Devotion, Hope, Life

I Hope

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only [so], but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” Romans 5:1-6 KJV

Have you ever heard the phrase, “Don’t get your hopes up” ? I have. I’ve said it many times as well. To myself, to my kids, probably even to my sweet man. Expecting a check? Don’t get your hopes up. Expecting a vacation at a certain time of year…don’t get your hopes up…something always happens…But that is not a good attitude. And I know it. I should be planting hope…not ripping it out of the ground. But I just couldn’t help it. I have had my hopes dashed more times than I want to count. But I realize why. Displaced hope.

Hope in God, never disappoints. Never. Ever. Hope in mankind or your circumstances or position in life? Disappointment. I won’t say always, nor will I say 9 times out of 10…or even 50% of the time . . . but I will say many times.

Hope is a wish or desire accompanied by confident expectation of its fulfillment. That’s the definition given by the American Standard Dictionary.

Hope implies contingency. Or, a “hope-so hope”. You ask a student in high school, “Are you going to graduate with honors?” The answer, “I hope so”. Their answer is contingent upon them putting forth every effort and doing everything possible to make it happen. And then hoping that it turns out the way they have planned. But what if they get side tracked? What if they miss some classes due to some unforeseen circumstances…they can only “hope”.

“Will the surgery be successful?” “I hope so. Barring no complications of infection or problems. I hope so.”

But the Biblical term here in these verses is not the hope-so hope…but rather a “know-so hope”. It is absolute. Concrete. Solid. God is the God of hope.

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us-they help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation.” Romans 5:3-4 NLT (emphasis mine)

“And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.” Romans 5:5-6 NLT

How I love the fact that every time I place my hopes in Christ I can be confident that it is secure. It is solidified with the power of the Holy Spirit. Immovable. Unshakable. As long as I keep my hope focused on Christ…and not man. Nor me.

Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God: Psalm 146:5

The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. Lamentations 3:24-25

My hope is in Him. I have hope. Thank you Father, for the hope in my heart. For the love I feel, even when I am most unloveable. Thank you Lord, for the forgiveness that flowed. From the cross~freely to all who will ask~to all who will believe~to all who will have hope. Thank you Father, for my hope. My hope is in Christ. Thank you for Your nearness. For Your soon coming. Help me Lord to do all I can~help me to hear Your voice. Help me to share that Hope. In Your awesome name I pray~Amen.

Family, Fun, Life

And the Lord Showed Up!

Can I just tell you how busy I’ve been?….You too? Well, I really missed that hour sleep!

We had a busy weekend…don’t remember what I ate…but know I must have…I don’t remember each step I took…but I know I’m tired.

We had “little guests” and I worked hard on the house all day Saturday trying to get the excess “stuff” dealt with! (From the apartment) Slowly but surely…it is taken care of.

We have had so much going on—these past several weeks and Jeff and I have tried to “plan a few days away” several times and due to someone “tampering with” the set calendar at his office…we have had to change our plans….over and over. Reservations made and cancelled. Frustrating. I have felt “overlooked”…he has felt “on the back burner”…you know what I mean?

I was thinking today about how we go about our business of living each day…and so often put Jesus on the “back burner”….overlook Him in the process of living life…we neglect the “Giver of life”. I think it all goes back to “too much stuff“. Either too much going on….or we have all too much that consumes our time by having to tend to the “things” we thought we had to have. All about “stuff”. One way or another.

Tonight at church the Lord brought a special message—reminding us to “Call on Him”. That He knows us by name. Each one. Is that hard to imagine? It is for me sometimes.

Let me tell you what happened between me leaving work on Friday and Saturday when the wild indians invaded—ahemmm—I mean little boys came to stay the night.

Friday afternoon, I was driving home from work…a rough week in itself….and the thoughts of all the mess that I had to deal with at home was just making me tired! But as I was driving, I had been listening to some praise music…(gotta have it)….and talking to the Lord….(yes, out loud.) And I just told Him, “Lord, I really need Your help tomorrow. I would just love it if You’d show up and help me get all that stuff dealt with!” I said all this thinking that maybe He would speak to my mother’s heart….or my sister, Aimee’s heart…you know….like, “Go ye and help thy sister and thy daughter!”….well, maybe not quite like that but you get the point. I NEEDED some flesh and bones help for cryin’ out loud! Physical labor we are talking about!

Anyway, I finished up that prayer at some point and drove on home and then talked with Mother and knew that she would be unavailable…then my sister Aimee….unavailable…so I just thought…”it’s gonna be You and me Lord!”

Well, early Saturday morning, I jumped up out of bed filled with excitement about the prospect of doing it all myself!….

Not.

What happened was is this. I got up…after scrounging for some breakfast, realized the milk was a day old and would not touch it, I made a toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Then I put on T.D. Jakes CD “Woman, Thou art Loosed”….it is a little bit of preach…and a little bit of singing…and a whole lot of worshipping the Lord! So…while we got us some T.D. going…I got started. But, I invited the Lord and He SHOWED UP! You think I’m kidding? Girl, I am a long way from kidding.

I did me some singing…I did me some dancing…I did me some furniture moving…I did me some cleaning…I did me some picture hanging…I did me some praying…I did me a lot of talking to the Lord. Out loud. My house. He hears me all the time. It does not shock Him or anything to “hear me”. He knows the sound of my voice. If I have already upset you….shut this down…it will get worse. Maybe you don’t sing and dance before the Lord….go ahead and get off this page…move on to someone else.

Let me ask you this….where do bad thoughts come from? The devil. Right. So, where do good thoughts come from? Paul admonishes us to “think on good things”…I try…really. But ever now and then, a bad thought pops in my head. Sometimes on a daily basis. On a bad day….they pop in several times a day. Like when someone is playing their rap noise…I mean music so loud I can’t hear myself think…much less listen to what I’ve got on my car radio…and my windows are rolled up! My bad thought is —“I wish I had my baseball bat…I would fix their car radio….right there on the highway!” See…bad thought. From a very angry heart. Not Christlike at all.

So if bad thoughts come from the devil…and good thoughts come from the Holy Spirit…that would mean…to me…that “good common sense” is a gift from the Lord. Okay, don’t laugh….but Saturday while I was working away…I had gotten to the point of needing to move the dining room table. Remember I had been moving…cleaning, dancing, praising, rearranging, etc., all morning…just me and Jesus. Oh, don’t forget T.D. Jakes was involved in keeping my “dancing heart light”. So, here I call Jeff to see where he was in his work on the buildings at the camp. He’s at Lowe’s…..so again, it’s just me and Jesus. Well, I go to to the dinning table and look at it. Knowing I can’t move it.

Thought pops in my head…tip it on it’s side and just roll it to the other room….hmmmm. Okay, maybe I can do that. So, Mighty Woman here tips the table over and rolls it all the way through the living room to the hall way to the door that it won’t possibly fit through…no amount of twisting…turning or shoving will convince this table to become a moldable piece of clay and just “move on in”. A potter I am not.

Thought number two pops in my head. Lay it on it’s back and take the leg unit off. Hmmmm…..okay, I am now in search of Jeff’s cordless drill. Found it! Pedestal legs come off…table top rolled in…Pedestal leg pulled in and screwed back down…and viola`….table in place.

Mr. Husband…sweet man known at other times, walks in and says, “Miss Impatient…you just can’t wait on me can you?”….I looked at him in all sweet innocence and said, “The Lord helped me”….well after a conversation that made him think I was being “sacrilegious” or either had been smelling some bathroom cleaner that had missplaced some brain cells, he helped me with something else and then went back to work. So did I. Me and Jesus. I made up my own song—(had to, the electricity went off for several hours), I like to work to music…I kind of think that Jesus does too.

So, when your sister can’t help you…and your mother can’t help you….invite the Lord….I tell you the truth…you will have a grand time with Him! Promise!

I’ve still got lots to do!

Family, Fun, Life, love

A Camping We Will Go!

I did tell you we were having the boys (some of them) this weekend….well, we had this bright idea! Set up the tent in the living room….
Well, sounded good…on the surface….but then there was the size….and the fact that you could watch TV from only one other place in the living room….and then there was the noise…that the zipper made…CONSTANLY….open-closed-open-closed-open-well, my hair is barely hanging on….but they had fun. That’s what counts right? Matters not that I didn’t get any cleaning done…they are only 6, 4 1/2 and 1 1/2 once in their lives!

We made “ninja food”…because, of course Zackary wanted to play Ninja….and trucks…and trains…and Legos….and he was something I never could quite make out…Monja Man—or something…and Rylan was Bondo Boy…whatever that is…does that mean his drives a Bondo car???

What was funny, in listening to them was, Zackary would stand outside the tent and “ring” a pretend doorbell (by the way, the tent was also called a “cave”)—do caves have doorbells? Anyway, Rylan would say “just a minute”…in a cute voice — all the while little Cy was trying his best to “play where he could”…

Zackary was quick to “tell” me if someone was not playing right. He is the little tattletale of the bunch that was here.

All in all…Papa and I are pooped. No, for this bunch I did NOT clean house before they got here. The cleaning is done after they leave.

Stop back by, once my sanity returns…I will post a devotion.

http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

Family, Fun, Life

Whatcha Doin’?

This must be said with heavy accent on the “doin'” as in the commercials…

Whatcha doin’ for the weekend???

Me? You talkin’ to me???

Well since you asked…these little fellows and I are pitching a tent in the living room for a weekend of play, food, & fun! Come on back and find out how it went….and tell me how your weekend went…

If you want to read a good devotion…
click on the sidebar…any of them…but especially, my sister—Aimee. She has written her first blog!

So if you want to read it….
go to Sisters of Faith on the sidebar! (Leave her a comment—it will encourage her heart!)

Have a blessed weekend!

Fun, Life, Thank you

I’m so EXCITED!

I have to tell you….I AM EXPECTING!

Scroll down….

Gotcha!

Hee hee hee…really had you going didn’t I!

Here’s a picture of what I’m expecting! Handmade by Chris Kerr! She has a neat blog (on my sidebar) or….here! I found Chris last week and we e-mailed back and forth—the Lord is good! We have been praying for her husband—who is much better, PTL!

Chris, I can’t wait to get them!!!

Life

New places to visit

In case you run out of great things to read….go to some of the sites on my sidebar (I have added some new ones that I have discovered) and ENJOY! You will find uplifting, encouraging and faith building friends there. A few even have some extra things like “crafting and cooking, etc.” that we all enjoy!

I really wish (because I’m from the South) that we could get some of that fluffy white stuff for a couple of days….(I know…if I had to drive in it I wouldn’t want it—what my brother-in-law from Indiana always says.) But still….just for a couple of days~~~

Thank you for your continued prayers for my sister, Wanda. She has continued to lose some of the fluid (thank you Jesus!) and is gaining strength. Please continue to pray. We have many more years of “Sister’s Retreats” to enjoy!

I am working on a devotion…the Lord is working on me through it….pray girls! Also, I will be having a give-away in February! So-stay tuned!

Life, prayer

Solving the World’s Problems ….. and some of my own

I find myself doing the most ridicules things. Just like this morning. I woke just after 5:00 a.m. and lay there in my soft cocoon of clean sheets, soft comforter and cozy pillow and I tried to solve the world’s problems before I got up….well maybe not the world’s…but mine felt like the problems of the world…AND THEN …..(Click below Grandbuddy)

Grab your cup of coffee and join me over at the “Cafe”—the Internet Cafe….

Christmas, Family, Life

Blessings of Christmas

Sorry about my absence. I have been down in my back.

Thank you April for decorating my Christmas tree! That is a huge load off. Tiffany came over and set up the Nativity scene. Jeff has been cooking….and laundry….and I have been “resting”. Do you know how much I dislike “laying around”? If you know me at all….you know that I must be active—-all—-the—-time. Tonight, I am laying here…with my laptop propped up on my legs….it is not comfortable and I can only do this for short intervals. I tried checking e-mail. Only could read two and answered one. Sorry. I have to change positions frequently. Keep praying….I appreciate it and love your encouraging e-mails.

Be blessed!