Thank The Lord

Each morning I wake and thank the Lord for His grace and mercy.  Each evening I thank the Lord for His grace and mercy.

He is unfailing in His love for each and every one of us.

Last weekend I had the privilege of watching my 28 year old daughter be baptized.  Before she was baptized, she was asked if she wanted to share anything.  Lo and behold ~ she gave her life to Christ a couple of weeks before.

As a parent, I wonder where I failed through the years of her upbringing.

As a Christian, I know that to have Christ as my Lord is a choice I have to make on my own.

Each morning I wake and thank the Lord for His grace and mercy.  Each evening I thank the Lord for His grace and mercy.

I cry for joy that my daughter and I will have eternity together.

I cry for despair that many of my loved ones (family and friends) haven't yet bowed down at the foot of our Lord.

I pray for the lost and unreached.  I pray for all of us as we go through trials and tribulations.  Knowing the Lord is always by my side encourages me as nothing else!

Each morning I wake and thank the Lord for His grace and mercy.  Each evening I thank the Lord for His grace and mercy.

Freedoms

Here in the United States, we are blessed with many freedoms.  Freedom of Speech, Religion, Press, Assembly, Petition, the Right to Bear Arms, “No-Quartering”, the Right to Equal Justice, the Right to Own Private Property, and many other rights including the Freedom to live or travel anywhere in our nation, to work at any job for which we can qualify, to marry and raise a family, to receive a free education in public schools, to join a political party, a union and other legal groups…

The Glory of God is that we are Free from Sin when we accept the gift of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.  Freedom in Christ is more important than any of these ‘freedoms’ we have in our country – because we gain eternal life when we become a child of God and become dead to sin.  As we surrender daily to our Lord, we are given Grace [the power to obey] and the ability to continue to say NO to sin; yahoo!

We have been in the Book of Romans at Church and this past Sunday the ‘big idea’ was: We have a choice; serve sin and die or serve Christ and live forever!  

Women's Ministry

My church’s Women’s Ministry hosted a Priscilla Shirer simulcast on Saturday.  What a great event to have at our church.  It was a great day – fellowship with other Christian women.  There were 50,000 attendees registered for the simulcast.  These attendees were throughout the United States, Japan and other countries.  Some of my small group was able to attend the event so we were able to sit together along with some other gals.

What a blessing our Women’s Ministry is to me.  Our church’s sermons and ‘philosophy’ are very seeker-oriented.  So to have something to encourage those of us that are Christians to continue in our growing more like Christ is wonderful and to be honest, refreshing from the ‘soft treading’ and ‘hip’ sermons/philosophy.

April 1st: A Day of Contemplation

Today is a day of contemplation:
*blessings
*friends
*co-workers
*family
*pets
*home
*faith
It is my birthday; I am 47 years old and I wonder how I got here :~)

I am blessed with knowing Christ as my Lord and Saviour.  I have family, friends, co-workers and acquaintances whom are a part of my life and make my life sweet.

Life is ever-changing and I am glad to have a sturdy foundation in the Lord.

The Lord is full of mercy and grace.  I have been under-the-weather and also feeling sorry for myself this past week.  I am so grateful for His lovingkindness and know that although I don’t deserve it~the gift of life has been freely given to me.  By focusing on Christ, my Lord, instead of myself, I am already feeling better!

There are many times when I wonder what path the Lord has for me and if it will continue along a single path or join with another.  As I am growing and maturing in many areas of my life, I am confident that the Lord has a wonderful plan for me and I need to be watchful and listening to Him.

Success...Different Definitions

The end of January is looming on the horizon.  The beginning of 2014 is already coming to an end.

I have never given much thought to 5 year or 10 year planning.  I know that is what all ‘successful’ people do…I don’t put my head ‘in the sand’; however, I do my utmost to follow God’s lead.  Some years I am more successful at this than others.  I do give thought to being more Christ-like and studying the Word of God to know Him better.

Today, I received some disheartening news.  I had inquired about an order I had placed for a cowl (headcovering) from Garlands of Grace (www.garlandsofgrace.com) and through the USPS tracking, found that it had been delivered on January 23^rd.  Well, I don’t have it…either it was delivered to a wrong address or someone relieved my porch of a parcel.

Although I am upset/saddened by this news, my prayer is that whoever is in possession of the headcovering is blessed.  The family of sisters at Garlands of Grace put scriptures leading a person to Christ in with each order, so may that person be a blessed recipient.

Emulate Christ

My devotion this morning was based on the following scripture:

You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.  1 Peter 3:4

When I read that, I thought of modesty and a humble attitude.  In this alien world, we are to be a light; letting the Holy Spirit shine through us as we go through our days sharing the Good News.

Along with the scripture verse, the devotion has some insight by Jennifer King (it is a pocket year devotional).  Below is part of what she wrote:

“We are not perfect, but we can allow the Son’s light to shine through our lives so that a rare, beautiful wholeness fills our world.  Beauty is found in kindness and growth from within, not in criticizing other people.  True beauty shines through our imperfections; it withstands all seasons of life.” ~ Jennifer King

Striving to emulate Christ with the fruit of the Spirit is challenging on the best of days because of our sinful nature.  My prayer today is that each of us is able to focus on Christ the Redeemer; keeping our eye on the prize {life with our Lord in Heaven}.

Here is a quote from my daily devotions that “spoke” to me:

“Practically speaking, light shines most effectively through joyful lives. True, lasting joy comes from hope and peace found in a rich relationship with Jesus. Joy radiates from a sincere heart and illuminates our surrounding world, often with no words spoken.”

Joy doesn’t have much to do with stuff, feelings, others. We need to remember the true meaning of Joy :-) As with any relationship, we need to work at ours with Christ. The deeper into the relationship we are, I’m guessing we will have more joy!