20
Oct '18
Rear View Mirror
20
Oct '18
When a struggle in life comes at you out of the blue…. on an idle Saturday….. at 2pm….. like a freight train, you feel helpless. (Maybe you saw it coming.. but did you really?) You feel like your whole world is crashing down around you. You feel it fully and deeply and you feel like you can’t breathe. Here’s where we need to take a step back and just look at the whole forest (and see a different perspective).
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20
Oct '18
Quiet Time
20
Oct '18
For a lot of us, I know this is true for me, after working a long day it can be hard to find the energy to do anything else. We can tend to make all the excuses in the world for not doing something. Our bodies definitely need rest after working but it’s essential for our spiritual growth to set aside special time to communicate with God. When our bodies get the physical rest they require our minds are sharper and our communication with Him becomes more beneficial.
Finding time to be alone with God is the most important thing we can do for ourselves. Being able to gather my thoughts without outside distractions helps me to be more focused and clear. I know that God understands my heart and knows me Read more…
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13
Oct '18
Crave What?
13
Oct '18
I was in a Small Group/Bible Study in the Spring titled “Made to Crave.” Crave is a verb and is defined as this: 1.) to long for; want greatly; desire eagerly 2.) to require; need.
While this actual study is about healthy eating habits (Lysa TurKeurst; Made to Crave), the concept can be applied to so many other areas of our lives. This study could almost be paraphrased as “Who/what is your God?”, as that’s basically the premise of the study. May I ask… what is the most important thing in your life? Is it a person? A material thing? Food? A relationship? A lifestyle? God?? Be honest.. what is it? Think. {..pause here..} Got it?? You may say it’s God, but is it really? I asked myself this same question.
So, I learned in this Bible Study that when we crave and put something – anything – above God, it’s a sin. Yes, a sin. I dislike that I must admit that I’ve rarely looked at it this way. Yeah, I would go about life enjoying the things that God provided for me, and I Read more…
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13
Oct '18
Beauty of Wisdom
13
Oct '18
I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence;
I possess knowledge and discretion.
To fear the Lord is to hate evil;
I hate pride and arrogance,
evil behavior and perverse speech.
Counsel and sound judgment are mine;
I have insight, I have power.
By Me kings reign and rulers issue decrees that are just;
by Me princes govern, and nobles—all who rule on earth. Read more…
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13
Oct '18
Blissful Rejection
13
Oct '18
God has given us everything we could ever want even though we don’t deserve it. He sent His Son to die for our sins. We have so much to be thankful for and so much to look forward to with Jesus leading our lives. Life is amazing with Jesus in control. My worries don’t take over anymore. The things in this world that I thought I needed to feel acceptance, I’m no longer clinging to. When we look at our lives through the eyes of God, it’s so much more rewarding. Sometimes we don’t realize the blessings we miss out on because we are caught up in our own enjoyment and we think we have everything we need and we don’t want to give that up.
We go about living our lives each day thinking we have everything under control. Life is good. We may plan for the future, but we live in the moment. People go through life living to please themselves. What God has given us is an amazing gift, and we tend to miss it because we are so caught up in pleasing ourselves. We don’t want to give up that good feeling so we blissfully reject God. He has given us everything we could ever possibly want, and still we want more. Realizing what we have with God is so much more rewarding than anything we could ever desire here on earth.
Seeing life through an earthly viewpoint, we are never satisfied. We may feel good in the moment and think it can’t possibly be any better than it is. We begin to live for those moments. When they start to become few and far between, we start to become troubled at trying to figure out what happened. We want to get that good feeling back. God wants us to feel good, He wants us to enjoy our lives. Continually rejecting God and thinking we don’t need Him to be fulfilled is a recipe for failure. He’s our Maker, Creator, and Sustainer of life. When we live our lives according to His plan, we thrive.
2 Timothy 4:3 NKJV
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;
Jeremiah 13:10 NKJV
This evil people, who refuse to hear My words, who follow the dictates of their hearts, and walk after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be just like this sash which is profitable for nothing.
John 3:19 NKJV
And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
Have a blessed day!!!
Rita
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06
Oct '18
Color-blind
06
Oct '18
So he got up and went to his father.“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. Luke 15:20-24
Who came up with the concept of being ‘color-blind?’ Yes, there are people who are literally color-blind, but I have heard that phrase used often in conversation with people with respect to their view on race. “I don’t see color when talking to people,” is what some would say to me as if it were a badge of honor. “It does not matter what color you are. I see you as a brother in Read more…
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06
Oct '18
Teamwork
06
Oct '18
Life is all about teamwork. Our jobs, families, activities, school, church, just to name a few. Think about it, we are meant to do life together. Trying to do life alone has never been God’s plan for us. Our lives wouldn’t be able to function properly without teamwork. We literally have to rely and depend on others to get things done.
God created us to work together in teams.
Marriage is a team effort. It takes commitment on the part of both partners to make it work. When you decide to get married, you decide to form a partnership (team), to grow and learn together.
Building a family is teamwork. Each family member has a specific role designed by God to help the family function properly.
We all have jobs that require teamwork. For instance, I have worked in the retail industry for most of my life. A retail business has many departments. Each department depends on the other to help keep the store running efficiently. When something goes down or becomes dysfunctional, it can cause real chaos. Solving problems requires teams coming together to find a solution. As a team, we help each other and we figure out the best solution together.
Our churches rely on teamwork. It takes commitment to keep our churches running smoothly. Most people don’t think about what goes on behind the scenes. It ultimately comes together because of many people working with each other to accomplish the goal of serving one another and the body of the church successfully. God created us for fellowship. Fellowship and growing together is impossible without teamwork.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 NASB
Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe is the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.
Proverbs 27:17 NASB
Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.
1 Corinthians 3:9 NASB
For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
Have a blessed day!!!
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06
Oct '18
Limitless Love
06
Oct '18
Although a known fact in my life, up until recently I didn’t often just ponder God’s love. Did amnesia set in and maybe I forgot about it? Or did I possibly grow to doubt it because of life’s struggles? Hmmm… I’m not even sure I fully understand it yet, but I do know that God’s love for me is so vast that I could never even fathom it. That’s hard to comprehend on my best day, and even more hard on my worst. Why would God choose to love me? With all my faults – me?
Of course, growing up in a small Baptist Church in a little rural town that had about 20 members, we’d sing in Sunday school “Yes Jesus loves me, yes Jesus loves me, yes Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so.” So, yes, I always knew Jesus loved me, but Read more…
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29
Sep '18
The Angel Oak
29
Sep '18
Have you ever looked at an Oak tree and wondered how it got so big, so vast, so tall? Of course, getting as beautiful and grand as it may be, it surely didn’t start out like that. It takes decades to become that grand Oak.
There’s a tree in John’s Island, South Carolina that I’ve visited many times called “The Angel Oak”. If you’ve ever visited, you can most likely remember the amazement when looking at the tree for the first time. This tree is thought to be one of the oldest living organisms east of the Mississippi River. It is estimated to be 400-500 years old, stands 65 feet tall, its trunk is 28 feet in circumference, and an area of 17,000 square feet is shaded by its branches. It has survived a number of hurricanes, floods and Read more…
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29
Sep '18
Outsiders
29
Sep '18
Have you ever felt like an outsider? I feel like I spent most of my life like an outsider. I’ve always had a family who loves me, but for some reason I just never felt a real outside connection with anyone. Feeling that way led me to some unhealthy choices in my earlier years.
Following Jesus has taught me that my identity isn’t found in other people, it’s found through Him. I don’t have to follow others and try to be something I’m not. Following Jesus I feel loved and I have peace. I definitely don’t feel like an outsider. Read more…
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