The Lord is My Strength!

Psalm 28:6-8 (New International Version)

6 Praise be to the LORD, for he has heard my cry for mercy.
7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.
8 The LORD is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.

As we begin another week I just want to encourage you to look to the Lord for your strength. When we really do trust Him and believe His Word, then we can have peace in our hearts. There is so much uncertainty in the world, that if you watched the news or listened to people that don't know God, you will hear and see panic and fear. We should be able to minister to the ones that are brought along our path to encourage them and give them hope. People get desperate in times like these. Lets be prayed up and full of love that we will have a word for that one that is hurting and hopeless. My prayer is that you will have a blessed week!

A Song for Sunday!

Psalm 92:1-3 (New International Version)

A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath day.
1. It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High,
2. to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night,
3. to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp.

How amazing for Gods people to come together in praise and worship! Lifting up the only One who is worthy to be praised. To come into His presence and concentrate on Him, leaves no room for the cares of this world. This is what Sunday is set aside for, to rest in Him. Keeping our focus on Him gives us strength and courage to face the upcoming week. I love that this scripture says to proclaim His love in the morning and at night remember His faithfulness. Surely on this one day a week we can truly rest and have peace. Tomorrow and all the problems will be here soon enough, but today lets just put it all aside and really be thankful for all He has done. I pray your Sunday will be full of Him! Blessings to You!

Beth Moore Simulcast!

Psalm 37:3-5 (New International Version)

3. Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
4. Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.
5. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this:

What a blessing to participate in a Beth Moore simulcast! It was tremendous, at least 250 women coming together to receive a word from the Lord! Psalm 37 was the theme of her message. To delight our self in the Lord, He says, He will give us the desires of our heart. What are the desires of your heart? what is it that you really want from the Lord? She gave us time to tell Him what we wanted. We were challenged all the way through the service, to really ponder what is truly our hearts desire. I would like to encourage you to read the whole chapter, it will bless your heart. Be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit and lay some things out there. We need to tell God what we want, don't ever give up hope because the things we prayed for hasn't happened yet. He will give us the desires of our heart, just like He said! Be encouraged for His Word is truth!

Listening!

Proverbs 18:13 (New International Version)

13 He who answers before listening— that is his folly and his shame.

How well do you listen? Here is the definition, "When the other person is talking, you are not thinking about what you will say when they quit talking." Oh my, I guess this is a good place to tell you that I have been sooo guilty of this, and I say "have", because I am learning. Why is so hard to listen? Do we want to sound as if we have all the answers and when they are finished, we are ready to respond? Could it be if there is a lull in the conversation it might appear we are not interested and so we just keep it going? Even our body language is important, research shows 65% of the message comes from non-verbal communication. How would we feel when we are talking to our Heavenly Father and He was to busy for us? I probably would not be talking to much. What good would it do. Of course, we know that is not true with Him. We have His undivided attention because of His love for us. I want to encourage you to really listen when someone is sharing with you, whether it be the weather or a burden on their heart. Listen and try not to think about what you will say, instead pray and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you and give you exactly what needs to be said. I am really going to work on this, remember God gave us "two" ears and one mouth, hummm, I wonder why!

Friends and Small Towns!

I love small towns! Since John and I have moved here, we have been thankful everyday! The way everything worked out was amazing and there was never any doubt that this is where the Lord wanted us to be. Every year at this time we have "Jesse James Days" on the square with gospel music starting the celebration. It is a wonderful time to get acquainted with folks, and support our community. (Now the way hubby donates is the funnel cake stand, ummmm, they are so good.) We have met so many good people, and many of them have become our friends. There is so much to be said for small communities, a place where people do know each other, a place when something tragic happens neighbors reach out to help. I believe God is pleased when we do this, He knows we need fellowship with one another. As we were leaving last night, someone had a prayer request and right in the middle of the street next to the courthouse, we came together and prayed for a man that was sick. And, no, we didn't get arrested! Isn't it amazing that a person could go to jail for praying! Lets really do some praying and seeking God for our freedom, lets pray for our country. God is still in control, we are victorious, we win! I read the last part of the Book.

Ladies Bible Study!

Joshua 1:8 (New Living Translation)

8. Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.

Twice a week, I am blessed to be a part of a ladies Bible Study. We are involved in a course called "Caring for People God's Way", it is such a blessing to learn how to help hurting people based on the principles of God. There are a lot of methods that professional people are using, but if the foundation is not grounded and rooted in Jesus Christ then I wonder how much people are really being helped. I am not saying it is all ineffective, but the problems people have in life are spiritual problems. We cannot change who we are, we cannot even change how we think. We must have a heart changed because of Jesus, then our behavior as well as our mind will begin the transformation process. As you can tell I am really passionate about this! I believe the Bible teaches us we are to help and pray for each other. We each are given gifts that will enable the church to reach out to hurting people. What are your gifts? How can you use them to further the Kingdom of God? Just something to think about, and by the way, please pray for our little group. We love the Lord, and we are on a mission!

Unfailing Love for You!

Isaiah 54:10 (New International Version)

10 Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,"says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

Here is how Webster defines "unfailing", continuous, endless, persistent, unlimited , and continual, (this was just a few mentioned.) This describes Gods love for you and me. It is very important that we let this sink into our very heart and soul. This covenant cannot be broken, no matter what we do. Even when we are unlovable and are not following Him, He still loves us. The Holy Spirit is forever our comforter, our teacher, and guiding us into all truths. Always directing us to the Father! I want to encourage you to study Gods Word and find out for yourself all the promises that are meant for you. But, if we don't know them, we cannot claim them. Just keep this in your heart, God loves you, He sent His Son to die in your place so you could live. You can be victorious no matter the shaking going on around you. Be comforted with the Word of God, and claim what is yours!