The Pit

Some people that know me more closely know that I enjoy watching Nascar Racing. I enjoy the reved up engines and the thrill of the speed and accurracy it takes not only to race the cars but also in the Pit Stop Stratagies during the race.  It is amazing how so many people working together in such a quick pace enviroment all come together as a "team."  

I have never really thought of the word "Pit" more than just relations to racing or cooking until just the other day.   There can be many more definitions but one of the more darker definitions is the Pit of emotions or trials or life in general. One being, the Pit of  self-pity.  When we are weary this can be the dangerous Pit of them all.

The edge of the Self Pity Pit rocks crumble easily and before you know it you are on your way down. And it is so much harder to get out of the Pit than it is to stay a safe distance from it.  That is why God tells us to "Be On Guard."

There are several ways to protect ourselves from Self-Pity and one of the most important ones I have learned is to OCCUPY MY THOUGHTS WITH PRAISE for Him!! It is impossible to feel sorry for ourselves if we are busy Praising Him!  AND the CLOSER WE LIVE TO HIM, the more distance it is between us and the PIT.

Live in the Light of His Presence, by fixing our eyes on Him.  Then we will be able to run with endurance the race that He has set before us, without stumbling or falling.  Psalms 89:15-16; Hebrews 12:1-2.

((HUGS)) until next time.......

Swing the door wide open

As I was in my quiet time this past Sunday morning, my mind was filled with "swing the door wide open."  ??? At the time I thought, ok, not quite sure as to what the meaning of this thought was or if I was to post it as my facebook status.  Later that morning I would find the meaning and understanding of the nudge in my thoughts.

It had been way too long since I had attended my bible fellowship class, and that morning the overwhelming love I felt when I walked in that room was so palpable.  There were so many new faces and also of those who had remained faithful to the class for the past 9 years.  It is a class full of women from various walks of life who assemble together to share the word of God, our thoughts, fears, blessings and life experiences.  No judgemental words, just love for each other and the extending of our hands to walk with each other and share all the wonderful promises of God through the good times and the trials of life.

During the lesson the scripture of Revelations 3:20 was read "Look!! I have been standing at the door and I am constantly knocking. If anyone hears me calling him, and opens the door, I will come in and fellowship with him and he with me." (Living Bible)

I will be the first to admit over the past few years my life has been busy and stressfull and my doorway to Him has not been as open as in the past. When I heard with my ears and read the verse with my eyes you could have picked me up off the floor.  I GOT IT...it was confirmation of my earlier message "swing the door wide open!"  The Lord had nudge me that morning with the thought so that He could give me affirmation of His word in the class.  He wanted my attention, He missed my intimacy with Him as in before. He wanted me to SWING MY DOOR WIDE OPEN so that He could come in and fellowship with me more...He MISSED ME!!!!!

We all get busy, life gets busy, stress comes and goes...but we are human and we from time to time don't allow our door to Him to remain wide open...BUT OH, when we realize how much He persues us wanting to fellowship with Him and have an intimate relationship with Him and that He misses us...what a GIANT HUG from Him, what a feeling of love!!!!!! 

So ladies, how is your door to Him?  Is it wide open, or is it partially closed or even just "ajar.?"  Whatever it is, SWING THAT DOOR WIDE OPEN...and enjoy the favor of His fellowship just waiting, wanting to walk through that door.                 ((hugs until next time))

Soldier's Angel

A while back I adopted a Soldier.  You ask, "what does that mean?"  Well I am not even sure why I was lead so strongly to do so.  I can only explain that when the advertisement came across the local news and was directing people to the "Know More" section of KLTV 7 's website. I was compelled to do so.  At first as clicked on the link, I was curious.  Then after reading more on the website the urge to do so became stronger and stronger. 

Now I must admit, sometimes when I am compelled to do things, I put up a little fight of resistance.  And it is usually those times when I am in complete darkness as to why I do these things, that I look back and see God's fingerprints all over the situation.  This time, my hesitancy was because I am single and I was fearful of the wrong impression of writing a soldier might look like because I normally work with encouraging women.

So, I began praying about it and  I asked God to lead me and if this was His Will, to assign me to the right soldier that He needed to use me for.  After prayer for a couple of days, I then made the decision to click the button to adopt a soldier.  It was soon after that I received my adoptee soldier's name and address to begin correspondence with him.  After this had all taken place I found another link that was for just adopting women soldiers who were serving in Iraq.  And to be honest I was asking "Lord, you know that I work much better with women, why did I not see this first."  AND then remembering, I prayed for God to give me the soldier He needed to use me to work through my prayer was not, "God, give me a woman soldier..."

As I began my first letter, it was difficult.  To write to someone you did not know anything about other than they were serving our country. It was a soldier who had made the list who's name was not being called out when mail arrived at the camps for mail call.  So I was the one to change that...I was his assigned soldiers' angel.  So I began the letter simply enough explaining that with much prayer, I was chosen to have the privilege of corresponding with him, even if his choice was to be a silent soldier (one who does not write back), it was ok, because I believed that God was involved in the decision making and I am His obedient child.

So you too might think about being a Soldiers' Angel.  God may have someone in store for you, either man or woman.  God uses us in many, many ways, and I guess at this time...He is branching me out to step out of my box for a purpose in this soldier's life.  

We never know as to why the calling, we just are called and say "Yes, Lord" and in my case it was "Yes Lord" and a click of the mouse.  (( hugs until next time))

Small Wonders

I picked up a magazine a while back only to see an article on "Small Wonders" in reference to Aesop’s FABLE "The Lion and the Mouse."  Apparently I missed that day in school so I have not read it.  Am I too old to read it???? hum...

ANYWAY... the story goes something about a tiny rodent who saves the life of the king of the jungle by gnawing through a rope to free him.  It was a small act, but with life-and-death consequences.  Here the little mouse could have been eaten by the lion, yet he showed that what we do for others sometimes may trump even the GRANDEST GESTURES.

If a humble action can help a lion, who knows what it could do for a friend in need.  It goes back to the theory that God wants us to follow..."with kindness and love...."  Little Things Can Leave A Big Impression.  SO TRY IT!!!

Have a Blessed Day!!!!!         ((hugs until next time))

Running the Race

Oprah's quote "Run your own race - any energy towards someone else takes away from you."  I am really questioning this because she helps so many others.  In my opinion (what ever it is worth) when I was running my "own race" in my career I missed sooooo many opportunities to reach out to others.  With this comment from her, it makes me wonder are her opportunities for her reward?  I cannot or am not the judge on that, but from my own experience, it is such a "selfish NOT SELFLESS" statement.

There are so many opportunities in life that are here to help others, encourage others, let others know that they matter.  Hebrews 10:24, "Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works."  Better yet, one of my favorite is Philippians 2:3,4, "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interest of others."   THAT IS SOME POWERFUL STUFF!!  Even for those who are not Christians, they should live by these words.  But for those of us who are, our attitudes should be the kind that was shown by Jesus AND he definitely used MOST ALL OF HIS ENERGY on others right up til his death on the Cross.

Until now I never thought of life as a race.  But the race I want to be in is the one that God has set before me..for His purpose.  If it is to be a race of endurance, let my "energy drink" be that from God and used to help others, encourage others, love and pick up my fellow brother or sister when they stumble.  For I know, from my past...that is was someone who slowed down from "their race" and used their "energy" to help set my feet back on the right path.  So my tennis shoes on foot...I am ready but not for My Purpose or Will, but His!!!         (( hugs ))

Re-Thinking a Awful Day

Thinking back a few years I reflected on how I had the unsettling experience with my daughter's FIRST DAY college anxieties.  No matter what I had to say, it wasn't the words she wanted to hear to calm her nerves.  Even reminding her where and from who "fear" comes from, she still was not responsive. She had it set in her mind that this FIRST DAY was going to be the most AWFUL DAY, EVER!!

As she sat in class I was praying for her to be enveloped in Christ's presence to comfort her.  I picked up a book and began reading a wonderful book written by Angela Thomas called "When Wallflowers Dance."   It never ceases to amaze me how we can be in the middle of something and the Holy Spirit will lead us to a passage to read or we will run into someone who has just the right words to guide us.  It just so happen this was one of those days. 

Angela wrote of how her son was complaining that she had packed the wrong crackers in his lunch and he was adamant that because of it he was just going to have an AWFUL DAY!  Her response was so beautiful that I just wanted to share it with you.  If you are like me after reading her response you will never see making the statement "I am having an Awful Day" the same again.

Angela's response to her son regarding his Wrong Crackers/Awful Day experience was this: " …if we have an accident on the way to school, that's Awful; if someone we know gets very ill and ends up in the hospital, that is Awful.  If a tornado blows our house away, that is the worse day ever…You will have an awful day only because your choosing to believe that in your mind!"

Then she followed up by saying these instructive words, "I want you to go into that school happy and thankful for every good gift God has given you.  This is not an awful day.  This is a day that the Lord has made. Believe in Him and His promises to you. I want you to smile at people and walk into your classroom looking for the person who needs your encouragement."

WOW! I needed those words that day and especially the beauty in her very last statement of looking for the person who needed His encouragement.  What a blessing from a mother to a son the guidance wrapped in love.  What a blessing to me in giving me insight as to calm my own child's anxiety that day.  I later shared the story with my daughter and her response was very accepting and now the seed in planted for her to no longer see "Awful Day" the same again.

No more AWFUL DAYS because every day is a DAY THAT THE LORD HAS MADE…and he makes everything in perfection!!

                           (( hugs until next time ))

Quick Read 2 Humbleness

I once did a bible study on the book by Kay Warren "DANGEROUS SURRENDER" and upon reading (on page 22) I was stopped in my tracks by the statistics in one simple paragraph.  I immediate felt so humble to be blessed by God in living here in the United States.  I want to share it with you.

"If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead, and a place to sleep, YOU ARE RICHER THAN 75% of the PEOPLE IN THE WORLD!  If you have any money in the bank and some in your wallet and some spare change in a dish somewhere, YOU ARE AMOUNG THE TOP 8% of the WORLD'S WEALTHY; 92% have less to live on than you do!  If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, YOU ARE AHEAD OF 500 MILLION PEOPE in the world.  If you can attend worship services at church without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, YOU ARE MORE BLESSED THAN 3 BILLION PEOPLE in the world."

If the above words have become more than "words" to you and you now feel "humble and blessed" then your thought process of "what you don't have" just was changed.  AND if the words did not move you....YOU MIGHT JUST WANT TO CHECK YOUR PULSE!!!!!

My prayer: "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so very much by blessing me with living here in America.  Forgive me for all the times I thought that I was sacrificing by doing without to help someone else, when maybe I have never really known what true sacrificing is.  My struggles seem so meaningless against the real lives of others in other countries.  Most of all, may I feel humble each time I enter the doors of the church, testify openly with another, or sing songs of praise to you....remind me of those who must hide their faith or risk their lives just to serve you.  Lord I am humbled by your Grace in my life."

                                                                    ((Hugs until next time))