12/21/12

Today is 12/20/12..the day before 12/21/12. Many are speculating that the end of the world will be tomorrow since the that's the end of the Mayan Calendar. The bible states that no one knows the day or the hour and that only the Father knows. I do not believe the world will end tomorrow but it could happen at any min or any second. That's why Jesus states to stay awake and be on guard, to be ready when he does come back!! Some intresting things happened today though that I would like to share..#1: It's supposed to be 33 degrees tonight. #2: My dinner bill at Thai place was $33.71. #3: if you add 2 plus 1 you get 3..so tomorrow is 333. See previous posts about 3:33 and the significance..

school hope

Last Thursday December 13th 2012, Lily came home to work on a project for Martin Luther King JR poster competition for her school. She drew a picture of a girl and an American flag. She needed quotes from Martin Luther so she looked some up on the internet and chose one that states "I Have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain and the crooked places will be made straight; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together, and so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream." She turned the poster in the next day, on fri the 14th. As we are all aware that was the day of the horrible school shooting in CT. My heart just broke and broke and it's still breaking for those precious kids and families. My cousin went to school there 20 years ago in K and 1st grade..so I guess it really hit me. On Sunday I went to my church at Niceville UMC and Pastor Jeremy preached on "Hope." He was talking about our hope is not in this world but in Eternity and In Jesus ALONE! He alone is our hope and salvation!!! Praise GOD for that!!!!!! He also talked about Zechariah and how he was mute after seeing the Angel and then became unmute and said he Praised God in Luke Chapter 3. I started reading his praise to God and it was exactly what lily had printed on her poster! I didn't even know that it was a scripture verse at the time. I am so proud of Lily standing up and being a witness for her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in her public school. Many people were saying our nation as a whole has gotten away from God and they wonder then why bad things happen. It's called God gives us all free will and that guy made the wrong decision and so doing many lives were lost. Jesus by no means didn't want this to happen. He wants us all to choose him and to do the right thing. I personally think this man didn't know Jesus and maybe never knew what it's like to feel love.. Now I have more zeal to share/show my love for others as Jesus would have me do and make sure My kids know that I love them. On monday the announcement was made over the PA at lily's school that she got honorable mention on her poster!!! I was so excited. What is the chance of that being turned in on the day of a school catastrophe and then her choosing that quote and then it turned out to be a verse from the bible and then her getting honorable mention? It's totally a God thing!!! He's reminding us all that it's all about him!! He's in control and we are not. I also feel like the enemy is prowling around seeking someone to devour..he may think that he has won by sapping everyone of their joy around the celebration of Jesus' birth. He wants to distract us from what we are meant to celebrate at this time of year, to take our eyes off Jesus and to focus on this tragedy and the crazy news. We all need to keep our eyes on our Savior and he gives us HOPE, JOY, PEACE, LOVE, PATIENCE. Thank you God for sending us your son who shines his light in the darkness. In Him we move and have our being!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

strength and joy

Last Wednesday as I was going to church I was feeling extremely run down, no energy, etc. I had just gone to Disney the week before with my precious family and my husband!!! He got home from Afghanistan 1 week before Thanksgiving and surprised me :)...so needless to say we got home on a Thursday from Disney (exactly at 3:33 by the way) and then the next day I had to start my On call rotation from work, which totally drained me..so any energy I did have was taken away by that). So back to my story..I was crossing the street to go into the CLC at church for dinner and I just said aloud "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." I just happened to look down at the shirt that I forgot that I had put on and I said " Oh my Gosh, It matches my shirt!!" My shirt said the same verse. So I go up to bible study after dinner and we begin our study and Amanda our leader is reading out of our bible study book "Christian to the Core" and read "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." I guess he really wanted me to know that yes I can do all things through him who gives me strength! I usually notice that God usually says things 3 times to get our attention in case we don't get it the first 2 times :) The next day I was reading my bible/devotionals that is part of my routine in the mornings and I was fixing to go hear our Pastor speak on "JOY" at my bible study group for the Christmas Luncheon. I also had been feeling that my Joy has been sucked out of me due to hustle and bustle of life, our house on the market, and just trying to get back to a sense of normalcy since Josh had returned..don't get me wrong I am/was super happy that he was back but other things have just worn me down to complete and utter exhaustion! So I start reading my Jesus Calling devotional and this is what it said: "Stay ever so close to me, and you will not deviate from my path I have prepared for you. This is the most efficient way to stay on track; it is also the most enjoyable way. Men tend to multiply duties in their observance of religion. This practice enables them to give me money, time, and work without yielding to me what I desire the most-their hearts. Rules can be observed mechanically. Once they become habitual, they can be following with minimal effort and almost no thought. These habit forming rules provide a false sense of security, lulling the soul into a comatose condition. What I search for in my children is an awakened soul that thrills to the JOY of my presence!I created mankind to glorify me and enjoy me forever. I provide the JOY; your part is to glorify me by living close to me." (Deuteronomy 6:5, Colossians 3:23, Psalm 16:11) So of course I was super excited since it was about JOY so I posted it on facebook and then I went to my other devotional called Jesus Today..by the same Author but slightly different. Anyway, here is what that page said for that day..."You can find JOY in the midst of brokenness. One of the hardest times to be joyful is when you're dealing with multiple problems-seeking solutions but finding none-and then several new difficulties beset you. If you focus too much on finding solutions, you will sink under the weight of your problems. So it's vital to remember that I am present with you in adversity. I am at work in your situation, and my matchless wisdom enables me to bring good out of evil-ultimately outsmarting evil with good! The way to find JOY in adversity is to encounter ME. You can pray "Jesus, help me find you in the midst of this mess!" As you unplug your emotions from all the problems and plug them into my presence, good things start to happen. Your dark mood grows steadily lighter and brighter. Also, as you remain in me-plugged into my presence-I enable you to see things from my perspective. You can be JOYFUL in the midst of brokenness by staying connected to me." Then she quotes the following from scripture.(James 1:2-3, Romans 11:33, and John 15:4) So Now i'm really excited and can't wait to hear the pastor preach about JOY!!Here are some of the things Pastor Jeremy preached on about Joy.. "I"m not going to let that steal my Joy." "The Joy of the Lord is my Strength." Hebrews 12:2 How do we get JOY? 1: God's Joy is for US! God loves us just because we are his son/daughter! Not by anything we do..Just because we are his!! 2: Joy from being With God! we have more fruit of the spirit when we are spending time with him! Rejoice in the Lord Always! Pray without ceasing! when you are with God you can enJOY him!! 3: Joy from pleasing God! Being with God resulted in Jesus being Obedient! We want to please others that we love and care for, and do it with Joyful obedience! How does God see you? : Daughters in whom he is well pleased; the Joy of his heart! Desires us to be with him and walk in Joy and Strength that he has given us to endure ANY circumstance! I was completely overcome..how did I let myself get so overcome by sense of duty/responsiblity that I lost sight of what it's about...I felt like God was telling me it's not about doing..just be still and know that I am God ..You derive your Joy and strength from ME!! Thank you Lord for the reminder that I don't have to do it all..I can just bask in your presence and know that you are in control and that I am not and in you I have my JOY and Strength!! This past Sunday, Pastor Ausley preached on our Priorities. Is it really a priority to mail Christmas cards this year?? He said it, not me :) I have gone back and forth on this but then i think of all the people that are poor and needy and I feel that the money I could spend on cards really should go to help others..so that's what I decided again this year to do..now I will send a few cards to those that aren't on facebook (such as my grandma) but really nowadays everything is online! Also the main priority is God!! I do know I need to be spending more time with him and as I do I continue to seek him in all things and he continues to show/reveal things to me and he can to you as well if you truly ask him and seek him with all your heart! So My prayer is this..that we all take time out of our to do list..to focus on God and what the true meaning of Christmas is all about!!!

Politics

The other day I was praying about an Issue that I have been waiting almost 9 years for it to be resolved and 10min later I get on facebook and there is scripture that talks about waiting on the Lord! I know that through my waiting it will make me stronger but sometimes it's just plain hard to wait for answered prayer. The lord and I have these arguements back and forth and he always reminds me of Jeremiah 29:11.."For I know the plans I have for you..". Thank you Lord for that reminder. In the mean time I will wait and hope in him!! On another note I posted something last night on facebook that has caused quite an uproar with my non christian relative (that i don't really know..it's a relative on my inlaws side..distant cousin). I was watching the Presidential debate and said that I don't like watching people lie..It's full of empty promises..Just my opinion. Well she went off saying that I'm "uneducated" along with all my friends (they started posting as well and standing up for me and for themselves). and basically said that she doesn't want to have anything to do with those that don't support Obama! WOW!! We live in the land of the free and I thought we had freedom of speech?? and I stated that Jesus himself was friends with sinners..He came and died for all of us..doesn't mean he "agreed" with everyone..he still loved them but didn't mean he had to agree with them to love them..At any rate I ended up saying I will pray for her and that's all I can do at this point..People have such blinders on they can't see the truth! I was pretty fired up and restless after this conversation and I had to get up early for work so I didn't think i was going to sleep but the Lord gave me so much peach last night when I prayed to him and I instantly fell asleep. Then this morning my daughter Lily walks in and she has a rainbow on her shirt (which she picked out her clothing the night before). The Lord knew I needed to see a rainbow as his promise to us to never leave us nor forsake us! He also woke me up at 4:33 exactly and this am one of my coworkers talked about going to sweet water, TN and he googled it on mapquest and it came out to 433 miles..Intresting..not to mention "33" is the age of Jesus when he died..Please read my previous blogs about 3:33 and what has been revealed by that. I did read today in My Jesus today book this verse that helped with what i went through last night.."Do not be afraid of (your enemies); The Lord your God himself will fight for you." Deuteronomy 3:22! Amen!!! Thank you Lord Jesus for always being there for me and please help everyone to be a living example of who you are and that others can be won over by our actions because you dwell in us. I pray for my relative Ann that she comes to know you in a deep/personal way and for all those that don't know you!! for you are the Way, the Truth, and the Life!!! and all those that believe in you will have eternal life! I pray for this upcoming election that it will not serve as a divider in any way and that you will keep our words pure and kind but also correct where correction is needed. I pray that your will, will be done in all things! and that this nation will once again turn to moral /biblical values and turn back to YOU!!!! Thank you Lord for your GRACE, and Mercy and Love that you so richly give! I love you will all my heart! In Jesus Name I pray AMEN!!

walk to emmaus #224

As I write this I am in the first week after my completion of my walk to Emmaus at Blue lake in Andaulusa Al. For those of you that don't know its a christian retreat to get away and focus on God among other things. I highly recommend it. It's definetely life changing. I was getting ready to go this past thurday 9/6/12 and that morning God gave me a Rainbow in front of my house!!! Then my sponsor came (amanda) and she had a rainbow on her nametag!! There were other rainbow things that occured but can't discuss it since it needs to be a surprise for those that haven't gone..Also I wrote my testimony about the rainbow in emmaus bayou blessings last year! Other things that were revealed this past weekend: 1. My daughter Ashley had a dream 1 week prior to Emmaus. She said she dreamed that she was in the hands of God and an Angel was on either side of her. She also drew a picture for my dad of hands coming out of sky and she was in his hands. We went to break at Emmaus and there was this ornament that said "you are in the Palm of God's hands! I was instantly overwhelmed! I was able to get one to give to Ashely as well and gave it to her when I got home and she was so excited! There was also this banner of Esther and underneath said "Such a time as this" and she had red hair and crown on her head and 2 hands were reaching down out of the sky to her! 2. on Friday this speaker (krista) spoke about being in the ICU and how she was healed..I then felt God saying I need to tell them about my mom being healed when she was in ICU and was able to share with my small group and big group as well!! It was definetely encouraging to everyone. I spoke to Krista afterwards and she said they had called her at the last min to come since one of the speakers got sick and the hospital this happened at was TMH which is where I did my original nursing clinicals at! 3. On Saturday, the topic of the bleeding woman came up.."by your faith you have been healed!..Which is part of "mom's testimony" 4. On Sunday, we recited Psalm 23 in chapel which is my mom's fave verse and part of her healing testimony. 5. Before I left for Emmaus I saw a black snake at my dad's house the day before..didn't think anything of it..well the next day my sebaceous cyst on my neck started hurting and running low grade fever. I left message with dr to switch antibiotics and he was going to call the next day. I said a prayer for this to go away and I knew it was to serve as a distraction or keep me from focusing on what God wanted me to know..the snake represents the serpent...My sponsor also prayed for healing and others were praying..on Saturday my Jesus calling devotional states to "not focus on the conditions of your body"..at this point it was getting worse but I had to constantly center my focus on God and give it to him..other antibiotics did arrive on Sat but On Sunday it wasn't going away. At no point in time did i let it distract me from the things God was showing me. I then ended up going to ER on way home and they lanced it and took culture of it.I was given different antibiotics and told it might be MRSA. I just held on to the claim that Jesus was going to heal me. I had to irrigate it 3 x daily for 3 days and return in 3 days for recheck. When i returned 3 days later the culture showed that it didn't grown any bacteria!! Just normal flora, and I didn't need sutures. and the fever was GONE!!! Praise God..also dad and i watched Charles Stanley the day before preach on healing!Also on Sunday they were able to remove the whole cyst! 6. Jesus gave me multiple things that said "Smile, Jesus Loves you"..goes back to the smiley face egg blog..when I cooked egg and smiley face showed up and the message was "smaile, I love you". 7. I was able to end the time with testimony about the rainbows and promising to go and love others! and the rest I just can't say since you should experience it yourself when Jesus calls you to go on a walk to Emmaus!

double rainbow!

This Morning was the first day of school and my dad is currently still in the hospital. I woke up praying for God to give me strength to get through this day along with every day. This weeks EWomen Devotional was about "I can do all things through Christ who gives me Strength" Phil 4:13. I've copied it so you can read it below: The Strength to Do it All August 20, 2012 By: Julie Clinton "I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13 Dream. Beauty. Princess. Some hear these words and immediately think "weak"... "frail"... "helpless." I suppose they have read too many fairy tales, because it doesn't necessarily have to be that way. Being a princess of the King of Kings, such as you are, is completely different. If you believe, you can do everything and anything through Christ who gives you the strength to handle it. Just think—you have the power to accomplish great things. Even with this power, remember, you can’t try doing it alone. It’s not in your own power that you can attempt to accomplish your tasks and duties. You must rely on Christ’s power that is living within you. We all try to get by on our own. We have the best plans, the greatest intentions. We work hard and long. We worry, sweat and even panic. Then everything goes wrong and it all fizzles out. It’s time to realize that you can’t do it alone. For true success in anything, you have to be sure that your motives are pure, that the plan you have in mind is from the Lord, and that His power is within. When these ingredients are all lined up, then you will be able to accomplish anything and everything! Prayer Too often, Lord, I struggle and strive on my own. Help me to rely on You, to hold on to the strength that comes from You to accomplish everything I do. Amen. Bible Readings for the Week Ahead: Monday: Jeremiah 17:5-8 Tuesday: 2 Corinthians 12:9 Wednesday: Ephesians 3:16 Thursday: Colossians 1:11 Friday: 2 Timothy 1:12 Saturday: Daniel 10:19 Sunday: 2 Timothy 4:17 WOW!!! God just answered what I prayed for..or confirmed what I said!! How Awesome. Also Dad had a rough time this past weekend and i Prayed specifically for his appetitite to increase and for no infection..and today he ate really well and his incision looks awesome! PRAISE GOD!!! Mom called me on the way home and she said she sees a rainbow! I go outside and there's a huge rainbow over my house and it gets brighter and then a double rainbow. God has given me rainbows in the past when he healed my mom and dad while they were in hospital previously!! How AWESOME IS THAT?? Also in Jesus Calling book today talks about God's healing power. His timing is sooo perfect!!!! Thank you Lord!!!

Angel in clouds on horse

I took a picture of the sunset last night 8/14/12 since it was so pretty after church outside church. I briefly said to myself to God to show me a sign.. Didn't think anything if it and I looked briefly at pic. Well woke up this am on the morning of my dads surgery( having gallbladder removed) and I was on Facebook and today's verse On klove was " be still and know that I am God" Psalm 46:10. Then I showed the pic of the sunset to my girls and my youngest ashley said " do you see the angel on the horse?" I looked again and there it was!! You can see the bridle and the angel! It does say in scripture that God shows signs in the heavens and on the earth below! Then I get in my car after saying how great is his love for us and then " oh how he loves us" comes on the radio and then " your presence is like heaven" and talked about Lisa tyrkhurst new book" unglued" because I felt last night I was coming unglued. My husband is currently in afghanistan and I haven't been able to talk to him on phone last few days which has been hard. God is awesome!!!