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was resurrected from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer, and I long to receive the forgiveness you have made freely available to me through this sacrifice. Come into my life now, Lord. Take up residence in my heart and be my king, my Lord, and my Savior. From this day forward, I will no longer be controlled by sin, or the desire to please myself, but I will follow You all the days of my life. Those days are in Your hands. I ask this in Jesus' precious and holy name. Amen."

If you prayed that prayer for the first time, I praise God for you. You might be wondering what now? Well if you prayed that and really meant it, then you are now a follower of Jesus Christ. This is a fact whether or not you feel any different. The Bible tells us that your eternal salvation is secure! "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:9)

Praise be to the Lord God Almighty! Now, just allow the Lord to work in your life.

blog coming soon

I have a blog coming, Im just working out some details:) thanks for coming to see me:)

You do ALL things well...

Mountain Maker
Ocean Tamer
Glimpses of You
Burn in my eyes
The worship of heaven Fills up the skies

You made it all
Said, "let there be"
And there was
All that we see
The sound of Your voice
The works of Your hands
You do all things well
You do all things well
You do all things well

Star creator
Wind breather
The strokes of Your beauty
Brushed through the clouds
Light from the heavens
Touching the ground

Imagination runs wild
And breathes the breath of life
Across the fields
Across the miles

Yesterday, I was helping Makenna with a school project. Her assignment was to look up information on Kangaroo's. One of the questions she had to answer was if her animal was born or hatched. The answer I came across was amazing. The following is taken from http://www.kidcyber.com/

Kangaroos weigh less than 2 grams when they are born. The tiny baby, called a joey, climbs up its mother's belly and into her pouch. The mother can't touch it because it is so tiny. She licks a path in her fur for it to travel along. Inside the pouch it grabs onto one of four teats and remains attached to it for about nine months.
Milk is automatically fed to the joey, and the milk changes according to the joey's needs as it grows until it no longer needs milk.
At nine months the joey will start to leave the pouch for increasing periods of time,returning always to the same teat for a feed until it is weaned.
A female kangaroo generally has another baby in her womb 'in suspense', which means it has developed just a little bit and then has stopped and waited. When a joey leaves the pouch, the mother starts the development of the one in her womb again, and it is born a few weeks later. Then she will have one tiny helpless joey in her pouch, drinking the kind of milk it needs to develop, and she will have another joey that is out of the pouch but which returns to feed on milk from another teat in her pouch. That milk will be different from what the tiny joey is drinking, because the older joey needs milk that will help it get strong as it hops around.

If conditions are bad, such as times of drought when there is not much food around, the female kangaroo may wait until things improve before letting the second baby develop. This means that there are few kangaroos born during a drought and ensures that there is food for the existing kangaroos. The babies are born when the mothers are feeding well and producing good milk, and so that when the young start to feed on solid food, there is plenty for them too.

ISN'T GOD AMAZING? That is the very first thing that Steven and my dad said when I told them of this. God really is amazing, he thinks of everything and leaves nothing uncovered! Just think about how he cares for even the animals. Don't you know that he cares for us even more than this? We are his children. He loves us more than we could ever imagine. He takes care of the little things. He sets things into motion according to His plan, and it is perfect because He is perfect. If you ever doubt what God's plan for your life is, just take rest because He does all things well. If you have given your life to him, you certainly don't have to worry. The bible says in Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

The Lord God Almighty created the animals with such detail, and planned out so carefully the day to day affairs of every single one of them. Think of how much more he carefully created us. How much more he loves us His children. How He takes even the worst situation that we could ever imagine and turns them around for our good. He makes it easy to live, easy to see, and just plain easy! Take comfort in that.

At the top I posted the words to Chris Tomlin's song You Do All Things Well, check out a video made to that song, I think it describes it perfectly. (Make sure you pause my playlist over on the right to watch the video)

YOU ARE THE MUSIC IN ME....

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! (psalm 8)

But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me. (psalm 13:5,6)

Music fills the courts of heaven as heavenly beings praise our Lord and Creator. When God created the world, the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy (Job 38:7).

Music was created by God because it is powerful. We were created by God so that we may be an instrument of praise unto the Lord. Songs and poetry were also means to improve the memory, to help remember significant events or warnings. I can hear a worship song and think back to a time in my life when that song really spoke to me. It causes me to go back in time and relive what I was going though. It triggers my emotions of that time, and allows me to meditate on how the Lord has delivered me, how he spoke to me. Sometimes I can hear a certain song and immediately I start to cry because the words of the song are exactly what my spirit is wanting to shout to the rooftops so that every person may hear the praise of the Lord. He deserves so much praise. He deserves to hear how awesome he is. How amazing his ways are, even though we don't always understand.

Music that brings praise to the Lord also brings healing. Oh how amazing is the Lord that when he created the earth, He created something that brings such praise to Him, but also brings such joy to millions of people. Music brings me true joy, especially when the music is allowing me to convey my raw emotions and just to lay them out there before the Lord. Think about this, if what music brings to the Lord through praise wasn't important to the Lord, why would he put the book of Psalms into the bible. David wrote most of the songs in the book of Psalms. Music was even an important part of the worship service at the temple.

Alot of the spiritual gifts are easily accessed when you are in a time of praise and worship. When you are in true worship, you are brought into the presence of the Lord and that is when you are so sensitive to Him. He can use you, speak to you, and heal you. Worship is to be a part of our everyday life. I need it,I love it, I can't live without it! I dare YOU to try to live without it.

Soccer days are coming

So this past weekend we started soccer for Makenna and Kyle. Right now they say that they think they will like it, and I'm sure that they will because it's their first time to play a sport. I got a few pictures of Kyle at his first practice, and he was so cute out there. Here he is...


I don't have any pictures yet of Makenna, but I will after this weekend. For some reason the quality of the pictures above are not very good compared to any other pics I take. Let's see if I become a soccer mom....which I don't foresee that but who knows right?

Looking back

Last night I felt the need to look at some of my old prayer journals. Wow, I highly recommend writing your prayers down. It is so amazing to go back and look at what all the Lord has done for you. My eyes filled with tears as I passed the book over to Steven to read what all we have been delivered from.
The Lord is so amazing and so worthy of praise. Last year we went through a really tough time. Even more than two years ago when we thought our world had fallen apart. On one particular entry I had listed everything that we were facing all at once. Any normal person would not of been able to fathom enduring even the slightest. But that's just the thing. Steven and I are not normal by any means. We are children of the most high God. We put our very lives into His hands to determine what the outcome may be. And he NEVER fails. He always delivers! Everyday that went by we had nothing but him. He provided for us in ways that cannot be explained. He comforted us like none other than the Holy Spirit. He made each day passed feel like one day closer to a new beginning. I have been a little preoccupied lately, and I feel so strongly Him calling me back. So as I strive to be closer to the Lord, I will continue to write down my prayers and thoughts. There is nothing better than looking back a week, month or even years at what miracles God has brought you through.
On the outside of my journal I wrote something very small. I will leave you with these words.
Praise Him at ALL times....NO MATTER WHAT.