My Thoughts - My Journey

"Praise the Lord; praise God our Savior! For each day He carries us in His arms. Our God is a God who saves! The Sovereign LORD rescues us from death." Psalm 68:19-20 WOW! Such powerful words...such precious blessings of promise! This text was in my Bible reading today and I just had to pause and drink in the full meaning.These words struck me in the core of my being and have been permeating in my soul and filling my spirit. He is our safety net Who rescues us from death. He transports us even when we don't see or feel His movement, He is working within us. That is amazing! He is our salvation, our protector, and His love is an everlasting love. WOW! Have I read this before, absolutely.....many times. However, today, in the middle of my reading, I allowed the words and their deepest meanings to spread through me and I welcomed their presence in a new way. Do we say it enough? Is it possible to say it enough? No! We can never praise Him enough or thank Him en...

When culture shifts, do you move with it? There is a simple test to show if you are moving. Think back on the tv shows that were available when you were a child. The shows started out with married couples sleeping in separate beds, then same beds, then unmarried, even strangers sleeping in the same bed, we moved to men and men...women and women sleeping in the same bed. What did we do? Did we stay planted and cut off the tv OR did we tell ourselves....well, it is "just tv" and continue to watch. If so, we are shifting with the culture. Satan is very sly at how he traps us into following after him rather than doing the will of God. We must stay planted in what is right....not shift with everything that culture makes available to us. When we live according to God's will for us, we can have positive influence on everyone from our neighbor to, if the opportunity presents itself, the world's most influential people. If we walk faithfully and walk step after step in G...

It's time to ask....Keep believing! How many Promises? Blessings? Miracles? Does God have for us....if we just ask. " You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask." James 4:2 " If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" Matthew 7:11 Over and over in the Scriptures we are told to simply ask....Just ask! For some reason....possibly a lack of faith....what is it that makes us not go to our Papa and ask Him for what we need? Yes, He knows already; however, He wants to hear it from the lips of His children. He is all powerful, our Holy Creator, the Lord above all lords.....but, He loves and cares for each of us and He desires to help us in mighty ways that only He can. God doesn't see the impossible. Our God is able. God will change...

Sandpaper People....You know them!  Those people that tend to "rub you the wrong way"....Yeah, the "sandpaper" people...... The sandpaper people in your life -  YES, we all have them  - are likely to be confronted on a regular basis. But because that confrontation usually comes from an an angry spirit and an unclean heart, it can easily become just another notch in that sandpaper person's belt, giving them one more reason to be who they are - difficult. Most sandpaper people are manipulators and controllers; they intimidate their way into other people's lives, because it is the only way they know to get in.  When gentleness and love deliver correction, it is much more likely to be received and acted upon. We can be caring and confronting at the same time. We have sandpaper people in every walk of life; however, it is most sad when they are our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are to work together in unity to fight the evil powers of dar...

Forgiveness is not about keeping score....it's about loosing count. That's the only way we can look at this. (Matthew 18) What was Jesus really saying...You cannot start keeping score, if you are going to be a forgiving person. Notice how Peter was trying to define forgiveness as a mathematical equation. I imagine that Peter might be like many of us. Perhaps he had someone in mind who he had already forgiven 6 times and he wanted a number...number 7...so he would be close to the benchmark and his required number of offering forgiveness would be met. Then, he could just write that person off and be done with them. Speaking of mathematics....we often hear or even say ourselves that we aren't good at math; however, let someone hurt or offend us and then our math suddenly becomes pretty efficient. We keep a running total of each time we are offended, hurt, or mistreated in any way. We can also easily rattle off the time, place, and date that a particular person did something ...