Category: Uncategorized

ALWAYS LOOK FOR THE HELPERS

What is there not to like about good ole Mister Rogers?

We all know Mister Rogers always shared great thoughts and advice, right?

Won’t you please take a moment to listen to this one minute video as he shared some words of wisdom with us?

 

 

Isn’t there such great truth in the wisdom Mister Rogers shared from his mother? Continue reading “ALWAYS LOOK FOR THE HELPERS”

TAKE CARE OF THEM

Our hearts, orphans and widows.

What does the Bible have to say about those things?

 

Consider James 1:26-27:

26 If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. 27 Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. (NLT) Continue reading “TAKE CARE OF THEM”

RECKLESS ABANDON

 

Do you follow the Lord with reckless abandon?

 

First, what does reckless abandon mean?

Reckless, meaning “having or showing no regard for danger or consequences” and abandon, meaning “showing lack of restraint” leads me to view

Following the Lord with reckless abandon as….
…Surrendering ourselves and our life to following God, with all our being, with no regard for anything else in this world.
…Letting Him lead and guide us even when things do not make logical sense.
…Clinging to Him and trusting Him that He is the author of our life who leads and guides our every step.

Continue reading “RECKLESS ABANDON”

GIVE ALL

 

 

The above quote can be seen hanging on the fence near the dugout for my son’s travel baseball team.

Every inning as the boys run onto the field, they hit the sign with their glove as a reminder to give all! Continue reading “GIVE ALL”

THE CROSS

This Lenten and Easter season has inspired me to reflect on one of the best know symbols of Christianity and our faith—the CROSS.

I believe this song, Meanwhile Back at the Cross, by Gordon Mote, is a perfect introduction and focus for these thoughts. Continue reading “THE CROSS”

BE PREPARED

You know that scout motto that has been around forever…BE PREPARED?Let’s take a few moments and reflect on those words.

A quick google search on the Scout Motto of BE PREPARED yielded some of these thoughts from Wikipedia:

BE PREPARED  means you are always in a state of readiness.

–Be prepared in Mind

–Be prepared in Body

You have to be prepared at any moment to face difficulties and even dangers by knowing what to do and how to do it. Continue reading “BE PREPARED”

TRUE IDENTITY

Isn’t it easy to fall into the trap of thinking our identity or worth is based on how we “perform” in this world?

Isn’t it also so easy to believe the lies that we hear echo in our head?

 

I have found it to be true in my life. Continue reading “TRUE IDENTITY”

MARK’S LEGACY

In my humanness, my heart was saddened this past week with learning that a gentleman named Mark, who served the drinks on our soup kitchen weekend once a month, will not be ministering with us anymore.

The Lord called him home last week.

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Yes, I am happy that he is with the Lord now and not suffering humanly in any way.

The sad part is that I will miss Mark’s physical appearance being there serving up the drinks when we work at the soup kitchen now.

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I guess the important thing I can do is think about the legacy his life reflected and try to live out to some degree the example he provided.  We all leave a legacy by the way we live our lives daily.

Mark’s death has kind of hit me hard for some reason.  Maybe it is because of the ways he ended up touching my heart.

The very first post I did back in September of 2014, entitled An Unexpected Phone Call, was inspired because of Mark’s kindness. That is kind of cool to think about.  🙂

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This past weekend we ended up working at the soup kitchen when it was not our regularly scheduled week.  Both the main people, who run it on our weekend who were away for a few months prior to this weekend, and I tried to contact Mark to see if he could help that day.  There was no answer on the telephone.

After we got settled at the soup kitchen that morning, two of us went to his house to see if he was around.  Again, no response.

Later that day, we learned that he had died the morning before.

 

Continue reading “MARK’S LEGACY”

LOVE NOT SHAME

Jesus’ death on the cross brought into our lives LOVE, no longer Shame!

 

SHAME….

One definition is:

a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior. Continue reading “LOVE NOT SHAME”

GOD’S PERFECT TIMING

Have you ever noticed and experienced how God’s timing is always perfect?
It strengthens my faith to see God work things out in His perfect time which might NOT be our time.
It seems even more amazing to me because I’ve heard recently and thought about how…
God is not bound by time.
God is outside of time.
God created time.
Despite these things, God is still in charge and God’s perfect timing rules in our lives.
This past week, at least three times this theme of God’s perfect timing revealed itself in my life.  They are “small” things, but I love being able to see God at work, which makes my heart happy and strengthens my faith.
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For those that may have noticed, my goal is to post a writing either late Wednesday or Thursday depending on my schedule. Last week, I ended up working an extra day and I was waiting feedback on my rough draft. God is slowly teaching me to be patient and not be so concerned with WHEN I post.  If it isn’t until late Thursday night, it is still okay.
That is exactly what happened last week. It ended up being Thursday evening before I posted.  It seemed like it was within a half hour of when I posted, I got a Facebook message from a Third Day Gomer friend who said she just read my post and that it was just what she needed at that moment!

I thought….

Wow…Isn’t God awesome?! God’s perfect timing!


Posting when I did was all part of His perfect timing!  This gal needed that encouragement right at that moment.

The friend and I conversed a few times, and she shared about some things she was struggling with. I told her I would be praying for her.
She sure blessed me with sharing how she was encouraged through that writing and other ones, and I believe that her knowing I am praying for her is helping her through things too.
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God’s perfect timing once again occurred on Sunday at church.
There were two Bible passages from my blog post last week that were read in church. That seems to happen a lot, and I think….Wow….Out of ALL the Bible verses, the one I just chose is one that is mentioned?

Wow…Isn’t God awesome?! God’s perfect timing!

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perfect timing
Photo credit by Sara Gillins under Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)  Words added by hopetoinspireyou.wordpress.com

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A few weeks before Christmas, I was at a local store. The cashier and I got talking and I learned that the Dr. wanted her one child to have a feeding tube. She really felt they shouldn’t do it, and I shocked myself by saying I agreed with her. In talking with her, I really felt her mother’s intuition was the right thing. We actually talked longer than my order and when I left I told her I would be praying for her.
Just yesterday I was at the same store. With God’s perfect timing, I was so happy to realize that I was in that same ladies line that I talked to before Christmas.  I asked her about her son, and I got an update for which I was thankful. So far they have not done the feeding tube.  She thanked me for asking about her son, and I said I was going to continue to pray.

Wow…Isn’t God awesome?!  God’s perfect timing!

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A few weeks ago the same gal I referenced in my first sharing above tweeted me a message out of the blue, saying she was thinking of me.
It was actually at a time I was feeling stressed about things that were going on. It brightened my day and made me see God’s love through her.

Wow…Isn’t God awesome?! God’s perfect timing!

 

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What examples can you think of in your own life where you have experienced God’s perfect timing?
So, though God is not bound by time and God even exists outside of time, God’s perfect timing reigns in our lives!

Let us try to not be so concerned with OUR timing, but God’s perfect timing.

We need to continue to be faithful, serving others in prayer and deed.

God is above all, knows all, and is in charge of all!  We need to trust Him!

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”  –Revelation 1:8  (NIV)