Saturday, April 27, 2013

JUST THINKING...”WHERE ARE YOU AND WHERE AM I?”:



Reading Ray Steadman Devotion for 4/15/13 “WHERE ARE YOU?”  Gen.3:9, caused me to pause and THINK.  I found it interesting that God asked Adam and Eve this question.  These words in this study caught my eye.

“Today we are seeking to find a way out of a very confusing situation that prevails in our world. We will never do it until we start with this question, “Where are you? Where am I?” Perhaps the reason many are unable to be helped today is either because they cannot or will not answer that question. Ask it of yourself now. Where are you? In the course of your life, from birth to death, moving as you hope you are moving, to develop stability of character, trustworthiness, integrity of being, all these qualities that we admire in others and want in ourselves--where are you? How far have you come? Until you can answer that, in some sense at least, there is no possibility of helping you.
Perhaps many of you will have to say, “I don't know where I am. I only know that I am not where I ought to be or where I want to be. That's all I can say.” If that is all you can say, that is at least an honest answer, and therefore, it is the most helpful answer you can give. In that sense, it is the only right answer.
I pray this prayer right now as I examine the path I am on..... “Lord, help me to examine myself with this question, “Where am I?” Thank You that it is out of Your grace and love that You question me.

If we will take the time to ask ourselves this question we will stay on the path He has designed according to Ps. 16:11 “Thou will show me the path of life, in Thy presence is fullness of joy, at Thy right hand are pleasure forever more”.....


 I hope you are feeling good saying, "I am right where I am suppose to be"...
....or maybe, "no, but I am going to find out and get on the right path even if it might be cost involved".  My prayer is you will find the right path and enjoy the life that is so precious, its too short and valuable to waste it... go find it!

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

IN A CRAZY MESS.....

Since I was here last I've been tested with what can really get me down.  Want to guess what it is? You will never guess it!  

Let me tell you what happened a week ago.  After having a great day, then closing out our night with a little TV and reading my husband went downstairs first to call it a night.  He said with a loud voice, "come down here quick!".  

Little did we know a hot water pipe under the kitchen sink had burst and ran about an hour we figured, in "fire hose power".  We had water everywhere which we now are finding out, it did about $20,000.00 damage.  It got my dinning room, kitchen and bathroom. Oh! and believe it or not even got the A/C ducts. 


So now, you want to guess?  Well the answer to "what can get me down" is my stuff to be taken away and to live under conditions with people in and out of my house that I don't know from "Adam's house cat".  And to top it all they came to me and ask, "uh! where can I put this?" I see it's my personal belongings in his hands.  Yikes! I scream for Phil at this point.  "MY" world is braking down. 

They then set in place about ten high powered fans and dehumidifiers that have been running 24/7 for days at a high decibel level.  Rock my World.... want you!?!...I didn't ask for this....


I like my life to be just so so where I can be IN CONTROL...and QUITE!!!  That's not the way it is right now.  I don't know where anything is.  I don't know what my new place will even look like when it is all done, thankfully the Insurance Company is working this out.  My whole life seems to be UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!!



 So under these conditions, I am sitting here and thinking, what can I do to practice Resting in Him and Trusting this "living out of my COMFORT ZONE"?!?  My mind went to these thoughts.  Each day we don't need to be moved by the circumstances around us.  I thought I need a Declaration to be my True North to wear  everyday, so I found something someone close to me compiled one day when they were going though Life's Messes.  Little did I know this writing would come back and be mine today... and be just what I needed.  





                          MY DECLARATION OF LIFE

 "I choose to believe that God is who He says He is and trust Him with my life completely. I live each day in the moment, not looking in the rear view mirror of the past. I see my life through the windshield of the future traveling Northward into the sun.


    I am favored by God. My values are of character, grace, strength, honor and integrity and with these truths I am a winner. I love myself unconditionally, and greet each day with love in my heart. I smile because I am grateful for all I have. I know who I am and will experience the life God has given me with confidence and commitment everyday"



Today I am now able to "be thankful in all things" and now going TO JUST DO IT!!!
 

Thursday, April 4, 2013

GUARD YOUR HEART FROM DISCOURAGEMENT...


We just celebrated Easter, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, giving us Righteousness.   Sometimes life can get Messy, REAL Messy.  Have you found yourself becoming Discouraged? It is hard not to, but we don’t have to get in a Mess with our Mess.

Just read a good daily devotional by Ray Steadman that addresses this very thing and I feel like someone could use this information to Guard Your Heart From Discouragement. Do you feel it is impossible? Well NO!!! Read this and see what you think...

                       THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTOUSNESS
with the breastplate of righteousness in place”.. (Ephesians 6:14b)
Christ is the ground of your righteous standing before God, your acceptance before Him. If you are wearing that “breastplate,” you can rest secure that your heart, your emotions, are securely guarded and adequately protected against attack. This is perhaps the most frequent ground of attack against Christian faith. Christians often feel they lack assurance. They feel unworthy of God. They feel they are a failure in the Christian life and that God is certain to reject them, that He is no longer interested in them. They are so aware of their failures and shortcomings. Growth has been so slow. The first joy of faith has faded, and they feel God is angry with them or that He is far off somewhere. There is a constant sense of guilt. Their conscience is always stabbing them, making them unhappy. They feel God blames them. This is simply a satanic attack.
How do you answer an attack like this? You are to remember that you have put on the breastplate of righteousness. In other words, you do not stand on your own merits. You never did. You never had anything worthwhile in yourself to offer to God. You gave all that up when you came to Christ. You quit trying to be good enough to please God. You came on His merits. You came on the ground of His imputed righteousness—that which He gives to you. You began your Christian life like that, and there is no change now. You are still standing before God on that basis.
Paul himself used this breastplate of righteousness when he was under pressure to be discouraged and defeated. Here was a man who was small of stature and unimpressive in his personal appearance. His background was anti-Christian, and he could never get away from that completely. He had been the most hostile, brutal persecutor of the church that it had known. He must constantly have run across families with loved ones whom he had put to death. He was often reminded by many people that he was not one of the original twelve apostles, that his calling was suspect, that perhaps he really was not an apostle at all.
What a ground for discouragement! How easy it would have been for him to say to himself, “What's the use? Here I am working my fingers to the bone, making tents and trying to preach the gospel to these people, and look at the blessing God has brought them, but they don't care. They hurl recriminations back into my face. Why try anymore?” But that is not what he does. Instead, he says, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not without effect” (1 Corinthians 15: l0a). There he is using the breastplate of righteousness. “I don't care,” he says, “what I have been; I don't defend what I am. I simply say to you, by the grace of God, I am what I am. What I am is what Christ has made me. I'm not standing on my righteousness; I'm standing on His. I am accepted by grace, and my personal situation does not make any difference at all.” So his heart was kept from discouragement.
Can you say this prayer?...“Father may these words meet me right where I am and help me right in the conflict in which I am engaged. Lift up my heart by the consciousness that Christ is my righteousness.”......
 (Ray Steadman – http://www.raystedman.org)

If you have stopped by here and have a heavy heart today please know I am praying for you and know you do have Hope and Peace ....by acknowledging that you are wearing the BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS this does allow us in those Messy Times or Peaceful time to Rest in Him! 

Guard your Heart and have a Peaceful mind Trusting The God of all Hope...

HE MAKES ME LIE DOWN IN GREEN PASTURES..PS 23:2
 


Monday, April 1, 2013

SPRING IS HERE AGAIN... OR TRYING TO ANYWAY...


When I saw these I could smell their sweet fragrance by just looking at them!

Been a crazy Spring here in Georgia! Spring's first day came early that might be why its still cooler that usual.  We live in the mountains where its cooler than other places normally.  This time last week it was snowing, that's not normal...

I said all that to say, I am way behind on getting my mind and mood in gear for Spring.   Thought I could get in the mood by posting pictures friends are putting on Facebook of their Spring "in the mood flowers".

........I'll get us started with my friends Pansy display in her yard....


Pansies are so hardy they can be planted in the Fall and last through winter and come out with smiling faces in the Spring...


They have such a broad array of colors in the Pansy family, I love to mix them up in a cluster in my Pansy bed like my friend did here!


This kind looks as though they have faces and are looking up smiling at us, don't you Think?



 You can't beat a bed of Spring color Pansies and Tulips, its just a reminder its Easter time....

My friend Lisa has captured pretty flowers with her camera. She can keep this year's flowers to look at forever ...

I

I love this Tulip standing so pretty and tall....

 
I am not sure what this pink beauty is but her caption said it is "loving the sunshine" and I believe it!


 The Yellow Bell bushes are popular here in the south and one of the first to bloom in the Spring.  



Don't these Pink Daffodils look happy?  They make you know Spring is here....




So I will stop here with this picture that will make you want to travel to see it...Its Springtime in Savannah Georgia.  Nothing prettier than spanish moss hanging on the trees, Dogwoods blooming, along with the Azaleas displaying their colors....

....maybe you can't go there right now, but today you have by visiting Mary's Place...come back soon for another one of my thoughts. 
    ......and PS.. don't forget to go outside today and see what Spring is doing in your area .....