Do you find yourself discouraged in the way today? Take a lesson from the Israelites today and don’t follow their progression! Already started the murmuring? Get it right, there is healing! God loves you, friend!
Why can we not just rest in that? Do we think we can do a better job of figuring it out on our own? Do we think we can fix the problems better than He can? Or do we just prefer to wallow in our misery and seek pity from others? These are all the Devil’s ploys to keep us from being the peace-filled, powerful, and productive Christians God wants us to be.
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Everyone is going through something. It may seem like the hardest thing you have ever faced. No matter the age it’s big for you! A different season a different time.To Every Thing there is a season - a time for every purpose under the Heaven. What will you do with your Season?
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When people close to you think of you, do you think they see the fullness of God? When I’m not in my Bible, soaking up His word and allowing Him to dwell in me, I get so focused on feeding the flesh. Sometimes that looks like pride, jealousy, discontentment, bitterness, covetousness.
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Our Bible is our renewal. It's a living book full of truths and the more that we input it into our heart, the more we'll look like Christ and His joy will reflect off you. Let's take this new year not just for fleeting resolutions but let's take a step forward for the Lord, renewing and updating ourselves until we are secure in Him.
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Several years ago, my husband and I were counseling with a drug addict. The addict had messed up his life as well as his girlfriend’s life. I asked the addict if he had ever flown on a plane before? I then asked if he listened to the flight attendant as they make the statement, in regard to the oxygen masks, to make sure you have your mask on before you try to help those you are traveling with – the understanding is that you cannot help someone else with their oxygen mask if you are not taking in your own oxygen. Was that message for the other people on the plane? Or was that message for me?
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Recently, my thinking was adjusted. MY PLAN, ideas, event, or schedule may have be altered- but I realized it was changed to line up with GOD’S PLAN A. Now when there is a snafu, my heart is joyful and excited that NOW the day is going as HE PLANNED. I can embrace the reconfigurations of my life because my great God is constantly revealing His Plan A. No longer do I drudge through Plan C,D, or E. With thankfulness, contentment and peacea, I choose to dwell on Plan A.
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We watched from the deck of the house until the storm got a little too close for comfort, then retreated inside. It was a night filled with thunder, lightning and lots of rain, but we were warm and safe inside the house. The next morning, I didn’t get up early to go out and get my sunrise shot, since I knew it wouldn’t be there. Instead, slept in a bit until my daughter came in, begging to go out to the water. She pulled back the curtain, and WOOSH, there it was! The SUNLIGHT I had been wishing for!
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1. Be filled with the Spirit and not with selfish desires. Gal 5:22-26
2. Keep prayer as the first “go to”, not as our last resort in a world that attempts to find answers with a punch of a button.
Ps. 143:1, Pro. 15:8, Ps. 141:2
3. Rejoice for the answered prayer. Ps 20:5
4. Lift up the God of righteous people not the people themselves. God uses ordinary people for His glory. I Sam 18:18-19
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Here is when the “thirst” really began. They gave me a “green lollipop”, (that is what I called it.) A green sponge on a stick that I could dip in a glass of water and then just wet my lips. The doctor wanted to wait a couple of days to see if I could hold anything down. On Monday they started giving me some soft foods, but I was throwing up again. My doctor said I needed to have surgery, so they scheduled it for Tuesday. After surgery I could have some ice chips with my “green lollipop”. By this time the ice chips were GREAT! But still barely quenching my “thirst”.
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Upon crossing over they stopped to build an alter for reflection, and reembrace. Joshua 22:34 And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad called the altar Ed: for it shall be a witness between us that the LORD is God.
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An “influencer” is one who has the power to move; in persuading or dissuading; one who leads or directs. I know this may sound foolish, but I just recently have found out what an “influencer” is according to our social media culture today. Honestly, I was not impressed. I found it to be a sad cultural norm. However not in the sense you may think. I did not find it sad that people in this day and age do the same thing they have been doing for centuries (just by a different name), but rather we have “Christian Influencer” that trying to “influence” others for Christ by doing it the same way the world does it. They use the world’s music, they use the world’s lingo, they use the world’s method of delivery to do what exactly?
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Last year, our family went through one of the hardest trials that we’ve ever had to face together as a family. My dad had been in the hospital with some major complications from an everyday procedure he had gotten done weeks prior, and he had to have emergency surgery to have his colon reconstructed. That, in itself- was very scary and very serious, but little did we know in the days following, the storm we would be facing. His emergency surgery had been that Saturday, but by Wednesday, instead of him getting better, he was getting much worse. During this timeframe, our church had a huge outbreak of Covid, and my mom finally convinced the doctor to test my dad for Covid.
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As I looked at my broken self I began to see that I couldn’t be fixed. I will never be whole in the way I was before again. But what I did see is that God does not fix us he fills in the cracks and broken pieces of our heart with Himself. Kind of like when you crack or break something like a vase and you fix it with super glue. God fills in those cracks and broken pieces of our heart with Himself just like super glue. But its better its God Glue!
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As I prayerfully considered what direction the Lord would have me go with this devotional the Lord gently led me to the subject of ‘Change’. I sweetly told the Lord that the subject of change was good, but I was thinking about doing something else. After going back and forth with the Lord a few times and suggesting a few other topics, I decided to settle on the subject of ‘Change.’ Isn’t it amazing how God works!
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As I look around at our country and see constant devastation, negativity, hurting people, an insane and warped government who desperately needs Jesus, I could go on and on... I can’t help but think how our country would look if only we had a generation of people who were truly consumed with the things of the Lord!
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Throughout my life, I have recognized that this wisdom can be used over and over again, not just on ornery brothers, but other prickly people.
- You can use it when it comes to the church lady who has to let everyone know ALL the gossip.
- Use it on the fella who cut you off in traffic.
- Use it when dealing with people who are unkind to your children.
- You can even use it on your willful child who seems to know just the right buttons to push to send you into “Crazy Mommy” mode.
No matter who the person is, they should NOT get to decide what kind of day you are going to have or what kind of person you are going to be. Only GOD should have that power.
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According to the Oxford dictionary, pleasure is a feeling of happy satisfaction and enjoyment. We take pleasure
in family, friends, church, and all types of events. They bring us such joy. We enjoy God’s creation daily, season
after season. Every need and desire were placed here for our pleasure (except mosquitoes, still not sure how they
got on the ark ; ).
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Now, I know there are unforeseen, horrible, and despicable things that can happen to a precious teenage girl that are beyond her control, resulting in a teen pregnancy that is in NO WAY what I am referring to. My heart breaks for girls in situations like that. However, in my story, this was a "let's try it once to see what happens" kind of thing. I'm going to be completely honest with you: these ones always sting a little more than the others. To know that soon their arms will have a wonderful bundle of joy to love, while my arms remain empty, is gut-wrenching.
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How can I love the Lord with all my heart? We use this term loosely and without much thought. I believe God is asking us to love him with all our passion, all our feelings. There's things I'm pretty passionate about, my family (obviously), missions, politics, history, coffee.... Most of these things, just thinking about it, can bring me to great joy, anger, or tears. It's easy for me to get emotional and passionate about these things because I care about them so much. I've invested time, energy, and money into them. I think God is saying for us to love Him with all our emotions, our feelings, our passion. That will require time, energy, and frankly, money. (Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.) Honestly, loving God with all our heart might be the easiest one for us ladies since we tend to be more emotional creatures by design. That leads to the next one.
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