Thankful

Today as I reflect on Thanksgiving coming this week, I can't help but be thankful for my family. After losing two Uncles within two months, I have realized that life is so precious and special and at any moment it could be gone forever. Prior to this, we have not had a loss in our family since my grandmother passed away when I was 17 years old. I have always said how blessed we were to have my brothers, sisters, parents, one grandfather, aunts, uncles, cousins, neices and nephews all still living. For a family as large as ours, it is uncommon for everyone to still be around. God has blessed us. The loss of my two Uncles recently has really brought things into perspective that we will not be here on this earth forever. Until the day comes for the Lord to take each one of us home, we must look past our differences and make the most of time spent with our family members. Let them know you love them - we all have a sense of selfishness but I want to have great memories of my family so I am going to make every effort to put myself aside and focus on my husband, children and all those who surrond me while we still have time. I want to encourage you to do the same. Look beyond circumstances and make the most of it. I want to make "Good Memories" and I pray you will do the same.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you - may God richly bless you spiritually!

A Heavy Heart

Lately I have found myself to be broken over the complacency of those that call themselves believers. I don't say these things with judgement in my heart, I say them with a broken Spirit.

I am not only looking at others but also looking into the mirror at myself, searching my heart as to what I have compromised that is contrary to God's Holy Word. The Lord calls us to be "holy and set apart." I have participated in the world and it's earthly pleasures, which only last a short while, as well as serving God with all my heart - living a life of repentance. The things I once did I choose not to do anymore. I do not want to partake in anything that does not bring glory to my heavenly Father. When I see these things I ask myself why? Then I have to remember I am not responsible for anyone but myself. My convictions are between myself and the Lord. I will be held accountable for my actions and all I can do for others is begin to pray for them. I don't write these things pointing the finger at anyone, I just hope that as you read this the Lord will begin to move on you and show you things in your life that you could "turn away from" as He did for me. Continue to teach me your ways Lord, lead me down the paths of righteousness.

Halloween

Halloween - This is a subject that I have had a very difficult time with Christians compromising their beliefs only to allow their children to participate in because of their innocence and don't dress in scary costumes. It's a very sensitive topic that some Christians don't address because of their own convictions. Some people justify it by either changing the name to "fall festivals" or "trunk or treat", either way I feel as though the church is still acknowledging the holiday and carries on the same traditions as the world. What part does darkness have with the light?

As a child we participated in Halloween every year. My family would pass out candy and we would dress up in costumes of our choice. Go door to door to get candy then come home, dump it all out on the floor to see what we all got. Exciting time of year for us as children, oh, except the part where people dressed up in scary costumes and played tricks on us to try and frighten us.

After I had a born again experience with Jesus Christ in February 1996, my views and convictions on this holiday quickly changed. I recognized the evil spirit behind all of the excitement. If we would take the time to look into the holiday and read behind it's origin I believe our ideas of celebrating in this tradition would soon change. I know that this is my conviction and I have refrained from even speaking aloud concerning this subject because it was "my" conviction and I didn't want to offend anyone, but I now feel as though that is the problem with most of the church today. We are afraid of offending so we don't tell the truth. What if someone wouldn't have told me the truth about Jesus Christ and His saving power? We must not conform to the patterns of this world, we must be set apart and not compromise the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Below you will find portions of an article from History.com on the origin of Halloween. After you read it, you will see several things that the Lord warned us in scripture to stay away from. The fact that it is the country's SECOND LARGEST commercial holiday should say enough. Wake up church!!!

"Today, Americans spend an estimated $6.9 billion annually on Halloween, making it the country's second largest commercial holiday. On Halloween, when it was believed that ghosts came back to the earthly world, people thought that they would encounter ghosts if they left their homes. To avoid being recognized by these ghosts, people would wear masks when they left their homes after dark so that the ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits. On Halloween, to keep ghosts away from their houses, people would place bowls of food outside their homes to appease the ghosts and prevent them from attempting to enter. To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.

During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future."

Not thy will but Your's God

We try so hard to follow what we believe is the will of God only to find out we missed it somehow. Sometimes "we" want something so bad, it's easy for our hearts to get in the way and cause you to begin to believe what you want is what God wants for us too. How do you decipher when it's God and when it's your flesh? Especially when you pray for certain things to happen and they do, only to be disappointed in the end. In times like that you begin to question where you went wrong during the process. Did I not hear the voice of God after all? Mighty men of God in the Old Testament heard the audible voice of God. There was no missing it. If things went wrong it was because of their disobedience to God's instruction. So if things go wrong in our lives does that mean we were disobedient?

The road we recently traveled on led us to believe our dreams of doing what we love the most were going to come true, but only led us to disappointment. The outcome was not what we believed was going to happen. So the question is were we disobedient somewhere along the way? Did we want it so bad that our flesh overruled the Spirit? Possibly, but I do know this one thing. God is faithful. He will heal our broken hearts and restore us. Maybe our dreams are just "our" dreams and not the Lord's will for our lives. If that is so, I will again face disappoint and that is not something I think my heart can handle.

Patience

Patience, is that word in our vocabulary? I am totally convinced that we are a fast food society, at least I have figured out in the last few months that I fit that description more than I realized. The red light turns green and we honk the horn at the car in front of us because they are taking too long to take off. We stand in line at the store and get impatient because the clerk has to call for a price check because the customer is arguing that the price tag on the shelf was lower. Or what about the fact that we leave the house late then get caught in traffic, which makes us arrive at our destination later than expected. Lastly and certainly not the least, we pull through the drive thru and get upset because we are asked to pull forward while they prepare our food. So what if it's fresh, we just want it fast.

Patience is a virtue. Lamentations 3:25 says, "the Lord is good to those who wait", so why do we have such a hard time with this. I am trying to figure it out myself. I know in my mind the Lord's timing is everything yet I honk, get agitated, and drive off in frustration because it is taken longer than I expected. What is the Lord trying to teach me, why the waiting period? There could be a number of things but we won't know until it comes to an end and the Lord says "ok, now you can proceed." The Lord sees the bigger picture and knows what needs to take place before we walk through the open door. The Lord lets us see through the cracks a little at a time but sometimes it's not enough. We want to see the big picture, unfortunately like Joseph, we are too immature to handle the dream. Through this season I am learning patience. I have not arrived by any means and I have a long way to go but with the Lord's help I will make it. If I fail, I will try again.

It's a process and the Lord loves the process.

From Death to Life

On Sunday, September 12, 2010, my Uncle Fred left this earth and went on to be with the Lord. I always viewed my Uncle to be very strong. He was a big man in stature and had a big voice. I never would have imagined seeing him lying in a hospital bed in MICU, helpless. Someone with such a love for life. He loved people, politics and he had personality. The stroke affected his ability to breathe on his own, something we take for granted so often. Breath - in a matter of seconds it can be gone from us. I didn't think much about myself that day. My thoughts were with my uncle and his family. Sunday was my birthday and as I was celebrating another year of my life, he was fighting for his. We did get to say good-bye before they took him off the ventilator for the final time. I know he is in a better place. A place we as Christians long to be - with Jesus. Although it was a time of grief and sorrow, it brings me joy in knowing that one day I will get to fellowship with him again in Heaven. I love you Uncle Fred, you will be missed.

Pride

This was taken from a book titled, "Praying God's Word" by Beth Moore.

"My name is Pride. I am a cheater. I cheat you of your God-given destiny...because you demand your own way. I cheat you of contentment...because you "deserve better than this." I cheat you of knowledge...because you already know it all. I cheat you of healing...because you're too full of me to forgive. I cheat you of holiness...because you refuse to admit when you're wrong. I cheat you of vision...because you'd rather look in the mirror than out a window. I cheat you of genuine friendship...because nobody's going to know the real you. I cheat you of love...because real romance demands sacrifice. I cheat you of greatness in heaven...because you refuse to wash another's feet on earth. I cheat you of God's glory...because I convince you to seek your own.

My name is Pride. I am a cheater. You like me because you think I'm always looking out for you. Untrue. I'm looking to make a fool of you. God has so much for you, I admit, but don't worry...If you stick with me You'll never know."

This is a powerful statement. The Bible says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Lord help me to always remain humble in Your sight and in the sight of others.